How time flies when you are studying, writing assignments and marking your own class work!
I was going to reflect on how the assignment writing went and so I'll post parts of my reflective essay since that really say what I learned in Semester 1 of 2016:
The whole
process of writing a blog, thinking about what to write and creating a summary
of progress (Blaschke, 2012), has been empowering and productive. I notice an
increase in my vocabulary which allows more effective writing. Mistakes are
more visible now, especially after a realisation that it is closeness to my
chosen topic that prevents me from getting it right first time. By creating some distance, a more effective understanding of the criteria can take
place. This circular process is really helpful; it just takes time.
By the third Patchwork
summary, I evaluated the experience more
closely, achieving a more effective way of expressing what I feel and think.
Finding ways to be succinct and formulating
opinions on what I am reading by using the evaluation, analysis and ‘what else
could be done’ stages of Gibb’s Reflective Cycle is a big challenge. I now ask
myself more often how implications and consequences impact on me and my topic.
.
This improvement in my approach to describing the emotive images in my
head is very pleasing and I
was blown away by the first feedback from a lot of classmates especially about
my scattered thinking and the need to find my focus. The footprints resonated
well here, starting off alone and expecting that soon more would join me on the
learning journey. I did not realise how powerful the colours and metaphors
generated by the word cloud would be to my classmates. Such imagery in a
Reflection-on-action (Schön, 1983) allows for further exploration simply by
reflecting on what the feedback from my peers means through what they have
taught me, and how I could incorporate that into my future critical reflections.
I felt
inspired, uplifted, humbled and really touched by how peer feedback has the
power to set you thinking even further on what you have just shared. The act of
giving feedback on everyone else's summaries is also very powerful and it
helped me to see the variety of interest among eight people. Certainly through the relationship to
Schön’s
Reflection-in-action (1983), specifically in class discussion, we recognise that our progression and
thinking is taking shape.
Taking
the advice to just think about my thoughts and feelings has enabled me to construct
a more cohesive piece of critical writing as an informed action, a rationale
for continued practise and helps me to take a more realistic view of my own
limitations (Brookfield, 1995). This was evident in my third reflection when my
lecturer’s main comment was that what I had written was much more pertinent.
Classmates wrote that they gained insight into my learning journey, and they
felt inspired and learned something from me each time. It feels amazing that I am able to help and inspire my peers
into achieving something more than they first thought they could, so I
try to always write feedback that will encourage them to reflect further on how
their own experiences shape their learning, thus concluding Gibb’s Reflective
Cycle with action planning.
In particular
the discussion around procrastination and our interpretations of what was
expected of us in class was helpful to my progress in critical reflection. Learning to deal with procrastination, allowed me to accept that there will always be distractions. I can accept that I don't work from 9-5pm solidly on my studies. By having a flexible approach, and having daily and weekly goals, I will improve the end result. I have signed up for a study and so it is my job to complete it to the best of my ability.
Furthering
my ability to translate that into effective essay writing for my studies, I
have enhanced my capability as a professional in the field of education, through
clarity of thinking and writing in support of my colleagues and students. The
process of giving and receiving feedback is an extremely powerful experience that
inspires me to share that further in my own workplace
in an effort to build a trusting relationship through which to learn and teach
(Brookfield 1995).
It was
worth spending a couple of hours researching and installing an internet capable
referencing machine. I called the search ‘process procrastination’, but it was
actually well worth the effort because it made a huge difference to collating
and formulating ideas for my essay writing. Making proper notes when reading allows me to start the reference list
early, stick to the topic and
write effectively and critically what I'm learning and how I feel, giving me a
significant sense of accomplishment to both my work as a lecturer and as a
student.
When relating these developing reflective
processes to Driscoll’s 2000 The What?
Model, I feel I am reaching the detail of analysis, evaluation and
conclusion into an action plan more effectively. Identifying my own barriers to
learning and developing an insight into the benefits of critical reflection is
helping me to find my own point of view on adult learning, getting to the heart
of the matter by shaping the learning offered in this paper to fit my own
personal context (Vella, 1995). In part, my willingness to be honest with
myself breaks some of those barriers down, allowing the kind of transformative
learning discussed by Nugent (2003) to be just as much a spiritual journey as
one of intelligence. This transformation comes as an integral part of my own
act of becoming aware of how I learn, react to my learning discoveries and find
a way to express my reflective thoughts (Depraz, Varela & Vermersch, 2003) as my inner voice finds a way onto paper. There
is still a long way to go in my ability to critically reflect, but I feel that
this experience of Patchwork Text and essay writing has set me well on the way.
The purpose of
this essay was to evaluate my experiences of self-motivated study during the
past three months. Its main focus was the Patchwork Text reflections and the
strategies I have developed and refined to improve how I study in relation to
reflective models and theories in education. Setting
out a clear plan of action on a weekly basis allows me to manage
procrastination and enables me to reach my goals by following the plan. Using
the tools and strategies such as focussed reading; a referencing machine;
keeping the criteria and notes that belong to that in my assignment template,
and writing issues that arise on a large sheet of paper next to me as I work,
gives me an effective way to carry out study. This leaves me feeling as if I have uncovered something really big and
really exciting to explore and share through my assignments, and I have combined
the three reflective models as shown above accordingly. Moving from the centre
outwards builds on previous experiences allowing a more complex critical form
of reflection to take place as I move through each cycle completing the action
plan by the end.
My learning,
reading and writing challenge is to have a critical opinion about what I’m
reading because I find that so much of the reading chimes deep notes of
recognition in my soul. However, I am beginning to use discernment by looking
for the parts that chime less true, helping me to clarify the way the
assessment criteria and related reading become themes around which I can focus
the analysis and critique. The experience of the three reflective models
discussed in this essay has given me a surer grasp of my potential to succeed
at whatever I set my mind to. In this manner the act of becoming aware of
myself as a self-motivated student who is able to see to the heart of the
matter has shown me how my own limitations can be stretched through
transformative learning and recognising the benefits of becoming a critically
reflective practitioner (Depraz et al, 2003; Vella, 1995; Brookfield, 1995;
Bain, 2004; Nugent, 2003 and Driscoll, 2000).
This journey
of self-motivated learning is inspiring me to continue critical reflections through
my daily work and further study. Hopefully in the future my ability to help
other adult educators will enable them also to become more fully aware of the
possibilities and joys in learning and teaching.
References
Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Boston, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Blaschke,
L. (2012). Heutagogy and lifelong learning: A review of heutagogical practice
and self-determined learning. The International Review of Research In Open
And Distributed Learning, 13(1), 56-71.
Borton, T. (1970). Applying the Process
Approach. In Reach, touch, and teach: Student concerns and process
education. (1st ed., pp. 93–105). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Brookfield, S., (1995). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Depraz, N., Varela, F. J.
& Vermersch, P. (Eds.). (2003). On becoming aware: A pragmatics of
experiencing (Vol. 43). Amsterdam, Netherlands: J. Benjamins Publishing
Driscoll, J., (2000). Practising clinical supervision.
Edinburgh: Scotland. Balliere Tindall Retrieved 28/05/2016 from
Nugent, D. (2003).
Action Research Transforming Practice. In Zepke, N., Nugent, D. & Leach, L.
(Ed.), Reflection to transformation : a self-help book for teachers (1st
ed., pp. 213-228). Wellington, NZ: Dunmore Press.
Schön, D., (1983). Reflection in Action. In The
Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in action (1st
ed., pp. 49–69). New York: Basic Books
Vella, J. (1995). Learning to Teach,
Learning to Listen. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
