Writing and talking reffectivley
How to recognise evidence of different types of reflective practice
The videos and activities have helped us to understand some of the theory behind different types of reflective practice. How one reflects will influence the way one thinks, speaks and writes about their reflections. Over the next pages we focus on reflective writing and talking, although this is deeply interconnected with reflective thinking.
We begin by looking at how to identify types of reflection. We are reverse-engineering, breaking down what we read and hear in order to understand how the writer or speaker approaches her/his reflective practice.
Why is this useful?
This will help us in our own reflections by illuminating the difference, for example, between describing (what?) and analysing (how and why?) a particular event or critical incident. Whereas describing an event provides no real guidance on how to respond differently to similar events in the future, analysing gives us a way to break down what happened, reflect on it from various perspectives and engage with how we might alter our responses to similar events in the future. It gives us insight.
So lets look at the identifiers first and then move on to examples of reflective writing.
Recount: descriptive writing:
- Not reflective – description of events/interactions/report of literature
- No attempt to provide reasons/justifications
- Descriptive/Technical (Ends/Means) Reflection:
- Some attempt to provide reason(s)/ justification(s) for events/actions/interactions but in a descriptive manner
- Possible reframing/’other’ perspective(s) about the event/experience being reflected upon and /or literature
- But again in descriptive/reportive manner – no evidence of ‘dialogue with self/others’
Communicative/Hermeneutic/Dialogic Reflection:
- Demonstrates a ‘stepping back’ from the event/action/experience leading to a different level of mulling about, discourse with self and exploring and reframing the experience/action/event from different angles/perspectives identifying possible alternatives and explanations, hypothesizing about possible consequences of different actions.
- Such reflection is integrative of different factors/perspectives and more analytical in nature.
- This reflection only considers the immediate actors and context of the site in which the event/action/interaction/experience occurred.
Critical Reflection
- Evidence of Dialogic Reflection But going beyond to demonstrate
- Explicit evidence of awareness that the action/event/ experience and actors/reasons for its occurrence are not only located in the immediate context but in the wider historical, political, social and economic contexts of the region/state/nation/world: justice, power, authority