Reflection

[Guest]

Hi All,

 

Nearly finished my first year of my foundation degree and am really enjoying it. Unfortunately I am really struggling with my reflective practice.

I can verbally reflect til the cows come home, but as soon as I go to write it down and then link it with different reflective theorists and models it all goes pear shaped.

Every assignment has been the same in the reflective feedback section. I personally thought I had improved but the comments keep saying 'need more reflection'.

I have spoken to my tutor who has tried to explain but I'm not sure how I am meant to link it in to my assignments when they vary from 'Social Policy' to Interpersonal Communication (with a child ob, psychology and families assignments thrown in)

 

My latest assignment is Work Related learning and Personal Plan and Development. Feeling bit lost.

 

Any advice happily received.

 

net x

Edited June 7, 2007 by net franklin

[belle06]

Hi Net

I can totally understand where you are coming from I am in the final stretch of my FD finish in October and have had major problems with reflection. I have received a lot of advice from people on here and if you search forum posts under reflection and assignments you may find some help. have you also tried searching on Amazon for books on reflection this link is to one of many available reflective practitioner. Hope this is of some help to you Shelley

[Guest]

This is something that I have struggled with all year too. I bought the book that Shelley linked to but found it pretty hard going to be honest. My reflective stuff has all been handed in now though, so I'm going to not think about theorists for a bit!

[hali]

i do know how u feel, coming to the end of my 2nd year (maz will laugh at this) and still cannot critiaclly evaluate!!!!!! very good at description!!!!!...but have come to the conclusion if i cant do it by now there is no hope... just hope i dont need to for EYPS otherwise in real trouble

[louby loo]

Same here, I've just got my results for this unit - just scrapped through! - shame points arn't given for 'discriptive' content- I'd be top of the class!!!

[HappyMaz]

i do know how u feel, coming to the end of my 2nd year (maz will laugh at this) and still cannot critiaclly evaluate!!!!!!

Or type, it seems (how many glasses of wine prior to this post Hali??)

 

Maz

 

PS did you see the note on the flip chart in class last night? "What is critical analysis?" Unfortunately there was no answer...

[hali]

i did notice yes

[Gezabel]

Following this thread with interest and maybe I can help a little bit :wacko:

 

If I had a pound for every time my tutor mentioned critical analysis I would be very rich indeed!!

 

I too was very good at describing but all my assignments wanted more than that, it was seemingly essential to include the much needed reflection and critical analysis. Not only that it was also necessary to 'link' this critical analysis to course material I had read and in particular to theorists (the more the better!)

 

I had many conversations with my tutor about critical analysis and she told me that I was doing it without realising it! I think maybe you could be in the same boat - by that I mean in your daily practice, through years of experience you do actually critically analysis situations in the workplace/chidlren's activities/planning etc etc and you act on it BUT probably like me do not realise that is what you are doing.

 

My experience of doing the FD really made me look at what I do and why, in more detail than I ever have before and it was a real learning curve.

 

As a silly example, I am sure you can think of an activity in your setting that you looked back on and decided that it could have been better if you had done so and so and maybe next time you could vary the activity by removing/adding things. All you have done is look at something, realise it could have been done better/the children would have enjoyed it more and make notes for the future (written or mental ones!) Some would call this evaluation of an activity but what you have actually done is critically analyse

 

For my assignments in my last course for the FD they involved reflecting and critically analysing aspects of research that I had carried out. I was researching what it was like for a child in my setting, looking at my practice through the eyes of the child by using the mosaic approach to research. It was amazing!!!

 

IN my assignments I found I almost had to spell it out to my tutor that I was critcally analysing. I literally put sentances such as ' When critically analysing my research data I found ...' It was there is black and white and she did not have to hunt through my essay looking for the anaylsis as it leapt out of the page! I used lots of similar phrases and in a way it was also to remind myself that I was actually critically analysing.

 

I still find it a difficult term to explain but perhaps you could take what my tutor said to me ' You are doing it so often it has become second nature and you don't realise you are doing it' you just have to get it on paper!

 

How many times do you see something in your setting and instantly react? You don't stop and think 'oh I must just analyse this critically and make a decision' - you just do it almost reflex action sometimes! Perhaps the harder part is true reflection - really looking at what you do and why, what is your underpinning ethos, why is your ethos what it is, does it relate to or reflect any theorists?

 

OK probably prattled enough and most of this relates to critically analysing your practice. I am not sure what your assignments entail and I think FD assignments vary from University to university.

 

Hope it might help and if you want to be more specific about what you are trying to critically analyse I can try again

[Guest]

Thank you all for your advice.

 

I think one of the main issues for my foundation degree was that reflection has only been mentioned not looked at and now we have to use our knowledge (not much) of reflection and critical analysis and link it to the theorists such as Ghaye and Ghaye and their spiral model and Schon. Before last week I had never even heard of the spiral model.

Ah well, I suppose that is independant learning for you. Read, Read, Read.

 

Net x

Edited June 12, 2007 by net franklin

[Gezabel]

HI

I am sure you have enough reading material but I have just looked at what I still have on my computer. This was saved in my favourites and I returned to it many times! Just thought you might find it useful:

 

http://wwwedu.oulu.fi/homepage/elkronqv/artikkel/acei01.htm

[Guest]

Thank you all.

 

Net x