Reflective Writing

1
Reflective Writing

• Adapted from Thurgate C (2007) Foundation Degree
  core presentation

2

• What is reflection
• Models of reflection
• Features of reflective writing
• Styles and strategies for reflective writing
• Undertaking reflective writing
• Becoming a reflective practitioner

3
What is reflection?

• Reflection is a thoughtful consideration of
  experience which leads to decisions on what the
  experience means.
• Constructing and assigning meaning to experiences
  gives the possibility of looking at experience
  from another point of view.
• Reflection can show critical analysis and
  evaluation of knowledge and skills for role

4
Reflective Practice

• Reflective practice - learn by thinking about
  things that have happened and seeing them in
  different ways, enabling some kind of action to
  be taken

Experience
Action
Reflection
ERA Cycle of Reflective Practice
5

• Description
• What happened?

Action Plan If it arose again what would you do?
Feelings What were you thinking/feeling?
Evaluation What was good and bad?
Conclusion What else could you have done?
Analysis What sense can you make of it?
Gibbs Reflective Cycle - 1988
6
Bortons development framework (1970)

• What happened, was I doing, were others doing
  identify experience and describe the detail
• So what more do I need to know to understand
  this, could I have done differently analyse and
  interpret
• Now what I need to do to make things better,
  will I do, will be the consequences of my actions
  explore alternatives and plan thoughtful action

7
Johns Model (1994 version)

• Describe experience what affected me,
  significance to me, key process
• Reflection trying to achieve, why my actions,
  consequences to me and others, feelings for me
  and others
• Influences internal and external on decision
  making, knowledge base used
• How to deal with this better choices and
  consequences for all concerned
• Learning feelings, future work, changed ways of
  knowing (evidence, ethics, own development,
  interpretation of experience for professional
  role)

8
What is reflective writing?

• Involves engaging in, and completing the
  reflective cycle using writing processes to help
  learning.
• Primary purpose learning to enable a
  different or deeper, understanding of what
  experiences mean.

9

• Gives a transformative nature to writing in
  that it adds to the way in which experiences are
  viewed

10
Features of reflective writing

• 1. Reason we are writing
• Time and space respond to a stimulus
• Deliberate and purposeful commit self to
  identify learning and frame action
• Make commitment to content and process of writing

11
Features of reflective writing cont.

• 2. How writing can help order our thoughts
• Impose some order on the content
• Prioritise and identify what is important
• Forced to acknowledge issues that may be ignored
• Put hierarchical order to issues that are
  significant to self
• Enables working through the issues
• Personal process that allows you to work
  systematically through a process of reflection

12
Features of reflective writing cont.

• 3. The purpose of creating a permanent record
• Provides a fuller picture of what has gone on
• Record what memory allows us to remember at the
  time
• Allows the event to be put away for consideration
  at a later date
• Can not forget or ignore events

13
Features of reflective writing cont.

• 4. Creativity through writing
• Helps integrate disparate information sets into
  new combinations, enabling a different
  perspective on an issue to be taken.
• May lead to creative thinking, where actions are
  not only justified and actions defended, but
  development of new understandings and
  perspectives are achieved or understanding of
  past situations are seen in a different light.

14
Features of reflective writing cont,

• 5. Using writing to develop analytical skills
• Achieved through breaking down things through a
  framework or specific structure that the
  experience didnt possess.

15
Features of reflective writing cont.

• 6. Using writing to develop critical thinking
• Critical thinking involves problem solving,
  reasoning in considering opposing viewpoints and
  an attitude of enquiry.
• Components are
• Identifying and challenging assumptions of
  knowledge, paradigm or experience
• Recognising the importance of situational context
• Exploring and imagining alternative viewpoints
• Reflective scepticism seek alternative evidence

16
Features of reflective writing - summary

• Using writing to develop new understanding and
  knowledge
• Using writing to show that you understand the
  situation you are looking at
• Using the first person it your reflection

17
Analytical strategies for reflective writing

• Step back from the incident and take an objective
  view
• Incorporate processes of analysis and synthesis
  within your writing.
• Attempt to balance and evaluate all features of
  the experience or event.

18
Time out

• Use a reflective cycle model for an incident that
  has recently occurred at work.

19
Becoming a reflective practitioner

• 1. Practical wisdom
• 2. Reflexivity
• 3. Becoming mindful (a window looking out at lots
  of ways of seeing situations)
• 4. Commitment open and curious
• 5. Contradiction learn from the negative
• 6. Understanding of social norms, authority and
  previous learning

20
Becoming a reflective practitioner cont.

• 7. empowerment
• reconstructing
• reorientation
• developing a voice through others, own inner
  voice, social voice, separate and objective voice
• (Johns 2004)

21
References

• Jasper M (2003) Beginning reflective Practice
  Cheltenham Nelson Thornes
• Johns C (2004) (2nd ed.) Becoming a reflective
  practitioner Oxford Blackwell