Responding to Finlay

Captivated

Overall, what I am most captivated by in the Finlay article are the deficits I can see within my own practice.  I am a very reflective teacher but I feel as if so many opportunities are missed within my school. 

For example, at the close of each term, I am asked to reflect before planning for the term ahead.  As Finlay writes I “engage in solitary introspection” (p. 2) which is then handed into management and never spoken about again.  We are asked to reflect on action as outlined by Schon but we never share these reflections.  Reflecting in isolation, I am alone with my thoughts.  There are no opportunities to reflect with colleagues, to gain their insight or expertise. 

Off the top of my head, I can think of 5 wasted opportunities where we could have built in some processes to gain insight through reflection in action.  For example, we trialled new report cards which developed through a number of models, we missed the opportunity to create a shared doc where teachers could have shared thoughts, ideas or comments as we proceeded.  No one can remember what insightful observation they made Tuesday last week.  I find it difficult to reflect in action and have enough time to process what is happening without feeling ineffective or unsettled. I prefer to be over prepared but I am flexible to stop if something is not working well I just need a pause in order to do that. 

As a staff when we began the undertaking to develop the report cards, I reflected upon how useful it would be to collect all of our thoughts as we worked on reporting back to parents.  I shared this idea with other staff and we all nodded our heads in agreement and then none of us did anything about it.  I did not record my findings as I went along, management did not inquiry about any issues  until months had passed, no one recorded reflections in action and as a consequence when the second development phase loomed we could not recall what we wanted altered on the final report.  We had missed another opportunity to use reflections in a practical application. 

Mirror Mirror

Holding up the mirror to myself I would say that I am most comfortable reflecting post action. I think most teachers retrace their day and examine what went well and what didn’t.  Most reflection I would suppose is singular.

I relish the opportunities to reflect with others as well.  We use to have mixed level teams where we could reflect and talk to one another and hash out the wherefores.  Those days are few and far between as the term comes to a close yet again.  This circle of colleagues was safe and everyone had the opportunity to speak honestly and our group had a collegial way of working out problems.  This is not true of all staff.  Levels of professionalism vary. 

I hope that each teacher would have a colleague which they could turn to and talk with who offers sage advice and a touch of reality.  I have that and I exercise my right to reflect with her whenever I need to examine, critique or develop my own practice.  I hope that I do the same for her. I think the majority of my reflection involves looking inward and conversation or venting.  

Whilst in the thick of it I find it difficult to remember the reflections at a later time.  Reflections in action feel more like reactions and adjustments to actions than reflections. 

References

Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on ‘Reflective practice’. Open University, Practice-based professional

learning centre. Retrieved June 16, 2015, from http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/files/opencetl/file/ecms/web-content/Finlay-%282008%29-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf