Developing your reflection skills and reflective writing

Jude Preston

By the end of the sessions you will be able to:

• Explain what good reflection and reflective writing is;

• Adapt and use reflection tools and a simple checklist to improve their reflection and reflective writing

Objectives

What is Reflection?

What is Reflection?

Consciously looking at and thinking about our experiences, actions, feelings and responses and then interpreting them, in order to learn from them

(Boud et al., 1994).

Why is reflection important?

Why is reflection important?

Kolb (1984)

WHAT?1. Description. What happened?

SO WHAT?

2. Interpretation. What is important, interesting or useful about the event or idea? How can it be explained? How is it similar to (or different from) others?

NOW WHAT?

3. Outcome. What have I learnt from this? What does this mean for my future development?

Borton’s Reflective Model

What?

So what?

Now what?

Borton’s reflective model –more questions to help with each stage

...happened?…was my reaction?…did I observe?…did I do?…did I want to achieve?

…is the purpose of this reflection?…were the effects?…did I feel?…can I learn?…does this tell me about me?…other interpretations are there?

…is the main learning I can take from this?…could the consequences be?…actions can I take?…can I do to make things better?…would I do in a similar situation?…do I feel?

This is useful for longer pieces of reflective writing

Gibbs (1988) as explained in Williams.K et al (2012). Reflective Writing. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Gibbs’ 6 Stage Reflective Cycle

Description What happened? Feelings

What were you

thinking and feeling?

EvaluationWhat was good

and bad about the

experience? AnalysisWhat sense can

you make of the

situation?

ConclusionWhat else could

you have done?

Action PlanIf it arose again

what would you

do?

Whilst some features of descriptive writing are necessary, your reflections and reflective assignments should demonstrate more critical and analytical features.

Adapted from Cottrell, S. (2003) The Study Skills Handbook (2ndEd). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Reflection involves analysis and evaluation.

• Think about a challenge that you experienced in your undergraduate degree

• Jot down a couple of sentences or bullet points in response to the question in each stage

Work on this individually to get used to writing simple reflections. Are you ready? You have 5 minutes to complete this task

Activity 1 – Using Borton’s model of reflection to practise reflective writing

Write down a couple of bullet

points

Write down a couple of bullet

points

Write down a couple of bullet

points

What? ...happened?…was my reaction?…did I observe?…did I do?…did I want to achieve?

So what? …were the effects?…did I feel?…can I learn?…does this tell me about me?…other interpretations are there?

Now what? …is the main learning I can take from this?…could the consequences be?…actions can I take?…would I do in a similar situation?…do I feel?

Is this description, interpretation or outcome?

The dynamic of my group was very good. I think this is because we collectively agreed on the division of work between us, we were all focused on producing a quality output, and every member put adequate effort into the task.

The group meeting started with a disagreement about the tasks to be completed. It made me think that the group would fail.

In future group work, I will spend more time getting to know my fellow team members.

During my dissertation I developed skills in project management

Language for reflective practice

Previously,At the time,

At first, Initially,

Subsequently,Later,

Alternatively, Equally,

For me, the most…

.meaningful,

.significant,

.important,

.relevant,

.useful

.aspect(s)

.element (s)

.experience(s)

.issue(s)

.idea(s)

.was / were….

.thought (did not think)

.felt (did not feel)

.knew (did not know)

.noticed (did not notice)

.questioned (did not question)

.realised (did not realise)

I

.might be..

.is perhaps..

.could be..

.probably..

This…

.because of..

.due to..

.explained by..

.related to..

Language for reflective practice

• Next time maybe I could…• In hindsight, I could have…• When faced with this situation again…• I could have…• I feel it went well because…• In future I will try to…• I think…• I feel…• Overall, I think / feel…• I could consider…• Could I have…?• Did I…?• I am going to…..

Reflective writing Checklist:Characteristics of good reflective writing

Questioning ideas or considering them in depth Seeing things from more than one point of view – taking into

account views and motives of others Recognising how prior experience affects the way we behave Standing back from the event, seeing the ‘bigger picture’ Assessing external information and how it affects the person’s

behaviour Showing connections between ideas Recognising that how the person sees things can change

• focuses on the question and answers the question• critical thinking and analysis are important• the writing should be organised into paragraphs with

accurate sentence structure• discussion should be clear and coherent• uses a professional style – i.e. avoids slang • uses examples

Reflective writing, just like core academic writing…

Activity 2: Use the writing checklist with your written planning tools, and perhaps your profession’s development planner

Using the good reflective writing checklist:

• Record which skills and competences you need to improve;• Why do you need to improve them?

• First add evidence / descriptions of things which have happened.

• Then add your interpretation of what happened: how did the experience make you feel, and help you to realise you have a developmental need there?

• What is the outcome of your reflection? What needs to change or be improved, and how will you achieve this?

• What do you think you might add?

I’ve got the self-awareness and evidence I need to manage my development

I’ve got some great stories and evidence to show that I can make a difference

• Set up a way to reflect regularly that suits you• Set time aside to do it.• Collect ‘evidence’ as you go along

How will reflection help me develop my career?

• Review the models and tools we’ve used today:• Gibb’s 6 stage reflective cycle• Borton 3 stage cycle • Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle• Johns’ Model of Structured Reflection• Cotterell model to generate critical thinking

• Language for reflective practice – key words and phrases• Reflective writing checklist – how can you use it?

• Ask for help if you need it!

What next?

Questions and comments?

Follow-up reading

Here is a link to a useful article about how reflection makes a huge difference in patient carehttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/317703711_Reflective_practice_in_health_care_and_how_to_reflect_effectively

Also, reflective practice in the conservation profession https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/8808485.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317703711_Reflective_practice_in_health_care_and_how_to_reflect_effectivelyhttps://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/8808485.pdf