Reflective Writing in SLT

Assignment Requirements

What is effective reflective writing?

Analysis of examples of Reflective Writing

WHAT IS EFFECTIVE REFLECTIVE WRITING?

• Reports concisely and clearly a learning experience

DESCRIPTIVE

• Explains how the experience (including both successes and failures) contributed to your learning

• Identifies objectives for consolidating your learning and filling any gaps you have become aware of

ANALYTICAL

• Makes connections between this learning experience and the ‘bigger picture’ of your professional development

• Explores tensions or contradictions in applying principles in practical contexts

DEEPER

CRITICAL

REFLECTIVE WRITING EXAMPLE 1(focusing on academic writing competency)

I received 4 out of 5 marks for presentation, with an ‘excellent’ comment on my reference list and only one negative comment (on my formatting of tables and figures). I interpret this as evidence that I am progressing well in the formal aspects of SLT writing, though I need to extend my knowledge of APA conventions for the presentation of data. However, the overall B+ grade and comments that my analysis lacked ‘depth’ and ‘flow’ mean that I need to focus more on the rhetorical, rather than the mechanical aspects, of my writing. From a practical perspective, I attribute the weaknesses in my final draft to rushing the ‘writing-up’ stage and restricting my revisions to surface aspects of the text, rather than focusing more critically on the quality of my argument. In retrospect, I also realise that not discussing or receive feedback on my draft may account for the lack of depth and flow – at a deeper level these are both manifestations of my lack of a clear sense of engagement with the reader as I write and revise my text.

DESCRIPTIVE:

• Reports concisely and clearly a learning experience

I received 4 out of 5 marks for presentation, with an ‘excellent’ comment on my reference list and only one negative comment (on my formatting of tables and figures).

….. However, the overall B+ grade and comments that my analysis lacked ‘depth’ and ‘flow’ ……

ANALYTICAL

• Explains how the experience (including both successes and failures) contributed to your learning

• Identifies objectives for consolidating your learning and filling any gaps you have become aware of

I interpret this as evidence that ….

I attribute these ….. to

…… which may account for

I need to ………….

I’m progressing well in ……, though I need to extend my knowledge of …..

I need to develop ‘deeper’ …….

In retrospect, I also realise that …

…. at a deeper level these are both manifestations of ….

CRITICAL

• Makes connections between this learning experience and the ‘bigger picture’ of your professional development

• Explores tensions or contradictions in applying principles in practical contexts

• describing (telling the story) of experiences – without analysis

• wallowing in (or avoiding) self-criticism

• making claims about learning etc which are not supported by evidence

• clumsily applying ‘rules’ (e.g. impersonality) from other kinds of writing

COMMON WEAKNESSES IN REFLECTIVE WRITING

reflective writing skills are required to satisfy various COMPASS criteria

… either directly:3.1 Reflects on performance;3.2 Structures own learning/professional development;3.3 Demonstrates an appropriate attitude to learning;3.4 Able to change performance.

… or indirectly:1.1 Uses effective thinking skills to ensure quality speech pathology practice;4.4 Possesses a professional attitude/orientation;7.4 Develops personal growth and professional identity as a speech pathologist.

REFLECTIVE WRITING IN SLT

REFLECTIVE WRITING ASSIGNMENT

You need to include a reflection on your learning in each ‘range of practice’ page in myPortfolio (speech, language, voice, fluency, swallowing and multimodal communication)

Each of your six reflections will consist of a few paragraphs summarising what you’ve learnt, how you’ve learnt it, and what you need to learn in relation to the particular range of practice

You’ll need to refer to the most relevant learning experiences in Years 1 and 2 of the course, choosing from lectures, reading, assignments, observations, clinic placements etc

• Write a range of practice at the top of a page

• Review the various potential sources of learning you’ve experienced (e.g. Relevant lectures on Anatomy & Physiology, Communication Disorders , Ethical & Professional Practice, Treaty of Waitangi etc; Reading; Observations; Videos; Clinic)

• Note down a few key things you learnt about this range of practice and how you learnt them

• Note down a few key problems, gaps, or difficulties you have experienced in this range of practice: What caused them? How did they affect you? What did you do about them? Did that work?

WRITING TIPS

• Review the seven CBOS Units and add various codes (3.1; 4.2 etc) to some of the key things you’ve learnt and the problems you’ve had in this range of practice

• Highlight the CBOS Units which you have as yet learnt little or nothing about in this range of practice

• Look ahead at Year 3 and note down any opportunities to consolidate CBOS Units you have begun to develop and to fill in some of your gaps

• Think about some other things you could do independently to develop in this range of practice in Year 3

• Structure your reflection around three to four paragraphs - for example:

• An overview of your competency development in this range of practice

• A summary of one or two learning experiences (including a focus on some personal difficulty / challenge) that have contributed to specific (coded) CBOS competencies in this range of practice

• A ‘bigger picture’ insight – e.g. how this learning links to your overall professional development or understanding of SLT in a NZ/Aotearoa context

• Specific learning objectives for this range of practice in Y3, together with how you plan to achieve them

REFLECTIVE WRITING EXAMPLE 2(based on a teaching placement)

The most significant changes in my reading development competency were in management of extensive reading (3.1), devising tasks for learner autonomy (3.5) and integrating classroom reading into communicative lessons (3.7).

These changes were facilitated by the more supportive environment and greater access to resources in my second placement. The supervising teacher spent time helping me to plan my instructions and materials and also made very useful comments to me while I was observing her practice (J1). The improved ratings in these categories provide quantitative evidence of my progress – in particular, 3.5 was ‘below standard’ in two earlier assessments, whereas in this placement, both lessons were rated ‘above standard’ on this category (R1/R2). The supervisor’s reference to the ‘highly communicative’ quality of my lessons provides further qualitative evidence for my development (S2/3).

REFLECTIVE WRITING EXAMPLE 2

The role which the supportive environment and mentoring have played in my learning during this placement have made me realise that learning concepts such as Vygotsky’s (1978) Zone of Proximal Development and Bruner’s (1978) Scaffolding, which I had previously only thought of in relation to children’s learning are equally applicable to my own professional growth. The experience also reinforced for me the value of the Maori concept of ‘Ako’ (Ministry of Education, 2008), in which teaching and learning are framed as one, holistic process of personal and social growth.

Next semester, I need to develop my competence in management of in-class reading activities (3.2) through my placement; before this, I will assemble a portfolio of resources in collaboration with other trainees. I also need to develop my competency in assessment of reading skills (3.4). This will be the focus of my pre-semester research.

SUMMARY

• Treat reflective writing in the same way as other professional competencies which you need to develop through practice, guidance, example, feedback and experiment.

• Aim for a balance of factual, evidence-based description and analytical writing , linked to COMPASS

• Aim to make connections between specific events, issues, contexts and the ‘bigger picture’ of SLT theory and practice

• Bear in mind, that more than anything else, reflective writing is supposed to be about LEARNING – and to be a learning process

• So, the best way to check if you are doing it right is to ask yourself, while you are doing it: Am I learning?

• Just as in clinical writing, aim for clarity and conciseness