Reflective practice in education is a term “often used specifically to indicate an essential stage in the learning process where a difficult and deliberate process of thinking and inferring a situation is undertaken in order to arrive at a deeper understanding of event and our position there”( Khanam, 2015, as cited in Zahid and Khanam, 2019, pg. 34).

The concept of Reflective Practice has been something that has come naturally to an over-analyser/over-thinker like me. During my earlier teaching years, in Early Childhood settings, collaborative reflection meetings were a common theme, to untangle our diverse and ever changing array of communication and planning needs. This usually meant small teams of teachers in deep, responsive and critical discussions. Again, in my Primary degree, this practice was established in reflection journals, kept during our Professional Experience sessions. Theses, more personal practice observations were used in one to one meeting with prac coordinators to enhance the meaningful contributions that reflective practice makes to ones professional judgements and decision making.

And again, this concept of Reflective Practice has evolved even further. In my last six years, as a busy and overloaded primary school teacher, Reflective Practice has acquired a more casual coating, you could say. The once a week staff meetings are often packed with more practical decision making and administrative tasks, leaving the chance for critical reflections for but a few minutes. This never sat right with me and I found myself in morning hallway conversations, coffee room unpacking, playground analysing and long distance phone calls to teaching friends stationed overseas for extra opinions. I found myself on a mission to seek out as much reflection time I could muster. As much as I encourage my students to constantly question everything, I too feel compelled so to do, like an innate way to make sense of all I experience and the ways in which I contribute.

Now, my Reflective Practice journey takes a new turn, though, the idea of using digital technology to communicate such vast experiences and thoughts into the unknown, feels somewhat unnatural and a little foreign. Admittedly, I prefer face to face communication, the chance to hear each other’s voices and intimate thoughts. So, this is somewhat of a new challenge, to face the digital void head on and find a way to connect through devices and screens. Perhaps then, I’ll have something new to share with my own students about how technology can be a tool to bring us together.

 

References

Zahid, M. & Khanam, A. (2019). Effect of Reflective Teaching Practices on the Performance of Prospective Teachers. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology. 18(1), 32-43.