Aracelie_Reflecting on Reflections_23 Mar

Posted by on March 22, 2010 
Filed under Reflections

In our 16 Mar class, Darren gave us handouts containing general guidelines for writing reflection papers.  Although we have been doing these writings for the entire course, this was our first exposure [in this class] to examples of what a reflection might look like to be most beneficial for our practice.  Our task for this week was to look back at our previous contributions and using some or all of the given guidelines, critique our method of reflection used so far this semester.

I feel like I have done an okay job on my posts, but not stellar.  Looking back at my entries, I recognize a few things.  When posting, I did try to follow questions similar to that of the Rough Guide – What happened?  What was important about it?  What do  you do with it?  Each time, I would start writing, I had no problem summarizing events.  Figuring out something significant was slightly harder to do.  Determining what to do next was the most difficult piece every time.  I don’t practice teaching, so it was almost as if I would have to translate most of what we are doing into something related to my job before I could come up with the “now what?”

Additionally, I noticed that I prefer to do my reflections in stages.  First, I take some notes in class that I think of as little sparks.  Almost immediately after class, I phrase a few initial sentences.  Finally, I let it stew for a few days, before putting it all together in prose format.  The more time I have to reflect, the better the reflection seems to be.  My most recent posts are shorter than my first two because I had the time to focus on the former and complete the stages I just mentioned.

I also realize I feel more comfortable than I did my first few weeks.  I was a little afraid to post things on the blog because I did not have an example to follow.  Plus, I had entered a brand new field that I felt I knew very little about.  Not a very good feeling when you are used to knowing what you are talking about.  Luckily, I also feel that I have enough learned material in class to where I do not have as many “definition/meaning” questions.

Now that I have been through the entire process several times, I find it is much better to put yourself  “out there” (professionally speaking, of course) when it comes to reflection.  That seems to be beneficial in generating more  questions for the blog entries and the classroom discussions.  I also know that the “Now what?” will always be the hard part because we don’t always know what else is out there.  As it has been said before, “You don’t know what you don’t know.”

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