Task 2c- Reflective Theory

Reflective practice is a way of studying your own experiences to improve the way you work. It is very useful for health professionals who want to carry on learning throughout their lives. The act of reflection is a great way to increase confidence and become a more proactive and qualified professional.
After doing my own bit of research into several practitioners i have realised that there are so many different methods of reflective practise, there isn't necessarily a right or wrong method it really depends on the person and the situation. Ive hand selected a few practitioners that i have researched in detail.

My first practitioner is Jenny Moon
Jenny Moon (1999) outlines five stages of learning;

Stage 1: Noticing	The student has to register the topic, event or incident as being interesting or important in some way.
Stage 2: Making sense	The student thinks more about what they have noticed and tries to understand it better.
Stage 3: Making meaning	The student starts to ask questions and to connect ideas together.
Stage 4: Working with meaning	The student makes links with other ideas and events. They would probably refer to literature and other research. At this point, reflection on the learning is likely to be taking place.
Stage 5: Transformative learning	The student has reached the point where they can formulate new ideas of their own. They know what they would do if a similar situation arose in the future.

Jenny Moon finds that keeping learning journals to document her teaching is more beneficial for her students as they adapt to learn something that wasn't necessarily the target teaching point.

J.Dewey recommends using a structured day by day diary to then analyse the situation in hand, to then take a step back and to ask yourself why you responded the way you did? what is your main goal? did you act in the most ethical way? Dewey also writes about the wonder of childhood and how children are always 'reaching,grabbing,poking,pushing into things.' He describes children as 'open-minded' and aren't afraid to do anything. By mid-life our minds become more uncertain and unknown.

Gibbs’ model was developed from an earlier theoretical model; David Kolb’s 4 stage experiential learning cycle (1984).

 Although Kolbs is sometimes referred to as experimental learning, Gibbs is often referred to as iterative learning. The main aim of Gibbs reflective cycle is to link practise and theory, so overtime with enough repetition you will add knowledge into everyday life and you will be able to evaluate situations without realising you are using your six step cycle knowledge. This cycle is probably the format i am most used to using not just at drama school but for everyday situations. I feel i already use this when I'm on my way home from work or when I'm just having some 'me' time i can reflect on situations and ask myself these questions to work out if I'm happy with the outcome. I like the use of this cycle as once you reach the end you could easily start the six steps again with a different scenario, to make it never ending.


I really like the workings of Rolfe, his reflective theory is asking yourself 3 questions;so what?
now what? 
then what?
This theory was originally made by Terry Borton in 1970 but has been adapted since then by Gary Rolfe in 2001.
The objective is for what?
to describe a situation 
then for so what?
to scrutinise a situation fully breaking down every part
then for now what?
Which is the construction of knowledge past and present
This format has recently been used in hospital work and care work.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this task as i didnt even know that a lot of theories even existed. I hope to use as many as i can in my everyday journal and i hope to find out which theories work best for me as i know not all of them will be successful but i will document to everyone which ones have worked the most effectively for myself.

Bibliography
http://my.cumbria.ac.uk/Public/LISS/Documents/skillsatcumbria/ReflectiveModelRolfe.pdf
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/campuslife/services/disability/onlineresources/StudyGuides/Using
https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/08/18/how-we-think-john-dewey/
http://skillsforlearning.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/preview/content/models/06.shtml
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflective_practice
https://www.brightknowledge.org/knowledge-bank/medicine-and-healthcare/spotlight-on-medicine/what-is-reflective-practice