Task 2c Reflective Theory

What is reflective practice? ‘Reflective practice is the capacity to reflect on action so as to engage in a process of continuous learning.’ Description which I found when typed into Wikipedia. 
This was a term that I was not very familiar with previous to these studies, however after my research into the subject through the extended reading lists, I have found my own relationship with reflective practice in my personal working and volunteering life.

Making a connection with the term is somewhat the most challenging part with many conflicting and also complementary studies allowing you to change opinions almost instantly. However after taking to my journal to compare my own experiences with these suggested theories, i came up with what i think is a simple sentence to describe Reflective Practise;
Reflective Practise is defined as a contemplation of actions with a view and enthusiasm to improve it.

Teaching Pilates classes, I always use reflection as a way to improve on my classes. I cannot go in to the same group of people week after week and teach exactly the same exercises without them getting bored and not improving. Reflection allows me to see how the group reacted to different ideas that I may have tried, and I always write what worked and what didn't work down in my note book to look back on for the future. So as Dewey (1933) was the first educationalist to highlight the importance and value of incorporating reflective thinking into your own personal practice, I was already doing this without even realising the study even existed. To explore this idea more, I want to point out that most professionals no matter what the area of expertise may be will use Reflective Practise for their own good without even realising it. Having said this, most of the theories that I have discovered and am about to evaluate are just that — theories, and do not necessarily research the based enquiries, which can make the subject area a very broad one to say the least.

I read an interesting quote from Graham McFee who focused his research into finding out our understanding of dance rather than illuminate dance itself. I wanted to share this you have not yet come across it; ‘One must understand what is being defined in order for one to judge oneself the accuracy — definition must be understood.’ (McFee 1992;18) In terms of Dance I can understand why some people just turn up, complete a performance and then go home. There is so much more to that in every aspect of the dance repertoire, and as a performer myself I know that for any piece that I was performing it was important for me to understand if there was any particular character that I needed to be portraying and tell a story though the use of dance rather than speech which I think some find difficult to grasp. As a professional I certainly agree with McFee in that you must understand what you are defining in order to have accuracy. Taking it from another view, teaching something that I do not understand to a classroom full of students would be unacceptable and most would agree with this, but do we believe that every profession needs to have this take on it? Dance is an expressive art and some would argue that they turn up to a class not knowing what they are going to be doing but just want to find that sense of release from their own personal life, and taking this along with other situations into consideration can possibly help you be versatile as a professional.

Linking experiences and feeling full engagement in what you are doing can arguably make someone fit in, and become part of society. John Dewey (1934 art as experience) research focuses on exactly that, and has highlighted this importance to use reflective thinking into your own professional practice. Experiences happen through life, as you grow older you do naturally feel more experienced and knowledgeable. This can of course depend on how you as a person react and if you are willing to take on new experiences and feel full engagement. Individuals with a higher education may adapt to this more than those without this type of upbringing. In terms of dance, having gone to my local dance school since the age of 3, it became second nature that 3 evenings after school I would be taken to dancing for a couple of hours. This helped me gain new skills, new friends and most importantly it was something I began to fall in love with. If you have a passion for something at a young age it does begin to shine through and you learn that the subject with always draw your full attention in which in turn can lead to success in the future. As I reflect back now I can see how Dewey’s theory became important to me only now when reflecting back. Having used dance as a continuum in my life would play a major part in this as I can now understand how taking those dance classes seriously and feeling the will to learn and progress, has played importance now in my reflective practise on others that I now teach.

Many scientists that I have come across during my research have originally studied in one subject but have found themselves exploring other areas. For example, Kurt Lewin studied medicine but became famous for his analysis on social change. I found this interesting as the diagram is very self explanatory and shows how it became a building foundation for the Environmental Learning Theory (ELT).
The diagram shows 3 different stages that occur when change happens, Change is a very dangerous subject because many people hate change and other thrive off it, but in todays world and society change is happening all the time. My favourite understanding of this theory was something I found online from a website called mindtools.com. It explained the theory as so;

If you have a large cube of ice, but realise that what you want is a cone of ice, what do you do? First you must melt the ice to make it amenable to change (unfreeze). Then you must mold the iced water into the shape you want (change). Finally, you must solidify the new shape (refreeze).

By looking at change as process with distinct stages, you can prepare yourself for what is coming and make a plan to manage the transition – looking before you leap, so to speak. All too often, people go into change blindly, causing much unnecessary turmoil and chaos.
To begin any successful change process, you must first start by understanding why the change must take place. As Lewin put it, "Motivation for change must be generated before change can occur. One must be helped to re-examine many cherished assumptions about oneself and one's relations to others." This is the unfreezing stage from which change begins.

My experiences of dancing aboard the cruise ships feels very familiar to this theory. Nearly every week we would have a dancer go down sick or with an injury due to the intensity of the work and shows. Having to re-block a whole show in a matter of 30 minutes sometimes became a regular occurrence and the sheer panic would just add to the adrenaline when it was curtain up! The 1st freeze stage would be to realise what you have to do to make the dance number work -if it was a group number for example re shuffle the staging so that it wouldn’t look odd. 2nd change stage would be executing the intended change so making sure you understand where you new place may be on the stage during that number, and the 3rd stage being refreeze would be making sure this change becomes permanent in everyones minds and ensure that no-one can go wrong!

Using Kolbs leaning cycle has made me realise what areas of my life have allowed me to enter the cycle at different stages. Dancing aboard the cruise ships started off with a very gruelling month of rehearsals whereby we had to learn 4 shows that were 1 hour long each. Every night we had to attend the shows to watch the old cast perform and this was a tool for us to use for learning, therefore the Observation/Reflection stage would be where I entered. Training professionally to teach Pilates I had to learn many more skills which involved a more personal approach to individuals, correction and finding out so much about different postures which I didn't know existed and more importantly finding out that I can help them would allow me to plan and try out what I had learnt on other people so I would enter the cycle at the Active/Experimental stage for this area of my profession.
Concluding what I have found out personally is that I have had to adapt what I a learning to how I am going to be portraying it — wether it be as a teacher or as a performer as both can show similar qualities but using Klobs cycle opened my eyes into how the point at whereby you start to learn and find meaning to your subject is the point of your entry. This is a fantastic tool for reflection as Klob stated ‘“Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (Kolb, 1984, p. 38).

References;

www.mindtools.com

Reader 2 Middlesex university (2004)

Dewey John 1934 Art as experience

Mc Fee (1992:18)

Klob (1984, p.38)