Reflective practice is a thinking process associated with professional practice. It relies on being able to observe or note aspects of your professional practice and spend some time thinking about them or in other words reflecting.

Reflective practice usually results in one of several outcomes

1. You become conscious of the particular practice you are observing and upon reflection decide that it is a good practice. Because you are more conscious of the practice you are then able to use that practice in other situations. This is called affirming your practice.
2. You become conscious of the particular practice you are observing and upon reflection, even though you think it is currently a good practice, the act of reflection allows you to become better at it.
3. This is called improving your practice. You become conscious of a particular practice and decide upon reflection that it is not a helpful practice and you try to change it. This is called disconfirming your practice.

What is observation?
A starting point for reflecting on professional practice is beginning to observe what it is you do when you undertake your professional practice. This can be thought of as like being the camera operator for a documentary about you and your profession. Making observations is like taking extensive camera footage.

Reflective Practice was first though about by John Dewey, one of the most significant thinkers about education in the 20th century.

You can read more about John Dewey at the following web site
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-dewey.htm

Just thinking at this stage
what are five things you can observe in the situation you are in at the moment?
What are five things you can observe about yourself in this situation?

Making sense of observations
Once we have observations we can then begin to make sense of these. Often this is done with reference to "common" sense or experience. People rely on their own knowledge and access to theories that have accumulated over time. In professional life it is also worthwhile to access contemporary knowledge about the particular observations and this can help us to make sure our practice is always in line with current thinking. Contemporary knowledge can be accessed through a range of sources including professional development, professional journals and specialist (hard or electronic) books and resources.

The Learning Cycle
David Kolb, an educational writer, presented John Dewey's concepts on reflective practice in the form of a model that he described as - The Learning Cycle.

1. Experiencing or immersing oneself in the "doing" of a task is the first stage in which the individual, team or organization simply carries out the task assigned. the engaged person is usually not reflecting on the task as this time, but carrying it out with intention.
2. Reflection involves stepping back from task involvement and reviewing what has been done and experienced. The skills of attending, noticing differences, and applying terms helps identify subtle events and communicate them clearly to others. One's paradigm (values, attitudes, values, beliefs) influences whether one can differentiate certain events. One's vocabulary is also influential, since without words, it is difficult to verbalize and discuss ones perceptions.
3. Conceptualization involves interpreting the events that have been noticed and understanding the relationships among them. It is at this stage that theory may be particularly helpful as a template for framing and explaining events. One's paradigm again influences the interpretive range a person is willing to entertain.
4. Planning enables taking the new understanding and translates it into predictions about what is likely to happen next or what actions should be taken to refine the way the task is handled.

Source : http://www.css.edu/users/dswenson/web/PAGEMILL/Kolb.htm

The Reflective Practitioner
Teachers, as one of many professionals, use Reflective Practice to improve their teaching practice.

In contemporary times the author Donald Schon has adapted many of Dewey's ideas into a concept called The Reflective Practitioner.

You can find additional information on The Reflective Practitioner Here or use google.

Donald Schon's Presentation "Educating the Reflective Practitioner"

One of the ways we can document our observations of professional practice is through the use of a journal. A journal is a written notation of what you have observed.

The observations can be observations that you are making on your current life.

There are many different ways of keeping a journal. In this course we are using what is called guided reflection. Guided reflection involves being directed to particular issues and writing about them. A journal can also include your reflections on your observations or just notes.

In this project we will be using an online journal to keep our notes. record reflections on the observations we have made. You can log on here

Journal Entry
Now try logging on to your journal. You could start your entry with the words…..
When I think back on my own experiences of learning……

Making sense of your observations

Whenever we make observations we are also making sense of those observations. We make sense of them by drawing on bodies of knowledge. Often that knowledge is our 'common sense' or experience. Sometimes the bodies of knowledge can be theories about learning or teaching.

Journal Entry
What are the bodies of teaching and learning knowledge that you use to make sense of your professional (teaching) observations?