Reflection: A Critical Component of Leadership Margaret (Peg) MacDonald and Jennifer Dove

“The major outcome of the Andrews Leadership Program is an integrated person with a sense of purpose who knows who they are and what they can accomplish” Dr. Shirley Freed

What is Reflection?

Reflection is like _______________ because _______________ ______________________. What is reflection? (words, phrases, etc.) What are the conditions needed for reflection? Think about a time when… Recognizing Reflection Concept Map

Think about a time…..

What conditions promote reflection?

Recognizing Reflection

Aha!Questions/ I wonder… This reminds me of… (Text to Self, Text to Text, Text to World) When writing reflective papers, I need to remember to… Notes on Reflection

Rodin depicts The Thinker as a man in sober meditation battling with a powerful internal struggle. Does reflection always have to be painful, solitary, and passive? What is Reflection?

Cyclical..5 phases: suggestions, problem, hypotheses, reasoning, and testing Involves the state of doubt, hesitation, perplexity, mental difficulty in which thinking originates an act of searching, hunting, inquiring, to find material that will resolve the doubt, settle and dispose of the perplexity The ability to analyze information within a framework of beliefs Dewey,1933

Three levels technical, practical, critical (personal action within socio- historical and political cultural contexts) VanManen,1977 Four stages experience, observation and reflection, abstract reconceptualization, and experimentation Kolb, 1984

Reflection on Action and Reflection in Action “When good jazz musicians improvise together, they similarly display reflection-in-action smoothly integrated into ongoing performance. Listening to one another and listening to themselves, they “feel” where the music is going and adjust their playing accordingly. A figure announced by one performer will be taken up by another, elaborated,and turned into a new melody. Each player makes on-line inventions, and responds to surprises triggered by the inventions of the other players”. Schon, 1987

Reflection for Action Killion & Todnem, 1991 Reflective Judgment The ability of individuals to reason regarding ill-structured problems Stages of Reflective Judgment 1. Pre-reflective 2. Quasi-Reflective 3. Reflective Kitchener & King, 1994

Conditions that Support Reflection Practice, active involvement and meaningful context Modeling of others Culture of learning and reflection Habit of mind Developmental Theory, using concepts from the literature

Reflection and Theory Inform Practice “Theory is a practice that constantly is informing one’s beliefs, actions, and practices.” Jose Alaby

experience observation and reflection Reconceptualize using theory improved practice Interaction of theory, practice and reflection

Theory Constructivist Knowledge is continually reconstructed by individuals and groups The Social Family Model Theorists Dewey,Reflective thinking Phillips, roles in constructivist: active learner, the social learner and the creative learner Vygotsky, Maxine Green, Piaget, Eisner, Clandinine My Practices Multiple sources of data used to verify findings Journals from students, rubrics and reflection all used in teaching My Beliefs There is subjectivity in both quantitative and qualitative methodologies and when recognized and put in context, this is fine for research or evaluation purposes Philosophy Pragmatism Any design may be useful for illumination Reality is interpreted, negotiated and consensual Existentialism REFLECTIVE RESEARCHER

Purpose of Reflection in the Educational Leadership Program IDP Development: Determine goals and vision, document competencies Competency Demonstration: Summative papers on competencies and on practice Portfolio Presentation: Integration of competencies with each other and with your practice Dissertation: Literature review, determination of methodology, analysis of data Take a minute and decide your purpose for reflection

Recognizing Reflection A good reflection should  Consider multiple perspectives  Include a variety of data/evidence  Evaluate information across different contexts  Inform practice  Demonstrate changes in own knowledge, repertoire, and practice  Re-evaluate when there is new data or evidence  Interpret information using evaluated opinions of reputable others: theory, concepts

Let’s look at some examples of leadership competency reflections

“Thinking critically involves our recognizing the assumptions underlying our beliefs and behaviors. It means we can give justifications for our ideas and actions” Stephen D. Brookfield Developing Critical Thinkers Jossey-Bass, S.F., 1987

Write on your notes page some things that you might want to remember when reflecting What is your metaphor for reflection? Complete the space in the middle of the Concept Map Reflection is like_________because________