SIT Internal

Week 2
2.1 Reflective Thinking and Writing

Centre for Communication Skills

 SIT Internal

Reflective Thinking and Writing

Overview: This instructional unit will help you understand the value of reflection and
reflective writing for your critical thinking and learning.

Outcomes: When you have finished this section, you will be able to
• place value in the reflective learning process;
• write reflectively in response to experience and your learning; and
• see the connection between critical thinking and reflection.
 SIT Internal

Resource list:
• Watch the reflective learning video, survey the websites listed below, and imagine how the main concepts of reflection might be
relevant to you and your university life.

• Videos on reflective learning & writing:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPUCbEzv_zE

• (21) How to Write a Reflection Essay – YouTube

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SntBj0FIApw
• (10) How to Write a Reflection Assignment - YouTube

• Kolb’s experiential learning style:

https://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html

• Reflective thinking, reflective writing:

https://student.unsw.edu.au/reflective-writing

• Reflective writing:
http://www.uefap.com/writing/genre/reflect.htm
 SIT Internal

Task 1: Reflective thinking, learning and writing

• This task focuses on reflective thinking, learning and writing. Read the following information on
reflection and related processes and skills in the texts below entitled The Power of Reflection and
Reflective Thinking as Process. After that, scan the four figures in this unit and the appendix at the
end.
• Next, with a partner, after you have been assigned a topic for sharing to your classmates by your
instructor, prepare a five-minute explanatory presentation where you identify key take away points. The
topic for your short presentation could be Dewey’s Model of Reflective Thought and Action, Carol
Rodger’s Reflective Cycle, The Thinking Process as it has been outlined by various authors, Natasha
Kenny’s Critical Reflection Process or Kolb’s Experiential Learning Style Theory (found in this unit’s
appendix).
• Keep in mind that your goal is to impart a fuller understanding of the assigned topic to your classmates.
 SIT Internal
The Power of Reflection
Reflecting on one’s learning experience, especially through the process of reflective writing, plays an important role
in university education and beyond. A survey of the workplace, degree programs and courses in disciplines as diverse
as medicine and allied health sciences, engineering and education reveals that students, novice practitioners and
seasoned professionals alike are being asked to produce various types of written reflections. At SIT, reflective writing
is required for all students completing their IWSP.
The basis of requests for written reflections is the well-established link between reflection and significant learning.
While it has been suggested that the main purpose of the reflective process is to “foster a deeper understanding” of a
subject (McClure, 2005), reflection has also been tied to both professional and personal growth as a source of
meaningful change: “Reflection leads to growth of the individual – morally, personally, psychologically, and
emotionally, as well as cognitively (Branch & Paranjape, 2002, p. 1187).
This is not just a recent trend. In the early 20th century, John Dewey, renowned American educator and philosopher,
had already addressed the connection between experience, reflection and learning in numerous books and treatises.
In essence he saw reflection as the way for a person to move beyond their routine ways of interpreting the
environment and doing things in a habitual manner toward a state of conscious consideration of, or reflection upon,
such “primary experiences.” For him reflective thought was “the kind of thinking that consists of turning a subject
over in the mind and giving it serious and consecutive consideration” (Dewey, 1933).
The need for reflection arises, Dewey felt, when familiar routines are no longer a satisfactory means of interacting
with the world. Put simply, such a “problem condition” and the subsequent reasoning process would result in
translating reflective thought into conscious action and deliberate change, as represented in his model of reflective
thought and action (see Figure 1 on the next page). In Dewey’s view, the realization of a “disturbance” or
“uncertainty” – set as a “habit that does not work” -- could be used as the springboard for reflective thought and
problem-solving. He carried that idea forward, seeing not a stonewall but the opportunity for change and innovation.
 SIT Internal

Figure 1: Dewey’s Model of Reflective Thought and Action

 SIT Internal

The educator Carol Rodgers (2002) has concisely summarized Dewey’s view of reflection into four main
purposes that reflection serves:
1. Reflection is a meaning-making process that moves a learner from one experience into the next with
deeper understanding of its relationships with and connections to other experiences and ideas,
making continuity of learning possible.
2. Reflection is a systematic, rigorous, disciplined way of thinking, with its roots in scientific inquiry.
3. Reflection needs to happen in a community, in interaction with others.
4. Reflection requires attitudes that value the personal and intellectual growth of oneself and of others.

Rodgers expanded on Dewey and captured the cycle of reflection as a developmental learning process, as
shown in the image on the next page (see Figure 2) (Corrall, 2017).
 SIT Internal

Figure 2 : Rodgers’ Reflective Cycle

 SIT Internal

Task 2: Reflection in real life

• This task deals with reflection on action in your real (or imagined) life.
• 2.1 First, take into consideration the steps expressed in Dewey’s and Rogers’ models, and then imagine
how such a model might represent a situation in life. As an example, look at the model below:
Notes on a sample problem scenario
• Ideal: To stay awake during afternoon lectures in Prof X’s module
• Reality(gap): I often feel sleepy when Prof X starts talking during the late afternoon lecture.
• Causes/Conditions: The lecture is after lunch. Every night I only sleep long after midnight (4AM). I work
late. I drink coffee with dinner. I also chat late at night with friends.
• Results: I’m a passive student. My understanding of lectures is minimal.
• Goal: To stay awake in class and be more proactive.
• Possible change: Sleep earlier the night before/no more coffee during dinner/do fewer late-night chats
• Testing the hypothesis: In order to try and sleep earlier, I decided to not have a coffee after dinner.
• Solution: That approach worked, and I ended up getting to sleep by 2. Two weeks in a row I was awake
in class.
 SIT Internal

2.2 Now, reflect on your own “problem.”

• Imagine a scenario from your life in which a habitual behaviour, one such as eating compulsively, or
sleeping the instant you sit down to study -- something that you regularly experienced -- no longer
seemed effective, creating a problem for you.
• Fill in the table on the next slide with your own problem scenario (below are questions to help you):
What is the ideal behaviour that you cannot achieve?
• What sort of conditions exist that provide the problem context?
• What are the consequences? (Looking back, can you identify a primary or direct root cause for that
problem?)
• 2.3 Once you have finished taking notes on your scenario, share all the details with a partner. Are there
any common points, or principles, in your set of reflections?
• Be prepared to summarize your discussion with the class.
 SIT Internal

Ideal:

Reality(gap):

Causes/Conditions:

Results:

Goal:

Possible change:

Testing the hypothesis:

Solution:
 SIT Internal

In reflective writing, you take this thinking a level up and explore your deep reflection within a step-by-step
writing process. At its most basic level, this activity requires writing a description. Unlike in other academic
writing, in a descriptive reflection using “I” is common .
3. Take note of something you recently did for the first time. Examples would be joining a student club, travelling
alone, learning a new computer programme, trying to play a new sport. Write yours here:

what I did and why I did it:

You would then explain:

what was good and/or bad about what was done;

why it was good and/or bad;

what was easy and/or difficult;

why it was easy and/or difficult;

what I liked/disliked about what I did;

what other people did and why they did it; and

how what was learned might be used in the future.

3.2 Be prepared to paraphrase these points, explaining them in your own words.
 SIT Internal

Task 5: Moving from the descriptive reflection to a critical (analytical) reflection

• Brookfield (1990, as cited in Kenny, 2010, on the University of Guelph website) states that a critical
reflection goes beyond a purely descriptive reflection when a writer completes this process:
• taking note of the “assumptions that underlie our thoughts and actions”;
• evaluating “the validity of these assumptions in terms of how they relate to our ‘real-life’ experiences
and our present context(s)”; and
• and acting upon what has been learned “to more appropriately inform our future actions and practices.”

• Another way to look at critical reflection is represented in Figure 4 that follows on the next page.
 SIT Internal
Figure 3
Natasha Kenny: The Critical Reflection Process
Note: adapted from Kenny, N. (2012.) On critical reflection. Natasha Kenny’s Blog.
 SIT Internal

Four-stage Learning Cycle based on Kolb’s Experiential Learning Style Theory

 SIT Internal

Task 4: Evaluating a reflection

Read the reflection below. Then, with a partner, evaluate it in terms of what you have learned so far about the keys to systematically reflecting. Remember also to critically
evaluate the text using the Intellectual standards of the Paul-Elder Framework.

Having the honour to present our project proposal at the term-end Presentation Showcase was a great opportunity
for me to improve not just my verbal presentation skills but also my sense of confidence. As compared to the
presentation conducted in the classroom, the Presentation Showcase required me and my team to describe our project
pitch in front of the whole cohort as well as all the professors and some external judges. Knowing that this would be a
big event, the team took the time to rehearse three or four times. I also reviewed my own outline every night during
the weekend before the presentation. By the day of the showcase, we really knew our material well. Since we had
taken on board all the feedback we had received earlier from our prof and from our peers, the showcase became a
means for our team to take the previous presentation up to the next level. At the same time, I have identified my
strengths and weaknesses during the Showcase. What I believe was my strength was the ability to present my ideas
fluently, in a clear-cut manner. I spoke slowly and I enunciated clearly. The result was that everyone appeared to be
able to catch my words. The reactions to my delivery in terms of the interest from the audience was noteworthy.
My weaknesses might have been that since I was trembling a little; I hesitated once or twice during my presentation.
However, compared to the presentation I gave last week in the classroom, my eye contact was more direct and my
enthusiasm was slightly higher. Since my awareness of the audience was much improved, I looked many of the
members in the eye directly and was able to acknowledge their reactions to my speech with my own eye contact.
To me, the key take-away from the presentation though was my built confidence. Since I had confidence about my
control of the content, I feel I enticed the audience with my pitch and created a strong impression of the proposal. I
saw many classmates smiling and nodding as I talked, and the judges awarded us a prize for our effort.
Presenting to a large crowd was nerve-wracking but it was great motivation for me to leave my comfort zone and
grow as a presenter. I’m certain that the next time I present, I will follow the strategies that I learned this term. I’ll
develop an outline rather than a script, I’ll rehearse a lot, and when talking, I’ll be sure to engage the audience with
my words and my eyes. My plan is to volunteer to present as often as I can so that one day I’ll be ready to speak to
even a bigger audience!
 SIT Internal

Task: writing and peer feedback

• Choose a significant recent experience

• Apply the Kolb’s model and critical thinking skills to write a reflection on the
experience

• Share your refection with a peer and give and receive feedback on your
reflection

• Be ready to share your reflection with the whole class