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?

Reflectionis 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 JudgmentThe ability of individuals to reason regarding ill-structured problems

Stages of Reflective Judgment1. Pre-reflective2. Quasi-Reflective 3. Reflective

Kitchener & King, 1994

Conditions that Support Reflection

Practice, active involvement and meaningful contextModeling of othersCulture of learning and reflectionHabit of mindDevelopmental Theory, using concepts from the literature

Reflection and Theory Inform Practice

“Theory is a practice that constantlyis informing one’s beliefs, actions, and practices.”

Jose Alaby

experience

observationand reflection

Reconceptualizeusing theory

improved practice

Interaction of theory, practice and reflection

TheoryConstructivistKnowledge is continually

reconstructed by individuals

and groupsThe Social

Family Model

TheoristsDewey,Reflective thinking Phillips, 1995 3 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 findingsJournals 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

PragmatismAny design may be useful for illuminationReality is interpreted, negotiated and consensualExistentialism

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 shouldConsider multiple perspectivesInclude a variety of data/evidenceEvaluate information across different contexts Inform practiceDemonstrate changes in own knowledge, repertoire, and practiceRe-evaluate when there is new data or evidenceInterpret 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________