The Power of Reflection (EDLD 5397)

Chinese philosopher Confucius said in The Analects, “Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.”  (Sturgeon, 2006)  Like Confucius, I believe that experience becomes a bitter teacher if reflection does not serve as part of the learning.  Dana (2009) emphasizes the need to incorporate inquiry and reflection into already existing activities.  She describes how principal Jim Brandenburg took a regular and necessary responsibility of his work, an annual evaluation, and engineered it to be an opportunity for reflection and realignment of questions and goals.  In this way, Brandenburg has allowed for a specific time for reflection, and has involved his superintendent in the inquiry process.  Although I teach the same curriculum every year, the lessons themselves change and evolve.  Each time I teach a lesson, I take time to consider the successes and failures of the day.  I notate what I’ve discovered in the process, so that I can make informed decisions about not only that lesson, but future lessons.  When I meet with my administrator and lead science teacher, I can speak about not only the hard data from assessment but of the qualitative data I collect from self-reflection.   

     In his book Why Don’t Students Like School, Daniel Willingham (2009) sets apart the cognitive processes of experts from those of novices.  The difference between a novice and an expert stems from something more complex than simply having more information stored in long-term memory.  Experts use this information in fundamentally different cognitive ways:  “the cognitive processes of experts are set apart from those of novices in this way:  Experts don’t think in terms of surface structure, as novices do; they think in terms of functions, or deep structure” (Willingham, 2009, p. 133).  Reflection is the mechanism by which new information is incorporated into existing abstract functions and by which adjustments are made to future action.  In studying, reflecting on, and adjusting my own best practices and the practices of others, I become a leader capable of more strategic and long-term thinking.   I also find a place of ethics and empathy that stem from true metacognition about my choices and their consequences that enables more effective communication and leadership.

References:

Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading With Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Sturgeon, D. (2006). Wei Zheng. Retrieved July 12, 2010, from Chinese Text Project: http://chinese.dsturgeon.net/text.pl?node=1083&if=en

Willingham, D. (2009). Why Don't Students Like School? A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.