How do we reflect? This activity can only be successfully engaged in by us as individuals if we have first had experience. What is the use of reflecting on something if you have nothing to reflect on?
Experience is the key word here. We can use our experiences throughout life to learn, expand our knowledge and become more sensitive to the world around us. We can equally use it to build upon what we already know as well as finding new ways to further understand what we do not know. Both go hand in hand; experience --- learning --- understanding.
Have you ever been in that awkward situation where you pretend that you understand/know about something when actually you have no clue whatsoever? In my case it has usually resulted in me feeling rather flustered and more afraid to reveal that I have no knowledge of what I initially said I did...and deep breath out.
These situations can happen to us all the time but not knowing something doesn't make you less intelligent than the next person. It is nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed of to openly say "I don't understand". It is a wonderful thing to be able to learn and understand new things and through doing this, our ability to reflect will simultaneously develop alongside our new found knowledge.
Reflection is particularly relevant to professionals who constantly work within a changing environment; nurses, teachers, artists, architects. When you can physically see your surroundings, and the people existing within those surroundings, changing it is nearly impossible to not reflect upon what happened before and what brought you to where you are now. As a dancer who has broken away and moved on to university study, I am amazed at how much my environment has changed, how quickly I have had to adjust and how regularly I reflect on the recent professional changes that I have been through. I urge you to think about a time in your life when you saw change all around you. What did you experience? How did you change? What did you learn? Did your understanding increase?
With change comes the opportunity to reflect on what has happened and why it has changed. We can learn so much from this process.
I have been looking through Reader 2 and, coming across the mention of philosopher John Dewey, I was immediately absorbed by his idea that "if people had full experience and therefore full engagement with their lives they would be better able to be a part of society, fully engage with democracy and spend time solving worldly problems" (Akinleye, 2015, p 4). To me this seems a massive statement to make but also a very interesting and inspiring one. Dewey places so much emphasis on 'reflective thought' (experience) as a way for us to actually enhance ourselves, our society and our world. I must agree that the way you learn the most is through experience whether that is in relationships, work, social situations, national or world issues and generally how you grow up and mature to be the person that you want to be. So if you are able to share that experience with the people encircling you and the ever-changing world in which we live, you will not fail in enhancing not only your life but others lives as well.
Kolb's Learning Cycle
Another feature in Reader 2 and something that I have only just learnt about for the first time is Kolb's Learning Cycle. It presents clearly 4 different methods through which people start to learn something new. Which category do you think you fall into?
It is really intriguing to figure out what learning style you tend to adopt in your everyday practice. I personally would place myself in the 'Active Experimentation' category as I like to try things out for myself, use trial and error, go back and edit and complete things in my own style. I just feel more comfortable learning this way and I like to give myself space for my own ideas to come through rather than relying on those of other people. However I also utilised 'Reflective Observation' when I was first setting up my blog as what better way to learn than from those who have done it successfully before you.
To be really honest I think we can relate to all of the 4 types of learning in some way, however small or big, regularly or infrequently used. I have certainly used all 4 throughout my life and it is always, for me, dependent on the task in hand; so what is required of me in terms of how much new knowledge I need to learn to complete the task; and how much I already know which will assist me in getting it done.
Multiple Intelligence
This theory offered by Howard Gardner is a simple, effective way of understanding people's preferred way of learning. These include; spatial-visual, inter-personal, logical-mathematical, musical, linguistic, bodily-kinaesthetic and the list goes on...
You can discover your result by taking a relatively quick test, follow the link below...
Multiple Intelligence Test
After taking the test myself I discovered that I am, above all else, a Linguistic learner whereby I use words and language, both written and spoken to interpret, explain, understand, communicate and find meaning. I must admit I totally agree with this! I am most comfortable learning through reading, writing and verbally presenting my work. Additional to this, the other two learning styles in my top 3 were Intrapersonal (relating to one's emotional life to understand oneself and others), and Bodily-kinaesthetic (use of body movement, physical agility and coordination to learn). Again I can see how both of these completely relate to my personality! Intrapersonal; because I do indeed like to feel emotionally connected with myself and use that when considering others and with Bodily-kinaesthetic; I have had a background in dance for most of my life so no need to ask questions there! I would encourage you to have a go at the multiple intelligence test as it really opens your eyes as to how you prefer to learn and subsequently where your strengths lie.
Finding out more about the way you like to learn definitely benefits your professional practice in the way that you can become more in touch with how you absorb knowledge throughout your professional life and how you choose to document the experiences that you have had. By doing this you will discover more about your individual role as a reflective practitioner and start to conceive your 'artistic vision'. This can help you begin to anticipate your career path and where you are heading on your artistic journey. You will become more aware of what inspires you, offends you, challenges you and fuels your passion.
Reflection-in-action vs. Reflection-on-action
The practitioner allows himself to experience surprise, puzzlement, or confusion in a situation which he finds uncertain or unique. He reflects on the phenomenon before him, and on the prior understandings which have been implicit in his behaviour. He carries out an experiment which serves to generate both a new understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the situation.
(Schön, 1983, p 68)
Philosopher and professor, Donald Schön, chose at one point in his career to direct his efforts towards the notions of reflection-in-action, and reflection-on-action. These methods of reflection require us to analyse our experiences, connect with our emotions and apply them both to the reflective theories that we commonly use. Essentially it is a way for us to hone into how we reflect, whether we do it by 'thinking on our feet' to make changes (reflection-in-action), or whether we take away our concepts, review them and then initiate change (reflection-on-action).
As a dancer, I guess I am used to reflection-in-action as during my time training I would constantly be having to pick up corrections and implement them whilst dancing at the same time. So my reflection and resulting improvement happened almost instantly after it was put into practice. However I am also an advocate for reflection-on-action, particularly when it comes to my academic studies. If I am doing coursework, writing an essay or even typing away at my blog, I will first take my concept, develop it over time and then produce the final piece of research. With these two methods time has a huge impact; whether you are choosing to reflect in the moment or take your time to express what you really want to.
I personally cannot decide whether one method is more difficult than the other as I feel that both are ingrained within my way of reflecting upon what I have done. Author Robert Kottkamp however argues that reflection-in-action is the more challenging method to use due to the fact that it is imperative to act immediately and adapt yourself in the moment in order to benefit. His way of comparing reflection-in-action to being 'on-line', is an intelligent way of being able to get your head around this concept. For instance, if I imagine myself in the midst of ballet class, let's say during a pirouette exercise, and it is my turn to go. The pianist is playing the introduction to a delightful Waltz and running through my mind is what I wish to achieve within the next 30 seconds. I initiate what I am going to do and I perform it as well as I can in that moment. But wait, I stumble on one of my pirouettes and I am aware that another one is to immediately follow. My teacher directs a correction at me for the purpose of helping me to better grasp the right technique for improving my next pirouette. Now I have to use reflection-in-action to think about what I did before, consider what the teacher has just said to me and finally implement it. All of this is to be accomplished within no more than 10 seconds. Phew!
In contrast, Kottkamp compares reflection-on-action to being 'off-line' in the sense that time is not so much of the essence. There is room for analysis, comparison and future preparation. Academics as opposed to artists would be able to relate far more easily to this method of reflection as they tend to use their time developing the concepts rather than physically trying them out.
Articulating Reflective Practice
As a direct link to reflection-in-action, tacit knowledge relates to knowledge which cannot be expressed through words. As mentioned previously, being 'on-line' exists alongside those professionals who reflect much more practically within their workplace. Artists, dancers in particular hold a large amount of tactic knowledge as it is not through their articulation that they express themselves but through what they are physically doing with their bodies and their art.
So what if you challenged tacit knowledge with the knowledge of articulation. The written and spoken word are so powerful and are the means through which we communicate and express ourselves on a daily basis. If a professional was to struggle in expressing themselves through articulation, this could cause problems in the way that they present themselves, their ideas and how they are interpreted by others.
Articulating our reflective practice is the best way of making it accessible to people anywhere and everywhere. Web 2.0 is the tool which allows us to upload written, audio and visual posts which can be accessed all over the world should we so wish. Without being able to articulate what you have reflected on, you are creating a barrier between yourself and those who wish to be exposed to what ideas you may have. Regardless of whether you translate your own artistic language through your body or through your art, it is still essential that you can communicate with those around you. It works to your own advantage to be able to communicate sufficiently as outsiders ideas, constructive criticisms and assistance can be offered more readily and with a greater understanding of what it is you are trying to achieve.
Using articulation as a means of recording, documenting, planning and linking ideas is the most convenient and accessible way that we can put reflection into practice. Producing a journal, drawings, poems, stories etc are all ways and means to articulate; so is writing a blog! It's fantastic that through the BAPP course we have been given an easy way to articulate our research and express our opinions.
Twyla Tharp
Dancer, choreographer and writer Twyla Tharp makes such an interresting observation regarding 'creative habit'. She looks at what your creative rituals are, what can deter you from them, the distractions in the world around you and the routine that you choose to adopt in order for your creativity to flow. Drawing upon the mention of 'muscle memory' in Reader 2, Tharp highlights how through dance she is "using a language to interpret something she knows nonverbally". I can completely relate to this in that, as a dancer, it is often difficult to actually put into words what you are doing and feeling with your body. But it is such an important thing to be able to connect with your non-verbal self and translate it into verbal practice, especially if you are choreographing or teaching dance to others. Once again, in order for others to understand your creative process and what you wish to achieve from them, you must be able to verbally express yourself. Tharps like to use exercise to activate her brain arguing that;
To finish, I would like you to ask yourself this question and from it, look further into why you feel that way; do you prefer verbal or non-verbal reflection?
Your answer will highlight the ways and means by which you personally like to reflect and from that you can choose to explore other methods that may be alien to you at first, but will eventually expand your ability to reflect.
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Following some of the interesting comments on this post, I can now see how the question above, which I originally proposed, is not particularly relevant. By being more open-minded on the subject of different methods of reflection, I can now see that verbal and non-verbal methods can not be so categorically separated. They can be used simultaneously and abstractly by any artist in the process of reflection.
Dancer, choreographer and writer Twyla Tharp makes such an interresting observation regarding 'creative habit'. She looks at what your creative rituals are, what can deter you from them, the distractions in the world around you and the routine that you choose to adopt in order for your creativity to flow. Drawing upon the mention of 'muscle memory' in Reader 2, Tharp highlights how through dance she is "using a language to interpret something she knows nonverbally". I can completely relate to this in that, as a dancer, it is often difficult to actually put into words what you are doing and feeling with your body. But it is such an important thing to be able to connect with your non-verbal self and translate it into verbal practice, especially if you are choreographing or teaching dance to others. Once again, in order for others to understand your creative process and what you wish to achieve from them, you must be able to verbally express yourself. Tharps like to use exercise to activate her brain arguing that;
when you stimulate your body, your brain comes alive in ways you can't stimulate in a sedentary position. The brain is an organ, tied integrally to all the other systems in the body, and it's affected by blood flow, neural transmission, all the processes you undergo when you put your body through its paces.
(Tharp, 2005, p 4)
Use Tharp's research to analyse how you like to initiate your 'creative habit' and how, following on from this, you like to reflect and further express your creative practice.
To finish, I would like you to ask yourself this question and from it, look further into why you feel that way; do you prefer verbal or non-verbal reflection?
Your answer will highlight the ways and means by which you personally like to reflect and from that you can choose to explore other methods that may be alien to you at first, but will eventually expand your ability to reflect.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Following some of the interesting comments on this post, I can now see how the question above, which I originally proposed, is not particularly relevant. By being more open-minded on the subject of different methods of reflection, I can now see that verbal and non-verbal methods can not be so categorically separated. They can be used simultaneously and abstractly by any artist in the process of reflection.
Lots of interesting things to think about!
Lil' Blogger
Schön, Donald (1983) The Reflective Practitioner. How professionals think in action, London, Temple Smith
Tharp, Twyla (2005) The Creative Habit; Learn It and Use It For Life, Simon and Schuster
Tharp, Twyla (2005) The Creative Habit; Learn It and Use It For Life, Simon and Schuster
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