Too Busy for Reflection?

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John Dewey Image source: Goodreads.

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We do not learn from experience... we learn from reflecting on experience. John Dewey

Yesterday at a continuing professional development session there was much discussion on Reflection. The old Dewey quote above was mentioned, and the importance of reflecting on experience to improve ourselves as teachers and educators was stressed. There is no argument against the value of reflection: thinking back on what went well, what didn't go so well, where one can improve, or what can/should be done differently. These are all good practices, and I'm certain that most people do this informally after many activities. I fixed a shelf in my bedroom yesterday, but when standing back looking at my work, I decided to take down the shelf and put it back up again as I was not happy with my first effort. The second effort was a lot better!

Image source: Creativity at Work.

Formal reflection, like filling out templates, journals, even blog posts, takes time. I guess I am reflecting on yesterday's session now, but during busy term time I rarely have a chance to formally reflect on classes delivered - I'm too busy! Quite often I think of how I could do better in a module, but end up doing exactly the same thing when next delivering the module. It would be great to write things down after a class or at the end of a day - but I almost never do. I'm sure it is possible for me to make the time, wiser people than me might even be able to demonstrate that it would save time in the end. I guess I should try harder, but somehow I'm not too bothered!

Please note: Opinions and comment expressed in this post (and all posts in this blog) are mine alone and do not in any way represent those of anyone else or any institution.