This is an old post that I have only just need able to
publish due my poor internet connection!
I have read through Reader 2 and have lots of thoughts buzzing
around my head about Reflective Practice, and more specifically, learning from
experience…
I think that learning from experience is such a valuable
tool. The things that we experience first-hand in our own lives are things that
cannot be taught in the classroom. People can spend hours explaining things and
trying to make you understand but I think that when you experience it for
yourself, that it when you truly get a grasp on something. For myself at least –
experiencing something is the best way for me to learn. I agree with Dewey that
experience is key and about the necessity to be fully engaged, to fully
experience things, in order to get the full benefits. I really need to push
myself out of my comfort zone and do things that don’t come naturally in order
to make sure that I don’t just stay in one place but that I grow as a
professional. It is easy to just continue with our day-to-day lives, with our
job and our practice. But taking that moment to look back at what has happened
and ask ourselves ‘what can I take from this?’, is what I think will make that
difference between continuing on in my profession at a comfortable level and
just ‘getting-by’, or really pushing myself, questioning and challenging things
in order to progress and grow.
These days BTEC’s, internships and other on-the-job learning
styles are so popular, and I can definitely see why! It seems to skip that
middle step and gets you straight out there - enabling you to get stuck into experiencing
for yourself the very thing that you are trying to learn. I am not disregarding
the need for classrooms and books and all of the benefits that are gained from
learning in that way too. But the opportunity to get to do things for yourself,
learn as you make mistakes, grow as you figure out for yourself how to fix
these mistakes and then maybe go onto teach and show others how to avoid these
mistakes - well that is something that
not only helps you gain knowledge but I think it also helps you to learn important
life lessons and develop personality traits that would advance any career. This
can link back to our resumes and CV’s. One of the main things that an employer
seems to look for is experience, and now I have a much better understanding as
to why. Experience = Knowledge!
But how do we know that we are experiencing something
useful, something that is going to help us to learn and develop? I think right
now for me that is a case of trial and error. But I definitely think that keeping
a journal is going to be a really useful way of recording my experiences and
seeing what was a beneficial experience, what was an experience that I had
already had, and which experiences are different and can teach me different
things, but are also linked in a way too. I have started my reflective journal
and even from just a couple of entries I can already see that it is so useful
in gathering and organizing my thoughts. I think there is always that worry of
doing something wrong, writing something unnecessary or unrelated. But for me,
getting my thoughts down on paper is a great way for me to organize them. It is
helpful in seeing when I have experienced something in my profession or even my
personal life that has taught me something new, or when it was something that I
already knew- I maybe just didn’t realize it yet. I definitely think that
taking that moment at the end of the day to just write about what has happened
or what I have experienced is so helpful in collecting my experiences and
thoughts and seeing what I have learnt and what I have still yet to learn.
Getting these thoughts down on paper and seeing them in black and white is
really helpful for me. They seem to make more sense when they are written down.
Maybe this suggests what kind of a learner I am? Anyway, for some of us I think
that realising that you don’t know something can be scary. Personally I don’t like
to feel overwhelmed or taken-aback by something that I don’t know. But I have
started to realize that this is a huge key to learning and growing. It is not a
bad thing to not know something. It is actually a huge help because it highlights
the areas that I need to give extra time & attention to in order to improve
on my weaknesses and fill the gaps in my knowledge.
I plan to continue with my journal and see if this sparks
more thoughts and opinions on my Reflective Practice.
Meg
