Reflective writing is a personal account of an experience that has occurred on life's long journey. It is something we wish to record and possibly share with a friend, colleague or the whole world. It's personal and it's owned by the author, anyone reading a reflection should feel privileged that someone is prepared to share their feelings and thoughts on the contents of the reflection.
As Professor Phil Race puts it. ‘Reflecting’ is about thinking. Jotting down your reflections is about capturing your thoughts – the brilliant ones alongside the silly ones (which are often, of course, fun). Race. P (2007)
So what is a good reflection? If you choose to reflect it is your event, what you write is for your benefit, it helps you to develop or learn from your experiences. These experiences could be formal learning or just an event, a wedding, visit to a new country, anything you want to share or reflect on.
It's a fact though that if you take the time to write you should check your spelling and spend just a little bit more time making sure what you have written makes sense. I think its a bit harsh to critique someones reflection, it is after all a gift, they have agreed to share a personal event with you the reader.
There are no real rules but I think it is sensible to try and avoid long paragraphs and rambling on, you want the reader to tune in to your thoughts to enable them to see where you are going with the reflection. After all the reflection is aimed to generate thought provoking ideas and reflection on the part of the reader. This enables the sharing of ideas and collaboration on the topic being reflected on.
An article by Rebbeck. G (2007) does well to state a number of examples where reflection can be used but as for rules states. "There are few rules. What happens is in the main driven by teaching and learning episodes and as a response to events and incidents in their professional life."
Geoff continues by stating the purpose, "The use of e-portfolios is to promote scholastic endeavour and raise the professionalism of tutors at College".
I can't help but think there is an awful lot of reflection going on and we have to be careful that as learners the core subject is not overlooked, we learn by reflecting but we won't learn about a new subject just by reflecting. However we might learn a bit more by reading about another persons learning experience, it most certainly is likely to shed light on alternative viewpoints or invoke meaningful discussions about our new found learning.
So read, reflect, discuss, have a go at sharing your thoughts with a wider audience. You never know it may make a difference.
References.
Race P. (2007) 'How to write a reflection', Assessment, Learning and Teaching. (online) Available from:
http://alt-resource.teams.leedsmet.ac.uk/how-to-write-a-reflection (accessed 30 Sept 2009)
Rebbeck.G (2007) 'Using a REfLECT e-Portfolio' (online), Thanet College. Available from:
http://www.ifl.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/6673/reflect-narrative-by-geoff-rebbeck-thanet.pdf (Accessed 01 Oct 2009)
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