So in today’s episode I’m talking about how to develop a reflective practice in your work.

A reflective practice is simply the art of thinking about or reflecting on what you do. It is a way of recognising, capturing and articulating what we’re learning on a moment by moment basis.

By following any of the suggestions in this episode, you will develop a questioning approach to your work. You will stop and pause to think about why things are as they are and how they might be in the future. You will consider the strengths and areas of development in your own practice and consider how to develop your skills.

First I'll share more about what reflective practice is and the benefits of introducing reflection as a practice into your work.

Then I'm going to share 7 different ways you can use to develop your reflective practice  and 3 tips to get you started. 

The Art Engager is written and presented by Claire Bown. Editing is by Matt Jacobs and Claire Bown. Music by Richard Bown. Support the show on Patreon.

Links

The Art Engager: Reimagining Guided Experiences in Museums (Claire's book)

For more information about Project Zero thinking routines, visit: https://pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines

CIPD Guide to Reflective Practice

Hello and welcome to The Art Engager podcast with me, Claire Bown.

I'm here to share techniques and tools to help you engage with your audience

and bring art objects and ideas to life.

So let's dive into this week's show.

Hello and welcome back to The Art Engager Podcast.

I'm your host, Claire Bown of Thinking Museum, and this is episode 29.

So in today's episode, I'm going to be talking about how to develop a

reflective practice in your work.

But before we get onto that, don't forget, last week I was focusing on

one of the seven elements of art, and I was sharing different ways.

You can engage your audience into discussion about colour.

So do go back and listen to that episode number 28 if you haven't already.

And also before we start, if you'd like to support the show and thank you to

everyone that has, you can do so by treating me to a cup of tea on buy me a

coffee.com/ Claire Brown, and I'll put a link in the show notes and the show notes.

As always, they're available on my website thinking museum.com/podcast.

And this is episode 29.

So now let's get on with today's show.

So today we're going to cover what reflective practice is, the benefits

of it, six different ways to develop your own reflective practice.

And finally, I'm going to share three tips to get you started.

So let's start by talking a bit about what reflective practice really is.

Well, it's simply the art of thinking about or reflecting on what you do.

It's the ability to be able to reflect on your actions so you can learn from

them and continue to learn from them.

It's a process of continuous every day learning.

And according to a great guide, which I was reading, the CIPD Guide

to Reflective Practice, it means:

learning to pay attention, listening to ourselves, coming face to face with our

assumptions, noticing patterns, changing what we see, and changing the way we see.

Now learning is not just about attending courses, reading books, and so on.

We actually learn all the time every day from everything that we do.

And reflective practice is a way of recognizing and articulating

or making it visible what we're learning on a moment by moment basis.

Now it's important to note here at the start that reflection and

a reflective practice are not the same thing with reflective practice.

We are capturing and noting the learning that might be in a written way or

with a drawing or verbally, and we are capturing it on a systematic basis.

So we're doing it regularly like you would in a journal, for example.

So what are the benefits of having a reflective practice?

Well, there are lots of benefits.

The first one is you will have an increase in your self-awareness,

so you'll know more about yourself.

You'll get to know yourself, and this is a key part of

emotional intelligence as well.

You'll get to know where your strengths and weaknesses lie, but you'll also

be more creative and innovative.

So it will spur you on to try new things and to experiment and improvise.

And it really pushes us to update our tried and tested ways of

doing things and to think about how we can improve our practice.

And this will make all your sessions, whether they're guided tours or art

discussions or online sessions, much more engaging and interesting for participants.

So it's a win-win.

But having a reflective practice also helps you to make sense of and understand

when things don't go according to plan.

And we've all had situations like this when things don't quite

work out, when you sometimes feel like you've failed at something.

Being reflective, having this reflective practice, helps you to learn from

experiences and even to perhaps reframe these type of experiences

as challenges or opportunities.

So on the whole, it will help you to improve your performance and to

develop new professional practices.

So there are lots of benefits of developing a more reflective practice.

So now let's look at some of the ways you can develop a reflective practice.

I'm going to share with you six different ways.

They may not all appeal to you, but I think you'll probably find

one or two things in this list that you'll find interesting.

So let's start with journalling.

Now, I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea, and I've included lots

more ideas after this suggestion, but if you do fancy giving journaling

a go, I'd highly recommend it.

It's a great way of being more reflective about your work.

But note now, you don't have to have a fancy notebook and you

don't need to write an essay.

But taking a few moments after a session or even at the end of the day or at

the end of the week to write down a few notes will really pay dividends.

So as a starting point, you could think about what you did and what

happened, what went well, and what you'd like to work on for next time.

This will help you to keep a record in your journal of what's

happening regularly, and you can use this information to make

changes or to chart your progress.

Now, after every practice or coaching session we run in the membership, I ask

the facilitator to spend a moment jotting down their thoughts about the session,

noting how it went, how it felt, and what they'd like to work on for next time.

And I think that looking back at these notes in their journals really gives

participants, facilitators amazing insights into how they've developed

in their practice over time as well.

Now you could also use journal prompts to regularly think about and reflect

on your practice as an educator.

There are so many different prompts out there.

If you just Google Journal prompts for educators, you will get lots of

inspiration from very big questions like, what is your greatest strength?

To something more, a little bit smaller, like what was a highlight of today?

And you could also alternate between answering perhaps larger questions that

ask you to reflect on your practice as a whole, maybe on your teaching

style, your facilitation style, your strengths and your weaknesses, to more

in the moment questions that ask you to reflect on a certain program, a

guided tour, or a lesson, questions like, what went well in today's session?

What would you like to change for next time?

And as an example, I ask all participants on my VTMO course to start a new

notebook at the start of the course.

And in most live classes, I'll ask questions for their journals.

And these can be questions about how their thinking has developed, perhaps

about the method perhaps how that's developed over time from the start of

the course to the midpoint or even about what they want to work on next and what

resources they might need to get there.

And these journal entries in my course are intended as a reference

point so that participants can refer back, they can note their progress,

they can spot any patterns, and they can use these notes, these journal

entries to inspire new thinking too.

So if you fancy giving journaling a go, the key factor to remember is that it's

something you need to do regularly.

You need to make it a habit, but it doesn't have to take a long time either.

So I think even just making a habit of doing a one to two minute

reflection at the end of the day, or after having done a tour is enough.

You can do more, of course, but it doesn't have to be an essay.

I'd also recommend having a small journal, something that you can take with you.

It's a great idea so you can have it with you anywhere in any time.

And the joy of having a journal is that you can look back over

it and see where you've grown.

You can notice the differences to see where you are now and to see if any

patterns have emerged over time too.

So think about giving journaling a go, but if you are not keen, perhaps you'd

like to consider the second method, and this is free or reflective writing.

So free writing is about documenting your experiences, opinions,

events, new information, and a way of exploring your knowledge.

It's a really easy first step to develop a more reflective practice.

It's also a really good way to get to know yourself better and to get a better

understanding of ideas or concepts.

I think free writing is also a great way to communicate your thoughts,

your response to any feelings that are bubbling up to perhaps after

a session that didn't go so well.

And using free writing will really actually help you to gain some clarity.

So to do a free writing exercise first, decide what prompt you're going to use.

So this could be an image.

It could be a question, or it could be an image and a question.

Or you could just spend 10 minutes reflecting on a class you just

taught or a tour you just led, or a session that you just facilitated.

But set yourself a time limit for the exercise.

And the important thing with free writing is that you continue

writing for the entire time.

You don't stop to judge what you've written.

You don't judge your grammar or your sentences or your spelling.

You are just writing.

And the idea here is that you are not meant to be producing something perfect.

You're getting the ideas out of your head.

You are making your thinking visible.

So keep the hand moving, and even if you find you run out of ideas, just

write whatever comes into your head.

But don't stop.

When time is up, read back through what you've written and underline any

key words or phrases that stand out.

You could also put this writing aside for a while and come back to it later, and

then later you could start editing it.

You could take the parts that make sense, for example, and

put them in a sensible order.

If you don't fancy giving free writing a go, you could also try some

free drawing or doodling instead.

Okay, so that's two examples.

We've done journaling, we've done free writing, and now I want to share

some frameworks with you because there are a number of frameworks out

there that you could use to structure your thinking around reflection.

And I'm going to share two frameworks here and two thinking

routines that you can use.

So let's start with the Gibbs reflective cycle.

So this is a framework in the shape of a circle, and it asks for

description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan.

And for each stage in the circle, you answer some questions.

So for example, in the description stage, you are describing

what happened for feelings.

You're noting your feelings before, during, and after.

And then you move on to evaluation, which is where you think about

what went well and what was less positive about the experience.

In analysis, you are asked to look at the assumptions you might be

making and to think about what insights are available to you.

And for conclusion and action plan, you assess what you'll do

differently next time, you note what resources you will need or what

steps you need to take to get there.

So to do this exercise, you would probably need to set aside a good 15 to 20 minutes.

So do bear in mind it's a slightly longer exercise than, uh, doing perhaps some free

writing and setting a short time limit.

You could even present your answers to this as a mind map.

As an alternative, you could use Donald Schön's Reflection in Action

and Reflection on Action model instead.

So this is a really interesting model because Shen states that

there are two types of reflection.

So he makes a distinction between reflecting as something happens.

So during a lesson, during a tour and reflecting afterwards, so reflection

inaction really gets you thinking about what's happening right now, and

it allows you to change in the moment.

And think about what you're doing whilst you're doing it.

And this kind of thinking really is a skill of thinking on your feet

that is so useful for educators.

Perhaps, uh, for example, you notice your group are getting restless or they're

not understanding something, you can then consider the situation, decide how to act.

And act immediately.

And this could be very simple.

It could be wrapping up a discussion and moving on to the next stop, or

making a decision to perhaps include more participants in the discussion

if one person is dominating.

And the steps that you would take would be to first observe the situation.

So look at what's happening.

Then consider why it's happening and then respond by doing something differently.

So this is very much thinking on your feet.

It's an immediate reflection of what's happening at that moment,

and it's incredibly useful.

It really allows you to personalize experiences and draw on your

experience to change things.

So the second type is Reflection on Action, and this is all about after the

experience has happened, it involves reflecting on how your practice can be

developed after the moment has passed.

And it really should encourage ideas on what you need to

change for the future as well.

It does require deeper thought, a bit like the Gibbs Cycle that I just mentioned.

And you might think about what happened, what options were open to you, why you

chose certain options and not others, and what you would do differently next time.

You could also think about your reflection on action using a thinking routine.

And here's a really useful one.

The What?

So What?

Now What?

thinking routine.

So to use this thinking routine, use the what part to describe

what you did or what happened.

So what is where you unpick the events you make?

Meaning of what's happened, your actions or observations, and now what?

This is when you plan forward and identify actions and impli implications.

So a really useful thinking routine that is called What?

So What?

Now What?

And another one that I've used extensively,

particularly on my VTMO course.

We've used the ESP+I thinking routine to reflect on the course after it's finished.

And this thinking routine asks you to discuss your experiences.

Any struggles you've had, what's still puzzling you and your insights, and

it's a really good thinking routine to make reflection meaningful.

So here are three more ways that you can develop a reflective practice.

And these are a little bit more quick fire.

The fourth way is to observe others.

So observing others is a really, really simple way to

develop a reflective practice.

It will inspire you and provide opportunities to see how others do things.

And I think as educators, we often work alone or in parallel with others, and we

rarely get to see them do what they do.

So seeing other educators in action is always.

Very inspiring.

You can learn so much from how others do things.

And in my practice and coaching sessions in the membership, these are

designed to help educators develop their experience and their confidence.

But they are also just as much about being inspired by others too.

So using this time in these sessions to really ask others how they do things.

But if you can't observe others, observe yourself.

And this is our next way to develop a more reflective practice.

So we've talked about this before and sometimes it can be painful.

Recording yourself in action can be a great way to learn

and grow in your practice.

So perhaps you could record yourself leading a tour or an educational program.

You keep your phone in your pocket and press play on a voice recording app.

Or if you're working on Zoom, just hit record.

And watching it back can be challenging.

I certainly found it challenging when I first started recording myself, but it

will give you insights about how you work.

So watch it critically, non-judgmentally, just observing yourself and make

notes on what went well and what you want to work on for the future.

The next way is to share and reflect with others, so you can also develop

a more reflective practice by sharing your experiences with others and

asking them for their feedback.

I don't think reflection has to always be a solo activity, and in fact, sometimes it

can be more helpful to do it with others.

So I think, again, in our practice and coaching sessions, which I keep

talking about, we asked the audience to share what they enjoyed about

someone's teaching today, and to share any suggestions about how that

facilitator might lead it differently.

And I think in these sessions, the facilitators themselves, they're given

an opportunity to reflect on their experience and also to ask the audience

questions about how they got on.

Now, you could mimic this yourself with a group of educators.

You could get together regularly.

You could take turns to lead a discussion about an artwork, and you could follow

that with feedback and discussion, 10 minutes for the discussion,

maybe 10 minutes for the reflection.

And if you do this regularly, you'll really notice the

difference in your practice.

And finally, research.

So keep researching and finding out what's new in your field.

And you can do research in a variety of ways, but let's start with reading,

because I think the more reflective we become, the more we want to keep

up to date and learn new techniques and methods and to read more.

And we started a book club in the membership a few months ago as we're

all keen readers, but we wanted the opportunity to be accountable for reading

a certain book in a given timeframe and to spend time discussing that book too.

And I think discussing ideas from what we've read really helps us to get

new ideas for how we might apply what we've been reading in our own work.

It also helps us to remember key sections of books too.

I think being excited about what you read is part of the process, but you do also

need to make the effort to put these new ideas into practice and experiment too.

Experiment with new ways of working, and then of course you'll need to

reflect on how it went and what you'd like to work on for next time.

Now you can also do research by attending conferences, events,

by taking courses and classes.

And these all help you to meet other people, to share ideas and get

new sources of inspiration, all of which you can note in your journal.

So finally, I just want to share three quick tips for getting started.

So the first one is time.

Make sure you allow yourself enough time for reflective practice.

The most common excuse is that 'I don't have enough time to do this',

but this is something you can build.

Into your routine little and often you can do a quick one minute

reflection, but it should happen on a regular basis to make it a habit.

I think even after a guided tour and before I started the next one, I would

always take one minute to mentally scan what happened in the last tour, what

went well, and what I'd like to work on.

The second tip is to slow down, take away all distractions, and allow

yourself to be in the moment with your thoughts when you are reflecting.

Put everything on mute and give yourself some quiet time.

You could also do a minute of breathing.

This will also help the brain to get into a more reflective and relaxed state too.

And finally the third tip, approach reflection with curiosity.

Don't be harsh or judgmental on yourself.

Be curious.

Try not to criticize yourself.

This is all about noticing objectively,, reviewing and reframing.

So there you have it.

We've covered a lot.

We've covered what reflective practice is, the benefits of a reflective

practice, how you can do it, and some tips to get you started.

And by following any of these suggestions, you will develop a more

questioning approach to your work.

You will stop and pause.

To think about why things are as they are and how they might be in the future.

You'll also consider the strengths and areas of development in your own practice.

You'll question, why learning experiences might be this way and

you'll consider how to develop them.

Now, I'd love for you to give some of these a go.

If you do, share with me how you get on, you can find me on Instagram

most days at Thinking Museum.

That's it for this week.

Thank you so much for listening.

I'll see you next time.

Bye.

Thank you for listening to The Art Engager podcast with me, Claire Bown.

You can find more art engagement resources by visiting my website,

thinking museum.com, and you can also find me on Instagram at Thinking

Museum, where I regularly share tips and tools on how to bring art

to life and engage your audience.

If you've enjoyed this episode, please share with others and subscribe to the

show on your podcast player of choice.

Thank you so much for listening, and I'll see you next time.