New Year – a time for reflection

[Boyd Roberts]

New Year – a time for reflection

The new year is a time to reflect and make resolutions, and an appropriate time to focus on reflection. While it is good to encourage student reflection in general, it has a particular place within the IGC Award. Engaging in activities - particularly if undertaken in a group or when organised by teachers – does not necessarily lead to good reflection. And it is individual student reflection that leads to student learning and development – which is at the heart of the IGC Award.

Research evidence indicates that students need to learn how to reflect effectively – and teachers also need to learn how to guide and prompt reflection among students.

The Ning has a number of postings relating to reflection which it may be helpful to look at, or revisit, at this time.

http://igcaward.ning.com/forum/topics/recording-and-reflecting

http://igcaward.ning.com/forum/topics/further-thoughts-on-reflection

http://igcaward.ning.com/forum/topics/additional-ideas-on-reflectio...

A very quick exercise that is very easy to organise is to ask each Award participant to sit down with another participant.

They take a few minutes to think on their own what has had the most impact on their thinking and perspectives while taking part in the IGC Award programme.

Each in turn then explains this to the other participant.

This can clearly be elaborated and more guidance can be given. The materials posted to the Ning give further ideas.

We can model reflection by being prepared to reflect – and share our reflections – on how our own professional and personal perspectives have changed through our own involvement in the IGC Award.

The following is an additional resource that may be helpful:

Reflection Toolkit

This has been devised to assist teachers working with student in service learning contexts. It includes a few simple activities that can be undertaken with students with little preparation or time spent:

http://www.nationalserviceresources.org/filemanager/download/615/nw...