Module 1, Part 1, Task 2c.

‘Reflective practice is something more than thoughtful practice’ (Jarvis 1992). It is ‘the throwing back of thought and memories in cognitive acts such as thinking, contemplation, meditation and any other form of attentive consideration, in order to make sense of them and to make contextually appropriate changes if they are required’ (Taylor 2000). 

I have to say although in general I am rather a reflective person, I don’t think I’ve reflected so much on my profession as I have in the past year or so. I left working on cruise ships almost 18 months ago now. This was for a few different reasons but I had planned to come back to the UK with the hope of getting work closer to home. I have worked during this time however not as much as I’d liked and this has led me to really think about how I feel about this career and to realise how much I have learnt. 

Here is an example of Kolb’s Learning Cycle (1)

Kolb believes there are four ways of learning. Those who learn from doing something (active experimental). Those who can do something but start to learn when they see others around them doing it (reflective observation). Those who need to ‘work it out in their heads first’ (abstract conceptualisation) and those who start to learn by trying out ideas (active experimentation). When looking at the diagram and reflecting on my own education I couldn’t decide which category I fit in to. When learning a new dance routine I have to do it myself, I couldn’t just learn it from watching someone else. However nor could I learn it by them describing it to me. I need to see it demonstrated and then be able to ‘put it in to my own body’. I can pick up choreography rather quickly, however my problem is then retaining it. To do this I have to take a step into myself and ‘work it out in my head’, so I know I’m not just copying. To help me work out which is the best way I learn I did the VARK questionnaire (2). Here are my results;

Visual	12
Aural	9
Read/write	9
Kinaesthetic	13

This shows that I learn best from actually being able to do something physically but with the help of visual, written or aural instruction. I believe children initially learn best from practical learning (active experimental) and reflective observation. One teaching method that is often used when teaching dance is having one of the children demonstrate a move and asking the others what is good or bad about it. They often can’t feel it within their own bodies and so by seeing it on someone else it helps them to understand. 

It is said, although sometimes cited differently, that we retain;

                                5% of what we learn in lectures

10% of what we read

20% from audio visual

30% from watching a demonstration

50% from engaging in group discussion

75% from practicing what we’ve learnt

90% from teaching someone else

Otto von Bismark famously quoted ‘Only a fool learns from his own mistakes, the wise man learns from the mistakes of others’ (3), however Sean D’Souza believes that we retain 90% of what we teach because in implementation we often make mistakes and therefore learn from them (4). 

Donald Rumsfeld, the American Secretary of Defence, famously stated, ‘There are the known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are the known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also the unknown unknowns- the ones we don’t know we don’t know..’ (5). However there is also a fourth category, the unknown knowns; things we don’t realise we know. In this diagram (6) the red line represents the awareness of self and the blue line represents the knowledge of the world; 

It is this fourth category that is often hard to teach. Michael Polanyi (1966,2009) wrote ‘I shall reconsider human knowledge by starting from the fact that we know more than we can tell’ (7)

“Tacit Knowledge’ is the kind of knowledge that is difficult to transfer to another person by means of writing it down or verbalising it. People are not often aware of the knowledge we possess or how it can be valuable to others. Effective transfer of tacit knowledge generally requires extensive personal contact, regular interaction and trust’. (8)

Although I had not heard of this phrase before starting this course, as a dancer I understand the definition. While in a production you might perform the same show every day for a year or more. After a month or so you realise that you don’t have to think about what you’re doing anymore as it becomes second nature or ’tacit knowledge’. At the end of your contract when you come to teach the next cast you often find that you can’t recall the choreography or are constantly second guessing yourself as it’s engrained in your muscle memory. To help with this I would often write written notes on choreography describing the steps, counts and stage direction. 

I also believe that style and quality of dance are a form of tacit knowledge. Although you can tell a dancer where to put her arm or leg you can’t tell them how to feel the music; that has to come from within you or be picked up from extensive personal contact and regular interaction with a teacher or another performer. 

‘Reflection: A process of turning experience into learning. A way of exploring experience in order to learn new things from it.’ (9)

Schön, Moon, Boud and others believe that we learn most through reflection of events. Donald Schön (1987) introduced the idea of ‘reflection-in-action’ and ‘reflection-on-action’. He believes that reflection can happen while you are in the middle of an event or after the event has taken place. 

As a performer and teacher I agree with his idea. A live performer has to read their audience and react accordingly. A comedian for example may realise that certain jokes aren’t going down as well as others and so may change his act during his performance. An incident on stage may mean a performer has to react accordingly. For example, I was once in a show with young children, one of whom unfortunately wet themselves on stage. We weren’t aware of this until we were on stage and had to dance around the puddle while still carrying on with the choreography. During my ‘reflection-in-action’ I found the whole thing quite humorous while navigating around said puddle, however it wasn’t until I ‘reflected-on-action’ that I thought about how embarrassing and humiliating it would have been for the child. 

As a teacher you also have to be able to reflect-in-action. You may have prepared to teach something in a certain way as you’ve taught it before and know that it works. However all children learn differently and if a child is having real difficulty in picking up the choreography you have to change your teaching method in order to help them. You also have to ‘reflect-on-action’ after the class so as to realise what the children were really struggling with or were really good at to help plan what to teach in the following lesson. 

David Boud (2001) believes that we can also reflect in anticipation of events. This is a way of preparing ourselves not only for the event itself but for the outcomes that may follow it. When preparing for an audition not only do I have to warm up and eat/drink well to prepare my body I have to mentally prepare too. I think about what outcome I want from the audition but also how I will feel and act if I don’t get the desired result. I see this as a way of protecting myself as this is a tough business and you need a thick skin and strong will. 

‘Reflection doesn’t have to be a written process, but Tufnell, Tharp, Moon and others stress the importance of being able to articulate and communicate the reflective process so you can recall ideas, plan or link’ (10)

Leading a busy life means I don't often get time to reflect on life however when I do it is often while I am travelling. This is often my only time to myself and so allows for such thinking. As I’ve reached a crossroads in my career it seems to be all I reflect about, but I never put anything to paper. Moon (2004) sees reflective writing as an untidy process. It is a ‘melting pot into which you put a number of thoughts, feelings, other forms of awareness and perhaps new information’ (11) for you to then sort out. She also describes it as ‘cognitive housekeeping’. Moon also believes that reflective writing can deepen the quality of learning and can increase active involvement and personal ownership of learning. I hope that my journal will help me to do all of these things. 

Bibliography 

1. www.brainboxx.co.uk/a3_aspects/pages/kolbcycle.htm
2. www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire
3. www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/800128.otto_von_bismark
4. www.psychotactics.com/blog/art-retain-learning/
5. From a response that Rusfeld gave to a question at a US Department of Defence news briefing, February 2002
6. www.doceo.co.uk/tools/knowing.htm
7. The Tacit knowledge, Michael Polanyi, 1966, Page 4
8. Wikipedia definition
9. Using Journal Writing to Enhance Reflective Practice, Boud, 2001
10. BAPP (Arts) Module 1, Reader 2