Creative structures and Gibb's cyclic reflective model

 It has been a whirl wind few weeks. From the passing of my grandma to the completion of my first performance season with my company. A year in which I returned to the stage for the first time in two and a half years after being very unwell. I returned dancing principal roles on stage for the first time. I seem to be experiencing intricately woven patterns of emotion at the moment and these are surprising me every day. But on the whole my heart is filled with gratitude.

It was wonderful to connect with other members of the MAPP community in the zoom session last week where we discussed ways to approach the critical personal reflection essay. Helen shared a beautiful essay she is currently writing with us, as an example of different ways of constructing and approaching an essay. I was really inspired by this because it revealed to me just how creative the process can be. I can easily become stuck within one format and strive now to be more experimental with my approach.

The second take away from this session was Helen's idea of creating a map of your learning through this term. I like the visual idea of this and have already identified that I am predominantly a visual learner. Therefore, I have been inspired to collage a map of my learning. I feel this may also help me with ensuring I really identify the key points of learning as my tendency is to feel that everything is relevant and then become overwhelmed with too much material.

It was inspiring to hear how others are approaching their reflective practice with Matthew saying he has been collating photographs, Olga interspersing study with movement and Deiter recording himself talking and taking his writing from there.

All of these different approaches have encouraged me to think about how I can fulfil my desire for creativity whilst still getting my work done on time.

 I have been enjoying journalling based on the Gibbs Reflective cycle. I found a journal on amazon which has already been structured and I have found this really great as I can fill it in any time and the boxes are quite small so I can't get too carried away! Sharing it here in case anyone else finds it helpful. I do feel though that although this cycle is useful it does not delve into the full depth of reflection. It seems impossible for full learning to take place as I feel I would need to actively try out the action plan and to critically look at my own views. How do I truly know if this has been simply a perceived notion and not a true representation of what happened? As Bolton says Gibb's cycle 'does not critically challenge assumptions (either individual or those of the organisation) or engage perception from a wide range of perspectives.' (Bolton, 2014, p.49)   

Interested to know what models of reflection are working for other members of the community?

Bibliography

Bolton. G (2014) Reflective practice. Fourth Edn. London: Sage Publications Ltd