“Discuss and Evaluate Two Relevant Theories of Reflective Practice and How These Theories Might Be Applied to Your Practice.”

“Reflective practice is important to the development of lecturers as professionals as it enables us to learn from our experiences of teaching and facilitating student learning. Developing reflective practice means developing ways of reviewing our own teaching so that it becomes a routine and a process by which we might continuously develop.” (http://www.ldu.leeds.ac.uk/ldu/sddu_multimedia/kolb/static_version.php Kolb Learning Cycle Tutorial - Static Version. Text and concept by Clara Davies (SDDU, University of Leeds)
I believe reflective practice is paramount to every teaching professional to enable us to develop and improve practice. It not only provides me with further understanding and knowledge about my practice and experiences overall, but it contributes to me providing the best possible learning for my students.
David Kolb’s theory is based on a learning cycle which is familiar to the way I reflect and how I self assess what and how I’m teaching. Kolb’s cycle consists of four different stages of learning upon reflections of experiences, which must be followed in sequence and tested to improve or change teaching performance. It is important to relate the theory to further development “by planning, acting out, reflecting and relating it back to the theory”.
I can also identify with Donald Schon’s theory based on ‘Reflection in Action’. His theory emphasises on thinking about what is taking place or what we are doing and acting upon the experiences whilst we are doing it. Schon reflects this way of reflection in his book, “The Reflective Practitioner – How professionals think in action”. An example where I have used this theory is during my role as a ..... teacher. When I teach........ I need to guide my students on how they need to do an experiment. I usually do a revision on the theory part of the lesson before we start the practical. This enables students to have a good knowledge and be prepared for the experiment. Some of them have had physics lab before and they are fairly familiar with how they need to perform. During the experiment some may require solutions to problems arising while performing and they sometimes ask me for the solution. There have been occasions where I have to ‘think on my feet’ to solve a problem as it requires immediate action. I also evaluate this process by questioning or establishing if I helped to solve the problem. On other occasions I have sometimes found I might need to break a problem down and simplify it first to examine how I explain a solution to enable students to understand it. I also see this as a way of experimenting with my way of thinking to meet a desired outcome.
I also try to apply previous experiences or knowledge to different situations, especially. It has sometimes helped to address a problem where I think the situation is similar but I have also found what I thought might work for one student or learner might not work for another, therefore I would evaluate the situation and readdress the issue upon reflection.
Bibliography
(http://www.ldu.leeds.ac.uk/ldu/sddu_multimedia/kolb/static_version.php Kolb Learning Cycle Tutorial - Static Version Text and concept by Clara Davies (SDDU, University of Leeds)

Referencing
Schon D, (1995) The Reflective Practitioner, How professionals think in action. Ashgate Publishing Limited, Surrey.

Bibliography: (http://www.ldu.leeds.ac.uk/ldu/sddu_multimedia/kolb/static_version.php Kolb Learning Cycle Tutorial - Static Version Text and concept by Clara Davies (SDDU, University of Leeds) Referencing Schon D, (1995) The Reflective Practitioner, How professionals think in action. Ashgate Publishing Limited, Surrey.