Reflections on reflecting
Sunday, May 10, 2009 at 09:54AM Reflection:
6: a thought, idea, or opinion formed or a remark made as a result of meditation
7: consideration of some subject matter, idea, or purpose - <www.merriam-webster.com>
Kim Cofino, in a very good blog post The Next Generation Conference, writes:
Time for Reflection As much as I loved the Hong Kong Summit, there was simply not enough time for reflection and metacognition. No matter how much you know about a topic, there is always a need for discussion after an engaging session. After each session, a group leader could facilitate an unconference style discussion, with a focus question or Visible Thinking routine to get people processing the information. ...
Time at a conference for reflection? Conversation? Hmmmmm. When I put on my manager hat, I recognize that while I am indeed paying people to think (reflect), I am not sure I actually like them doing so while on company time. My first reaction to Kim's suggestion is that conference sessions are like coffee beans and the time for reflection is like the water you also need. Yes, you do need both the Sumatra and the hot water to make a mug of coffee, but for some reason I am fine with paying for the first, but not the second. Isn't the time to refect on the conference on the ride home?
And yes, I flatter myself thinking that I too am a reflective practitioner.
On the way home Saturday morning from a very enjoyable NHEMA conference, I ran into my friend Nick Glass who runs TeachingBooks in the Minneapolis airport. He asked: "Are you doing good?"
I thought he was asking how I was doing financially. I mumbled something about keeping a roof over my head and keeping the LWW living in the style to which she has become accustomed.
"No," Nick clarified, "What I am asking is if feel you are doing any good? Do you feel your speaking and workshops are making any difference?"
It's a scary question to reflect upon.
Some days I feel great about what I do - when someone e-mails or comes up to me at a conference to say that I have been helpful to them. But I also wonder what the hell I have been doing for the past 20 years when more school library positions and programs are in greater peril than ever. Either my strategies are flawed or the message hasn't gotten through in my work trying to make the profession more relevant, more critical, and less dispensable to schools.
Sigh...
Reader Comments (6)
Don't let this reflection make you quit the good fight. Are you doing any good? I would say without a doubt you are doing good. Each time I attend a workshop, seminar, or conference session, my goal is to walk out with at least one new understanding or idea. That is really hard for me these days. I also go in looking for new or better ways to present ideas. I no longer go in with the critical eye critiquing everything (which I confess I used to do a couple of years ago--b/c I thought a lot of times I knew the topic better than the presenter at times.) Now I go in with a different attitude, trying to enhance my understanding or methods of sharing knowledge. So I generally walk out with a take away from every professional development opportunity. I have also decided often times my audience is also a resource that I can learn from. So yes, absolutely you are "doing good." I left your SCASL pleased as punch. I was filled with ideas for both PD and teaching.
I wonder if it's reasonable to expect that the people you're paying to reflect should be expected to do so exclusively *outside* of company time.
I would argue that limiting "reflective time" to "alone time" eliminates a valuable opportunity to discuss with others the implications of what's been presented. Building in even a little time for reflection, conversation, blue-sky dreaming about new ideas is likely to make them more fruitful and easier to implement once participants return to the workplace. Even those who process well individually can benefit from a designated time to do that important intangible work -- and those who thrive on social energy may not *manage* to reflect outside of the conference.
Doug,
It's great to know someone in your position questions what good you are doing for the profession. I seem to wonder on a daily basis what good I am doing. We have so much to offer schools, and we are the jack-of-all trades who can have their fingers into nearly everything and we potentially can make a difference with every department. Can any of us say we do? There are so many factors: school community, budget, receptiveness of staff and students, budget, vision, obstacles, budget, creativity, socio-economic issues, and of course the budget.
By the way, thanks again for the use of your flashdrive at the conference. How many conference speakers would do that? That's what I call "indispensable."
Doug:
A few years ago there was a study about competence - (I'm generalizing greatly here) and I remember that the finding seem to indicate that totally incompetent people thought they were doing a good job and those who wondered if they were or were not doing a good job were the ones who were. I think the very fact that you question whether you are making a difference in this world mean that you are. Thanks for all you do.
Hi Doug,
I'm going to cheat and post my reply to your comment which took me a little to long to post on my own blog:
I'm not so sure I agree with your statement about reflection. One of the very first things Tom Kelley told us in his presentation is that the human brain can only take in 7 new bits of information at a time. This means that if we don't have time to reflect and scaffold our understanding to "put in in place" so to speak, any conference can only give us 7 new bits of information. We need time to process and if we don't have it, we might as well just look up those 7 new bits of information on the web and be done with it because the rest of the conference will be big waste of time...
So maybe, looking at how far conferences have gotten with the "sit 'n git" model with no room for reflection, deeper thinking or metacognition, is actually a sign that we need to rethink the conference format.
I certainly hear you on the money piece, but in my opinion, if I get a deeper understanding out of important and challenging conference information that I will actually implement on Monday (instead of forgetting about it in my exhaustion of traveling home on Sunday night and working on Monday morning), maybe those conferences would be worth a little more, financially speaking.
I guess I'm all worked up about this because I think providing time for reflection is just good teaching. We do it in our classrooms, we know students need it, so why do we think teachers don't?
Hi Cathy and LibraryBob,
Thanks for the encouragement. I feel like most change in education is two steps forward and one step back again and again.
Glad to be able to help with the flashdirve materials! I've done my share of borrowing as well.
Doug
Hi Christie,
You make very good points. I guess I separate "reflection" (solitary) from "discussion" (group) in how I process new information. I suspect in the best of all possible worlds we'd have time to both reflect and discuss on company time and we should be advocating for this.
Thanks for your comments,
Doug
Thanks, Tim. I suspect I don't ruminate enough about my effectiveness which makes me semi-competent, I expect. But thanks for the kind words.
Doug
Hi Kim,
OK. I'll grant you that reflection is a good thing and we should be providing teachers greater opportunities to do so. I am wondering how we might go about measuring the impact of "paid reflection time?" But then how do we measure any impact that a conference might have had on a person's practice? It seems to me that we need to hold all conference attendees a little more accountable for the results obtained by going to conferences.
Oh, I hereby grant you permission to attend only every other session at traditional conferences so you can use the rest of the time to ruminate.
Nice getting to meet you and your husband in Bangkok. Thanks for the nice suppers out!
All the best,
Doug