Opening post Cap II--Session One

Reflecting on the value of reflection.

I'm probably one of those who might've fallen into the trap of ridiculing refection as being all "touchy feely."  The readings have certainly challenged this type of thinking. 

For years I've had a belief in the value of reflection.  Every so often in my devotional life--my walk with the Lord--I've started to keep journals, I've always felt this would be a "good practice" which would allow me to see growth, and revisit landmark experiences in times of discouragement, etc. 

The problem is, to keep a journal really requires a lot more than a belief in their value--at least for me--it requires incredible discipline--I've trained for a marathon to the point where there was no question in my mind that I could finish a marathon in a time that I considered decent--but, to be regular in keeping a journal....it just has never happened for an extended period with me.

I'm afraid I need much more than a belief, I need a bedrock conviction. 

Now, to come back to the value of reflection in technology integration, and teaching in general....

I liked all three of the articles--the one that exposed the touchy-feely fallacy, the one that talked about its usefulness for social workers, and the one on "fostering reflection"--I found that one particularly useful because it seemed the most connected to the real world of teaching.  It categorized the decisions we make every day and urged teachers to just stop and think about some of those decisions--even let's think about some of those decisions we make reflexively, yes, lets do some deliberative thinking--lets reconsider, are those reactions getting the results we want? If not, what else might we be doing?  What might be the root causes of those unwanted behaviors? 

It seems so obvious that the more time we put in to considering all the causes, all the possible responses, all the possible results; the better our decisions will be.