601.2.1.07 stages of reflection human development - Essay Example

601.2 07 Stages of Reflection Human Development Reflection is a of mind or process of deep thinking, analyzing our surrounding situation and linking it with our own personal state for the purpose of judgment, and how it affects personal professional teaching practices. It helps in finding our true inner self and solutions to the problems we face in everyday events and issues. The Six Levels of ReflectionReflection is defined as a systematic set of six levels that interrelate. The first step is observation and detail, in which the initial conditions are clearly defined.

At this level, we describe the teaching situation and the conditions in detail and paint a vivid picture of the scenario. The next level is analysis, exploration and reason, which requires us to make a detailed analysis of our surroundings. The use of pedagogical terms is needed to describe the teaching situation along with clear examples to create a through understanding. The next level, connections to other effective teaching practices, basically consists of relating the used strategies of teaching to other teaching strategies that we are or might be studying.

The point is to link the two sides and identify similarities and compare. The fourth level, evaluation, requires us to make detailed judgments about the teaching situation in terms of attitudes, behaviors, response and outcomes. To support these judgments, clear examples are needed. Recommendation is the next level, in which the requirement is to provide an alternative strategy which would be suitable for the situation and would result in improvement. The final level is personal meaning and professional growth.

At this level, we need to describe how the teaching situation affected us and how it inspired us in our own ways. Later on, as we progress, these teaching situations would lead us to come up with our own ‘teaching philosophy’, suitable for us. How it helpsReflection helps us learn from our experiences. In our lives, everyday, we experience numerous events, both pleasant and unpleasant. But do we really learn from them? Deep thinking and pondering over these would enable us to analyze such events; why did they happen?

How did they happen? If they were bad, how can we avoid them? How were people affected by our actions? How can I make it better? These are just some of the questions that we might be able to answer if we reflect. It will not just help us in our own self-contained world of personal improvement, but provide a bigger picture on how can improve the world around us. How our actions impact our surroundings, how we can make it a better place and, ultimately, realize the truth. Research shows that reflection also helps us teaching by improving job satisfaction, effectiveness and by improving our decision-making skills, which are a much needed tool in all professional environments, including teaching.

Through reflection, we can learn a lot about teaching, how we can affect student achievement and change them for the better. The WGU ProgramThe WGU program aims at developing these reflection skills. Its goal is to teach us how to reflect effectively through tools and techniques on how to use the concept of reflection in professional setups like teaching. Also it aims at evaluating on our progress through the program through accurate and effective evaluation tools which help us realize our strengths and weaknesses.

Through this we can internalize what ever we learn and use it effectively through our teaching and create a better learning environment. This will lead to better self-judgment as a professional and the ability to look at a situation objectively and analyze it through our deep knowledge to come up with better solutions.