Weekly Response: Yancey's "On Reflection"

Yancey talks about reflection as a method of learning. She starts by giving a brief history much like those we read about in readings like Fulkerson and Lauer. In the 70's professors started to teach process; then they focused on cognitive writing, examining how experienced writers create texts for their audiences; then expressivism, how writers express themselves; then post-process or cultural studies, how students engage with a topic and write about it. Reflection did not play a part in this recent evolution of composition pedagogy.

In 1979, Sharon Pianko published a lone article in which she asserted that the behavior of reflecting during the act of composing (as observed by pausing and scanning) separated the good writers from the weak writers. This behavior seemed to indicate that the writer was thinking about the writing. Following this, researched started asking students how they learn and how they write, and valuing student responses instead of looking to theory for answers. Of course.  It seems so obvious. I wish the folks who advocate for students to use their own language in writing did the same.

Reflection can have different meanings: self-assessment, analysis of learning, goal setting, or all of those. Yancey says, "projection, retrospection, and revision." Students can use it to articulate what they have learned.

Currently, reflection is used by students in portfolios, by teachers to enhance their teaching, by assessment researchers to evaluate, and by administrators to change education.

Researches who have studied reflection:
Brookfield: Teachers should research and understand their own work through reflection.
Dewey: Reflection is action based, goal driven, habitual, and learned.
Lev Vygotsky: Uses the example of tying a knot.  You know how to tie a knot (scientific concept), then you have to explain how to do it (reflective consciousness).
Piaget: Children understand themselves by explaining themselves to others.
Michael Polanyi: Defining the problem is the first step in reflection
Donald Schon: We improve our own work by knowing it and reflecting upon it.

Yancey combines theories, based mostly on Schon, and arrives at this:

reflection-in-action, the process of reviewing and projecting and revising, which takes place within a composing event, and the associated texts

constructive reflection, the process of developing a cumulative, multi-selved, multi-voiced identity, which takes place between and among composing events, and the associated texts

reflection-in-presentation, the process of articulating the relationships between and among the multiple variables of writing and the writer in a specific context for a specific audience, and the associated texts 

Yancey found discrepancy between the reader's reading and understanding of a text and the writer's explanation of a text. She says reflection should be "woven into the curriculum." Ask the students questions.  Reflection can be individual or social.

The author lists her learnings:
1. We offer more than one curriculum: lived curriculum, delivered curriculum, and experienced curriculum.
2. Students have not been accountable for their own texts and their own learning.
3. Students reflect in their own languages.
4. Reflection is a process and a product.
5. Students can theorize about their writing; it can be powerful; it can become a habit.
6. Teaching in a reflective classroom will use reflection as a means and an end.

This reading was super boring.  It scored about an 8 on my snooze scale and required a manicure. I think she could have said all this in about a page and a half. 

She notes that reflection is often used to introduce a portfolio, and that is exactly what we use it for at NJIT. If I used reflection in each class and for each project, that would require a lot of time and effort to read. Will I have to evaluate it?  If I'm not evaluating it, I can assure you they won't do it. If I am evaluating it, then it's not really a reflection; it's a product.

I used reflection (as a product) for the first time in class this semester (besides for introducing our portfolios). It was in the 6-word memoir lesson (thanks, Laura Lopez and the KUWP ladies). After the students wrote their memoirs, they had to write explanations, reflections-in-presentation, to describe and reflect upon the meaning and creation of their texts. We called it a "creative process statement."  Below is an example of one I liked.

 

******************

Some trees bark, others can sing.

My six word memoir all started when I thought about a valuable item that is close to my heart.

The item that I thought of was, and still is, my guitar. I learned guitar in sophomore year of high
school and have only gotten better since. I started with a simple, beginner, and low quality
guitar. Once I started to actually get good at playing I wanted to upgrade to a better and higher
quality guitar. When I did I was over joyed and proud of myself for being able to afford a
valuable item that I could call my own. Focusing more on the memoir now; it states, “Some
trees bark, others can sing.” The meaning of these six words is the idea behind how something
that may seem very simple and bland can turn into something so unique and beautiful. In this
case the first three words are a play on words that mostly portray the idea that trees by
themselves aren’t unique or “creative”. When I say that trees “bark” I am portraying the
metaphor that when a dog barks it’s annoying, bland and does nothing. The transformation
from bland to unique can also relate to the struggle involved in obtaining the guitar. It’s difficult
making money and sometimes boring but once you pay out, it feels fantastic. Overall, my focus
with the six words was to provide a metaphor for trees being bland and how they can become
beautiful through change and creativity. I feel as if the trees in and of itself is a story of how
change and some work can provide a great outcome.