Do we reflect enough? I have recently been doing an online Teacher Training course with IH World. Looking back the course is an experience unlike any course I have ever taken. I fell that someone has got inside my head and knocked on the door of all the implicit knowledge I have built in teaching. As my last serious training, apart from IATEFL seminars and the usual CPD training, was the MATEFL, it has been a while since I have been asked to drill deep and start to articulate what I know. This method was so effective as it activated the schemata in full throttle and allowed me to think to myself purposely on the things I had encountered, linking them to the tasks, even sleeping on them sometimes. The time constraints meant that I had to use my own resources and so as a thinking exercise personally the course was really stimulating. I was taken by surprise that so much store was placed on our critical and creative thinking and not the usual regurgitation of content that I was used to in previous courses. Certainly content played a part but the course was designed to integrate that content meaningfully into the tasks we were to accomplish.
I realised that quiet mindfulness and attention was something I had not cultivated over the past turbulent decade it was like coming out of the fog. At the same time I had a break from work and chose to spend it quietly with my child and dogs without TV or other distractions to intrude on my focus. I will be going back to work tomorrow but I aim to keep that space for reflection and ask myself constantly ‘Is what I am about to do in keeping with my purpose?’
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