23 Things for Professional Development –Thing 5 (Reflective Practice)

Reflective practice is something that we do in our day to day living.
Did we respond to that conversation the way we should have? Am I bringing up my kids the way I should? Is my input in this relationship enough or are there things I should do to make it better? Was that short-cut I took the best I could have taken or is there another quicker, safer way? Should I have answered the Helpdesk query in a different way or should I have added more information?

There is an adage in my country that says ‘ If a child falls he looks forward but if an adult falls he looks backward’. That is reflective thinking. A child or an immature person is the one who never reflects on his actions, he moves on without having a thought to make sure if what he has done was right, or how he could have done that better and if he could have had a different or better result if he had done it another way whereas an adult or a matured person would reflect on why what happened had to happen, what he could do to avoid making the mistake again and how he could make things better.

Reflective thinking helps us to avoid mistakes we have made and is a sign of learning on the go.It doesn't always mean we see more but it allows us to see things in a different perspective.

We learn through different means, We learn from ourselves, from others and from what goes on around us. Reflection can occur at any time; before an action starts, during the action and after the consequences or results.

CPD23 has opened my mind to so many things I would otherwise not have thought about.

So reflecting on my involvement with CPD23 so far: I have been able to link with other librarians and see into their ‘online lives’ and this has really been rewarding for me. I have learnt to blog about professional things and find out I am actually enjoying it, something I never had an idea I could enjoy before.

I now feel this hunger to launch out into deeper things, where or what I have no idea at present but I can see the need now to get more involved with digital things relating to the library and the information world.

I have not been blogging so much before and have not had any follower before this nor have I followed anybody. I am now blogging and actually enjoying it and I have followers and followees. This will definitely go on for a long time...