Thing 17 – Reflective Practice

Using the Gibbs Reflective Cycle model to reflect upon on the work I am doing in my job is going to be a really useful way of monitoring how well I am doing in my new role. It will be especially useful as most of what I am doing is actually all new to me so there is going to be a lot that I can learn from my experiences.

When I think of reflective practice, for some reason I think about it being a task that takes a long time but I guess if you do it properly and follow this model then all you really need is a couple of lines for each point and then you will have something very useful for yourself and your team.

I can’t really do a full analysis of a specific event or project yet because I am still settling in but I will have a bit of a go. I started my new job at the start of October. I am a Learning Facilitator at a Sixth Form College library in Manchester. Myself and another lady job share and there are two other Learning Facilitators and an administrator on the team. We are responsible for the running of the library service, collection development, curriculum liaison etc in the college. So far it has been both exciting and challenging. As my graduate trainee experience is the main library experience I have I sometimes feel that I don’t have enough experience to be doing what I am doing but I am just overthinking things because I am doing everything perfectly fine (I think). I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment with the amount of work and responsibility I now have in this role but this is also a positive thing.

It is really good to actually be working in a library, nevermind in a professional role. I couldn’t have imagined this time a year ago that I would be at university studying for my Masters degree and working in a College. It is fantastic experience and I can learn more/ develop the skills that I am learning at university. The team recently went through a big restructure so another great thing about this job is that I am able to help shape the library at the college which again is another great experience. New ideas are welcome and I am able to pursue projects that interest me.

It is difficult working part-time as I have always worked full-time. I am in 3 days then there are 4 days when I am not in so by the time I go to work it feels like it has been a long time since I was last in and this makes it difficult to remember things I have to do, catch up on emails and so on. I think the way to resolve this is to plan for things better and make sure I plan what I am going to be doing when I am in work in advance. It is also worth me having a talk in more detail with my job share partner to see how she manages her time. I am asking lots of questions (sometimes possibly too many) but I feel this is the best way for me to learn how to do things and to keep up to date with what is going on.

This is probably a bad example to use for the gibbs reflective model because the thing I am reflecting on hasn’t ended so I can’t really talk about the outcome but I can think about some of the things I would do better. I would make better notes. I have a notepad full of random scribblings in a random order and some of the information I have noted down is actually really important and I do need to refer back to it regularly. It would make my job a lot easier if I had of taken better, neater notes and I will definitely remember this next time.

I am going to blog about the projects I am doing/ the new experiences in my job when I am settled in and I will refer back to this model. Thanks Rudai 23

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