What does it mean to reflect?
Reflection is a word that everyone assumes they understand, but few can actually define it.
It is simply thinking about things that have been said or done and what can be learned from the experience.
What is the point?”
We learn from all experiences. Reflection allows us to focus on what we learned and incorporate that knowledge into future experiences. All lessons are good. What we do with them may be either good or bad.
WHY do I “reflect?”
For the purposes of the IB Diploma reflection serves two purposes:
- It provides ongoing evidence to the IB of engagement in projects that help develop well-adjusted, contributing members of society.
- It allows a look back over the 18 months of the Diploma program to visualize personal growth.
It also provides an overview of CAS experiences and what life lessons. It builds self-confidence.
Where do I start?
Reflections should center around the Learning Objectives (LO´s) that have been identified for each project. It is wise to limit the discussion to one to two LO´s in a single reflection, so they don´t become essays.
What do I say?
In order to establish a link between experiences and LO´s,
- What was I doing?
- What happened?
- How did I react?
- How did that go? What did I learn? (Think LO´s)
- If I were in the same situation again, what would I do the same? Differently?
Looking for more help on reflecting? Check out these 20 questions.
What if I don´t want to write my reflections?
Besides written, other options of reflection could be:
- A vlog.
- Audio recording / podcast.
- Sharing your experience and what you learn in groups in your tutor class.
- A self-running PowerPoint show.
- A poster.
- Do you have other ideas? Share them with us!
Below are two excellent sample reflections
At the moment, I have only had one CECD meeting. During this meeting, our team leader explained to us the goals and aims for this activity which are: taking care of people, creating activities for them where they will be able to have fun, caring for them. At first, I was kind of questioning how I would work with physically and mentally challenged people and how to have a suitable behaviour with them. I was reassured by some of the students explaining to me that they were very sweet and that I would learn little by little, what will be the best way to interact with them depending on the person. We also discussed some possible projects that would take place during the year and that each one of us will be allowed to propose various ideas. I have been thinking about different activities we could do with them at different time of the year like Christmas or Easter. A good thing is that we set our meeting and the activities at the best time of the week depending on the work of each person. I am happy to work as a group and since I do not know most of the people in the team, discovering them and learning how to work as a group for an important cause. I also enjoy the fact that I am working for a global issue and helping people in need The next meeting is planned on the 6th of October and we will be deciding more in depth about the activities we will be conducting with the institution as well as the group we will be taking care of. I am ready to put effort in finding good activity as I am aware on the ethical implications of this project and how it can help people. As a group we will need to find doable activities. I am confident that older student will share their knowledge with us and guide us. --Chiara D. It has now been close to a month of Volleyball training. During these past weeks, we have been coming to practice on Thursdays afternoons and Mondays lunch times. With these practices, we have been able to work on our practical skills but also to work on our collaborative skills playing as a team. Until now we have played no matches but we will against a local international school here in Lisbon on the 29th of September. On this day we will be able to practice for a more exciting tournament coming up in the first week of November. This tournament will take place in Madrid, Spain, where we as a team will fly out there to play an international tournament, featuring schools from all over Europe. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we will be able to see how well we match up against teams not only local to us but also internationally around the world. From now until then we will have at least one practice match against a local school and hopefully another separate one in preparation for this exciting tournament. Recently I have been working a lot on my mental skills and not so much on my physical. I feel that I am at a point where I have learned 90% of what there is to know about volleyball but the 10% that remain are the longest ones. So currently my biggest issue is not the playing itself but remaining calm whenever I commit a mistake during a match. I feel that for me it is incredibly hard not to hit on myself after failing an easy point as I feel that I let my team down. But I am working on maintaining calm as well as working with my teammates as they are the first line of support during a match whenever someone misses something they are the first to say for you to keep your head up and keep playing. --Martim B.