Artful Reflections
a foundational process for any learning environment
Turning our attention to Mexico today seems appropriate since the World Cup opens in Mexico City in just a few hours.
At the end of July, Habla, our education center in Mérida, Mexico, will host its 18th annual Habla Teacher Institute, a week-long experience for educators from around the world.
Over nearly two decades of leading institutes, we've learned many lessons about designing meaningful learning experiences. One of the most important has been about reflection.
Before, we reflected on the day’s experiences at the end of the day, because that seemed logical. The word “reflection” comes from the Latin word reflectere, which means to “bend backwards” or “curve.” The word was usually used in the context of light or heat bouncing off of a surface.
It makes sense then that we reflect at the end of the day, shining the light backwards on the day’s experience. The problem is—everyone is tired at the end of the day. Participants are thinking about heading to the beach or the pool, not engaging in a deep conversation about their learning.
We’ve found reflection is exponentially improved at the beginning of the day. At 9 a.m. when participants enter the Institute, they grab a cup of coffee, some pan dulce, sit down at a table, and begin working.
We've also learned that reflection becomes more powerful when it moves beyond words.
One day we led a workshop creating visual art from cut paper. As we were cleaning up the project at the end of the day, we thought, “let’s leave the scraps on the table and let the participants use them in the morning for their reflections.”
The next morning we encouraged the use of “drawings, doodles, and scraps” in their reflections. That experiment became the beginning of the activity we now call Artful Reflection.
