Harness the power of reflection through storytelling

Curated storytelling as reflection 

Chef’s Table, an original Netflix documentary series, is one of my favourite TV shows. The world’s most renowned international chefs are interviewed in the show, and they share their journey of being a chef through powerful storytelling. They talk about the trial-and-error process when crafting their cuisine. They reflect on their childhood and their relationships with people and/or communities, and how they applied their new understanding in their food creation. Different concepts behind the dishes are beautifully illustrated through their narratives. Through their stories, the audience discovers how these chefs make personal connections and find their own identities through their food. I am always inspired by the powerful messages and how concepts are synthesized and succinctly conveyed through their cuisine and stories. It’s far more than just a dish. It’s not just what they do. They care deeply about why they do it and deliberately tell their stories through curation. Through their stories, I’ve had an epiphany that creative and critical reflection with curation not only leads to innovation but also identity formation.

As reminded by John Dewey, the famous American educator and philosopher, “we don’t learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on our experiences.” It is through reflection that we connect the dots (linking prior learning with newly acquired knowledge, understanding, and skills) and make sense of our experiences. It is a powerful way of thinking that helps us develop personal growth in all aspects and enables us to develop confidence and capacity. Examining the attributes of successful people in different professional fields, we often identify one common quality that contributes to their success. That is being reflective. Having a reflective mindset has been crucial and will remain paramount for us when generating innovative ideas and solutions in the unknown future.

Reflection (a way of thinking) is a core element of the MYP inquiry cycle and assessed in different subject groups. Reflection requires intention and critical thinking (analysing, inferencing, explaining, evaluating, and conceptualising). These are the skills that require explicit coaching and scaffolding. Students are often asked to reflect through question-and-answer formats, written communication, or video recording. I sometimes feel that students perceive reflection as time-consuming and tedious. If we, as teachers and facilitators, are not mindful and intentional, students end up recording superficial random events of what happened but not deeply analysing the ‘how’ and why’ for moving forward. Another observation is that students often collect ‘everything’ on their learning portfolio without editing. Instead, students should be taught and have opportunities to practise how to curate their stories, focusing on quality and not quantity. Through curated reflective practises, students could be encouraged to think as an artist, a photographer, a food critic, a musician, a museum curator, and so on.

After reading Intention, written by Amy Burvall and Dan Ryder, I began to rethink the ways in which we could encourage students to reflect critically and creatively on their learning. What are possible ways for them to make meaning out of learning experiences? Many creative ideas are provided in the book Intention. I also re-read Jennifer Gonzalez’s blog post, To Boost Higher-Order Thinking. Try Curation. I notice these great strategies engage students in using multimodal communication for reflective thinking tasks. It will make sense for students to reflect through multimodal texts, as we currently live in an increasingly multimodal world. Teachers can guide students to reflect through different forms of modality. It is very important to set up ‘creative constraints, and we also need to remember that “what matters is the quality of analysis, not the medium through which the evidence is delivered.” Students must interpret their learning, explain and synthesize their thinking, and learn how to justify their choices.

10 ways to curate reflection

I have brainstormed 10 ways to curate reflections. Curating about curation!

1. Photo essay: Students choose a series of photos that capture their learning and thinking. They give captions and write short paragraphs for each photo selected.
2. Infographic reflection: Students organize and communicate learning in a graphic format, which is a combination of texts, icons, charts, graphs, or images. Encourage students to consider how fonts, colors, graphics, and imagery can help convey an effective visual message.
3. Graffiti: Students can create a “graffiti wall” manually or digitally that captures their learning.
4. Quotes: Teachers can provide a page of quotes or have students search for quotes in books or on the internet. Students choose relevant quotes relating to their learning and provide an explanation.
5. Phecha Kucha: Phecha Kucha means “chit chat” in Japanese. It’s a PowerPoint presentation, and presenters are only allowed to use 20 slides, and those slides must automatically advance every 20 seconds. Phecha Kucha-style presentation focuses on visuals rather than text-heavy texts.
6. Song playlist: Students select perhaps songs from Youtube or Spotify. They can use lyrics from the song to make connections with their learning. Alternatively, they can also create a top ten list to reflect on their learning.
7. Vlogging: Students create a short video to reflect on their learning and post it on their website (or their e-portfolio). It will be useful to discuss with students what a vlog is and the key elements of a vlog. Additionally, teachers can also share with students a couple of good vlogs.
8. Drama: Students can create a drama performance, such as a monologue, skit, or pantomime, to share their learning.
9. Mini-documentary: A mini-documentary is one way to share stories and convey a message.
10. Musical composition: students can compose a piece or write a song that captures their learning. (Alternatively, they can also choose a song and create a music video.)

All these reflective practices will require quality analysis from students and should be followed up with their justification. I hope these reflective practices can help our students share their stories with a wider audience and develop their creativity.

Critical reflection is the process by which curiosity and experience can lead to deeper understanding. Learners must become critically aware of the way they use evidence, methods and conclusions. Reflection also involves being conscious of potential bias and inaccuracy in their own work and in the work of others.

(MYP: from principles into practices, 11)  

References

• Burvall, Amy, and Dan Ryder. Intention: Critical Creativity in the Classroom. EdTechTeam Press, 2017.
• Gonzalez, Jennifer. “To Boost Higher-Order Thinking, Try Curation.” Cult of Pedagogy, 21 Sept. 2018, www.cultofpedagogy.com/curation/.​
• ​International Baccalaureate. MYP: from principles into practices (published May 2014, updated September 2022)