Allowing space for reflection

Reflection spaces offer opportunities for growth in the sense of insightful perspectives on personal behavior, on teaching contents and on the teaching and learning situation. By becoming aware of individual learning processes through reflection during teaching, continuous development of competences can be achieved. Quality of expression and interpretation can thus be critically reviewed and refined, as can one’s attitude.

Reflective processes can support students in the knowledge-based, practice-oriented and/or artistic development of their expression, guiding them in self-reflectively assessing their positioning, their surroundings and their potential for development. Engaging historical and established/traditional contexts is as important here as examining one’s own conceptions and surrounding structures.

Thorough reflection requires an openness to question that which is supposedly given and to perceive issues and circumstances in their diversity and complexity. In order to do so, one has to be prepared to disrupt ingrained behavioral patterns and biases and – if necessary – to step back and approach a new/different concept. In this way, a high-quality teaching and learning environment can be created. (bh/ep)

Reflective practices in artistic teaching

There is a difference between reflective practices and feedback because elements of relating and communicating are not necessarily part of the reflective process.
Reflective practices represent an invitation to become aware/conscious of the specific dynamics affecting a situation.
In order to be able to express, share and relate personal impressions and perceptions, it can be especially helpful to offer both feedback loops as well as loops of reflection in artistic one-to-one and group teaching settings.
Within the setting of a reflection loop it becomes possible to gain further perspectives and possible interpretations.
Within the setting of reflective practices, the traditional concept of master-student relationships in artistic tuition can become/be rendered transparent, inviting teachers and students to discuss/ critically engage/ reflect/ deconstruct them as equivalent counterparts.
Reflective practices in artistic teaching can contribute to revealing stereotypes and attributions and to avoiding their reproduction.

Teachers’ questions to inspire reflection

...directed towards oneself	...directed towards students
At which points in time and in which situations do I introduce spaces for reflection in my teaching?	What do you think of the exercise?
How can I best support/guide students so that their learning is successful?	What are your thoughts on your artistic expression/interpretation of the work?
Am I aware that I have various methods at my disposal? (> offering methodological variety) (Methodenvielfalt anbieten)	Which format allows you to best present the knowledge you gained and the skills you acquired?
Do students feel safe and appreciated in my classes? (> creating safer spaces and brave spaces) (Safer und Brave Spaces schaffen)	What do you require order to feel safe and supported in in class? Can you think of any situations in which you feel insecure?
Do I incorporate historical reflection of the discipline? Do I engage canon, genre and repertoire from multiple perspectives? In doing so, do I consider aspects of gender and diversity?	Do you know the specific historical context of the repertoire we concern ourselves with? Which images/ social orders and circumstances were relevant in its period of origin? What knowledge do we require in order to be able to engage the specific work in a manner that questions discrimination?
Am I using language (and images) that address all students, making them feel accepted and appreciated? (> employing language and images in a gender-sensitive and diversity-aware manner) (Geschlechter- und diversitätssensible Sprache und Bilder wählen)	Why is gender-sensitive and diversity-aware use of language and images important?
Am I sharing relevant information with my students transparently and timely? Do I exchange with students regularly? (Informationen teilen und weitergeben)	Do you feel you have all the information you need? And do you have enough opportunities to exchange with your teacher?
How is my relationship with my students characterized in terms of closeness and distance? Do I communicate it transparently?	Are your boundaries respected?
Do I take students’ suggestions and requests seriously, incorporating them in my teaching?	Do you feel taken seriously? Are your ideas and suggestions welcome during class?

Further tools

for practicing and trying out

Literature & related links

for reading and delving deeper