Reflection in PE? Really? Reflective Practice and Meaningful PE Experiences

In discussing the Meaningful Physical Education framework with colleagues, or in my own experiences with implementation I find the features of MPE (challenge, social interaction, fun…etc.) resonate with many. Further discussions related to the pedagogical principles as outlined by Fletcher & Ní Chróinín (2022) that prioritize such experiences; language, community orientation, democratic practice are often met with support. However, the principle that can sometimes give pause (including myself) is the idea of reflective practice. Not so much as whether reflection is beneficial, but whether it is worthwhile when conceivably anytime taken to spend reflecting is time away from physical activity, which may be a tough sell, especially in school contexts where time students may spend in physical education is severely limited. Over the past several years, I’ve wrestled with several questions related to reflection…

• How necessary is reflection? Can students have meaningful experiences without it?
• ​What purpose(s) does reflection have?
• Does reflection need to be communicated to the teacher?
• How much or how often do we need to reflect?
• When is the best time for reflection?
• ​Will students actually be able to convey what they find meaningful in their reflections?
• Do my students find reflection beneficial?

The purpose of this blog is to explore possible answers to those questions.

ACCURACY, COMMUNICATION & PURPOSE

In his book Meaning in Movement, Sport & Physical Education, Arnold (1979), describes experience as a continuous flowing stream, from one moment to the next, days or lessons may seem to blend together to the extent they may become indistinguishable from one another. It is only when we pause, and turn back against the stream, to notice the qualities an experience may have or consider the personal value it might hold, that an experience can become meaningful. Arnold states that it is therefore incorrect to claim an experience is meaningful as it is occurring, an experience can only become meaningful once grasped reflectively. You could argue that humans are a reflective and meaning-seeking species by nature, but I would contend that is unlikely students are reflective on the features of an activity they find meaningful (I didn't think about it until I was 30). In addition, if a goal of physical education is to promote lifelong pursuit of physical activity outside of the school gate, and we believe that a meaningful PE experience will help achieve that, and reflection is identified as an essential component of an experience becoming meaningful... should the reflective component of PE classes really be an afterthought or something left to chance?
While reflection is an important tool in the facilitation meaningful experiences, to what extent does the reflection need to be communicated?  As the teacher, do I need to know the content of my students reflections?  How reliable or accurate are those reflections? In her book, Movement & Meaning, Metheny (1968) outlines concerns about whether or not we should ask students to describe what is is they find meaningful in their participation, as the meaningfulness was found in a nonverbal form (in movement). I don’t believe this is meant to be taken literally,  and should not suggest that we should never ask students to reflect, but rather we can understand that there is a gap between what an individual might know as meaningful (because it is felt) and the extent to which they are able to express it in verbal or written forms. Certainly, the MPE framework helps narrow that gap, by providing teachers and students with the language to guide reflection, but likely a gap still remains, as students (especially younger ones or second-language leaners) are able to perceive and feel more than they can explicitly communicate (Arnold, 1979).  However, an inability to communicate or express themselves fully does not make an experience any less meaningful. ​ 
        To “make-meaning” is one of the key purposes of reflective practice, and if that is the sole purpose then perhaps, I (teacher) don’t really need to always know the content of the reflections. In his blog Andy Milne (@carmelhealth) provides an excellent resource of a back pocket question guide, which he describes several possible uses for students including students discussing questions on a walk n’ talk, an excellent way for students to connect with their peers around the shared language of MPE while simultaneously making sense of their experiences, albeit without the teacher knowing the details of every conversation. 
     Of course, there is also added value in the teacher being aware of how students are experiencing their classes. Student reflections can not only make-meaning of past experiences but also help direct future experiences. For example, in a unit of volleyball, I could ask students to think about a goal they wanted to achieve, perhaps a skill they wanted to improve on, and I could encourage them reflect at the end of the lesson or unit whether or not they’ve make progress towards that goal - with all those reflections being unbeknownst to the teacher. Presuming that students do what is asked of them, and I lucked out by structuring the class in a way that allowed them to pursue their goal, then yes, perhaps their evaluation of their experience will be seen meaningful. However, the time taken to simply jot down those same goals on a sticky note, allows the teacher to begin to design the educational experience around those students specific goals. Taking time to have students use red, yellow, green stickers to signify ‘not yet, getting there, got it’ (or similar), helps the teacher understand where students are in their learning and co-create the next steps. 

FREQUENCY & DEPTH / RECENCY

If an experience only becomes meaningful when attended to by an act of reflection (Arnold, 1979), then how often do we need to attend to it? When is the best time to reflect? How far do I need to look back? If you’re hoping for a conclusive answer you won’t find one here. ​

Within a Lesson 

This past April I had the privilege of watching Anita McDougall, a Champion of MPE in Ontario, engage her students in a unit of volleyball with a MPE approach. At the beginning of the lesson, Anita asked students to to react with a certain pose to indicate which feature of MPE was a priority for them. Intermittently throughout the lesson, Anita would pause the lesson, and ask students to use their fingers to rate how they were experiencing a specific feature (i.e. 1 finger = low, 5 fingers = high) this is not only serves the purpose of turning back against the flow of experience as it is happening (or nearly so), but also allows Anita and her students to make decisions about the future, should we stay the course? Or do certain features need to be amplified?

Before or After a Lesson
Perhaps the most common times for reflection is at the end of the lesson, the use of exit slips has become widespread in many areas of education. Rhys Meredith (@RhysMeredith23) highlights a simple and effective way which both engages students in reflection in relation to fun, as well as collects valuable information on what students would like to get better at, thus helping Rhys direct future experiences alongside his students.

Beginning or End of a Unit
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Prior the unit, it is worthwhile to have students look back and consider what they already know about heading into a unit, and what they might like to get from it. At the end of the unit there are a number of ways to help students make-meaning from a period of learning. Some of my favourite sentence stems come from Mel Hamada's blog on an Individual Pursuits Unit, including:

• What learning will you take from this unit to other classes/units/life?
• What are you most proud of? 
• What is the next step for you in your learning? (Ex. skills, strategies or student-as-a-learner

Considering how you might get students to consider the possibilities for continuing this activity outside of school, now that the unit has ended, is also a great way to promote continued physical activity. 

Beginning & End of a Semester or School Year

In her Chapter within Back to School: Teachers Professional Learning in a Health & Physical Education MEd Cohort, Riley Derksen, describes that despite the desire to lock in a yearly plan, she often begins the year with a survey to find out what students enjoy about PE and what they hope to achieve or experience during the school year. By retaining some flexibility in her planning, she is able to better meet her students needs. While this is asking students to think about the future, and not a look back, it is reflective in nature as students hopes for the future are influenced by their experiences of the past. 
While the end of the school year is always jam packed with celebrations and planning for the future. It is also an opportune time for students to consider their growth throughout the year and perhaps highlight moments that really stand out in their PE experience. Joey Feith's (@phys_educator) idea of "Story worthy Moments" is one example of way students could be encouraged to reflect on the most meaningful moments of the year. 

• If you were telling someone about your year in Physical Education which moments would make it into that story & why

Past "Peak" Experiences 
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The experiences that students carry with them are, as Nilges (2004) describes, like lint on a sweater, always operating in the background and influencing the way students perceive present experiences.  Unpacking these 'peak' experiences from years past, which Arnold (1979) describes as those being intensely felt, standing out like mountain tops in the landscape of past experiences, often being recalled with little difficulty. Reflecting on these experiences is a great way to not only get to know students, and what they find meaningful but also unpack "deeper" features of meaningfulness such as joy, delight, belonging etc.  As an example, our Elementary PE team often begins the school with year with students bringing in a photo of such an experience, and code it using stickers to represent the most prominent features. 

CONCLUSIONS

I assume (with no evidence to support the claim :)) that reflection at consistent  intervals, of various depths, with various forms of expression, is the best bet to try and facilitate meaningful experiences students. However, I was still bothered by one last question of, do my students find the time we spend reflecting on our experiences to be valuable? Or would it be better spent being physically active? So I asked! 
Overwhelmingly, students expressed that the time we spent on reflection was beneficial for them, noting: 

• “Reflection has been beneficial, keeping those things [the features] in mind really helped improved the whole experience"
• "Totally [beneficial], it [reflection] basically help me discover if I think about it, the reason why I like this sport is this this and this…”
• “They [features] are [beneficial], they help me learn more about what I find fun and what's relevant to me” 
• "The categories (features) open my eyes to what I am really doing with biking and I really like it”

An unexpected theme from the interviews with students was that the public reflection (i.e. discussion, magnets, walk n' talk) helps students consider why their friends find something to be meaningful.  They are a socially motivated group, and knowing what their friends either wanted from an experience or already found meaningful helped them view it from a new perspective. 

If you're interested in more examples of how to build reflective practice into your teaching, check out this link.

References

Arnold, P. J. (1979). Meaning in movement, sport and physical education. Heinemann.

Fletcher, T., & Ní Chróinín, D. (2022). Pedagogical Principles That Support the Prioritisation of Meaningful Experiences in Physical Education: Conceptual and Practical Considerations. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 27(5), 455–466. 

​Metheny, E. (1968). Movement and meaning. McGraw-Hill.

Nilges, L. M. (2004). Ice Can Look like Glass: A Phenomenological Investigation of Movement Meaning in One Fifth-Grade Class during a Creative Dance Unit. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 75(3), 298–314. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2004.10609162