Simply Sara

Have you ever been asked to reflect on an experience, maybe after a class, a placement, a workshop, or even a difficult conversation?

Teachers, educators, supervisors and even parents often ask students, peers or siblings to reflect, expecting deep insight and personal growth.

But here’s the surprising part: we all understand ‘reflection’ differently.

Some people think it’s just describing what happened. Others see it as analysing their decisions. And many feel unsure where to even begin.

That’s why I want to start with a simple question: What is reflection?

What is reflection?

At its core, reflection is a process of looking back on your experiences to learn from them. It helps you notice what worked, what didn’t, and how you might approach things differently in the future.

Some scholars, like Donald Schön, suggest that reflection doesn’t always have to happen after something is over. We can reflect in action, thinking and adjusting while things are still happening. But this isn’t always easy, especially when things feel rushed or emotional. That’s why many of us find it more helpful to reflect after the experience, when we have time to slow down and make sense of it.

Reflective writing

One of the most popular ways to express reflection is through reflective writing. Here’s one definition I find helpful:

Reflective writing can be seen as a kind of ‘cognitive housekeeping.’ It helps you explore, organise, and sort out your thoughts, feelings, knowledge, opinions, experiences, and other people’s perspectives in your head and then represent them on paper. This can result in new learning and new ideas.

There are many models to support reflection, like Gibbs Reflective Cycle, Johns’ Model of Structured Reflection, Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle, Rolfe’s ‘What? So What? Now What?’, Atkins and Murphy’s Model and more. Each offers steps or prompts to help guide the process.

But this blog isn’t about choosing the ‘best’ model. It’s about something that comes before all of that.

Prepare yourself for reflection

Before you start reflecting or writing about your experience, you need to prepare yourself to reflect. Think of it like warming up before a workout or taking a breath before a tough conversation. Reflection doesn’t happen automatically, it takes intention, space and practice.

When you look at the most commonly used reflective models, you’ll notice they all focus on similar elements. Whether you’re a student, a teacher, or someone simply trying to grow, these seven key elements can guide your thinking and writing:

1. Description of the event – What happened? Where? Who was involved?
2. Internal dialogue – What were you thinking and feeling at the time?
3. Connection to prior experience – Have you faced something like this before?
4. Alternative viewpoints – How might others have seen the situation?
5. Emotions – What emotions did you feel during or after the experience?
6. Links to theory or literature – Can you relate it to anything you’ve read or studied?
7. Revisiting the experience – What have you learned? What would you do differently?

These elements help turn any experience, whether positive, challenging or unclear, into an opportunity for learning.

My personal checklist for meaningful reflection

Before reflecting on an experience, try to pause and ask yourself: Am I truly ready to reflect, or am I just recalling events?

When you think back to a past or recent experience, big or small, you may find it helpful to use these seven key elements to guide your reflection:

1. Description of the event: What happened? Where was I? Who else was involved?

• What are the key facts I need to recall to give context, without overexplaining or getting lost in detail?
• What made this situation stand out to me?

2. Internal dialogue: What was going through my mind at the time? What thoughts, questions, or uncertainties did I notice?

• What was I thinking and feeling in the moment? Did anything surprise, confuse, or challenge me?
• Was I confident, hesitant, curious, or unsure?
• Did I notice any assumptions or inner biases influencing my thinking at the time?

3. Connection to prior experience: Have I encountered something like this before?

• What lessons from the past came into play here?
• How is this similar or different to previous experiences I’ve had?

4. Alternative viewpoints: How might someone else have seen this situation?

• If I step into someone else’s shoes, how might they have interpreted or responded to this?
• What might my colleague or supervisor think about how I handled it? Would they agree with my perspective or challenge it?
• What perspectives or voices might be missing from how I’m viewing this experience?

5. Emotions: What emotions did I feel during and after the experience?

• Why did I feel the way I did? What triggered those emotions?
• How did those feelings influence my actions or shape the way I understood the situation?
• Did my emotions help or hinder my response? Would I feel the same way if it happened again?

6. Links to theory or literature: Is there something I’ve learned or read that connects with this experience?

• What academic or professional ideas help me understand this better or challenge how I saw it?
• Is there a story, quote, cultural teaching, or life lesson I’ve come across that relates to this?
• Have I heard someone else talk about a similar situation that shaped the way I now think about this?

7. Revisiting the experience: What do I take away from this? What would I do differently next time, and why?

• How has this experience changed the way I think, act or feel?

One last thought

Remember, reflection is not a linear process. I often find myself moving back and forth between these elements revisiting ideas, shifting perspectives, and noticing things I missed the first time. And over time, I’ve started to develop my own way of reflecting, something that feels natural and meaningful to me.

These questions help me explore my experience from multiple angles, not just what happened, but why it mattered and how it shaped who I’m becoming.

This short talk by Adam Geller is a great reminder of why self-reflection matters and how preparing for it can lead to genuine growth, not just surface-level insight:

And now, here’s my question for you:

When was the last time you truly paused to reflect, not just on what happened, but on how the experience changed you?

Regards

-Sara A