Human story-telling is full of reflections of the literal sort. Narcissus admiring himself in his reflection on the lake, Snow White inquiring to the Mirror on the Wall, and Alice's adventures through the looking glass. While those are examples of myths and fairy tales, how does the idea and practice of reflection play out in real life?
Answer: self-evaluation.
Proper reflection is essential to appreciating any event in life, but especially so for service because the experience can vary so greatly and have a very different effect on each person. Knowing there's no assumed reaction to serving, reflecting helps each individual figure out what meaning they took away from serving and how those lessons will impact their future, whether that involves serving or not.
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| Reflection involves critical thinking an analyzing, not just writing down your favorite part of the day. |
The very first chapter and page of "Looking In, Reaching Out" addresses reflection because it's so critical to service being meaningful, especially to students who may not have developed a complete context for their service. There are two highlights of the chapter: the definition of reflection and understanding one's motivation to serve.
"Reflection is a process of seeking clarity and truth... truth in experience, thought, beliefs, instincts, and relationships. Reflection can be accomplished independently or as a collective endeavor. Yet, however done, reflection demands consideration of one's internal state (beliefs, feelings, assumptions) and external circumstances (actions, relationships, power, dynamics, obstacles). Reflection also demands self-honesty and humility that will hold its own against affront from any quarter." (As cited on page 2.)That's a big explanation for a little word. The short version is that reflection is evaluating how your internal state interacts with your external circumstances and what that answer has to do with the service project in which you just participated.
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The middle of the chapter may sound familiar to anyone who's read "When Helping Hurts" by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. The chapter's author, Kathleen Rice, asks the reader (most likely a service learning professional) to carefully consider why they want to get into the line of work, but the content also applies to volunteers involved in service learning. The wrong motivation to serve can lead to harm later in the game, so evaluating why you want to serve (in the case it's not required) is important to how you serve."Being aware of our own motivations is important for increasing our capacity to collaborate effectively with others who come to work with different priorities and motivations, but with whom you share a common vision." (Page 7)
A brief exercise for the reader to analyze his or her own cultural identity leads into another important point:
"Not only is it valuable to be grounded in what drives and motivates us in our work as [community service-learning professionals], but it is important to have some awareness of the source of these motivations. For each of us, the source might differ. Our motivations might be shaped by life experiences we have and have not had, our cultural histories and backgrounds, books we have read, what we have learned from mentors.... and the list goes on. Recognizing the roots of our own motivations can help us understand how others' motivations have their own roots as well." (Page 10)You may be thinking, "Well, I want to help because it's the right thing to do, duh." Is it the right thing to do because you have some extra time and want to slap some experience on your resume? Or you may want to bestow your wealth on people lower than you. Both are poor reasons to serve and will end up harming and/or offending the people you think you're going to help.
Reflection is a tool for personal growth and community growth, both of which are key to a successful service learning environment.
Stay tuned to hear what "Looking In, Reaching Out" has to say about community.
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