Facilitating Reflection: A Manual for Leaders and Educators

“Most people who are involved in community service and service learning programs are familiar with the term “reflection.” In fact, we are all familiar with reflection… Every time we look in the mirror. The term “reflection” is derived from the Latin term reflectere — meaning “to bend back.” A mirror does precisely this, bend back the light, making visible what is apparent to others, but a mystery to us — namely, what our faces look like.
In service learning, we look to develop processes that allow the people doing service to bend the metaphorical light of their experiences back onto their minds — to make careful considerations about what their experience were all about: what did they see, who did they meet, why is there a need for such services in the first place, etc. The act of reflection, therefore, becomes crucial to their education. It serves as the bridge between experiences and learning.”
This guide to facilitating reflection will help leaders and educators to incorporate reflection into their service to increase learning in the groups with which they work and in turn increase the effectiveness and meaning of the group’s activities.