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Session 2. Reflection Frameworks: Gibbs and Schön
Objective. Use Gibbs' six-stage cycle on a real classroom moment, tell reflection-in-action from reflection-on-action, and keep description apart from judgement.
A framework is like the ruler on a tailor's table: it does not do the work, but it keeps your cuts straight. Gibbs' cycle gives your evening thinking a shape, so you do not jump from 'what happened' straight to 'I am a poor teacher'. Schön's idea reminds you that the best reflection often happens in the middle of a lesson, in seconds. This session helps you use both, lightly, and choose the version that fits the time you have.
Key ideas
Gibbs' cycle in six stages
- Graham Gibbs (1988) gave reflection six stages: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, action plan.
- The order matters. Describe before you judge, and analyse before you decide.
- It is a cycle: the action plan becomes the next lesson, and you reflect on that.
Description and analysis do the heavy work
- Description: only what a camera would show. 'Twelve pupils had empty notebooks at minute 30.' Not 'they did not try'.
- Analysis: ask 'why?' at least twice and name more than one possible reason, then see which evidence fits.
- Feelings belong in stage two. They are information, not a verdict.
Schön: reflecting in and on action
- Donald Schön (1983) described skilled professionals as thinking while they work, not only afterwards.
- Reflection-in-action: you see blank faces, stop, and try another example right now.
- Reflection-on-action: that evening you ask why it happened and what you will do next time. Gibbs' cycle is a tool for this second kind.
A short version for busy days
- When there are only three minutes, ask three questions: What happened? Why did it matter? What will I do next?
- Use the full six stages for a lesson you want to understand deeply, once or twice a month.
- End every time with one small action with a date, not a general wish.
Gibbs' cycle at a glance
| Stage | Guiding question | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Description | What happened? | Five of 28 pupils answered the first three questions. |
| 2 Feelings | What did I and the pupils feel? | I felt rushed; some pupils looked lost. |
| 3 Evaluation | What was good, what was not? | The example worked; the pace did not. |
| 4 Analysis | Why did it happen? | I talked for 18 minutes, so practice time shrank. |
| 5 Conclusion | What have I learned? | Input over ten minutes costs me the practice. |
| 6 Action plan | What will I do, and when? | On Thursday I will set a 10-minute timer for the input. |
Two moments of reflection
In action
During the lesson
- Scan faces every ten minutes
- Change one thing at once
- Decision takes seconds
- Needs routines and a Plan B
On action
After the lesson
- Write facts, then reasons
- Use Gibbs or three questions
- Takes three to fifteen minutes
- Ends with a dated action
Asking 'why' without stopping at the first answer
The analysis stage is where most reflection ends too early. After a hard lesson the first explanation, usually 'they were not listening', arrives quickly and feels complete. Make it a rule to write at least two possible reasons for every fact, one about the lesson (for example, the explanation was long) and one about the situation (for example, the lesson was the last one on a hot afternoon).
Then ask which reason you could test. A reason that can be tested with a tally or an exit ticket is more useful than one you can only argue about. Session 3 shows how.
Making reflection-in-action possible
Schön noticed that skilled professionals adjust while they work. For a teacher this is only possible when the basic things run smoothly. If you are busy finding the page, handing out sheets and managing noise, you have no attention left to notice that a third of the class looks confused.
This is why courses 5.2 and 5.3 matter for reflection. A clear plan with a timed Plan B and steady routines leave a small amount of attention free during the lesson. Use it for one deliberate scan every ten minutes: look at faces and at the last two rows, and ask yourself, 'Is it working?' If not, change one thing.
Examples from the classroom
Reading the faces at minute 12
Scene. Malika teaches Grade 6 natural science in Samarkand. At minute 12 of a lesson on evaporation she scans the room and sees several pupils looking at their desks. She stops, pours water into a flat plate and puts it on the windowsill, saying, 'Let us check this at the end of the lesson.' Pupils lean forward. That evening she writes one line: 'Blank faces at 12 min; a real object helped.'
Insight. A quick scan and one small change is reflection-in-action; the evening line turns it into learning.
Two reasons, one test
Scene. Aziz teaches Grade 8 algebra in Tashkent. A test on equations goes badly: 14 of 30 pupils fail. His first explanation is 'they did not revise'. Using Gibbs' analysis stage he writes a second reason: the examples in class used only whole numbers, but the test had fractions. He checks the 14 papers and finds that 11 lost marks on fractions.
Insight. Writing a second reason let Aziz test it against the papers and find a cause he could change.
Three questions on a short day
Scene. Dilnoza teaches Grade 2 in Fergana and often has only the bus ride home. She uses three questions: What happened? Why did it matter? What next? After a lesson on the letters she writes: 'Eleven pupils mixed up b and d. It matters because reading depends on it. Tomorrow I will start with five minutes of tracing in the air.' She does it in four minutes.
Insight. A short version used regularly beats a perfect version that is never done.
Common pitfalls
- Skipping the description stage and starting with judgement.
- Stopping at the first reason in the analysis stage.
- Ending with a general wish ('I must be more patient') instead of one dated action.
- Using the full six stages every day until it becomes a chore.
Run a Gibbs Cycle on a Short Case
- Read the case card in the kit (Grade 7 history, Samarkand). Alone (5 min): mark each sentence F for fact, J for judgement or S for feeling.
- In pairs (15 min): fill the six-box worksheet for the case. Write only facts in box 1, and give two different reasons in box 4.
- In pairs (5 min): mark on the case where Aziz could have used reflection-in-action and what he might have done in that minute.
- Alone (10 min): choose your own lesson from session 1 and write a three-question version (What happened? Why did it matter? What next?). Share the action with a partner.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which sentences were hardest to mark as fact or judgement? What made them tricky?
- What changed in the conclusion when you wrote two reasons instead of one?
- Which version, six stages or three questions, will you use in a normal week, and why?
Reflect
- When you think about a hard lesson, do you start with what happened or with what you feel about yourself?
- What did you change in the middle of a lesson recently, and did you notice you were doing it?
- Which stage of Gibbs' cycle do you usually skip?
Try it tomorrow
- After your next lesson, write a Gibbs cycle in six lines, one line per stage, and check that line one has no 'because'.
- Put a small mark on your plan at minutes 10, 20 and 30 as a reminder to scan faces.
- For one difficult moment, write two different reasons and one way you could test each.
Further reading and links
Describe first, judge later; ask why twice; end with one small action that has a date.