Youth Development Insight

By Karyn Santl As a reflective practitioner, I use the end of the calendar year as a time to reflect on the past and look forward to upcoming opportunities. I use this time to look at my cumulative efforts over the past twelve months to inform the direction I want the next year to take. My practice of reflecting has evolved over the years. I have learned that reflection is a powerful tool that we use when working with youth, but it can be used for program improvement and professional development as well.   I started my career as a staff person working directly with youth, so the base of my reflective practice is the 4-H Experiential Learning Model .  I summarize this model as: Do or have an experience. Reflect and share about the experience.  Apply learnings from this experience to an experience in the future.   Reflection is a key strategy in youth work that helps young people make meaning from experiences. In our youth organization (4-H) staff and volunte...

By Anne Stevenson Reflection is essential for learning. Creating opportunities for young people to reflect on their experiences is a critical component to strengthening program quality, yet is often the most challenging to implement. So why is it so hard to do in our programs? We fall into the trap of thinking of reflection as something that can only be done at the end of a program session, and we often run short of time to finish an activity, let alone reflection. Most of us are not taught to be reflective learners nor are young people offered much opportunity to pause and reflect as part of their typical day or out-of-school program schedule. Let's rethink reflection We want to see it not as that 'thing' that comes at the end of the activity, but something intentional we do throughout our program time to build critical thinking skills and create meaning, value and wonder in learning. Youth program quality research tells us it's essential to look at what actuall...