Plowing
corn with a team of horse at age 13, and the beginning of reflective
listening/learning.
I
will never forget the summer of 1943. I grew up in a number of ways during my
13th year. Plowing corn with a team of horses for the first time
stands out as a major transition story in my life. I count it as such in my
memory. This an adult activity. I was entering the manhood world of farming
back then. Before it was gathering eggs, feeding the horses, leading a horse
for the hay fork, being a water boy for threshers, etc.,but now I was out in the
field for a day’s work. I was also paid a small sum.
I
was being taught by my father who was a few rows away with a cultivator and a
team of horses. The cultivator was a work in itself. You sat in the seat with
your feet in sturips to set the depth of the blades and help guide the
cultivator. You held on to the handles to guide the blades also, one for the
left hand and one for the right. Getting rid of the weeds in the center of the
corn rows was the object. And above all, being sure not to get into
the corn row and root out a hill of corn.
Back
than the corn planters would check in the corn so you could row in both
directions, north south or east west. Now they plant the seeds very close
together in rows and they till more with pesticides. The number of bushels of corn is much higher now for a number of reasons.
When we
would plow up and back, stopping at the fence row, my father would share his
views about people, life, and the world. I don’t remember the
specifics but I do remember his way of continually thinking about something. I
credit him with introducing me to the importance of reflecting on our life
situations. I gave this memory a metaphorical name, “resting the houses
at the fence row,” and moved the practice to many different places.
When my
father later became chronically depressed over the loss of the family farm the reflecting continued but in a
more repetitive manner without the freshness and variety of his younger years.
The reflections displayed more anger at the same time. But the early benefit
had already been adopted in my practice even though it became a lost cause for
him.
When
I became involved in Clinical Pastoral Education I found reflection was built
into the learning methodology. I readily grasped the importance of this
discipline. And I realized this wasn’t a discipline everyone adopted as a
way of life. Just like having a time for prayer there was the time to
come apart to reflect. The mind became the playground for emerging possibilities.
Or the same good could be done on one to one over a coffee cup, or in a small
discussion group. There is a whole discipline of reflective learning and
reflective listening.
The
Befriender training and the pastoral care department incorporated the practice
which led to a number of innovative pastoral programs.
A more
humorous outcome of the expression came about in this way. During a cardiac
rehab session there was a farmer who was a typical type A. He was old enough to
have plowed corn with a team of horses. I asked him, “Did you ever rest the
horses at the fence row?” He said, “No. I always had another team waiting
there.” The horses had the rest and he kept jumping from one plow to another. Would
a more reflective life have benefited his heart? And was he about the change
now? I can’t say he did.
Shalom,
Marlin Whitmer
Founder
of the Befrienders, story metaphor listeners in a hospital setting, who were
identified as making a difference in the quality of life in the community.
Reflective Learning Theories. ... Schon studied Dewey
and his theories very carefully, and he believed in two types of
reflection: Reflection-on-action, which is an unconscious event that deals with
the knowledge we use to solve problems and carry out actions.
Reflection-in-action, which occurs as the action is happening.
study.com/academy/lesson/reflective-learning-definition-style-theory.html
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Second language listening: Theory and practice - Flowerdew - Cited
by 585
Reflective interviewing: A guide to theory and practice - Roulston - Cited
by 766
Listening theory and research: The state of the art - Witkin - Cited by 72
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Reflective listening is
a communication strategy involving two key steps: seeking to understand a
speaker's idea, then offering the idea back to the speaker, to confirm the idea
has been understood correctly.
