Ever leave a training energized by new ideas, only to realize a week later that most of them have mysteriously evaporated from your brain?
Unfortunately, our brains are pretty good at forgetting things unless we make a conscious effort to reinforce what we’ve learned. And it doesn’t help that library work often asks us to move quickly from desk shift to meeting to program on repeat.
There are lots of ways to reinforce what you’ve learned. At CALL, we’re especially big fans of one simple but underutilized approach: reflection.
Reflection as a Learning Tool
Reflection is not just staring wistfully out a window. It doesn’t require a special pose, a steaming cup of tea, or the sound of rain. It’s simply the intentional process of slowing down and thinking about what you’ve learned, what it means to you, and what you might do with it.
This is especially important for adult learners (hello, CALL community!) You’re already bringing tons of knowledge and experience to the table. New information isn’t being offered to an empty brain! When you connect something new to what you already know and the work you actually do, it becomes more meaningful, relevant, and easier to retain.
Reflection gives your brain a chance to chew on new information, preparing it for digestion, rather than letting it pass right through. You might make a new connection, notice something you hadn’t considered before, or discover a gap in your knowledge. That extra bit of mental work can help turn a new idea into something you’re more likely to remember and use.
We’ve Got a Guide for That
If you’re not sure where to start, our handy CALL Learner Guide can help you build reflection into your professional development process.
The Learner Guide starts with prompts to help you reflect on what you learned, including what surprised you, what questions came up, and how the new information connects to what you already know. It also helps you think about how you might apply what you learned, identify next steps, and consider how you might share your learning with others.
This resource is downloadable, so you can use it with any training, whether you fill it out right after a session or come back to it when you’re ready to put an idea into practice. You can also adapt the reflection questions to think about experiences in your daily work.
Give it a Try
Reflection can help you learn more from both trainings and your day-to-day work. The important thing is to carve out a few minutes to intentionally process what happened, what you learned, and what you might do next.
One children’s librarian shared that they’ve started reflecting on storytime and other events every time they put away their program supplies. They ask themself, “What worked? What might I try differently next time?” Cleanup has to happen anyway, so why not use a few minutes of that time to learn from the experience?
You can use the same approach after a training. Here are some other methods you might try:
- Write it down. Jot down a few insights, questions, or ideas that came up during the training. A few sentences in a notebook or document can be enough, but if you like a beautifully illustrated dot journal, you do you!
- Talk about it. Discuss what you learned with a co-worker, supervisor, or fellow learner. Exchanging ideas and learning about how someone else interprets information can help you make sense of your own thinking.
- Try something out. Choose one idea from the training that you’d like to explore and try it out. Take a few minutes afterward to reflect on how it went.
- Share what you learned. Tell a colleague about a new idea or share a takeaway at a staff meeting. Teaching or sharing what you learned can reinforce your own learning, too.
Next time you finish a CALL training, give yourself three minutes to reflect before you move on. Your brain may still forget some things (brains do that), but reflection can help keep those new ideas from evaporating quite so quickly.