December is often a reflective month and I’d like to honour that by offering you a simple tool to assist in making sense of your year so far and the opportunity to consider the future.

A reflective tool devised by Dr Roger Greenaway, an expert on training teachers and facilitators called The Four Fs allows you to review your everyday experiences and plan for the future.

The Four F’s:

1. Facts

2. Feelings

3. Findings

4. Future

Let’s take a look at each in some more detail.

1. Facts 

An objective account of what happened and the effects it’s had either on yourself or others.

Questions to consider:

• Did anything unexpected happen? Any surprises?

• Did anything very predictable happen?

• What was most memorable/different/interesting?

• What were the turning points or critical moments?

• What happened next? What happened just before?

• What most influenced your attitude and behaviour?

• What didn't happen that you thought/hoped would happen?

2. Feelings 

The emotional reactions to the situation. By using feelings as your guide, you can learn to fully understand the situation to make sense of it all.

Questions to consider:

• What are some of the feelings you experienced?

• At what point did you feel most or least involved?

• What other feelings were present in the situation?

• At what points were you most aware of controlling/expressing your feelings?

• What were your personal highs and lows?

3. Findings

The concrete learning that you can take away from the situation. Here you can start investigating and interpreting the situation to find meaning and to make judgements. 

Questions to consider:

• Why … did or didn’t it work? …did you take on that role? …did you do what you did? …did you not do something else? etc.

• How … did your feelings influence what you said and did? …did you get the outcome that happened? etc.

• Were there any missed opportunities or regrets?

• What would you like to have done differently / more of / less of?

• What was most / least valuable?

• Was there any feedback / appraisal?

• What have you found out?

4. Future

Structuring your learning for future use. Take your findings and consider how to implement them.

Questions to consider:

• How do you imagine using what you have learned?

• What has already changed?

• What choices do you have?

• How does it look to use the findings?

• What plan can you make for the future?

As 2023 comes to a close with just one month to go, how can you look back in order to look forwards?

References:

https://www.ed.ac.uk/reflection/reflectors-toolkit/reflecting-on-experience/four-f#:~:text=Overview,have%20learned%20in%20the%20future.

https://scoutship.scout.org/handbook/active-review-cycle/#:~:text=The%20four%20Fs%20of%20reviewing,you%20learn%20in%20the%20future.