Journal Writing Experience

To be honest I was rather apprehensive to start this task as keeping a journal has never been something that has interested me. Writing in general has always seemed more of a hassle than fun to me, even with silly things like replying to a long message on Facebook. Im surprised but glad to say that I've actually really enjoyed it so far. It's almost been like therapy. I've been quite stressed lately and it's a great way to let off steam and gather my thoughts. I'm always so busy, rushing from job to job with so much going round in my head. My diary has always been the only way to scribble things down to make room for more thinking space. Since writing a journal I have noticed the similarity is has to my diary. It's somewhere I can organise myself and make sense of things but instead of being times and places its my thoughts and answers.

I think 'another view' is probably one of the most useful techniques and something we could all think about a lot more often. It's very easy to please ourselves but as a teacher or a dancer we are there to help and entertain others. Are we always thinking about what is best for them??..... I actually got a great insight into 'another view' even though it was nothing to do with my dancing life. It was a mystery shopper video taken of me at the jewellery shop I work at. A job I have done for over a year now and it was only when I saw this video that I saw how I come across to my customers. Things that I had never even thought about such as my speech and my body language was unrecognisable to me. It was like I had never looked in a mirror! This drove me to explore this theory more so I started videoing some of my choreography and parts of my classes to see how I came across as a teacher. I discovered that I come across as unorganised and too relaxed sometimes which was great!! It showed me that something had already come out of reflection.

Something that I have found interesting since reading through other peoples blogs is how they have combined the benefits of web 2.0 with their practice. It was a great idea and when I didn't have my notepad on me I was able to email myself my journal entry from my Iphone (of course I always have that with me!!) As simple as it may seem, I'm not sure if its something I would have thought about before. Thanks guys!!!

Through this exercise I have realised reflection is something we already seem to do on a daily basis. Maybe not in such detail and probably without realising it but we seem to reflect on even the smallest of matters. A journal is just a great way to record it all and to be able to go back to it when you need it. It has also made me realise just how important self reflection and criticism is. We're so quick to criticise other people but it's not very often we take the time to reflect on ourselves, especially in constructive way. I don't know how I expected to improve as a professional without it. I think it is important to stay truthful with ourselves but to remember not to dwell on bad situations but to use them to improve and learn from. I will definitely try to keep my journal alive as long as I am a working professional!!!

Task 2b:

So I have tried out some of the different ways to write a journal. These are some of the things I found with each technique.......

Description- I found to be quite formal and not how I think of reflective writing. It's a very 'matter of fact' way of writing which meant I found myself writing about my day without truly thinking about it. It's a good way to state facts but I really think it's the basic entry to reflective writing.

Initial Reflection- was probably one of the techniques I was most familiar with. It's a way I've always reflected in my head without actually realising it. This was the first time I had got any of these thoughts down onto paper and it was really helpful way of being able to look deeper into a certain thought. It's also great to be able to look back on your thoughts.

List- was great way of getting my thoughts and feelings down quickly and effectively without waffling on too much. The only thing I found difficult was once I had made my initial list of thoughts, it was hard to be able to go back and extend on them. I felt as if I was bouncing from thought to thought.

Evaluation- made me learn a lot about the way I work. It gave me a chance to criticise myself in a constructive manner and learn what I need to do more of and work hard on and what I need to change about myself.

Graphs, Charts and Diagrams- I didn't find very useful personally. I seemed to be concentrating more on how it looked and the colours I used than the actual information. I found it impossible to compare my current feelings to how I may of felt in the past through percentage. I think for this to work for me I would have to draw a chart/ diagram each day and then maybe each week or month look at what had changed and what had stayed the same.

What if- I found to be positive and negative. I didn't just look at what I would love to happen but what I would hate to happen as well. It was a very interesting way of looking at possibilities. I had some fun being adventurous with my thoughts.

Another view- Was very interesting and useful for me. As I'm very self conscious person it was good to be able to think about how people may view me in a deeper way than just my appearance.

My ending thoughts were......

I think the best way to write a journal and to truly use reflection to its full potential is to use a combination of all the techniques you find useful to you. Don't feel you should stick to one! To be able to look at as many aspects of yourself can surely only be of benefit?? One thing I did learn was to not get to bogged down in any bad or lows points but to use them to your advantage and learn from them. The techniques I will continue using most of will be Initial Reflection, List and Evaluation.