Journal writing experience- task 2b

I have just completed task 2b on reflective writing. The task involved writing about a day based on the frameworks from Reid and Moon. I chose to write about a day I had this weekend as it involved two major elements of my professional practice so I thought it would be useful for me to reflect on this to see if I could learn or discover anything new that may help me in the future. I have to admit that I was sceptical of whether I would get anything from doing this but like most things it turned out to be extremely helpful. I found that this was because I was focusing on writing things that I didn’t actually know, or didn’t realise I knew about the day and things I would not have usually thought about in such depth. This further proves that you can only learn from concentrating on the things you don’t know rather than the things you do know.

I chose to write about a day where I taught two classes in a gym in Wimbledon Village (dance and then body balance) in the morning and then went straight to Twickenham Stadium to do cheerleading and dancing for Harlequin rugby team, sit round pitch for the whole match, and then do promotional work afterwards. It was a long and varied day so I thought there would be plenty to reflect on. I completed the first category ‘description’ detailing ‘where and when’ I was and obviously found that not much emerged that I didn’t already know.

After this I moved on to ‘Initial reflection’. I wrote about my feelings of excitement and nerves, dreading the cold weather in a crop top at Twickenham and looking forward to the day but I didn’t find that much emerged. Then I continued to write and I found myself realising that throughout the day I was constantly thinking about the next thing and not what I was actually doing at the time. When I was teaching I was worrying about getting to the match on time and if I had all my stuff and where I was going to buy another bottle of water on the way etc. During the class I didn’t realise I was doing this as I can take the exercise class almost on auto pilot as I don’t find it particularly challenging. Now I realise I wasn’t giving the class my full attention which it definitely deserves. During the class I was thinking in action as I was constantly doing new steps and routines but I wasn’t even aware of this thinking as I was doing it automatically. Afterwards I did not think on action at all or reflect on how it had gone. I got in my car and went straight to Twickenham just thinking about the next job. This would not have become apparent to me had I not been doing this journal writing task. I have definitely learnt a valuable task in that I will focus more on the task in hand rather than what I am doing next. I am now really looking forward to teaching again next week so I can give them my full attention.

I then went on to making a list of all the things that came in to my mind that day but the same things emerged as what I had already discovered in ‘Initial Reflection’. The words I came up with were:

·         Excited

·         Nervous

·         Cold

·         Tired

·         Long

·         Dancing

·         Music

·         Costume

·         Smile

To be honest I didn’t feel that anything new emerged here and I didn’t find this as useful as the previous category. I then moved on to the ‘Evaluation’ section. It emerged that I thought the class went well (despite my lack of concentration) as everyone came up to me afterwards saying how much they enjoyed it. This didn’t even register with me at the time and I didn’t think much of it but now on reflection I realise it went really well and I am very pleased about that. I also found out something as simple as the fact that I need to avoid a certain road when going to Twickenham. There is always traffic there and every week I forget and go the same way! Now I have been forced to write it down I realise that I got stressed because there was traffic and I know I can avoid it. It is much more cemented in my mind now and I will definitely remember to avoid it next time! It was helpful to evaluate my experiences as new things definitely emerged.

When moving on to the ‘What If?’ section, I wrote about things I would have loved and hated to happen. I found that when writing things I would not like to happen I actually discovered my worries and fears. I found myself writing about; the music not working, no one turning up, forgetting routines in the middle of the pitch, forgetting my pom poms, being late etc. While I was obviously aware that I would not want these things to happen I did not realise they were such big fears. It made me realise that those scenarios could actually happen and are all realistic. On reflection I think I worry too much about an event before it happens and everything that goes on. I think I would be much more relaxed if I thought about all the good things that could happen. Although, having said that it is also important to be prepared for things that could go wrong so the situation doesn’t take you by surprise. However, in the future I am going to try not to worry too much as I realised I found it far too easy to come up with bad things that could have happened!

I wrote about ‘Another View’ from the perspective of a member of my class and then of the choreographer of my cheerleading team. I didn’t really find that much emerged for me apart from the importance of being aware that everyone has a different view on things e.g. the aim of the person in my class was to have a workout not to learn how to dance and this made me reconsider the structure of my class for next time.

I found that the main themes of the day were; providing an experience, dancing, performing, travelling, interacting, communicating, giving direction, taking direction, rehearsing, worrying, stress, thrill and excitement.

I found that the things that made me enthusiastic were:

·         The music

·         The audience

·         Clapping and cheering

·         Big crowds

·         Praise and compliments

·         The thrill of performing

·         The satisfaction of passing on knowledge

·         Being in control and providing an experience

·         Adding to the atmosphere of an event

·         Being part of someone else’s experience/day

·         Being part of a team

·         Encouragement from a teacher/ choreographer

·         Fulfilling a brief to the best of my ability

Overall, I have definitely learnt a lot from completing this task and even more from writing a post about it. It made me ask myself a lot of questions that I wouldn’t normally take the time think about. It made me question my career and day to day life and re evaluate my priorities. I would never have done this had I not had to write everything down. I found most of the categories helpful and would definitely use ‘Initial Reflection’ and ‘Evaluation’ again as these made new ideas emerge. I was surprised by the amount of things I discovered about my day which I already knew but didn’t take the time to think about. It has been useful to my professional practice in that I will change some things the next time I do the activities and it has made me think about my future. I now feel much more able to reflect critically on my day without worrying that it was all a disaster and becoming disheartened! It was definitely a useful thing to do and I think I could learn a lot from applying the same framework to different days when I engage in a completely different activity.

Task 2a- Approach to journal writing

When approaching the second part of this module I thought it best to start at the very beginning. In relation to task 2a I have now started keeping a journal. This is still a new experience for me so writing in it all the time has not yet become a habit. However, I thought I have been doing it for long enough now to write a post about how to approach it and what it has been like. Keeping a journal is something I have never done before and it would have never even occurred to me had it not been for this course.

Before starting the journal I read the reader and did some additional research of my own. I found the benefits of journal writing particularly interesting as I have never even considered them before. I did some research on Jenifer A. Moon who has written about learning journals and I found an article which is well worth a read. Click here for a link to the article This is a quote I found especially interesting:

‘A journal is also a tool for self-discovery, an aid to concentration, a mirror for the soul, a place to generate and capture ideas, a safety valve for the emotions, a training ground for the writer, and a good friend and confidant.’

Smith, Mark (1999, 2006), 'Keeping a learning journal', the encyclopaedia of informal education. Available from: www.infed.org/research/keeping_a_journal.htm (accessed 23rd October 1010)

At first I thought that this was a good theory but I was sceptical of whether it was actually true in practice. I was doubtful that I would be able to discover anything new about myself simply from recording the events of the day and writing down my feelings. However, I then realised that there must be some benefit in it if so many people actively keep journals to reflect and assist their learning and so many people have written articles about it. You will never know if something works unless you try it for yourself so I gave it a go!

When I first started writing I was a bit stumped on how to start. After a while of starring at a blank page I just wrote the next thing that same in to my head. The sentence was completely random and had absolutely nothing to do with what I had done that day but as soon as I put pen to paper, the words started flowing much more easily. I then looked down at the page and realised I had written things I didn’t even know I was writing. Once I started it was like my brain and hand weren’t even linked and my hand had a mind all of its own. Obviously I realise this is my sub conscious thought taking over and getting rid of barriers and inhibitions that you would have if someone is watching or listening.

I found that at first my writing had no structure and was just a stream of words. This concerned me as I can’t stand things without a structure! However, after a couple of times writing in it I realised that I had created my own unique structure and my writing seemed to follow a sort of familiar pattern each time that I wasn’t really aware of.

I can definitely now see the benefits of journal writing in learning and reflecting. I thought I was reflecting on things before but now I realise I was just briefly thinking them over which does not constitute reflection. Journals are a form of thinking on action which I now realise is something I rarely do as I usually engage in thinking in action. Being a dancer I am always thinking about things when I am actually doing them and rarely go home and evaluate the day. I am constantly changing and adapting what I am doing at the time and don’t give it a moment’s thought afterwards. I am doing so many things that my day has various parts and I am never in the same place for more than a couple of hours. This means that by the time I get home I have completely forgotten about what I did that morning. Writing a journal has already helped me to retain more information and remember my thoughts and feelings.

I found it useful to approach the task by thinking first of a description of the day, then additional material, thoughts, feelings, reflection and things to do next time. Obviously this is the bare bones of what I am writing and I let my words go outside these boxes if appropriate. It seems that you can learn an awful lot from your own thoughts which you didn’t even know you had. Sometimes I think the brain works so fast that we have thoughts that don’t even register properly. Writing allows these sub conscious thoughts to come out and helps us realise what we are actually thinking. It now seems so obvious that we can learn just by thinking and an invaluable tool which I can’t believe I was not aware of before.

Even just by writing this post I now see that this in itself is reflection. It is perhaps ironic that I am now reflecting on reflection! I have found it helpful in expanding my thoughts and thinking more abstractly. I am now going to have a go at task 2b of writing an entry based on the frameworks of Reid and Moon.

Campus session- 19/10/10

I just got home from the campus session so I thought I would write a post about what we did and everything we discussed for everyone who wasn't there. Adesola was meant to be taking the session but unfortunately she couldn't be there so Paula and Rosemary took it instead. After a short introduction, our first task was to get into pairs with someone who has a different job to that of our own. We then had to tell the other person what our job was and they wrote a list of everything they thought that might involve. I was with Emma who is a dance teacher so I wrote that her job may involve; Communicating with children, dancing, rehearsing, choreographing, listening to music, interacting with others, taking charge and maintaining authority. We then came back in to a group and discussed what we had found out. When we were comparing our jobs (dance teacher and cheerleader) we found similarities and differences. When presenting to the group what we had discussed we decided to focus on the point that although our jobs may seem similar from a physical point of view, as they both involve dancing, rehearsing and choreographing, there are many differences on a mental level. We found that with the position of a teacher one of the main focuses is for you to take charge and keep your authority throughout the class, in other words you are the one giving direction. However, with my job as a cheerleader I am the one taking the direction and learning from the choreographer. We decided that with my job there was more emphasis on teamwork and being part of a squad rather than being in charge.

We also heard what everyone else had found out about their partner and reflected and discussed how every ones jobs involve such different skills. We discovered that when talking to someone who has a job you don't know anything about, you can usually relate or link it to a friend or someone you know who has a similar sort of job. This helps you to understand more about it as you are usually able to link it to something you know about. We also discussed that many jobs involving performing can be so dependant on who you are performing to and whether it was your responsibility as a performer to bring it up to the maximum level no matter who the audience are and what reaction they give you.

After this, we went on to the second task. This involved us once again getting in to pairs but this time with someone different. We then had to invent a scary story by one person starting and then the other interjecting with the next sentence and so on. This meant the story was completely spontaneous and involved us having to think on the spot without prior planning or preparation. We then found another partner and repeated the same exercise but obviously making up a different story. After we had finished we came back together as a group to discuss what we found out and learnt from the task. Some of the points brought up in the discussion were the following:

• You had to constantly re assess the situation as you didn't know what the other person was going to say
• The story kept changing direction as the other person would say something you would never have said
• It can almost become a competition to see how scary/horrific you can make it
• The constant change of perspective made the story much less predictable
• It was a good opportunity to use your imagination
• Shows that sometimes it's good to be spontaneous and not plan everything

We then did an activity with rulers. We got in to groups of three and held the rulers in a triangle. We then moved around, twisted and turned while all the time holding on to the rulers. We got tangled and then untangled ourselves so we were back in our original positions. We then joined with another group and repeated the exercise with more people so it was more challenging to untangle ourselves. We then all joined together where it was virtually impossible to untangle! After this we reflected that it was a good symbol for working something out. We had to get ourselves in to the state of tangle/confusion in order to untangle ourselves so it was a clear circle.

After a short break, we moved on to the last task which was to create our own 'silent tour'. This involved finding objects which we wanted to show people and explaining them on a card. We could draw, cut or write words on the card without writing what the object actually was. Most people also had a theme to their tour. For example my first object was the light switch, the second one was the fire sign and I drew a picture of flames on my card and my third one was the fire doors. Others focused around rocks, trees, stairs etc. When we came back as a group to discuss the task, these are a few of the points that were made:

• The task forced you to look at something in a different way finding alternative ways of portraying it to others e.g. look, smell, texture etc
• It made you reflect on what the object actually was and it's use rather than simply it's name
• The theme of someones tour often didn't become clear until the last object, this made it interesting and made you want to keep concentrating
• When you can't speak you are forced to use other methods of communication e.g. drawing which you wouldn't normally use
• Some things were much clearer after looking at a picture
• It made you use your imagination
• It gave a sense of authority to the tour leader- a clear change in role when the leader changed.

Overall, I found the morning very productive and helpful and it was a good insight in to studying reflection and how to approach it. One of the main things I took away from the day was that it can be beneficial to reflect on an activity after having completed it and what you learnt rather than just moving straight on to the next thing without giving it another thought. Only after we reflect on something can the purpose of it become clear and we can learn from what we have done. I am now looking forward to looking more closely at the reader and studying this part of the module.

Lessons learnt from part 1....

After reading Alan's post on feedback from part 1 I thought I would post a few thoughts about everything we have done so far. I feel like I have already learnt so much and yet I've barely even started. I feel like I have just scratched the surface and I am realising there is so much more out there for me to learn about. Obviously with regards to this part of the module this is mainly about the use and development of web based technologies. I have never thought of myself as a particularly 'web smart' person and to be honest it wasn't a major interest of mine. I have now found that I have started using the computer and the Internet so much more and I feel much more involved.

At the campus session we discussed the pros and cons of web 2.0 and we developed our ideas through discussion, debate and presentations. After discussing all the pros and cons, which most people have blogged about, we came to the conclusion that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. There is a wealth of resources out there which we can use to advantage. Many of these tools, we don't even know about and evidently the web is ever expanding and developing and new things are being created all the time. This gives us even more reason to stay involved with new web 2.0 technologies as you never know what will come up next.

This led me to think about what actually will be next in terms of the Internet? As we have discovered, technology never stands still but what else can someone invent to help us even further? Surely the Internet will become even more efficient and some people suggest that it will be able to answer specific questions rather than giving a list of useful websites which contain certain key words. Has the Internet reached it's peak? It is perhaps a possibility that any further developments will saturate the Internet therefore leading it's efficiency to decrease. Maybe there will be a new invention altogether and the Internet will be forgotten. Somehow I don't think this will be the case! I think the Internet will expand further and the boundaries between creator and user will disappear even more with new technology. Is this necessarily a good thing? We discussed that it is not always beneficial to read everyone's comments and some people may upload factually incorrect information to sites such as wikipedia.

By having to upload my photos to flickr I have learnt a new skill completely. I didn't even know that flickr existed and now I know how to use it and how it can help me. It is definitely a useful tool in promoting yourself as a performer and is a great opportunity to show yourself in a variety of things and could lead to potential employment. Also, by having to upload my video to you tube I have again learnt something new. Now I have done it once I would definitely use it as a tool for self promotion and to share things with others or get feedback from people. It seems a great way to get un biased opinion through comments of people you don't know as sometimes friends and family can be biased and over complimentary.

I have even learnt a lot from simply completing the first task of setting up my blog and making my profile. This is something I would never have previously done but now I See that it is a great way of learning from other people, sharing thoughts and ideas and improving my networking and communication skills. I am glad that at the moment I have the time to check and update my blog but I fear that this may not be the case for too much longer as I seem to be taking on an ever increasing amount of things. However, I will endeavour to give it the time it needs and deserves as I have got a great sense of involvement at the moment which I do not want to lose.

It seems clear that I have already learnt so much from these few simple tasks so it is amazing to think what else is out there and what could be next. I am very much looking forward to the second part of the module.

You tube video...

I have created my video on 'Starting out on BAPP' and uploaded it to you tube. I decided to film a background and add music and annotation rather than speaking as it symbolised what I wanted to portray. I decided to slowly zoom out on a tree to show a changing perspective and things becoming clearer as time goes on.

At first I found it quite challenging to upload the video and edit it as my technology skills need some work! I have never used you tube before so it was all a bit alien. Eventually I found my way and managed to upload the video and edit it in the way I wanted. I found it very insightful to use this tool as I had no idea you could do so many things on you tube. Now I have used it once I will be much more likely to use it to my advantage in the future and perhaps to promote myself as a performer. I can definately say I have now learnt a new skill!

After I created it I realised that I don't think it is on my you tube channel and I am unsure of how to get it on there but here is the link to my video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg2Ckp44S00

All comments as always will be greatly appreciated

Campus session-web 2.0 discussion

At the campus session last Friday we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of web 2.0 in our professional practice. We were put in to groups in order to discuss this. During our discussion, Adesola advised our group to try and explore our thoughts and ideas using images rather than words. We each drew a picture of what we thought about web 2.0 and tried to link it to the person who had previously drawn a picture as we weren't allowed to discuss our ideas verbally until the end of the exercise. From looking at our picture at the end we discovered the following things about web 2.0:

• It is constantly expanding in different directions- some of which are good and some of which could be harmful
• It is a global utility- an amazing advantage for your career and networking as you can connect with almost anyone in the world.
• Information can be put in by anyone which can be harmful as it could lead us to believe inaccurate information. We must therefore be selective and intelligent in filtering information. Don't take everything as fact.
• There is perhaps too much information that it has become saturated. While researching we can get stuck in the same circle of information and not look far enough to utilise all the information that could be available to us.
• It can unite people of similar interest
• It can also isolate people
• It could lead to success if you build up a profile and reputation through services available
• It could ruin your reputation (anyone can tag any photo of you on facebook which could be damaging)

I tried to insert our picture here but for some reason it wouldn't upload. I have therefore put it on flickr so you can see it. Here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/natalieless/5051639200/