When I first learnt that we would be writing a journal as part of the course I decided I would be very structured in my approach. I went out and bought a specific notepad for my writings down and envisaged a very structured reflective process. However the more I tried to incorporate the journal writing into my lifestyle of teaching and auditioning the further this came from the truth!
I have always been a big list writer, from planning what I need to achieve in a day to listing what to include in a lesson. I think this really influenced my initial journaling style. I found that my day to day jotting down notepad was more helpful to me than my specially bought journal notepad. It was quickly filled with short thoughts on lessons I had taught and diagrams for choreography. I found that I would accumulate these throughout the day and then look at them all and produce a new list of objectives for the next day.
When reading the suggestion on ways to write a journal in Reader 2, I reflected on the journaling style I had used so far. It was positive and productive in that the thoughts were fresh in my head and therefore I was able to write a productive list of aims for the next day. However the adhoc nature
of the notes meant that as I looked back on the lists from the several days earlier I struggled to remember the intentions behind some of my notes. When I considered that I will need to use my journal throughout the course to reference and show understanding of my learning and development, I knew I needed to experiment with different writing styles.
I looked at the list of suggestions and considered which ones would require me to write in a more structured and 'full' style. I decided to try the descriptive approach and to be more analytical by asking the 'What if?' questions. I struggled at first as I was so used to writing my thoughts and ideas in quick bursts when hit with inspiration. Writing in this way meant I really had to slow down my thought process, considering each point carefully before moving onto the next. I found that writing in this way made my day more like a story that I was telling. This meant I would go in to great detail and as a result would think of things that my earlier style of reflection would have missed. For example in one entry I summarised a day of teaching a routine to my cast for an upcoming show we are in. I started by describing what had happened in the day and then asking the 'What if' questions to reflect on what I wished to achieve the next day. By taking time over this entry I considered not only how the piece went as a whole but how each individual dealt with learning the piece. As a result I then factored in an extra practice for the next day for the people that had struggled at picking up the choreography. Had I taken my usual quick approach at writing a list I think I would have established that the piece was not yet ready but not the specific reasons why as I would not have asked the 'What if' questions.
As I continue with the journal process I think I will try and develop my style by incorporating both styles of writing into my reflection process as I can see both positive and negatives for each. I think it depends on what is going on in each day of your life for whether you need a really in depth reflection or not. Quiet days may only require a short list whereas some days may turn into a 4 page story!
No comments:
Post a Comment