Task 2b- Journal Writing Experience

My Journal. What to write and how to write it. Well I can find plenty to write about; I can talk for England. But how to write it? That is the question. So I decided to explore all the suggested writing styles.

I do love lists! I have lists for everything. In fact I have even been known to make lists of my lists!! So I have found the best thing for me is to write a list of events throughout the day. This helps me to remember what I did as I have realised my memory is not very good! After this I inserted a spider diagram, which helped me to elaborate on my feelings and emotions. I particularly like this idea as it allows me to write key thoughts down and it develops into a larger diagram. I am a very visual and kinesthetic learner (and always loved art!)

I initially started my journal by describing what I had done throughout the day. This was fine apart from the fact that I couldn’t really add my thoughts and emotions as I went through. It also wasn’t ideal for me as I had to wait until the end of the day to do this, and with my memory I occasionally missed things out.

So the next day I tried the ‘Initial Reflection’ method and the following day by doing the ‘Evaluation’ technique. Both of these approaches were great.

My ‘Initial Reaction’ journal explored what I did as well as my thoughts and different moods. My ‘Evaluation’ journal allowed me to expand on my daily events and evaluate what went well and what went wrong. The thing that I didn’t like about this is the fact that late at night I had to start writing and reflecting. I work much better in the morning and like to relax at night. This is why lists and diagrams throughout the day are best for me.

The question “What if?” was a very interesting method. It sent my imagination wild! I do feel I could incorporate this into my lists and diagrams and therefore this is a way I can delve deeper into my emotions.

I really didn’t like writing my journal in ‘Another view’ style. I found it strange and awkward writing about my day through another person’s eyes. This definitely is not the way for me to write my journal. I didn’t enjoy it, found it hard work and therefore it didn’t flow naturally. I gained nothing from it.

A few people have blogged about writing a poem. My attempt at this was hilarious. I definitely know poetry isn’t my forte! My poem ended up not making sense and certainly didn’t reflect my day; as I was more worried about it rhyming than being meaningful. I read it out to my boyfriend and my mum and they simply laughed. Although it was amusing writing it, I did not get anything out of it at all.

To conclude, this whole journal experience has really opened my mind and has introduced me to different writing styles. It has really made me appreciate how many emotions I go through on a daily basis. By writing a list throughout the day and intensifying it by drawing a spider diagram at night, it allows me to remember everything I did and go through my feelings, thoughts, emotions and possibilities. This is definitely the best format for me. If I ever have extra time at night I will develop this by doing either a brief essay in the ‘Initial reflection’ style or ‘Evaluation’ approach. But my life is generally very busy and as a result of this, lists and diagrams suit me best.

Boud’s Theories and how it Influences my Professional Practise

Initially, when I looked at Boud’s article I felt very daunted. However I read it about three times and made several notes.

A journal is about capturing an experience, recording and remembering it, exploring your feelings and emotions and making sense of what we have learnt. There are so many different styles of journals and there is no right or wrong way of writing one. After starting my journal I felt like it should be a record of everything that I do. It should also allow me to explore my emotions and be totally honest. It should also be a reflection on my life and I should therefore learn much more about myself.

Boud focuses on 3 ‘Occasions of Reflection’. I am going to expand on this with my own experiences below:

Reflection In Adaption of Events (Before)
I love to plan. I love to know what lies ahead of me. With auditions it is impossible to know exactly what will happen. However, to keep my mind at ease, I plan my outfit the night before, I pack my bag the night before and I go through in my head many questions and possibilities. What if I fall over? What if I can’t do the routine? What would I do if I don’t have the right tools for my audition? And I simply make myself exhausted and nervous. Why? I don’t know!

Reflection in the Midst of Action (During)
In an audition you may make a mistake during the dance round. You simply act straight away to cover this up. Similarly, whilst on stage in a performance if something goes wrong, you adapt straight away so that the audience does not see. For example when I was dancing on a cruise ship there was one evening where the ship was particularly rocking from side to side. My friend had bad travel sickness and all the cast knew of this. In the middle of a dance I saw out of the corner of my eye that she ran off stage, as she felt so ill. Straight away I moved over to cover the space. This may seem like common sense but whilst in mid- routine, you have to think fast and always be aware of who is around you. This is reflection in action (online). Boud said that this is very difficult to achieve but has the greatest benefits.

Reflection After Events (After)
After an audition I immediately ask myself questions. If I have been unsuccessful; what can I do to improve? What can I change for next time? My hair?  My outfit? How can I prepare better? However if I am successful I ask myself the following questions; what went particularly well? What do I need to take from this audition to others? Etc. This helps me to move on and reflect. If you had a bad show, you usually get notes off the dance captain. This is reflection on action (offline). You can take the notes away and consider how you will improve for next time. Boud explains that reflection after the event is divided into 3 sections: 1- Returning to the experience, 2- Attending to feelings, and 3- Re- evaluating the experience. This is totally true. I always look at what went wrong, whether it be a dodgy pirouette or a lack of dynamic energy. I then doubt myself and obviously get down about what happened and then I look back and think how I can improve etc and look at what I could have improved. Reflecting on this helps me with future auditions and shows.

It is important in our private journals that we really explore everything and don’t hold back. I feel this will be easy for me, as I know it’s “for my eyes only” and nobody else can look at it and judge me. Boud’s article has really helped me reflect on my own thought processes and I will incorporate this into my journal. I feel much more enthusiastic and relaxed about writing a journal now and know I can fully express my own feelings without holding back.

Ed Sheeran is a musical genius!

Having listened to his amazing soulful music in the past, I was particularly excited to see him perform live in concert. My lovely boyfriend surprised me with tickets to see him!

The Hammersmith Apollo was a perfect, intimate location for Ed Sheeran’s beautiful, yet powerful music to fill. With the electric atmosphere created by the audience and Ed’s natural, gifted talent there was never a dull moment.

I was completely blown away by Ed’s musical expertise. The background setting was simplistic and he didn’t make any particular effort with what he was wearing. However this did not matter. With Ed, his Guitar and his Snare being the only things on stage, he created stunning, captivating music. I was completely and utterly blown away by his performance. It just goes to show that you do not need all the fancy lighting and amazing scenery and backing dancers or singers to create a spectacular concert.

Sometimes simplicity is more effective.

Writing Session 23/10/2012

Today I attended the writing session at Middlesex University. I have to say this definitely helped me. I have never really been a confident writer. Maybe this is because I love to express my emotions through dance rather than write them on paper. I know I am not bad at writing; but I know there is room for improvement!

Firstly we broke down writing into several categories:-

1) Knowledge and understanding- the way you link the theory to your practice. Identifying and applying it to your practise.

2) Cognitive Skills- These are the  skills you use when generating knowledge. Analysis (breaking it down) and synthesis (taking what you understand and piecing it together). It is about
being involved but asking questions which is also known as Critical Engagement.

3) Practical Skills- asking questions and putting it into practice. This is about your interpretation.

4) Personal and enabling skills- Your personal and professional development.

Peter Thomas showed us different ways in which you write. I feel the way you write is so similar to the way you talk to different people. For example, when I am with my friends I am totally at ease and don’t think about what I am talking about. In comparison, last week I attended an Executive Evening. At this event, I was much more precise and confident with the way I spoke and thought about what I said before talking. Again another example is when I teach children to dance; I am much more expressive, dynamic and lively. I come down to their level to engage them and rarely use high-level academic language. This I feel is similar to writing. On social network sites, I don’t necessarily think about my language, punctuation, vocabulary or my spelling. To be honest a lot of my “statuses” involve the acronym “lol”!!! Whereas in my university assignments and tasks, I am the total opposite! I think very carefully about the language, punctuation, phrasing  I use and am constantly correcting it.

Our next task involved writing about an experience. Firstly we had to write our first thoughts and words on a page. Then we had to think of three themes we could divide these words into. After that, not thinking about grammar/ punctuation/ paragraphs we had to simply write without stopping. Next we circled what was important and had to expand on this. Following that we had to
concentrate on writing just one paragraph, thinking about what we were writing. I found by repeatedly re- writing this improved my writing dramatically. I now feel that this is the way forward for me. However I do feel I get carried away and sometimes I cannot stop re- writing my work. I have to be more confident when my task is completed.

Overall I gained so much from this session. I am very glad I attended and feel I will be so much more positive and secure with writing my tasks now.

Layers between what I like and why

In reader 2 it asks me to think of an idea I like and why. Now when I first read this I found it very difficult to narrow this title down. There are so many things I like in my life and so many ideas/ dreams I would love to pursue. So… where to start. At this point I had to rush to a dance class with friends and then meet with a new promotional agency about future jobs. Whilst on the train on my way home I felt happy, elated and energized. I had time to reflect on why I felt like this and at this point I decided to narrow this feeling down to one idea……

…….VARIETY! As they say “Variety is the spice of life”. This is so true of the dance industry. You never know what you will be doing from one year/ month/day to the next and that is what I love.

My job encompasses all the things I love about life; entertaining people, fitness, socializing, networking, performing , travelling but underpinning all of this is Variety. Life is never dull or boring!

If I were to peel the layers deeper I could look at the above in greater detail. Fitness and keeping healthy for example are an essential part of my job. As a performer I am constantly being judged on what I look like. When I am in a dancing contract I keep fit constantly anyway. But whist in between contracts I obviously have to keep fit in other ways. I love to go to the gym, swim and take class. To feel your best at auditions you have to be at peak fitness. Another layer to add to fitness is eating healthily. Many dancers unfortunately fall into bad eating habits, which will make you weak and lifeless. I personally enjoy a healthy lifestyle. It makes me feel great about myself and totally energized. It allows you to stay positive and ready for whatever comes your way. It is important to have a balance and be able to switch off from this so of course I love to sit and watch television and eat chocolate, but not all the time!

The socializing element of my job means I am constantly meeting new people, which is also an exciting factor of my work. I am a very sociable person and love to talk ( some may say a little too much!) The vast majority of workers look forward to the weekend where they can go out with friends and socialize whereas I do this on a daily basis. I like to find out about other people and their lifestyles. Some people may call this nosy… I think it’s interesting! Another layer is the fact that it allows you to network. Networking is a vital part of my industry. It allows you to make new contacts and also find out about different jobs that you wouldn’t have auditioned for. Recently I was approached to do a Bollywood film (through my friend). I have never done this before, but got the job and thoroughly enjoyed myself. By achieving this it gave me so much positivity and confidence, which hopefully will lead to other things!

Performing is the top layer; the ultimate experience when I come to life. As a young girl I was apparently very shy and withdrawn ( some may find this hard to believe!). My parents thought dancing might “bring me out of my shell” and they were astonished when I asked to do a solo at the age of 6. When my mother asked me if I would be OK performing on my own on a large stage infront of many people, my response was that “I love it as I am a different person on the stage. I am a dancer.”

To summarise although the dream of being a dancer is much tougher than I envisaged at the age of 6 the Variety keeps me on my toes!

Kolb’s learning cycle and a reflection on my own learning style

After studying Kolbs learning cycle it became clear that I enter the cycle at different points depending on the circumstance.

With this course because I feel very unsure still about many of these tasks as they are all new to me. I do tend to visit other peoples blogs first to get some ideas (Kolbs ‘Reflective Observation’). I then reflect on my own experiences and use trial and error, (Kolbs ‘Active conceptualisation’) adapting my own ideas as I go along (Kolbs ‘Abstract experimentation’). However, initially I was extremely reluctant to publish any blog as I lacked confidence in my own ability as a writer. Now, I find I am improving in this and am better at starting with doing the blog (Kolbs ‘Concrete experience’) before looking at other ideas.

When I attend auditions I feel that I enter Kolbs learning cycle at a different point. I start the night before by preparing all my audition songs, getting my bag ready with all my shoes and outfit. I prepare the train time that I will get in the morning and often I mentally prepare how my audition will go (Kolbs ‘Active Experimentation- planning). I then have the audition and have the experience (Kolbs ‘Concrete experience’- doing). After I tend to reflect on what went wrong and what went well (Kolbs ‘Reflective Observation’- reflecting and reviewing).  I then learn from this and know how I can improve for next time (Kolbs ‘Abstract conceptualisation’- concluding and learning). This is exactly how Honey and Mumford described their 4 stages of learning:

-Having the experience

-Reviewing the experience

-Concluding from the experience

-Planning the next steps

This task has helped me reflect on how I learn which in time will help me find my own ‘professional direction’ or ‘artistic vision’.

Dear Diary...Task 2a

I loved writing a diary when I was younger so I started by searching for my purple, fluffy, lockable diary, still intact with its very own secret key! In fact id quite like to buy myself one now, but not sure it is suitable for a University degree course! My purple diary was epic! I had a daily list of the boys I liked, the boys my friends liked and simply matched them together (a bit like the TV programme ‘Take me out’). Therefore I could not wait to start this task. I feel it will really help me reflect on my learning experiences rather than my future career as a matchmaker!

However, obviously my diary when I was younger was completely different to what I have to write about now and the style certainly needs to improve.

When I read this task I was initially excited, but when actually coming to do it the main question that I asked myself was what style of writing should I use? I am very good at babbling on to my friends and family about how I feel and what I did at the weekend etc but was this good enough? And how does this translate to a written account for a University degree? So at this point I referred back to the handbook for reference. I like the idea that it is a private space for my writing; no one is going to mark this or judge me. However, I will have to use my journal as a resource later on. Therefore initially it is important not to worry too much about style but more about content and learning experiences. As I go along I feel my writing style will evolve and I will eventually find what suits me best.