Journal writing experience.

After finishing my task of writing a reflective journal I have now decided to carry this on. Although I understand I may not feel the need to write down my day or events everyday I still want to make the time to reflect on my day whether it be in my head or to another person. I have realised over the past 9 days that reflecting on your day opens up your mind to how well you have done, or if you need to do more, or even just reflecting to remind yourself everything is OK. On the days I feel there is something to write about whether it be about myself or my professional practice I am going to put this in the same notepad as the first 9 days so that over time I can look back and see the progress made.

After reading through task 2b I decided to ask myself the questions written in this to explain a little more on my views from writing a journal.

Having done this exercise was there anything about the events or about yourself that

emerged. Were you surprised by anything?

First of all I was completely surprised that I actually got stuck into this task and enjoyed it as much as I did. I also realised that each night I was coming away from writing the journal feeling positive or having an idea on how I will do more the next day in order to have a more productive day. A few of the techniques I used were easier to reflect than others but each technique I can honestly say I got stuck into and gave myself the time to reflect the best I could and came away from it feeling happy with my progress. This is another thing I am surprised by. The fact I am coming away from each task so far feeling positive and that I have achieved something. I think this is because so far this course has been based on your opinions and discussing this with each other so there is no right or wrong. But coming away from tasks and reflecting positively gives you a lot more motivation to keep going. 

The different boxes are all ways to begin thinking about an event so that you can try to deepen the way you write your reflective diary. Was there one way they really made you think?

Day 5 I chose to reflect via diagram (thinking bubble) which for me stood out the most. It made me get deep into thought and question myself why? Why I had a good day? Why I felt the way I did after an event? Or why I feel a way when I am reflecting on the day? 

Before I knew this my diagram got bigger and bigger and yet I thought that day I would struggle because it wasn't one of the days filled with lots of events. 

Is there one you might use again?

As well as enjoying the diagram to reflect I also loved using lists as a way to reflect. Lists are something that I will use weekly, to remind myself what extra things I need to do or little things I may need to tell someone or go and buy. I think because I have used this technique before I approached it with confidence and got deep into thought when reflecting. This is one of the techniques I am planning to use again but I also think that it will depend on the day. For example, if I have a day where I feel lots of stuff has happened I may write a list to jot down little notes, or if I have a day where I have little to write about I will diagram this so that it will help me dig deeper into the events. 

Was anything useful for the way you plan or reflect for work / your practice?

If I am completely honest everything from this reflective journal writing has been useful for me. Whether it be useful to know it doesn't work for me and I don't intend to use it in the future or if it was useful because I have come away wanting to use this again or come away feeling ready for the next move. In terms of it being useful in my practice I found that coming away from teaching on Thursday I had a lot more to reflect on because of the many events that happened through the day. It was also useful because I began to reflect whilst teaching so because I was focusing on reflection in each event happening I knew throughout the day to think about reflection. Was this task working for my students? Were all students moving forward on task? Do any students need a different way of teaching? Reflecting in action meant I could make the day more successful for a wider group of students at that moment in time rather than realising later on that night. 

Although the task of the journal may be coming to an end I know that me reflecting via a journal is not. It is something I will be carrying on and leaving time for each day and week. 

1-1 with Paula

I decided to blog straight after my 1-1 with Paula as I feel I can remember more now and I am full of information and ideas I would like to share.

First of all I decided to arrange this skype session to make sure I am on topic and that I am not missing anything out or miss understanding anything so far in module 1. What I actually realised is that I keep concentrating too much by sticking to the topic and sometimes I need to branch out more. Me and Paula discussed that in the arts some people are afraid to branch out and be like 'yeah this is what I think and this is my opinion' and I feel I have passed that point now. I feel I am confident enough to branch out with my opinions and ideas and broaden my knowledge within the arts. 

We began by talking about reflection and how I found reader 2 which is how we got on topic of discussing the oral histories in family and especially people in the arts. This is something I have always used to reflect without realising until I had to began my journal. Basically, I come home and I tell my family about my day, I discuss the good and the bad, find out the meanings why some of the things happened and then talk about moving on from this. Paula informed me that this was something I should look more into online and find out if there is any journals or books I can read up on to find out why people do this and if this is used a lot in the arts. 

As the skype session progressed we discussed some of the things we thought were interesting in our families and my idea that I decided to share was how I gained my freedom in my family, how I was the one choosing to go into education and how I felt free when I was in the studio. As we got deeper into this topic I realised how relevant this could be in the classroom when teaching students. Some of the students come to dance because when they come into the studio they feel free when they dance, some because it gives them freedom from home or some because they feel free from the stress of exams and so on. This is again something now I want to broaden my knowledge with, I want to learn about the freedom in the dance studio, find out why people feel free in the studio and also find ways on how I can use freedom when teaching. 

Something that Paula also said to me during the skype 1-1 is 'the world is your oyster'. This straight away stood out to me. It is clear now that I want to go into mainstream teaching in a high school and when this happens I want to be the best I can be at that time and be able to share my experiences and knowledge with the students to educate them. So in terms of the professional arts I now need to educate myself on a wider range of dancers, dance theories, dance companies and so on. This is a challenge I decided to set myself. I want to each week spend time 'online shopping', which Paula said that is what she feels like google is, you type in what you want and you find it. After all, if you spend time buying your latest shoes online then you can find time researching some new information about the professional arts. 

I feel in this industry it is very clear to me where I am heading and what I feel I need to do to achieve this. So as well as becoming more open to ideas and researching more within the industry I need to think about myself. I do not want to be all for teaching and forget in myself what I love about the arts. I want to bring into this course more knowledge and reasons for teaching whilst also remembering what I love, what I want to gain from this as a dancer not just a teacher and learn more for me. 

Leaving the skype session I feel completely full of motivation and I have ideas swimming around my head that I am extremely excited to learn more about and blog on. This skype has made me realise that this course can be about anything, about finding my way to the destination whichever way is best for me and on the way gaining the most out of a situation that is possible. 

Thanks for the positive session Paula. 

Reflecting by video.

So today I came home from the school where I have been teaching and took on the challenge of videoing myself speaking to the camera and talking about my day. What made it so much easier today for me was that I had such a busy day at school and also a very productive and positive day leaving me with more to talk about.

My video isn't perfect and never will be but as it was only my second time videoing myself today I felt so much more confident and I only took 2 takes today before deciding to upload, which for me, I was impressed. Haha.
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So here it is, my video reflecting on my day. That is now my 9 days complete, different techniques used and some better for me than others but overall I am excited to keep writing a journal each night and hopefully keep making videos to gain my confidence. I am now looking forward to tomorrow, sitting down and reading through my 9 days of reflective journal writing and seeing my new view on this and deciding what options I think I will keep using throughout this course.

It's nearly time to reflect on our reflecting.

I am coming up to the end of my 9 days journal writing. I can honestly say I am shocked at how much I have loved doing this, some ways worked better than others but I got stuck in and before I knew it, it's nearly time to reflect on my reflecting journal.

I have found leaving time free at the end of the day to reflect has made me see each day from a different perspective, some days I have been achieving more than others but other days are the days I need for myself, to relax, to enjoy the ride and not always be full on. I am looking forward to being able to see peoples views on journal writing in the next few days and discussing this topic with other students.

Below I have added a few days of my journal to show a few different techniques I have used over the past week. Tomorrow is my last day of reflective journal writing where I decided to challenge myself to do a video of my reflection. Last time I did a video of myself I struggled so that is why I have added it into this task to hopefully improve myself on this. Tomorrow I am hoping to blog the video and then Friday I am going to spend the time reflecting on the past 9 days. Finding out what I enjoyed and where I struggled and collecting this all together to reflect on my reflecting.

2b: The planning of my reflective writing.

This morning I sat reading task 2b and decided to plan ahead for the next 9 days. I have left a page in my notebook for each day and on every page is a headline saying how I will reflect on that day.
This is how I am hoping to complete my first 9 days of my reflective journal before deciding which one I believe has worked for me the most and I will use more in the future:

Day 1: Reflect like a diary
Day 2: Make a list
Day 3: My instant reflection
Day 4: Evaluate your day
Day 5: Diagram your day
Day 6: What if today worked out different?
Day 7: What would somebody else be thinking after today?
Day 8: Video yourself reflecting like you are explaining this to an audience
Day 9: Don't write anything today, just reflect in your mind. 

I am intrigued to see how the next 9 days work for me as it is not something I would usually do. I feel I am a verbal person, so if I have had a good day I will go home and tell my family this around the dinner table, or if I have had a bad day I would go home and do the same, maybe go for a coffee with a friend and offload my problems or feelings so that things do not get to much. I think I am the type of person that see's everyday as a new beginning, I don't like to sit and think about the bad, I like to get up and think of what I can achieve, or how I can make each day positive, or even just trying to have a happier approach to things.

Often I feel so many people concentrate on the negative in life over the positive. For example, at the moment I am in a job that is suitable for the hours I need to work so that I have time to concentrate on my degree, my profession and also volunteer as a teacher. This is not the job I will be in hopefully 2 years down the line, but for now it's a stepping stone. So instead of being down about the fact I may not be in the job I want to be in or I feel I deserve to be in yet because of the amount of time I have spent studying for my career but I have a job, I get paid, this means I can dance, this means I can drive my car to where I need to volunteer and this means I have the luxuries of having a laptop, having a phone and creating the memories in life that makes you happy. I am a big believer in everything happens for a reason, the bad gets thrown at you to test you and make you stronger but we also live in a country that is so advanced and sometimes we are in a bubble and forget that their is people in the world also who are a lot less fortunate than us so I try to be grateful for everything life throws at me.

I think writing the above is probably the most I have reflected on myself as a person before, I just started to write a quick brief and before I new it I was deep into thought. Hopefully in 9 days time I will be able to evaluate my journal and reflect to how I spent the time and see what is different then to this moment now.

Task 2a: Reflective Practice

"Writing is a means of puzzling through what is happening in our work and in our personal lives" Boud (2001)

After reading through reader 2 and also Paula's blog from the Skype session I began to reflect on myself and think about how I learn, how I would reflect and how I manage my feelings with what everyday life throws at you. I noticed that since beginning the course reflective observation is how I have been finding my feet and getting ideas before starting some of the tasks. Personally I felt like this was something I was doing for confidence and guidance for me. Now I am more comfortable and settled on the course I am going to challenge myself to find different ways to learn and get ideas for the tasks ahead of us. 

Today I began my journal. I decided the best way for me to make a journal is by having a notepad and writing down my thoughts, feelings and reflect on my day on the days I feel I need to and for whatever reason I want to and the reason I chose to do it in a notepad is so that I can shut away from social media, phones and laptops and just have a moment of peace and concentrate on myself. At the moment I feel I am juggling a lot of things each day and instead of getting myself puzzled I will write it down and break it down in order to keep things running smoothly and find a balance with my time. I am also going to write out a calendar on my wall, giving myself set times to do things so that not all day everyday is full on and some days I am able to take a step back and not overload myself. This is another way I feel I have already begun reflecting. Although this reflecting is reflection-on-action, looking back and examining myself and seeing what needs change I also feel in other incidents I am able to reflect-in-action. Especially as a dancer I feel this is something you do often, you change as you are doing something until it feels right for you. I am also going to try and bring reflection-in-action with teaching. I want to be able to try new things and see what works best for me. 

I am hoping to blog about my journal, my teaching and how I have began reflecting more on my work, personal and social life. I have also began reading 'Promoting journal writing in adult education' which I am very interested in so far and I am hoping to learn more as I keep reading. So far, today I wrote my first journal and I am feeling like this is something that is going to really help me express on my blogs and also release my train of thoughts on paper in order to reflect. I look forward to seeing how I feel about this in a few weeks time and whether writing a journal is something I will continue to do in the future, work wise or personal.  

First Day Teaching

Whilst being a student on the BAPP course I decided it was best for me to begin volunteering as a dance teacher at a school so that when I decide to do my PGCE I already have my experience and not everything will be new for me. 

Today was my first day at Droylsden Academy as a teacher and I can honestly say it was the best action I could have taken. I worked with year 7 students and year 10 students which helped me gain the most experience in one day and get comfortable in the school. In one of the lessons the students used the Web 2.0 for searching music and ideas for their pieces and I was able to help them with this and show them some of the sources I have been using recently.Throughout the day I noticed how my professional communication had also changed between the two groups. The older group were very understanding and driven and the younger group needed you to speak professionally to them to gain my respect.

Going back to task 1D (2D images) and my social media accounts I have now made everything more private than it already was as I do not want the students to find me on social media. This means now that because I have chosen to have my social accounts for personal use that it is my responsibility to hide this and block it from the students I am teaching.

Today I was asked also if I can attend a school trip to London on the 29th of march as a supervisor for the children. We are getting the train to London, exploring and going to see Wicked the musical. Straight away I said yes to this as I thought it is great to gain experience being responsible for the students outside the school. As well as this I have been asked each week to create an after school workshop which I will be paid for and this is something I have also said yes to. I want to be able to get to know the children in school and then help them out of school time to gain confidence and technique with their dancing to help towards their GCSE's.

Overall I have come away from today being excited to blog this, and very happy with the amount I feel I  have achieved in one day. I am looking forward to next week and hopefully will have some more experience and news that I will be able to blog.

1c: Audio-Visual

Well, this turned out a little differently than I thought. With this task I wrote a speech before hand of what initially I thought I would talk about. That did not work. Videoing yourself and attempting to read doesn't work out how I thought. So in the end I decided to just take a few videos. Some worked better than others and some were awful, I got in front of the camera and forgot anything I wanted to talk about. In the end I decided this was my best video for my first attempt.

I realised I am not as confident in front of the camera and I thought I would be which meant I wasn't happy with my videos at first. Over time I am hoping to try this again and again until I am confident with speaking and being in front of the camera. For me, this task was difficult but then also rewarding as I feel it is a big thing to be happy with posting a video of yourself doing something new. Although it is not perfect but something I feel is a working progress I hope this video gives you a little idea on why I chose the BAPP course and how I feel about it now the work has begun.

1d: 2D images

My social media accounts.

My Instagram is something I use daily for personal use. Basically everything on my profile from a person who I haven't allowed to see it is hidden and the people I have accepted can see my posts. This is because everything I post is pictures and videos and I do not use it for professional reasons. I do follow professional dancers, companies and dance studios but I can see their posts and they cannot view mine. I did this so if I need to contact anyone in the industry I can do it via another social media account.

My Youtube account is not private. Therefore people can see my showreel and anything else that I post via youtube unless I decide differently. I use this mainly because then employers can view this and also view my google account and can see the dance videos that I decide to post. This also means that people just scrolling through youtube can see my video but this has shown to have more pro's than con's so it is something I will continue to do. 

The other social media accounts I have is Facebook and Twitter which are again private accounts unless I have accepted otherwise. I use twitter to follow dance companies and agencies as well as having friendly and professional communication on there. Twitter is becoming a big thing as you can contact customer services through messaging on twitter, you can look at the latest news and I also like the fact I can follow what the dance industry is posting. Each day I am learning new things across the web and also on social media. I can see that the world is now becoming dependant on many of the social media accounts and I can only see this getting bigger. I will be doing my best to keep up to date with the latest social media apps and learning new things. 

Task 1b: My initial thoughts

Since reading Module 1 and Reader 1 my thoughts have been constantly changing, my views are being widened and my opinions keep coming. To make sure I included my main thoughts I decided to write down some of the reasons that stood out to me in the notes I made. 

O’reilly “What is Web 2.0” completely took me by shock. Using the web daily for social media and the odd bits of information I never really understood the debts that we can gain from using this.

‘You can reach out to the edges and not just the centre, to the long tail and not just to the head’

When I read the above quote I straight away stopped and began to realise how much Web 2.0 is used. As Jessica stokes said in one of her blogs ‘Everything is at our fingertips’. All of this is so true. Each day the web is evolving and we are able to learn more and be involved each time.

Collective intelligence is how I feel that the Web 2.0 is becoming massively popular, in fact I reckon most people could not go 24 hours without needing it for at least one thing. This is something that makes me think about the people that do not have access or the ability to use Web 2.0. The elderly or the less fortunate can end up missing out on the world moving forward just because they do not have access to the web. I do believe that although the world is moving forward we still need to keep some things less technical because after all we are all equal so surely nobody should miss out? In terms of thinking professionally this is where I think about an audition being posted online. The dancing industry is mainly running by social media, the latest videos and the new clothing range or the next audition will be posted online but what about the people that cannot access this. This is where I believe it should still be posted via paper or on a poster as well as online.

“If we don’t have the instruments in which we can participate, then are we unable or unwilling to participate in something” Hamilton (2000) 

Some of the amazing things about Web 2.0 is that it is allowing all communities to come together as equals. Social media now can be used to communicate with the people we choose. For me now blogging has been so helpful for me since beginning the BAPP course. I am able to widen my knowledge and give opinions on another person’s perspective and thoughts on the same topic as mine. Not only this but each individual is learning from another. In terms of the professional communication you can now find everything online within seconds of searching. For example: Auditions, Showreels, Application forms, Videos, and news. These are major parts in which all help each of us in the dancing industry. It is now quicker and easier to apply for a job, so instead of having to print application forms and send them off you can now email them over to a person within minutes. And you can find out about auditions from the internet, by ‘following’ people instead of waiting for word and mouth or looking out for every poster at your next dance class. It also has many advantages to make myself known in the industry. I now am able to have my Showreel online, I can use my social networks for professional reasons and speak to employers via social media instead of email or mail.

The thing that sticks in my mind that I mentioned in my previous post is time. Time is something that makes me worry if I will miss something, or if I am up to date with the latest audition or dancers post in the hustle. As a worker as well as being in the dancing industry I struggle to find the time to make sure I am with everything on social media and sometimes jobs can be posted online and it can be first come first serve basis in terms of auditioning or getting the job. I suppose this is something I am getting used to and freeing myself time each day to check these and be aware of updates as the web is only moving forward and evolving more.

Another thought of mine is how well the web has helped me communicate professionally since beginning the BAPP course. First of all, the skype session, around 8 people attended this at the same time and were able to have a group discussion on the Web 2.0 and from each person I gained more knowledge and also allowed to give opinions to the group. After this I also decided to find some of the students on social media, I wanted to get to know them personally as well as professionally. I feel as blogging can help us learn from each other so can being able to communicate with others via social media within minutes.

I do feel that Web 2.0 something that each day will teach me something new and that with blogging being a massive part of this learning curve I will continue to grow to love it. It is something that I feel is endless, although I will never be able to learn everything, everything is accessible at any time and without it the world would be less communicated and educated. 

Task 1b: Professional Communications

After reading module 1 and reader 1 I decided before writing about my thoughts on professional communication I would make notes of the key facts that have stuck out for me from the reader one and O'reillys web page. 

Above is the notes I made before making my current initial thoughts on professional communication. Before reading the reader 1 my first thoughts on Web 2.0 and professional communication is that although this is the 21st century and most people have the latest technology and are more likely to be involved in the social networking sites I do wonder where people sometimes find the time for this? This is something that I was not fully aware of. I have always been involved in Facebook and Instagram but I just used this for personal use, basically I would scroll through the internet whilst commuting from place to place or when I had a spare minute. It wasn't until I began researching and reading blogs that I realised the big impact that social media has on the world. That Facebook is more than just looking at photos and commenting on friends posts but it connects the world and the more you get involved the more this communicates you with the world. 

I am now going to take the time to read a few blogs and widen my knowledge and opinions on the professional practice before continuing with this task. I feel that my initial thoughts are already being changed as I am realising that the world having the use of Web 2.0 is what is our future is, as I have seen on the web "we are the media, a world in which the former audience, not a few people in a back room, decides whats important. (Dan Gillmor)