Task 2C - Critical reflection on reflective practice

'Reflective practice' is a process in which you consciously analyse an experience which then enables you to develop insight into your experiences and improve learning. I believe everybody reflects on experiences; however it is often an unconscious process or loosely thought about. As John Dewey saw reflective thought as 'an active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which it tends' (Dewey 1933)

How important is it to engage with an experience?

John Dewey was an educationist and key theorist regarding reflective practice and learning through experience. John Dewey explains ’The quality of the education was linked to the level of engagement with, and consciousness of the experience' (page 4, Reader 2). This quote I can relate to in my own professional practice.  When I am fully focused in a rehearsal, whether it be dancing, singing or acting, I leave the rehearsal retaining information such as routines, song lyrics and blocking very clearly which I can reflect on during and after the rehearsal to improve for next times. If I am feeling tired or distracted by a thought or event unrelated to the rehearsal I leave having retained very little information and not much to think about for an action plan. I also have developed a dreadful habit of listening and answering to questions unconsciously when my mind is focused elsewhere or distracted. When later asked if I had completed the task asked of me, I cannot recall being asked at all even though I responded. This is a frightening thought that I could lose out on vital information due to this unconscious process. I strongly agree that the level of engagement greatly impacts and like Tufnell and Crickmay, believe that I use all of my senses to fully engage and learn through experience. 

'It is through the sensuous world of the body, through our eyes, ears, skin, muscles, and organs that we see, feel and respond to all that happens. The body is the ground from which all our knowing of the world begins. It is within our bodies, in our instinctual and sensory responses, that we discover the changing field of what is happening to us. (Tufnell and Crickmay, 2004)

After some careful consideration I decided that I do tend to use all senses to fully engage. I thought of a time when I was asked to direct somebody to a certain destination. To fully engage with the question and give the lady correct information, I firstly pictured in my head the destination and my car driving down the correct route. This wasn't enough for me to answer the question and I found myself stuttering after the first direction was given. I felt using hand movements to mimic the direction my car would travel and watching my car take this route in my head combined with voicing the turns and road names out loud enabled me too fully engage and respond to the question quickly and effectively. I also thought of a time when I was choreographing a contemporary dance for my A level dance exam. The theme I was to base my dance upon was domestic violence. As I had never experienced or witnessed domestic violence, I found it difficult to engage with the theme. I was very conscious of this experience as not only was it for an important exam but it was very sensitive topics which I had too approach with care. 

Looking back at my preparation notes from my choreography file, I can see I used many senses to engage with the experience and believe this contributed to my excellent grade. If I had only researched my topic using one sense I would not have as much knowledge about the topic and therefore would have not learnt as much from the experience. 

At which part of an experience do you begin to learn something new?

“Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (Kolb, 1984, p. 38).

As explained in reader 2, Kolb was influenced by the work of Dewey, and created a learning cycle as a 'tool to reflect on how you learn and a tool for approaching experience'

The cycle consists of four stages: 

Concrete Experience

Reflective Observation

Abstract conceptualisation 

Active Experimentation

http://cdn-5.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.jpg  

Although we reach all four stages on Kolb’s cycle, it is important to know where we enter first (at which point do we begin learning something new)

As instructed to in reader 2; I thought of the process I went through when learning choreography at a recent audition. I found it really difficult and confusing. I figured I entered at 'concrete experience' as executing the steps whilst they were being taught, was the first step I took; although I was recognising I was using an incorrect arm movement at this stage, it wasn’t until I watched myself in the mirror and watched another dancer perform that I noticed other mistakes. Would this mean I entered Kolb’s cycle at 'reflective observation' Laura (2015)

I decided to look into kolb's learning cycle in more depth to see if I could rectify this or find an explanation. I came across some information that helped me clarify my thoughts and understand my starting position much more clearly. The point of learning (learning style) is actually a combination of two points in the cycle. 

I have listed the learning styles below, however they are also included on the diagram. 

• Diverging
• Assimilating 
• Converging
• Accommodating 

My learning style

I figured my learning style was 'Diverging'. After researching an explanation of this learning style; I was shocked to find how exact my findings were when I cam across this short extract.

 (Feeling and watching - CE/RO)

These people are able to look at things from different perspectives. They are sensitive. They prefer to watch rather than do, tending to gather information and use imagination to solve problems. They are best at viewing concrete situations at several different viewpoints.’ Kolb called this style 'diverging' because these people perform better in situations that require ideas-generation, for example, brainstorming. People with a diverging learning style have broad cultural interests and like to gather information. They are interested in people, tend to be imaginative and emotional, and tend to be strong in the arts. People with the diverging style prefer to work in groups, to listen with an open mind and to receive personal feedback McLeod, S. A. (2010). Kolb - Learning Styles. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html

As explained in reader 2, Howard Gardner Believed people were intelligent in numerous ways. He introduced the idea of 'multiple intelligences'

(Gardner, 1983)

Whilst in training I was asked to complete a short test to determine what type of learner I was. Only one answer was to be chosen from a choose of three for each question, I found the test very difficult due to this as in most questions I would have preferred to choose more then one answer; Below is an example I created myself with a similar idea to the other questions.

'What type of book would you prefer to read?' 

A: Picture book/comic strip

B: Novel with no pictures

C: Activity book , crosswords, recipe book, word search 

I would answer both B and C for this if possible, however this would go against the views of what a 'traditional learner' is. I found the idea of learning one specific way very restricting. Similarly to what I wrote about above regarding engaging with experiences, I prefer to use all senses. 

I took Gardner's 'multiple intelligence test' and my results are as follows:

Musical: Enjoy listening to music, working with instruments, singing. Often very rhythmic with great pitch. Remember experiences and learn more when associated with music. 

Movement/ kinaesthetic: Actions and movements will enable this type of learner to retain information. Often active people who are sports people and engage most with learning when 'doing'

Intrapersonal: 'Relates to ones emotional life as a means to understand others' (Reader 2, Middlesex University 2014)

Occasions of reflection

'Present or future being two distinct and different ways to engage with experience (Jackson, 1998; Dewey, 1934)

Depending on the situation I tend to reflect at different points of the experience. 

If I am learning a dance routine or song and notice I am doing something incorrectly, I will take a very direct approach and rectify the mistake straight away; this is called 'reflection-in-action'. On the other hand if I was writing an essay for my BAPP work I would firstly write a draft, read over it and then correct it later (reflection-on-action) however as I am currently writing the first draft of my critical reflection on reflective practise, I am beginning to notice I do actually use reflection-in-action to a certain extent by correcting spelling and re-writing phrases as I am writing. The idea of reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action was introduced by shun (1987)

The type of profession you are in has an impact on whether you reflect-in-action or on-action. A performer in most situations would not find the latter beneficial. Singing the wrong tune throughout an entire rehearsal or audition when fully conscious of the fact you are wrong is not acceptable in our business. It is simply not good enough to continue to make the mistake thinking its ok to go home later that evening and sort it out then. If singing with a group, this could distract them and affect the learning of everybody else in the rehearsal/ audition and in both cases more than likely cost you your job. Reflecting-in-action is second nature to me, I can reflect in the midst of action without having to give it a thought. Until I researched this topic I was completely unaware that it was already present in my professional practice. Kottcamp disagrees with my view he believes reflection-in-action is harder to achieve. This arises many ethical issues as he is basing his theory on himself as an individual and not considering the different factors that may influence other people to reflect on a different occasion.

Journal Writing:

Keeping a Journal is a very effective way of reflecting on experience. It is an essential element of work based learning and as explained in reader 2, will support our process of critical thinking. Previously in my professional practice, I had never understood the importance of keeping a journal; however after studying theorists such as Moon and Boud I fully understand the benefits. I have discussed my relationship with journal writing and methods in which I could use to write in my journal in previous blog entries 'Task 2A' and 'Task 2B' http://laurajanegregory.blogspot.co.uk/

Conclusion

After studying key theorists of reflective practice and learning through experience. I now have sound knowledge of my preferred learning styles. I discovered which elements of these topics I already incorporate in my professional practice. I will use tools such as Kolb's learning cycle and Gardner’s multiple intelligence tests too not only improve my learning in all aspects of my career but to also improve the learning of pupils I teach. I will adapt lesson plans to incorporate different learning styles to suit their needs and reflect on which techniques are most successful. I will also continue to reflect on my professional practice using my journal entries.

References:
Reader 2, Middlesex University (2014)


Dewey, John (1934), Art as Experience,1958 reprint, New York: Putnam
Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development (Vol. 1). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Boud, David (2001) 'Using Journal Writing to Enhance Reflective practice'

http://www.literacynet.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html

http://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html

Task 2B 'My Journal experience'

Over the past few days I have been experimenting with different methods of Journal writing based on the Moon and Reid framework. In this blog I will reflect on which methods I feel worked well for me and which methods I found challenging or less effective.


Description: (what happened?, where?, when?)
I began with this method as it was a way of writing in which I was already familiar with. I was confident that this would be my favourite method of writing. I really enjoyed describing what happened as I had a really productive day. I felt a sense of achievement after reading back on how many important tasks I had completed, however; throughout the day I experienced a range of emotions due to the workload and busy week I had ahead of me. I found myself describing a particular event of the day and then feeling the need to elaborate on that event by writing down 'how I was feeling?'  and 'why I was feeling that way?'  I then began to think of other methods that would allow me to follow through with these questions in more detail.


Initial reflection:
I found this method of writing very therapeutic. I began by jotting down a few questions I found in the module 1 handbook, which I could ask myself about to help me reflect on my day.

• How did I feel?
• Did anything out of the ordinary happen?
• What mood was I in?
• what was I thinking?
• How did i react?

I felt this method really helped me  learn a little more about myself and release all tensions and emotions which had built up throughout the day. I approached this task by creating spider diagrams.

In the centre of each diagram I wrote key events of the day. I then drawed arrows off each event writing answers to the above questions.

 Overall I think the initial reflection method combined with using spider diagrams was a great way of writing. It was much quicker than writing full paragraphs of description and allowed me the freedom to explore how different experiences made me feel.

It’s also interesting looking back at the correlation between my thoughts and moods when experiencing new or challenging events. My only criticism would be that after looking back at my diagrams a few days later, I struggled to link thoughts, moods, feelings and reactions with the events I felt were less important throughout the day. I worry that after a long period of time I would also struggle to link the above with events I considered more important. I will use this method again; however I will also incorporate the descriptive method by adding brief descriptions in order to link why certain experiences led me to think, react and feel the way I did to avoid confusion in the future.

Lists

I already use lists regularly in all aspects of my everyday life. 

• Lists of goals I wish to achieve
• Lists of tasks I wish to complete each day
• Lists of things I need to remember

'The list is endless' No pun intended!!

When considering lists as a method of journal writing; my initial thought was this was a very vague way of recording experiences. I was unsure on how a list of words could help me learn from experience.  I decided to do some research on www.listography.com

After experimenting I discovered that writing words down in categories such as 'Did Felt Saw'  would help my remember more clearly experiences of the day and help me write my journal entry that evening in more detail however I felt this method alone was to vague and restricting.However it was interesting to reflect on words I had wrote during experiences at the end of the day. 

Evaluation

I really enjoyed this method of writing. Similar to 'initial reflection' I felt it worked best when also incorporating a brief description of experiences. I believe this method would assist my learning the most; this is because once I had evaluated what my strengths and weaknesses were, noted things to avoid, reflected on new things I had learnt. I could then create an action plan to improve and make the most of similar experiences in the future. I also found that a brief evaluation of my 'initial reflection' entry will clarify what experiences and parts of my professional practice influence positive and negative thoughts and once again create an action plan.

Graphs and charts

 I could not relate to this method at all before or after experimenting with it. I felt, similar to the list, this was very vague. This in no way helped me reflect on my day or experiences, however  I will continue to look into this method more in my free time. I recorded my levels of fun, freedom and stress onto a graph and compared it to a day last week. I much prefer to express myself and I worry that I will not remember what caused the changes in my levels of fun, freedom and stress. Maybe combining this method with others will be more beneficial.

What If?

I had ALOT of fun with this method. It was interesting to record all of my goals and dreams in a journal entry. Naturally as a performer I am a very imaginative and creative person a found my thoughts escalated from Being cast as my dream role in a West End show, progressing onto Broadway then becoming a Hollywood star and living the high life in LA! Some 'what ifs?' I wrote down were achievable how ever a lot of them were highly unlikely to happen (winning the lottery). I looked at the clock and noticed I had been thinking about this and writing for over an hour, this brought me back to reality! I needed to focus on what was happening in my life now and how I could develop for the future rather than dreaming of my fantasy life. I will not be using this method regularly; however I will consider writing 'what ifs?' every now and again to see if my aspirations are changing and to see if any of them came true (fingers crossed) 

I also realiszed that What ifs? could encourage negative thoughts depending on the situation and mood of the specific day I was writing about. I become stressed  and anxious really easily and did not think it was a good idea to look further into this, however it was a thought that crossed my mind.

Another view:

It was interesting to see how my mum had reflected on my day compared to myself. My mum believed i had worked really hard as I sat at my laptop for hours working on BAPP. She felt I had achieved a lot and should tommorow consider taking a break. I on the other hand never completed every task I set myself and although I worked hard I believed I should carry on with the same process the next day. I usually would ignore a comment like this and carry on. This time i decided to act on my mums view and take a rest the next day. This was a very good idea as I then returned to my work recharged and with a much more positive attitude. This made me realise that 'peer evaluation and reflection' can be very beneficial as they often see a situation or experience of your day different to you. This could be due to differences in mindset. I also found this method could become quite negative. an example of this occurred yesterday. I had a singing lesson and felt as though I was not performing as well as I usually would,as a perfectionist I got very frustrated. When reflecting on the lesson in my journal i couldn't help thinking what my singing teachers view would be about that lesson. I immediately began to think she thought i was a terrible singer (very irrational considering I had been taught by her for years)

It suddenly dawned on me that one of my weaknesses is worrying about what other people think of me and valuing their opinion far too much. I believe writing these views down would hinder my process rather than improving it.

Overall I found out a lot about myself during this task. I now look at Journal writing in a whole new light. I have came to the conclusion that 'initial reflection' and 'evaluations' will benefit me most whilst also adding brief descriptions. I will also use technology tools such as my mobile phone too record voice notes of me singing and short video clips of rehearsals and performances too help me reflect on  my performance from a visual point of view.

Task 2A

My Initial thoughts on writing a journal

I must admit keeping a journal was not a task which I felt enthusiastic about when reading Module 1, Part 2. My first thoughts were 'How can a journal assist my learning?, Is it a complete waste of time? 
Whilst training at The Hammond we were asked as part of our written modules (Integrated professional studies) to write up a weekly reflection. I'm sure anyone from Hammond would agree that after a long week of blood, sweat and tears they were the bane of our lives!
We were handed a generic sheet each week which we were to complete and add to our files. There was no explanation on what these reflections were for or no indication of how they could benefit my training in anyway. The sheets left no room for our imagination or creativity. Every year I convinced myself i would continue to fill in the weekly reflections however enthusiasm wore off within a week or two and i found myself filling int the remaining 30+ reflection sheets during the last week of term when our completed files were to be handed in!
Of course i could not remember what I did every single day of the school year so I made them up and wrote anything! this was not beneficial to myself or my training in any way. 

 My view of recording a journal and reflecting on days and events changed after reading reader 2 and extracts from the reading list. I realized how beneficial recording a journal could be in so many ways.

• Therapeutic
• Release emotions
• Help me reflect on aspects of my professional life in order to improve it.
• Help me become more organised
• Store memories for the future
• Notice patterns in my day to day life which my be a strength or maybe a weakness by hindering my learning.
• Discover more about myself, for example, reflect on the correlation between emotions and events to find what makes me happy and what courses the most stress.
• Encourage positive thinking.

Two days ago I recorded my first entry. I am already finding reflecting on my day to day life therapeutic and enjoying discovering my strengths, weaknesses and variety of emotions. I am now in the process of experimenting different ways to write in a journal to figure out which way is best suited to myself.

i will discuss this further in task 2B.

Task 1D

    'A picture can tell a thousand words'


Below is a link to a Flickr account I created specifically for BAPP. I currently use Instagram for social reasons as well as professional, however I felt by using a web 2:0 site in which i had never before used I would improve my social networking and technical skills. I also felt it was a good idea to keep my work separate too my private life. 
I have uploaded a variety of pictures to my Flickr account from professional images used for marketing (such as show flyers ad head shots) and pictures I like to look at as memories. I think it is important to capture good times on camera in this business. Sometimes after a tough audition or a bunch of unsuccessful casting calls its nice to look back at happy memories to remind yourself why it is you began dancing, singing, acting  in the first place. As many employers are browsing potential employees social networking sites i also thought it would be a good idea to use photographs of myself in costume. I will continue to expand on my Flickr photo album over the upcoming weeks.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/131227983@N08/

Task 1B

Task 1B

What is Web 2:0

This is a question I found myself thinking about a lot during my first week of module one. When I first enrolled on BAPP, I found the whole idea of working from a blog and networking very daunting. I would  definitely consider myself a technophobe! I had never before heard of the term 'web 2:0' therefore read carefully through reader 1 twice and continued to research on numerous BAPP blogs for other opinions and explanations.  I found the whole concept extremely difficult to understand and found myself deviating from task 1B and onto BAPP student you tube channels, casting call pro profiles, Facebook pages and so on. Its safe to say I was very confused. 

Then it struck me.... Professional communications technology is already a part of my everyday life! 
Web 2:0 is a term used to describe the 2nd generation of the world wide web. It aims to facilitate collaboration and interactivity between users. Tim O'reilly is the originator of what describes web 2:0.
Web 1:0 was the original platform and worked in a straight forward way due to the one way communications between the creator and reader; this concept developed over time and now Web 2:0 provides readers with the freedom to interact with the creator and most importantly become the creator. 

'Content creators were few in Web 1:0 with the vast majority of users simply acting as consumers of content' 
Commode G  and krishnamuntly, B (2008)

Tim O'Reilly's web meme below helped me understand web 2:0.

Social network sites, which I access every day for various different reasons such as you tube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are all categorized as Web 2:0. 

Three words that spring to mind when i think about web 2:0 are SHARE , LEARN, DEVELOP. 

Share

 Web 2:0 is an internet platform  that encourages and enables participation. It is quick, easy and cost effective to share information on social networking sites about an array of different topics both professionally and personally. This creates a platform for universal communication; information can be shared with vast numbers of users within seconds of posting a blog, Facebook comment, youtube video etc (the list is endless)
A very popular Facebook group called 'The Hustle'  is very successful due to the participation of its members. People related to the Arts in every single shape and form post useful information  in this group about a variety of different things that help each other progress in our community. People do not have to pay and therefore find information on castings and auditions etc free of charge. I often gain valuable information on companies and auditions, however do not often post anything myself.
Spider diagram showing some of the reasons how people use 'The Hustle':

People also use 'The Hustle' to ask questions., for example,   I noticed a dancer asking if anybody had information about a particular performance company. Within minutes the user had many replies  with various opinions on the company. By asking questions such as the above you are participating in the creation and development of web 2:0 for your own learning. Most people are unaware that asking such a question can also teach others. This is where my second word fits in.

Learn
The more people share the more people will learn. People not only learn by consuming information from web 2:0 platforms; They also learn by their input (producing). These are  known as the 'prosumers'. (In a nutshell the more people put in, the more people will get out of it)
The learning element is relevant to our BAPP course. I am now wondering whether our course would work at all without Web 2:0 platforms. I have relied on many other student blogs to help me understand tasks. Without these I probably would have given up! Through Web 2:o, specifically blogging, we have developed our own community. 'Feenberg' and 'Bakardjeka' identified that web 2:0 allowed communities (such as ours) to develop beyond their existing networks and help us work collectively. 
This ties in with Tim O'Reilly's  comment on his blog  ' blogging allows the creator and reader to communicate participatory'.
If people didn't participate by posting on their blogs and commenting on other peoples reflectively to help them improve. This course would be a whole lot harder. How would we know if what we are doing is correct? How would we improve without peoples critical reflections and opinions? How much harder would it be not to be able to look on and comment on Paula's blog regularly? 
By participating in web 2:0 not only are we learning for ourselves, we are developing these platforms for the future,  sharing what we have Learnt to develop web 2:0 for others.

Develop
Ulrich C. 'One of the key aspects of web 2:0 model is that these services are constantly evolving and that each platform is progressively developed and replaced. Ulrich C. 'Why web 2:0 is good for learning and research: principles and prototypes; ACM,pp 705-704
I am guilty of consuming more information than I input, however, after studying web 2:0 i will consciously make an effort to participate more to develop this platform. By blogging me learning tasks is a great start and therefore I will continue too do this regularly.
Ethical issues arise with the developing web 2:0, consumers begin to question whether information from web 2:0 sites such as wikipedia or a reliable source? 


Conclusion 
For me personally, all the pros of Web 2:0 greatly out way the cons and I will no longer take these tools we are freely able to access for granted.  

Task 1A

 Task 1A

CV's are an extremely important and essential tool for professionals. They are our personal marketing tool and used by almost all employers as a first point of contact. The employer/Casting Director will have a preconceived idea of you simply by viewing your CV. 
After browsing through numerous other BAPP blog's I have discovered we are very similar in terms of having a catalogue  of different CV's. 

Below is a spider diagram of ideas I think about how I create new CV's and adapting current ones for a multitude of job roles. 

I often change aspects of my performance CV to make it more specific for different roles; for example, if I were to send my CV for a pantomime casting I would change my head shot to a very smiley picture.  If I were to send my CV for a role in a period drama I would change my head shot to something very natural, a picture with my hair back and very minimal make up.  I spend endless hours adding and removing jobs from the experience section of my CV and re-aligning them all to make my CV presentable.

Analysis of other BAPP students CV's encouraged me too consider aspects of my own which needed improvement. 

• I incorporated tables too align text and also made text central. This will save me a lot of time trying too align dates etc when I need too add and delete credits.
• I noticed that many CV's I viewed had elements of colour. I used grey as a background for my table and also made the grids invisible for people viewing my CV. I added a striking red colour too highlight subtitles.

Below I have added examples of both my previous CV and new CV

OLD CV

NEW CV

As a performer I have had an eclectic mix of part time jobs in different areas of work all of which have been completely irrelevant to my performance career however in some ways essential to fund auditions, castings, dance wear, singing lessons and everything else that comes hand in hand with our exciting and rewarding profession. 


A topic  I often find myself thinking about when writing Cv's for part-time work  is the relevance of my theatre work to the job role i am applying for. I often wonder if employers take candidates with qualifications and work experience in performance less serious than candidates with academic work experience after being told i was an unsuitable candidate for certain jobs . As many of my part-time job role have been  customer service I strongly believe many aspects of performing are transferable skills also associated with customer focused roles:

• Confidence
• Presence
• Team work 

If anyone has any opinions on this topic I would love to hear.

When creating my professional profile I took information from my CV and transferred all necessary aspects into a short piece of writing.

My first draft: (As you can see it is very professional and to the point)

About Me.. 

My name is Laura Gregory, I am an Actress/Singer/Dancer based in Liverpool.

I began my training at the age of 16 at Carmel College where I originally studied choreography and creative dance. I then furthered my training at The Hammond School, Chester; Throughout my time at Hammond I was cast as principle roles in numerous productions and since graduating, have continued to do so. 

Theatre credits include: Into The Woods, The Crucible, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Cabaret, 42nd street, Snow White, Aladdin, Sinbad and the Golden Voyage. 

I am now embarking on a new chapter of my life (BAPP) to further my knowledge and hopefully progress onto a PGCE course to begin a later career of teaching.

After evaluating my first draft I decided I wanted my profile to be more personal. After all my blog is my personal space and I want my viewers to know me as a person as well as knowing my achievements. I figured the best way to do this would to include more detail on my journey 'How I reached my goals'

Similar to Eleanor Claire Unwin, my second draft seemed more like an auto biography. I decided to continue drafting until my profile was short snappy yet still containing personal elements, a profile i would be happy with.