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.
Hi Laura,
ReplyDeleteYour account of your experience with journals within education is a familiar one to me. I had the exact same experience at drama school, I remember us all the night before hand it frantically trying to write weeks worth of journals!! - The course being so practical it did seem to be an extra burden.
I think this time around it's good because you can write on your own terms. From what the reader says about reflection it seems widely agreed that everyone learns differently and that is important for us to find what works best for us. Also like you said the generic template they gave you was rather restrictive. Also I think you knew that someone was going to read it. I think with our journals now we can be more honest with ourselves because we decide what will be seen.
Lisa x
Yes Lisa I think that was part of the problem I was afraid too write my weaknesses down in case people read them and judged me.I think drama schools should maybe provide lessons explaining the benefits of journal writing in relation too performing arts and maybe provide students with a choice of writing styles.
ReplyDeleteThanks Laura x