2b. Reflective writing (Journal writing experience)

I have been spending some time over the last few days trying out the different methods below to reflect on my day.  I found this task interesting as I made me look and think about my day in many different ways, some which I have never used before!


The  methods I used were:

• DESCRIPTION

• INITIAL REFLECTION

• LIST

• EVALUATION

• GRAPHS, CHARTS, DIAGRAMS

• WHAT IF?

• ANOTHER VIEW

The first method I used was DESCRIPTION.  This wasn't too hard as I found this is the style I am naturally used to anyway.  However, I did find it hard leaving it until the evening to write about the days events as I couldn't remember all my feelings and thoughts in one go and the end of the day and thought it would be far more detailed and beneficial if I wrote my thoughts and feelings down as I went through the day that way I wouldn't leave anything out.  I tried this the following day and this was the case.  My journal entry was definitely more detailed and had reflected on the events in more depth. 

"Ideas can come from anywhere and at any time. The problem with making mental notes is that the ink fades very rapidly.” - Rolf Smith (Author of The 7 Levels of Change)

 This then reminded me of when I was at college and when we had to write about what we did in each lesson and the corrections we were given.  However, the longer I left it the more information I forgot and I had had time after each class to write it down, the corrections would have been fresh in my mind so I wouldn't have forgotten as much.

I then looked at what the INITIAL REFLECTION method was and realised I naturally do this along side the descriptive method in my journal writing.  I usually write how I am feeling about what is happening and what I am thinking about it at the time.

Then tried writing my day out as a LIST.  This approach was very brief.  However, it is a good method if you just want to quickly jot down your thoughts and feelings at the time.  I feel like I could use this method throughout the day, writing down the main points so I don't forget anything and then in the evening expand on the list and write it out in full using the descriptive and initial reflection method.  However, on its own I feel it isn't very useful as I wouldn't be able to recall the day in enough detail for it to be beneficial to reflect on.

The EVALUATION approach forced me to look even more in depth at the events and allowed me to reflect on the things that went well and what I would do again and what I would maybe avoid doing next time.  Therefore, I feel for personal reflection this method is also good as I can identify what I need to improve on and if I added this along side the descriptive and initial reflection method I feel this will be the best combination for me.

GRAPHS, CHARTS AND DIAGRAMS is a completely new reflective method for me.  I do like to learn from visual tools so I thought this might be a new method I could be introduced to and use more often.  I found it gave me a good overview of the day as a whole, however like the LIST method it is very brief and I found it hard to incorporate all the details such as thoughts, feelings and what worked and what didn't on the same diagram.  Therefore, I could use this method as part of my reflection but I would have to use it along side other methods as well.   Above you can see I drew a graph showing my feelings from 1-10 (10 being happiest) during certain events throughout the day.

Even though I could see visually how I felt, it didn't really make a lot of sense and it doesn't explain WHY I felt this way.  It also took a lot of time working out how to draw it out in the most beneficial way.

I associate the phrase WHAT IF? with regrets and my initial thought on this method was quite negative as it would highlight what I could have or should have done.  However, using this method after it has happened is too late as it has already happened.  I guess it would be beneficial if you found yourself in the same situation a couple of days later and you had already thought about what you could have done differently but otherwise you would just constantly be chasing yourself with the question. Therefore, I feel this method would only be useful to me if I asked the question before the event. 

I found writing from ANOTHER VIEW really strange.  In my case, on this particular day I was writing about, I was teaching a dance workshop and I wrote from the point of view of one of the children. It was interesting to see how the way I act can be perceived differently by someone else and it does make you want to think twice about how your actions or words are going to affect others.  However, for a PERSONAL reflection I don't think this method would be very useful because it would take too much time always second guessing what others might be thinking of you, which then will cause self doubt.  We only have a day to produce a show in the workshop to be performed to parents at the end so it is important to make decisions quickly and effectively using our previous knowledge.

So after using all these methods I feel like the most beneficial method for me would be:

DESCRIPTION + INITIAL REFLECTION + EVALUATION

By using this method I will be able to identify the main events, how I felt about them and my thoughts and what I thought worked well and what I can do differently in order to improve as a performer. I do still like usual visual aids to learn, so where I feel it will help me I will continue to use graphs, charts and diagrams.  However, I feel I will be using the method in bold above more than the others.