I have surprised my self. When I had a read through this part briefly at the start of part one, I thought 'ooo I like the sounds of that, that shouldn't be a problem.'. I was really looking forward to it. Now almost 3 weeks after our Skype session I have only really just got my head around it all and made a start. Something I thought I would be really confident with has turned out to be the hardest yet.
Reflecting back on it, I think it is partly self inflicted. I kept putting it off as I struggled to find a way to start. I read Reader 2, three or four times highlighting phrases and quotes but still found myself feeling overwhelmed my the amount of information it contained.
I have learnt a lot throughout this struggle. My learning style is defiantly 'Reflective Observation', I feel I learn so much from watching others, from analysing the way they deal with situations and picking up new teaching techniques and ideas to what people wear or how they do their hair. Thinking about it now as I type, Reflective observation is with me all day everywhere I go. I love people watching, maybe this is why. I also used it to start up my own blog, I didn't watch any YouTube videos on how to write a blog, I simply looked at other blogs and then navigated my self around the site through trial and error, finding ways to make it my own.
I found thinking of Schon about reflection as being 'IN-Action' or 'ON-Action' very intriguing as I could not decipher which I preferred of found easiest or used the most. It was only when I read on to Kottcamps view that reflection In-action is harder, this is thought to be because he is a writer and an academic and is more used to reflecting on-action (offline). I can see why people may come to this conclusion but I don't agree its as black and white as that.
I am a dance teacher, so straight away people will make the assumption that I do most of my reflecting in-action (online). Ok I am not denying ever using this method whilst teaching, as that would be almost impossible, but I do everything I can prior to reduce the amount of on the spot thinking I will have to do. I hate being caught on the spot in front of a class of dancers and not being able to work something out. The pressure of them watching me makes my mind freeze. With experience this has improved, but I still prefer to do double the amount of offline reflecting to make sure I am prepared before hand. So once again proof every individual will have different ways of dealing with and doing everything. So interesting!!
Further on in Reader 2 I read the excerpt from Twyla Tharp - Creative Habit. It was a light bulb moment for me. Having only been a teacher for 2 years I am still a novice. I had always thought it was just me. I know personally I need to have an exercise embedded in my muscle memory to be able to then teach it. Even having done this, when I am demonstrating there is always that one student that needs it breaking down further and sometimes comes up with a question I can't even answer about a basic step. I always thought feeling like this was due to the lack of experience and knowledge. Reading that paragraph from her book made me think wow ok its not only me if professional choreographers with tons of experience are going through the same thing!
I bought the book! I'm on chapter 3 now, it is very interesting and I think it is really going to help me along with this degree, organising my time is the first step.
I wont go too much into it at the minute but I would definitely recommend it.
TASK 2a: Reflective Practise/ 2b: Reflective Writing
I bought my journal, this took me 2 weeks. I was conveniently holding back to find the perfect one with an inspiring design in it, when really I was just putting the task in hand off for as long as possible.
During our Skype session I felt I didn't really have any ideas to bring to the table, or to write about in my journal. I am still slightly confused about what kind of ideas I'm meant to be writing about, are they personal or can I reflect on lesson plans and choreography or even both. I think I did ask this but there was no clear answer obviously because this is another grey area. I need to trust my self to find the right way, no one can guide me in my own creative thought otherwise it wouldn't be mine.
So I just started writing, first of all just jotting some exercises down out of the book 'Creative Habits' in a purple pen that matched the cover, that made me enjoy it a little more. Today I have remembered what it feels like to just write. As a teenager I kept a diary religiously, I shared thoughts, feelings, reflections, goals, sketches, secrets, pretty much everything about me was shared with the paper. I still have them now. That feeling just came flooding back as I started to write, I felt like a teenager again.
I had finished writing about my day, and continued to read on in the Module 1 Handbook to the next task, 'reflective writing' and noticed I had used 3 of the list of ways to write. I did not do this purposely but it just came out naturally. I have been doing this style of writing all my life with out knowing it. I used a combination of 'Description, Initial Reflection and Evaluation. I look forward to using the other methods that I am not as familiar with and comparing them.
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