From doing the reflective writing (task 2b) I learned some valuable things about the day that I didn't notice on first consideration. I found that the best way of reflecting for me was the 'list' because it meant I just threw down events, thoughts and feelings from the day. Then, the 'evaluation' method meant I could expand on what I had listed. I am going to continue to use this technique when writing my journal and see if it suits me. Also, I started writing my original journal entries on in Microsoft Word. I have now changed that and opted for old style pen and paper. There is something raw when I write this way which I feel I miss when using the computer. I feel my thoughts need to be in my hand writing complete with crossings out and misspellings.
Today, was a very ordinary day. I did normal everyday things which I would have thought of as not really worth reflecting on. however, by doing so I learned so much! For example, although I really enjoyed my dance class this morning I wasn't paying attention as well as I could. Sometimes, I think it is hard to criticise oneself in this way but we can learn a lot from it. I wasn't engaging as well as I should have because my mind was on other things. When I considered what I was distracting me I realised that I am feeling stressed about this getting all the work done for this course. I am also nervous because I have to present my dance for a video game tomorrow.
Before doing this exercise maybe I'd have just said I wasn't feeling 100% and may not have really pin-pointed why. This task made me really look at how I was feeling and why and now I can see it objectively and find ways of preventing stress and nerves.
Good summarising point - reflection can be a tool and it is hard to do 100% of the time because it takes energy - so if we take on the thinking tasks it is helpful to identify areas or issues that may warrant further reflection. Past BAPP students have used some of these issues as questions, but that word 'objectively' is a good one for practitioners... how does it differ from subjective? Does the objective framing allow for the examination of emotion or behaviour?
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