I started out on this task by writing the journal how I would usually go about writing reflectively. This seemed to take the form of a mixture of description and initial reflection. I have since gone on to experiment with the different ways of writing about events that have happened in the day.
Initially I found it hard to know what to write about. I was worried that there was not enough going on from a professional sense to write about. Working on a Ship that runs 7 day cruises and only performing and having scheduled rehearsals on 2 of them I was struggling to balance the profession verses personal events that I would normally evaluate. Reflecting on this I can see that for this job specifically a lot of what happens out of being clocked in really does affect what happens when we are. We are living and working so closely together that it is almost like we are working 24/7. I have also realized that I can reflect on duties that we have to perform in addition to the shows. Even though these are not ‘dance’ based they still come in to my life as a professional dancer and are part of my job.
I have found a lot of the techniques really useful and interesting to do even if I may not use them again.
Description
I did use this initially but combined with Initial Reflection. I find that using description on it’s own does not really help with reflection as I was just stating what was happening in the day with no emotion attached to it. However, I do feel that description is necessary when combined with other techniques so when I look back on the event I know what happened so can link it with the feeling.
Initial Reflection
Again I initially did this combined with Description. Similarly, I find that just using initial reflection meant that when I looked back on what I wrote I could not connect it with anything, I was just writing about how I could have improved the situation that I did not explain so it did not really make sense when making an overall reflection.
List
I found that this did not help me at all. I found I had too much to put in to just a list so I was making lists inside lists inside lists which was getting too confusing. I would however add lists in when writing in notes from rehearsals, as this is how I write them down when being told my corrections. Writing them out again in my journal I feel helps a lot with remembering them and putting them in to place.
Evaluation
I liked using this technique as I really felt in enabled me to reflect on what had happened. This gave me a focus rather than just trying to reflect I could clearly say what I think went well or didn’t, why I felt that and how I could improve my actions the next time a similar situation arose.
Graphs/Charts
I am not quite sure what to make of this one. I tried to use like a flow chart of what happened in the day with the times so I could see how much time I had spent doing what so I could see what I should have done instead. Using this method will help with my time management but I would like to try using spider diagrams or bar charts/line graphs to see how my feelings or mood changes though a day or a particular event. I really feel that keeping track of how I am feeling will help my professional practice as I will come across as a happier and more confident person to my colleague.
Another View
I loved writing this one, defiantly the most fun one to try. I did it from the point of view of my name tag which we have to wear everywhere we go on the ship so it was so interesting how something else would see exactly what you are doing but looking at it from a different perspective. I also had a prime opportunity to use writing from another persons perspective of a specific situation. There were some issues regarding the cast and we went to talk to the dance captain about it so it would have been interesting to look at her perspective of the meeting. However, unfortunately I missed the opportunity to write about it as I should have written the same day. I would like to experiment using this technique at some point, especially if a similar situation arises. I really like this technique but would not use it every day, just when I feel I need to look at something from a different perspective.
I have found this task really interesting overall, it has given me a lot to think about how I can evaluate myself and any given situation in a different way to put a different light on things. I am going to continue to experiment with all of the techniques when I feel they are suitable for the situation. However, I am going to use a mixture of description, initial reflection and evaluation on a daily basis. This will help me when looking over previous logs as I will know what was going on, how I felt about it and how I proposed to move forward then compare with the current situation to see if I put my own advice in to play.
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