Module 1 - Task 2b: Journal writing experience

“Reflection lies somewhere around the notion of learning and thinking.  We reflect in order to learn something, or we learn as a result of reflecting.  Reflective writing is the expression on paper/screen of some of the mental processes of reflection.” – Moon, J. (2004) ‘Resources for Reflective Learning’ Page 6.

The above quote is a good source to refer to when describing the process of reflection and is the basis for the framework developed by Moon, alongside Nola and Reid’s take on the matter all of which is featured in the handbook and second reader for module one. Over the last nine days I have been keeping a journal documenting my day to day practice. The framework offers nine ways to approach and think about reflective thinking. Nine days, nine separate approaches. I didn’t start with a particular style in mind, but I know what a typical schedule of mine will proceed like from week to week save for the minor irregularities (an audition, for example) so I had premeditated which one I thought would best suit my day’s activities. Aside from this, all information logged is true to what I was experiencing, came to mind or what I thought of said events after them taking place. This last statement foretells a degree of reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action (Donald Schön) as detailed in the journal entries as a result. For the sake of chronology within my journal, I will start with the method implemented in my earliest journal entry. I will also be conducting this post utilising one of the writing styles I have been exploring in my journals, ‘lists’.

Evaluation – My first recorded journal entry was written a month after it occurred but of my most recent professional encounters has had the most impact for me. The details are things that I think about on a day to day basis so a lot of the information in relatively easy to recall. I spoke about my experience auditioning for a new musical theatre agency in London. I didn’t want to mention this initially in this post for fear of my critique of the other styles seeming redundant, but this particular method just happened to be the first I tried. This was by far the most effective means for me to critically reflect, made favoured by a few different factors. I have mentioned in a previous post (see ‘Second Campus Session’) about my comfort in writing in more of an essay-like structure. I find this an easier way to establish a statement or idea to then expand upon it, giving arguments for and against as well as recognising outside opinions. This writing style catered exclusively to the latter. The questions included to think about: “what did you think went well? What worked? Did you learn anything, discover anything, notice things to avoid?” – These all pointed towards referring to an experience in the past tense and so prompting a reflection-on-action account, drawing attention away from describing the initial idea. While I can understand that the questions maybe leave establishing a situation or concept out to allow for more of a focus on its meaning, I find it hard to perform the latter without a basic outset of what has taken place to reward an explanation. One cannot exist without the other, and so in this respect it could be said that ‘description’ and ‘evaluation’ are very closely interlinked. The module handbook also mentions that we will be required to show proof our journal logs at a later stage in the course and I fear that if the description of an event is not present, even in a primitive form, how can I expect others to understand and follow my entries? It’s also worth noting that this was the journal entry that I spent the most amount of time over. This is not to say this was an entry of the highest quality from me. A lot of it could be considered waffle to another person’s eye and I have come to notice they all writing styles have their merits, but rather that it reinforces my opinion of it being the most comfortable and accessible way for me to reflect.

Description – On beginning, I thought this would be one of the easiest writing styles for me to get to grips with. I feel that in all my writing that I portray a rich establishment of a circumstance whether it be describing an environment or an idea or statement. But the questions suggested to think about; “what happened? What were the main events? Where and when?” – These are all things I know I’m going to discuss a before starting to write. The suggestions to me seem too constrained. I kept feeling the urge to follow up statements with an evaluation but this of course it its own separate form of writing. It was the task I spent the least amount of time on and left me feeling uninspired upon its completion. I won’t deny that ‘description’ is a valuable writing method as it’s needed in almost all forms of narrative from a novel, to a journal entry, but it is the unpacking of this that brings a real sense of colour and vibrancy for both the creator and consumer.

Another view – This style took me a while to get going, not for lack of understanding it but to think of an angle to approach it from. I eventually settled on an object of familiarity, one that has a daily input on my professional practice, that being my laptop. I found it quite surreal to start, writing in a first person perspective and humanising an inanimate object. After committing to its absurdity, I’m confident that this became my most informal entry by product of its style. I cannot see myself using this approach on regular occasion as I felt this outside view was a little too distant for me to draw anything substantial from it. I did, however, notice a couple of things that reflects on my current mind-set of practice. First was my continued use of questions. I imagined that the laptop was querying my decisions in performing tasks, whether it be directly engaging with the laptop or the space around it. The second was my laptop’s cynical (yes that’s right, my laptop was making crude comments behind my back would you believe) comments on how much time I spend with my headshots and curriculum vitae. It made me realise how heavily I rely on such tools in relation to my professional practice and how I often take this for granted, an example of reflection-in-action. In this respect, the technique was a success.

Lists – How ironic, talking about ‘lists’ in a list format. I was not convinced how this approach would benefit me. I did as the module handbook advised and headed over to www.listography.com for examples as to how people compose them in all sorts of capacities albeit cataloguing music listened to during the day or school schedule’s that need attending. After listing my activities, the framework advises to write something short related to the activity such as thoughts that have provoked me into further action e.g. urge me to think about what I felt at the time, what would I like to build upon or learn more about? I noticed after completing this and looking over the list that my current working days are quite robust, something that I am content to keep up. I also noticed how each of my individual activities, whilst not noticeably tied together at a first glance, play delicate parts in making my day to day professional practice e.g. my regular work shifts being flexible enough to allow for cover when needed for a professional engagement like an agency meeting. Like cogs making a clock tick over! I have noticed that other students on the course have been using lists in the form of bullet points within their blog posts to convey questions posed by the module handbooks and readers. If I deem appropriate for the task being worked on, I would like to give this method a try in future.

Initial reflection – This style unlike most others was done in real time as the event was happening. I happened to have an appointment for a television and film acting agency and thought it would be worthwhile to record the day as it happened with the notepad app on my phone. Because of travelling, my sentence structure was kept clipped and relatively short. This approach was reminding me a lot of the ‘description’ technique to begin with, however the questions to think about in the framework involved detailing instantaneous thoughts and observing events in my surrounding environment. The method for me feels like it falls somewhere between ‘description’ and ‘evaluation’. It does not allow for expanded thinking and in doing so forces you to surmise a given circumstance. Now of course, I did not sit there jotting thoughts down during my interview but I thought of several lines that I made sure to take note of soon after leaving. I found that adjectives were a quick way to snapshot events e.g. the photographer was “most insightful” and that the atmosphere the office was “light and filled with laughter”. This method has proven very capable of providing bite-size reflection-in-action and I would definitely look to use this again to document in the moment.

Graphs, charts and diagrams – These three techniques are ones that in a way I have been using for years now, for a different purpose however. I use graphs for character study when measuring what is at stake (a term used and described by dramatic practitioners such as Declan Donellan) for characters during the course of a text. This often takes the form of an ‘x and y axis’ scatter graph. The horizontal x axis will represent the passing of time through scenes or acts, and the vertical y axis will track the character’s changes in development throughout the plot on a negative to positive scale. In regards to reflective practice, I decided to use this template to plot my life events in the past couple of years in terms of fun, freedom and stress as suggested by the framework. You can see the results as pictured below. While I found the graph to be profound in plotting and assessing points of interest in my career thus far, I feel that categorising events by levels of fun and stress did not correctly equate to the feelings experienced at that time. Right now, I am experiencing a period of stress over fun most definitely but that is not to say I don’t feel fulfilled in my activities. On the contrary, I prefer being busy to not. I did like this method but I think I will look to improve upon how I can log reflection in this manner when used again.

 

 

What if? – This final technique I treated as a love letter to myself. The thoughts recorded are ones I daydream about on a daily basis. It was nice to pull these thoughts into focus and channel them in order for me to get a perspective of my current feelings of where I stand. When posed with one of the framework’s questions “what would you hate to happen”, I was surprised at my immediacy for stepping back and taking a larger look at how my practice is affected in the grander scheme of things. I mentioned about the damage further government expenditure cuts would bring to the arts sector in an already suffering industry. I would consider this opinion held by a number of practitioners within the arts and is a factor I am constantly thinking about. Despite technologies today making the profession more accessible than ever e.g. auditions being posted to websites, professional material being produced exclusively for web 2.0 tools, this is no good when funding is taken away. It is a shame because the arts is arguably more diverse than it ever has been and a lack of resources is only limiting what professionals and consumers are receiving.

I have thoroughly enjoyed working on this task. I found the prospect of starting a bit daunting given the amount of preparation needed to carry my out assessment. However, putting time aside at the end of each day has allowed me to fully explore each of the different styles and as a consequence has informed my view as to which ones work well within my methods of reflection and which don’t. Evaluation, graphs, charts, diagrams and lists seem to work very well for me so I think these three styles I will be making a conscious effort to incorporate these in future posts if I haven’t been doing so already.