I know a lot of people find this tricky but for me reflection is part of who I am and something I do pretty much everyday so starting a reflective journal was a satisfying task!
Now I would describe myself as an over thinker who probably reflects too much ( although how do we know when we are over reflecting?)
I often find myself reflecting in the car or first thing in the morning when I'm brushing my teeth and not just about recent events it could be reflecting back over a number of weeks, months or even years! I find this really useful to improving not only my skills as a dance teacher but also in reflecting on myself and the kind of person I am and want to be.
The only negative side to this is that I find it hard to switch off.
Does anyone else have this problem?
Take for example writing this blog or setting up my you tube account I just decided to give it a go , throw myself in at the deep end and use my previous experiences of using social media such as Facebook to aid me in finding a way to get started! And only after seeing people's reactions to my posts and having time to reflect afterwards do I feel I've truly learned what I need to to move forward and improve on my blogging skills.
This is much the same for many areas of my professional practice . So I have come to the conclusion that I reflect off action - after the fact! Time to digest, reflect and then act!
Does anyone else find this is the way they reflect?
However when it comes down to teaching my dance classes I do use in action- online reflection. Teach, observe, correct, see the improvement and this has been part of my teacher training.
Does anyone else use both online and off line reflection to enhance their teaching and choreographic skills?
So back to the reflective diary , as my brain reflects so quickly and frequently I have found it easier to record my reflective thoughts on my dictaphone.
This is due to the fact that when I'm writing my brain throws out thoughts quicker than I can write them down and I often forget and miss out vital parts of my reflection.
Also I know I am a huge culprit of waffling on a bit! ( although sometimes I think it helps to waffle on a bit to hit that eureka moment, anyone else experience the same thing?)
By recording my reflective thoughts vocally it's less time consuming , quick to get those vital thoughts down without missing anything out and when listening back to the recording I'm able to pick out key points that are more influential to my learning process.
By doing this it also makes recording these thoughts in writing much easier by either keeping a much neater journal that makes sense or putting the most vital learning points into a spider diagram.
I'd be interested to hear how other people feel about reflective journals?
Do you find it easy like me or is it something people find tricky?
Do you find being reflective enables and enhances your learning as a professional?
I know for me reflection is a big part of my everyday life and is what encourages me to grow and improve as a professional.
