Why?
My first worry was that writing about my daily life surely wasn't going to be any help for my Professional Practice in Arts as on a daily bases I don't necessarily practice it! I no longer go to auditions or perform in shows on the daily bases. I want to be a teacher and I'm currently working as Manager of a cafe in order to fund my education to get there.
So, how could keeping a log of my work-a-day life be of any use?
To help answer this question I found chapter one of "Promoting Journal Writing in Adult Education" by David Boud extremely comforting.
"Journal writing is as varied as those who engage in it"
"Journal writing can be used to enhance what we do and how we
do it. As a vehicle for learning, it can be used in formal courses, our pro-
fessional practice, or any aspect of informal learning."
These quotes from chapter one: "Using journal writing to enhance reflective practice" are just a few that helped me realise it not about the content of what you write, its about a personal journey and what you take from it. There are infinite ways a journal can be a useful tool to anyone and can especially aid the development of a Professional Practitioner, no matter what area they choose to focus on.
One of the key points that stood out for me after studying Reader 2 was the contrasting ideas of "off-line" and "online" reflection or, as Donald Schön (1987) describes it, "reflection-in-action" vs "reflection-on-action".
This got me thinking about what I do on a daily bases and keeping a journal this past week has really helped me discover how I reflect throughout my day.
One extract from my journal this week said "I was making tough decision on the spot"
Where this was relating to an incident that involved team management during a busy shift at a cafe I soon realised that each day at work as a manager I "reflect-in-action" seeing a scenario develop and adapting to change and improve on it.
This is the same kind of action I would take say doing a piece of choreography or teaching a classroom full of kids.
I am starting to see there are many skills I use on a daily bases that are all relevant and extremely useful to a Professional Practitioner in Arts. The use of muscle memory is another example.
So far I have found the use of journal keeping very interesting and I'm very excited to see how my ideas develop.
Hi Skye! Thats great that you linked the reflection in action to your practice, and I agree thats definitely one we will use when teaching. I was blown away with how many methods of reflective practice we use subconsciously. I think the reader makes us more aware of our reflections which will lead us to have a more detailed journal entry.
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