...we are young...and so far we have spent most of our lives learning and trying to understand new things. The notion of stopping for just that little moment and reflecting on what we have been up to, reorganise our thoughts and ideas, develop new ideas or give them a new sense of direction can work wonders!
Since embarking upon my journey in BAPP I feel as if my mind cannot stop thinking- a bit like a whirlwind, that takes up on speed, the more debris it collects. (please don´t lecture me on the nature of whirl-winds here...I´m just trying to find a semiotic comparison to what is going on with me right now)
Writing my last blog-entry I realised, that taking notes before doing so is definitely something that works for me and needs to stay. No more gabbing on about something. (I do have a little philosopher inside me, I guess).
Part 2 is primarily concerned with keeping a reflective journal. A thought that crossed my mind is that blogging actually set out to be an "online" diary. I believe it´s O´Reilly (I´m just trying to quote of the top of my head), who also called the "Blogosphere" the "constant mental chatter"of the internet. And in our learning/ reflective journals we we have a powerful tool to sort through our constant mental gibberish and excerpt the essence of our learning.
So the point I am actually trying to make is that keeping such an online diary also helps us sort through our already cleansed ideas, get some feedback on them (hopefully) by getting them out in to the world. This will help us learn and develop new ideas, once again. (Kolb´s learning cycle at it´s finest??)
I think I´ve also grasped the structure of BAPP...we got the tools and the history, with part two we´ve been looking inward at ourselves and now we are starting to extend our personal sphere with part three.
I used to very religiously keep a diary. When I was about 8 years old it was more a thing inspired by the "Diary of Anne Frank"...full of little drawings, spidery handwriting and it still paints a smile in my face, when I think of it. With 15, when I seriously started thinking about becoming a professional dancer I litterally filled books with my aches and pains of growing into who I wanted to be. Nowadays I occasionally enjoy picking them up again and reading what the person I was then was living. Sometimes I also have a moment of realisation, that some things turned out in a way, because of what had happened, but what I had already forgotten. It´s a funny way of looking in the mirror!
Having said that the task of writing a journal- this time from quite a different standing- point, seemed like a welcome challenge and also coming at a good point in my life.
I thought Boud´s three aspects of reflectivity and the comment made in the reader about them opened a window in my head I decided to have a better look through.
A little like my note-taking before writing a blog or the storyboard of a film, where every excruciating little detail tries to be mapped out in order to save time and money once the camera starts rolling, reflection-before-action takes place, seems like a good idea to me. If you have time to do so, it gives you a wonderful opportunity to be prepared for some eventualities and also will help you get more out of the task you are performing. Having made that statement and being a dancer, we spend a lot of time rehearsing and reflecting on the steps we are about to execute, let´s say before a performance, so maybe that can also be considered "reflection-before-action".
Then again our actions are the consequences of our thoughts, or our mind. I´m getting to the point of acute reflection-in-action. The way in which as dancers movement is often an immediate result of muscle memory acquired through practice and visualisation. And also how fast dancers can react and adapt in the spur of a moment, let´s say, when the floor has a slippery patch, the music has a different tempo (or one of the instrument is taking a nap and you have to sing your cue to yourself....it has happened to me ((O;) or another dancer simply is in a place unlike it was rehearsed.
Ok, I still have a whole page of notes lying in front of me, especially about the social/ psychological aspect of working in the theatre and as a dancer, but I think that´s enough blogging for now.
Thank you for bearing with me this far..once again and I am looking forward to sharing some more of my thoughts soon.
Hi Fione,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog entry, you have such an organic and personal style when you write, it really takes me into your thought processes. You are a deep thinker and I like the idea of making notes before you blog, or maps, as this must definately focus and organise your thoughts. I liked to hear about your example of the instruments taking a nap- that has also happened to me, so I can relate to this.
I think you have benefited also from the reflective diary. like me. I think now I am constantly realising how and when i 'learn' and in which categories my learning falls in to. Most of all, I realised. that i'm learning all the time, without even thinking about it, and learning through my faults and reflective processes. I would love to hear about your pyschological notes of being a dancer... until next time...! :)
Dear Alicia,
ReplyDeletethank you for your wonderful and inspiring comment!
I just read the introduction of the book "Communities of Practice" by Etienne Wenger http://www.amazon.de/Communities-Practice-Cognitive-Computational-Perspectives/dp/0521663636/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=IDXYOYU25I90M&colid=1RWSBIPITOBK1 which is really all about how we are learning all the time.
I think as dancers we are in some way forced to reflect in some way most of the time...even if it is just by taking a glance at our own reflection in the mirror...the active form of reflection, by actually consciously taking that moment to stop and think about our actions is something I do not want to miss anymore and I wish many more people would make use of that tool. The world would be a different place!
All the best..! ((O;
I have now been able to go to a couple of presentations by Wenger - I think work based learning literature using this way of thinking because it combines the personal and professional - and his latest Digital Habitats - refers back the the basics. Fione really good to read the ideas in the primary sources - I just had to review Schon's book and realised there was so much more there then I remembered. Coming from a background of lifelong learning as well as the arts - Wenger steps outside managerial speak (Lave and Wenger coined the term earlier - CoP) and therefore can connect with more people - more workers with a common touch. He says he does not eliminate what needs to be done in a workplace - but he does focus on the people I think.
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