Reader 2... Kolb's learning cycle.

In Reader 2, The Reflective Practitioner, we are introduced to Kolb's learning cycle. He uses a cycle to show how we have an experience and then reflect on it, but basically he is saying that people enter the cycle at all different times depending on their circumstances and how they reflect
Concrete Experience, which is having your experience.
Reflective Observation, this is reflecting on the experience.
Abstract Conceptualisation, this is concluding and learning from the experience.
Active Experimentation, which is planning and trying out what you have learnt.

In the reader it asks you to identify at which point in Kolb's cycle do you feel you enter learning?
I feel like depending on what I am learning about or what I have been asked to do I enter the cycle at a different point. In the reader it talks about when we were making our blog. For this circumstance I
would say I entered at Reflective observation as I looked at so many peoples blogs to see how it worked as I had never used a blog before. I would also say  that I learnt from also trying things out so Active experimentation because once I set my blog up I took time to try out different layouts, fonts etc so I was experimenting and changing things to see which ones worked best for me.

If I take  the event a couple of days ago, which I talked about in my previous blog,were i was observing a dance class here I entered the cycle at Reflective observation because I was learning from the teacher and watching what went good and bad for her but I think when I eventually teach the class myself I am going to enter the cycle somewhere different like Concrete experience because actually being up there in front of children and teaching I am going to be actively thinking and reflecting what I am doing and what is and is not working!

Task 2b: ' Journal Writting Experience'

When I first saw this task I honestly thought to myself, what is the point in this. I love writing a dairy but why would I need to use different methods as I like the way I do it. But after experimenting with the different ways of writing a journal I now look back to my first initial thought and see how I was wrong to think like that as if you don't  try out different things in life and just stick to what is comfortable how can you ever know if there is a better method out there for you and how can you ever learn and improve!

The types of journal writing I feel that didn't  really work for me was Description and also writing a list.  With the description method i found myself wanting to go into more detail. Just describing what had happened in my day wasn't enough. I always wanted to evaluate aswell so maybe a mixture of description and evaluation  is a better option for me as I tend to want to express myself more. With the List writing, I thought this could be a good idea as its short and to the point and I tend to write a lot of lists on a daily basis but I noticed that my list became very, very long and each point turned into small paragraphs which I don't think is what a list is meant for. I think I will keep my lists for organising my days etc, instead of using it as a way of reflection.

I really had fun with the journal writing from Another view.  I think its really interesting to see how somebody else might see your day as it makes you look at yourself in a different way because somebody else is judging you. I chose one day to choose an object in my house which was ' the couch' as i had been at home most of the day. I found myself being very critical of what i had done and achieved that day but i think that was good because sometimes you don't see what you are doing that is wrong unless you are told from an outsiders point of view.  Another way of writing a journal i quite liked was the What if?  I think this is a fantastic way to look and see how you could have made your day better and also a method which is perfect for using for something you plan to do in the future. You can write down how your day could go from amazing to awful just by small choices you choose to make and therefore thinking ahead might lead you to making the correct decisions.

Overall i feel i have learnt so much from this ' Journal Writing Expereince' . Non of the methods of writing are right or wrong its just about finding the one that suits you best and helps you to reflect the most you can on your professional practice. I am glad i have been reminded of writing a journal again as it is something i enjoyed doing previously in my life and I am now going to continue to write a journal everyday .

 I feel like my mind is thinking differently now that I have read so much on how reflecting can improve you as a person in your profession. For example I was observing a dance class a few days ago as I am going to be covering for another teacher sometime next week and as I was sitting there watching, I was taking in everything that was happening and I was reflecting on how she taught the children. I made notes and when I got home, I reflected on things I thought was good about her ways of teaching and things I would have done differently. I also looked at the What if? method . Basically my train was delayed that morning and I was almost late to observe the first class. Although this is bad I am glad it happened the week before because if I was late when I was going to teach the  this would be even worse so now I have learnt from an experience that I should get the extra early train to avoid this happening.

In future when I am writing my journals my preferred method is Evaluation as i feel like i enjoy going into detail about my day and there are no limits as to what I can write. I also will use What If? and Another view as part of journal writing as i feel they work for me and help me to Reflect the best!

Task 2a: Reflective Practice

So far I have really enjoyed the  task of keeping a journal. Like I said in my previous blog it was something I have done a lot in my life, especially when I was a child. Reading back through some of my dairy's form when I was younger I was surprised to see that even then at a young age without realising it, I was reflecting and learning from events that were happening in my life. In my previous blog I spoke about how I was a little bit worried that what I was writing about wasn't relevant to what my professional practice is, both Clare Orlandi and Rosemary  gave some great comments that made me realise I had plenty to write about as just because I may not be performing at the moment does not mean that I do not take classes, go to the theatre, or a great point Clare said was that how i could write about my feelings of how it feels not to be performing.... am I enjoying the brake or is it frustrating ? So I had plenty to write about in my journals and found myself sometimes writting more than I needed to but I enjoyed expressing myself and refelcting back on my day as everyday there is awlays something different happening in our lives. 

Starting Part 2!!

So now we have moved on to Part 2 of module 1 which is all about reflection. The first task 2a, is to write a Reflective Journal. This journal we keep private. I have two thoughts on this task, one being positive and the other negative. Firstly my positive thought was that as a child I always kept a dairy of what I had done everyday and I really expressed my thoughts and feelings into this dairy so it wasn't something that was uncomfortable for me to do. I even recently worked on a cruise ship and as it was an experience of a lifetime that I never wanted to forget I decided to keep a journal everyday while I was away.  My negative thought to this task and something I would appreciate some feedback about is that at the moment, I don't have a job as a performer as most of you probably experience at some point,  so I feel like I don't know what to write about. I can happily write about what I do everyday and my feelings about this but I work in a bar at the minute so I feel like it is inappropriate to be writting my journal on this, but that is all I really have to write about at this present time.

But then again like I said in one of my very first blogs, there is no right or wrong, so even if for the moment what I am refelcting on isn't what I wish it to be, I will still be completing the tasks and learning about reflection and how this can help me in my professional practice.

And now I am goin to begin reading the next task reader course....

Task 1b... Professional Communication Technologies.

Task 1b... Professional Communication Technologies!

What is web 2.0? Well after reading the course reader several times I finally began to understand what the terms web 2.0 is. Little did I know I was using it every single day. In fact I use it so much I couldn’t even see how my day would be if I couldn’t get access to the social networking sites such as  facebook and twitter and am sure many of you agree with me here we are addicted to them.

Web 2.0 is simply a way for the user to communicate and interact with the creator. It is a form of networking which encourages participation.  Other examples of web 2.0 are blogs which we are using on a daily basis to complete this degree and without them we would not have the opportunity to do this course. O’Rielly talks about how web 2.0 sees contribution from the user which you don’t get with web 1.0 which is just about one way communication. The web is developing daily, improving and expanding in many ways.   Reich states how web 1.0 was expensive and took more time so only a small amount of people used it were as now communication costs are lower and have led to more people using the web. From teachers to politicians, almost anyone and everyone are using web 2.0 everyday. Reich talks about how Global communication is basically free nowadays.  Just look at how people who speak to their friends and family’s across the world on Skype, how fast and clear they see and hear each other, it’s really amazing.

I do believe that web 2.0 is a fantastic way of communicating and I think that the world would be lost without out it. It is also a  great way for us as performers to network with people in the industry. It is a quick and easy way for us to share information and also promote ourselves. I know there have been times were if it wasn’t for facebook there have been auditions or castings that I wouldn’t have known about so I am very grateful for this technology but like everything in life you have to remember that there are negatives and with web 2.0 you have to be careful not to believe everything that you read. O’Rielly makes a good point how not all the information on the web is actually reliable. I think you just have to be careful and wise as to what you read and also put onto the web. Before I started this degree I did not realise that the information on wikipedia was not ' semantic web' and could not be fully trusted.

Overall I am a big fan of web 2.0 as I believe it gives us many opportunities and is developing massively day by day which is extraordinary to watch. As long as you know how to use it correctly and to your advantage I see it being a great platform in the professional world.

Chelsie Johnson starting BAAP!

1st Capmus session- 9th October.

Hello . So on Tuesday I attended my first campus session along with a few others, I think in total there was about 9 of us.  Can I just say how glad I am that i was able to attend the session as  I really felt it helped me with things I did not understand and it was great to be able to work and discuss with other's in person which you can't do as easy at home. I think the main topic we looked at on Tuesday was the task 1b were we had been asked to Read the course reader on Professional Communication Technologies and comment on the theories and issues raised. For many people i believe they found it hard to understand the reader because of the writing and language used but what Rosemary did was set us various tasks to help us brake it down and by the end of the session everybody had such a better understanding of the reader and the task we were set to do. 

So now i am going to attempt task 1b!!! xx