So, I must say after the first read I was completely overwhelmed by the depth of information in Reader 2 and my mind was whizzing at the thought of starting any of the tasks!
However, with cup of tea in hand I sat down with my pad, pen and highlighter and battled my way through it once again. After another 3 hours or so of careful reading and re-reading I think I am starting to get my head around it (although I still stick by the quote from part 1...'It's ok to be confused').
I guess the first thing I had to do was really grasp the meaning of 'Reflection' and what we mean by the idea, not the term!! As I was getting further and further through the reader, I kept having to remind myself of what Reflection actually was. It's funny, you say or read a word so many times that you do have to stop and say, hold on, what are we actually talking about?? So, as the reader says it is the process of turning experience into knowledge and looking at your experiences and learning something new from them. I think I am guilty of going through life at such a fast pace, that I often don't reflect enough and as Dewey describes, actually not being aware that I have had an experience, therefore I cannot learn from it and gain the knowledge from it. I am hoping that the reflective journal will develop this process of reflection and enable me to learn from all of my day to day experiences.
I loved the idea of Multiple Intelligences, as developed by Howard Gardner, it gave justice to the fact that dancers are extremely intelligent!! I hate the stereotype that goes with dancers, the fact that they are perhaps not the 'brightest button', but this is definitely not the case! Gardner's idea challenges the stereotypical image of an intelligent learner and makes us aware that there is no right or wrong way to learn. It is about finding the best method of learning for you and the optimum way of turning your experience into learning or knowledge. I would often make up rhymes or songs to learn things and you can imagine what looks you might get singing a song about quadratic equations, but my brain worked in this way and at the end of the day, as long as we all achieve the level of learning we are hoping for, then it really does not matter what process you go through to do it!!
As I said earlier, I was slightly worried after reading the reader that I hardly reflect at all, and am rushing through my day to day activites without giving them a second thought. However after reading about David Schon's idea of 'reflection-in-action' I realised that I am sub-consciously reflecting all the time. As artists we adapt whilst we are in the middle of the experience, constantly changing and experimenting to find the best result. This is instinctive in us and therefore the process of reflection happens simultaneously with the action itself!! Even when I am teaching I am using this 'On-line' method that Kottcamp describes. If something isn't working in the class, say for example a song is not working, I won't wait until it is over to do something about it, I think of ways to change it 'on the spot' - change the dynamics, shout questions at the students to prompt a new thought process within them, experiment with different tones and textures. As artists we live in the moment!! We were constantly getting told at college to live in the 'Now'....do something about it now, not when you get home, not in class tomorrow, NOW!! And I completely understand now that this was our main process of reflection during training, it was the main way in which we learned from our experiences and grew as performers!
I commented on Liam's blog regarding 'Tacit Knowledge', I love this idea :) I am extremely knowledgable, I just can't tell you quite how knowledgable I am, haha! Joking aside, this is completely true, the amount of times you say 'I know what I mean, I just can't put it into words!' Again, as artists and performers, a large percentage of our knowlege is Tacit. How do you know how to pirouette?? You just do! How do you know how to create that chemistry on stage with other performers? You just do!! Whilst on my last contract I was giving one of the singers some private dance lessons and one lesson we were tackling pirouettes. I gave all the correct directions, toe to knee, weight over, arms in a strong jazz 1st, correct spotting technique etc... She tried many times and some were good and some were not so good. I asked her what she felt was different on the good ones and her reply was 'I just knew it was going to be good!'. It proves the point that muscle memory takes over and it just becomes instinctive :) And who says dancers aren't intelligent!!!!!
So, the process of Journal writing must begin!! I plan to use each method described in the handbook and hopefully I will find a method that best helps me to reflect and actually be aware of all the experiences I am having in my busy day to day life. Emily also had a good idea to write a poem so I think I shall try this, however I am not sure how successful this will be :S
Sorry for this rather epic blog, but I think epic would be the best word to describe Reader 2!!
Happy journal writing :)
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