Task 2A: Journal Writing

For this task I have been privately recording my thoughts in a journal. I have actually enjoyed writing every evening because it helps clear and quieten my mind. I have been typing as opposed to pen and paper because it saves times and typing quickly helps to keep my stream of consciousness flowing. I dismissed the idea of writing it any other way than first person because I just thought I wouldn't make it work. However, I just started reading Nutshell by Ian McEwan where he writes from the perspective of an unborn baby and it works so well so, although I don't have an unborn baby to reflect on my day... I appreciate that it could be interesting to reflect from another perspective!!

I read Boud's "Using Journal Writing to Enhance Reflective Practice" and was particularly interested in a 3 stage reflection he refers to. The first stage was to reflect before the event. Questions like "What intents and specific goals do we bring to the event? What are our expectations of the event and the outcomes? How strongly do we hold our intents, and will these blind us to other possibilities of which we are as yet unaware? " (Boud, p12). He also mentions thinking through what you would do if the event was not going how you expected. Although this is a more time consuming method, I think it could be useful in certain situations. For example, I suffer moderately from stage fright but quite badly from 'audition fright' and reflecting like this could be a way to feel more prepared and therefore more confident?

Boud. D, "Using Journal Writing to Enhance Reflective Practice", p12, 2001