The art of reflection...

I have decided to do this post after the comment that Adesola posted on my blog- 2d. The Inquiry task.

Adesola writes the following...

Looking back at what you wrote what does it tell you about you? Are there things that come through in that you are surprised to notice about yourself? In this part of the module is re-looking at things - re-flecting. What reflects back at you when you look at what you wrote?

The first thing that I have learnt about myself through this module is that I am quite self critical. During the first few weeks of starting the journal I discovered that I actually spend the majority of my time doing things relevant to my career. I am being given amazing opportunities, of which I am so grateful for and can honestly say how happy I am to be working on such incredible projects. However, it wasn't until I started keeping a regular journal that I realised that I can end up focusing on the things in my day that I haven't achieved, rather than the things that I had. Although I have always been hard working, the journal task highlighted to me that sometimes I need to be proud of what I have done, and not focus always focus on the negatives. A belated New Years resolution maybe...?!

When reading and researching Reader 2, I quickly learnt that I use critical reflection a lot. I wasn't surprised by this, but I was very surprised by the difference in the way I approach critical reflection when it comes to teaching and choreography. Looking at my critical reflection essay, I think it is very obvious that I am constantly learning from my own experiences as a teacher as well as learning from others. Although I feel like I am good at my job, in experience is still relatively small. I first became aware of this when I read the section on reflection- in- action and reflection- on- action. From there, my awareness of how I approach different tasks became more and more obvious. But I very much stand by what I said in my essay... 

I believe that my reflection- in- action self is not yet as confident yet in terms of teaching as I haven't been doing it as long...

And so I have every faith that through experience and time I will learn to trust my instincts more and develop the skills and confidence to be able to help my ability to be a choreographer that doesn't need to plan as much before hand, but can go with her instincts.

Finally, by answering the questions in the inquiry task, I was forced to really think deep about myself and others that have an effect on me. When reading back on my post, I realised how many people I admire, and how much I learn from all of them. This didn't surprise me because I think I am someone who learns a lot from others, but it also really made me think about the people I teach and how they could be learning from me. Not literally learning the steps, but learning from my approach and personality. I hope that everyone I comes into contact with me can learn something about themselves, whether it be a step that they couldn't do before, or that they enjoy my class and may want to try teaching for themselves.

I was a little surprised by how much I am unsure of. I am such an organised and dedicated person that I thought I felt confident in what I am doing because I always plan it thoroughly and throw myself into the task. However, when writing the blog, I discovered that I don't tend to go on instinct as much as I would like and can be incredibly cautious. I think this stems from the fact that I can let the 'worried side' of my personality over power. But I am determined that this will not stop me from taking up opportunities that will further my career. It's like my dad always tells me... This isn't a rehearsal for life, it's the real thing!