Reflective Writing - Giving it ago

As I write this blog I am in the midst of my Easter holidays. Even though I am technically meant to be resting and having a break, I do find it the perfect time to start planning choreography for next term and looking for new music etc. - Plus still giving me things to reflect about in my journal and have ago at some reflective writing.

Now I have already had ago at this, but I had not actually found a way that I liked - so decided to keep going till I had found a way that I did like and that worked for me.

Now the way that I have actually found the most useful is the use of diagrams ( I love a good spider diagram) however I have also found that I do also like to do an initial reflection before hand. I will explain my reasoning's in due course.

So ways that really did not work for me personally:

What if? - Now I know it says in the in the hand book to use your imagination with this however I do feel for me that the "What if?" ended up becoming too negative and left me feeling deflated and not actually looking at any of the positives from the day - which I didn't find very useful at all. Has anyone else found this?

Description - With this I found my self just waffling on about what had happened and going on and on and on and not actually knowing where to stop (a bit like now)

An idea that I want to explore and take further:

Another View - I found this so much fun. Taking it from the perspective of someone/something else. I've had ago at both, so I have taken it from the view of a student - to reflect on one particular lesson and I have taken it from the view of the music player that I use - to reflect on the day as a whole. I found it a way of actually of not focussing on the negatives all the time which is something I tend to do and something that I should try get out of the habit of. I may share an exert of it with you in a future blog, however I would like to know if anyone else has tried reflective writing from this perspective and did you find it useful?

However - my favourite way as I have stated previously is the use of diagrams with an initial reflection before had.

I found it really clear and a quick and dare I say easy way of getting my thoughts down from my head as this is something that I do personally find quite difficult, I do come across not being able to get my ideas down quick enough. I also found it a clear way of getting both reflection from my professional work down and just day to do as I just naturally put all work related on one side and personal on the other. I also began to realise that using words and spreading things out helped me see the day as a whole and not just as a negative which is a massive positive for me.

Now I tried to keep the initial reflection short and sweet and to the point which I think I actually managed to keep, and used this to stimulate my diagram.

Below is a picture of my diagram form today;

I think one way that I may try is to use colour co ordination - so positives one colour, things to work on a different colour. I will report back on this and see how I find it.

And finally from me how is everyone finding reflective journaling? I am starting to discover and understand why it is such a useful tool especially after reading the chapter from "David Boud"