Breeze Room Chat- Wednesday 28th October

Breeze Room Chat, Wednesday 28th October.

Todays chat was the first regarding reader 2 and our journaling process.  Like others in my class…I had a journal but it was blank.  I just didn't know where to start, almost like my first blog post! We talked about all the different theories within the realm of reflective practice, all the different people mentioned in the reader and our current understanding of what we had read so far.  There were lots of things mentioned this morning that I found useful.  We mentioned the idea that this is not necessarily going to be a comfortable process- something said by John Dewey.  Personally, I was a little relieved to hear this acknowledged, It’s something that I had been thinking about and was probably a reason I was reluctant to start my journal. This could be an emotional process with things involved that I may not have considered before.  But, as was said in our Breeze chat, thats ok.  It’s ok to feel uncomfortable, to delve deeper into things that you may have been just been bypassing. 

We then discussed what we wanted our journals to be.  I had been thinking about this too, what type of process was I going to go through.  For me, I would like my Journal to be a place I can collect the experiences from all aspects.  So much of my day to day life is segregated, time at work, time at home then time spent studying.  I think it will be useful for me to reflect on my day as a whole.  A place where there are no pre-placed boundaries, where I can write freely about my day.  I may even find links between things I never knew existed.  I particularly liked the idea a fellow classmate mentioned in regards to writing a letter, either to yourself or someone else.  I believe this is a valuable exercise in puzzling through what you would really like to say to someone.  From that letter, you could then construct a more useful solution to a situation, digging out the meaning of what it is you are trying to communicate. 

I did write in my journal tonight, I sat down and reconstructed my day. I’m sure I have a lot to learn about this process and will be referring to the tasks to help me do so.  It was nice just to sit and be quiet and still for a while.  I will be making time for my journal every, I’m glad it’s not blank any more.