Tuesday 27 October 2015

Questions to ask yourself when writing a journal

I was unsure what to actually write about when starting my journal.  After reading 'Reflection on Practice' by Patricia Mclare it became a lot clearer. When taking time out to reflect on events I will ask myself:


  1. What was I aiming for?
  2. What exactly did I do?
  3. Why did I choose this action?
  4. What was I trying to achieve?
  5. How successful was it?
  6. Could I have dealt with the situation better?
  7. How would I do it differently?
  8. Did the Kids/Adults enjoy it?
  9. How do I know that?
  10. Will I now change future classes?
I think this has shown me how detailed my reflection is to be if I want it to help me learn and improve future experiences.  I may not answer all these question every time but this is a good framework to work with.  


6 comments:

  1. I like the fact you have a question system as a point of where to lead from... I've been writing my journal posts as they've gone across the day and just generic thoughts and feelings. But maybe I need to think of a question answer system for each of mine just to make sure I'm covering the answers I need... Definitely food for thought. Thanks ☺️ x

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  2. Definitely something to think about. I don't want to make it too generic and answer all the questions for every post so maybe a mix of your thoughts and answering some of the questions is a good compromise!

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  3. The use of questions is a great idea!!! I find journal writing really difficult so maybe by asking myself what I hoped to achieve might help me to write in more detail. Thank you!!!

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  4. This is great Sophie - I'll be honest I felt a little silly thinking about writing a journal but that's a great starting point with the questions. It gives you something to focus in on instead of just writing about the class for the sake of writing something - definitely an idea I'll be borrowing! x

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  5. I love this framework for reflection, especially when teaching. Sometimes the class can go really quickly and you are so busy it feels a little like a blur! However having this to work with it's much easier to take a step back and reflect upon specific things, so you know what to work on

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  6. Thanks Sophie and all - good conversation

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