I spent 7 days in a row trying out all the different ways to blog suggested in the handbook. These are: Description, Initial Reflection, List, Evaluation, Graphs, Charts and Diagrams, What if? and Another view.
I found it so interesting to blog in these different ways. Here is my review of each technique:
1. Description - I definitely have experience of blogging this way. I used to always write descriptive diary entries of events from the day when I was younger. I found it easy to recall and describe the day but I went into so much detail it ended up being a very long entry! I found it difficult to not go into detail about how I felt. I can now clearly see why this was a technique I used when I was around 8-10 years old. Before I became a teenager and more aware of thoughts and feelings. However, the entry felt very precise and really made me think about the entire day. A very thorough account.
2. Initial reflection - I loved this one! I definitely have used this way before when travelling. Again, I ended up writing so much! It felt good for me personally. I enjoyed recalling how I felt instead of just documenting events. It was a particularly testing start to the day but ended well so it was great to reflect on that before bed. It really made me think about appreciation and gratitude. A lot of the things I mentioned in this entry seem very small things but actually that's what made the day great! I need to do this more often....appreciate the small things and take pride in my achievements instead of always thinking what wasn't achieved in the day.
3. List - I was SO grateful when I sat down before bed and I saw it was 'List'.... I felt absolutely exhausted and couldn't face having to write pages and pages like the previous nights! I just wanted my bed! I started by just doing a bullet point of the events of the day. I then made sub headings that said: Felt....
Must....
Glad I....
I found this really helpful. A really quick overview of the day. Great when you want to reflect but don't feel you have time. Interestingly I found the 'Felt' really calming. I liked recalling my feelings throughout the day and seeing the emotional journey I went on. It gave me confidence that things can turn around in a day and you can always pick your mood up. 'Glad I' made me instantly feel positive! I have used gratitude lists before and used to do them every night before bed. I should start that again. It's so easy to focus on what when wrong when you're a perfectionist like me! The handbook stated to also include 'Things people should remember about you'...I couldn't think of anything to write for this. I found it quite a selfish topic.
4. Evaluation - For this I had three headings....'What went well'....'What I learnt'....'Things to avoid'....
Again, I naturally just focused on the small things like "The sun was shining" which made me feel very grateful and positive. My 'What I learnt' section was huge! I had a particularly challenging day with parents. One I'd like to share was "Little deeds are appreciated and don't go un noticed" :-)
My things to avoid included "Don't rely on the interest for your lesson" as there was a thunderstorm and we lost internet connection so I had to quickly improvise my lesson plan. Also, which I thought was interesting "Letting personal feelings towards a kids behaviour and how they have been brought up effect the way you teach them"....I can't stand rude kids but I need to be more patient. Most of the time you meet the parent and then realise why their child is so rude. They are a product of a product. I need to work on that though.
5. Graphs, Charts and Diagrams - SO difficult! I had to Google 'My life in graphs, a guided journal' as I didn't have a clue what to do! I found it really hard to reflect on my day using this technique....I ended up enjoying the pie chart graph. I had three sections: Diversions, What makes me happy, and My job. My major diversion at the minute living in Singapore is the sunshine! I don't get much time off work so when I do I just want to lie in the sun all day! Which is extremely unproductive! Another is FaceTime. Living abroad means a lot of time is spent catching up with family and friends in the UK (which is often when I get home from work into my late evenings due to the time difference)....for 'My Job' I thought about the key elements to make me successful at my job. These included: Multi tasker, confidence, quick thinker, energetic and willing to work unpaid overtime! It was great to reflect on my job and my happiness and also distractions. From not knowing what to do I actually enjoyed it. And some of the books I found on Google look great!
6. What if? - I ended up feeling really grateful after this entry. My mind did go into overdrive though! There were certain scenarios during the day that made me feel better though by using this technique. For example: a mother was very annoyed at me as she got the wrong venue for the rehearsal and ended up being late and having to drive around a lot. However, I had tried to call her all morning and the evening before to tell her the change of venue. I also left text and answer phone messages. We even emailed. All the other parents got the message. So my 'What if' was "If (kids name) mother had answered her phone then she wouldn't have been so angry. I also could have done a few things better that day so it was good to reflect on that too and learn from it.
7. Another view - SO strange but entertaining! I chose a few people from work and wrote about what I think they thought of me from my comments and discussions that day. It was really strange to actually put myself in their shoes but also interesting. I then did as the handbook suggested and pretended I was an object. I chose my bottle of water. I have a real thing for hygiene and was convinced one of the kids had had a sip of my water (deep down I knew they probably hadn't though)....I wrote what my water bottle was probably thinking...."No one else touched me! Just drink me you fool! You're going to get a headache soon as you're so dehydrated!"
I found this way of journal writing really random but fun!
In conclusion, I really enjoyed exploring the different ways to journal....many of which I wasn't aware of. I particularly liked 'Initial Reflection' as I found it easy and enjoyable. Also it really made me think about my feelings, which personally I know I need to do more of. I didn't particularly like the 'Another View' method but I can appreciate why it is helpful. I surprised myself with the graphs as I would never think to do that. But I am a visual learner so it makes sense that I found that useful. It's probably good to do that every few months on the same topics and compare them to see what has changed.
I am so glad I took the time to do this as I've found it incredibly helpful and also encouraging that I can document in so many different ways. I have also learnt that there is ALWAYS time to do it. You don't have to write pages and pages, whatever your mood that evening you can pick and chose what style you feel like writing in. This is something I am definitely going to continue with.
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