Seeing Your Practice and Seeing Yourself - group discussion 1st October 2018

I entered into Mondays Skype call feeling comfortable with knowing what my practice is. After making mind maps and time lines, it was re-writing my profile that helped me put it all into place.

For me it was a matter of reflecting over my training and experiences and finding the point when I stopped being told what to do or how to do something and started doing it for myself. I was the creative behind my ideas, I took what I had learnt and made in my own. When parts of my practice became second nature. I was very pleased when our discussion backed up my conclusion and I felt I could share my thoughts confidently with my fellow learners on the call.

There are still many questions to explore -
How did I make this happen? 
Can I articulate between my original training and what I do now? 
These questions have helped me realise the place of the reading lists, and I am excited to learn about the theories and ideas behind how we learn.

While I felt like I had put together one piece of the puzzle, I hadn't realised the importance of WHY it was relevant to be able to identify our practice within ourselves. The following points were discussed on the call and I think they really help solidify the concept of my practice in my mind. Here are my notes -

• Transitions - knowing what your practice is now can help you identify the transitions within your practice. For example I have gone from dancer, to dance teacher and hope to be a primary school teacher.
• Connections - It will help you navigate in the right networks and communities, whether you are looking for work, further training or inspiration.
• Choices - Being aware of your practice or where you want it to go will enable you to make more choices.
• Definition -  Being able to define your practice at any point in time will ensure you don't get lost in it, you can own it and structure it to what it needs to be.
• Personal - Your practice is yours to keep, it is a thing you have and it will keep changing and emerging. 

We went on the discuss the essay and diagram, and this is where I lose my confidence. I have thought of my 3 areas of learning, and have a good understanding of how the lens can be applied to my practice, however I have no idea how I'm going to start putting it all down on paper??? 

I'm hoping that by completing more of the suggested study activities I will have a better grasp on what I'm actually going to write. And by physically (I have drawn rough mind maps so far) putting together my diagram and mapping the whole picture, I will have more of a sense of what I want my essay to say about me and my practice.

The group discussion did shed some light on the execution of the diagram which was really helpful. It doesn't have to be a mind map on paper it can be whatever suits your learning style.

• Visual - Make a video
• Oral - Make a recording
• Graphic - Make something with different levels or tiers
• Spatial - Use of pictures or drawing

I now have a mind buzzing with new ideas but am getting more conscience of the weeks ticking away. I know I want to do more blogs, read more into experimental and reflective learning and start creating my diagram in the form of a presentation. 

 So watch this space.......