"Easter" Event

I just wanted to quickly blog about my first dance show with Rossett Dance which took place on Friday.

The Easter Event was originally planned for March but unfortunately it had to be cancelled as it was that day that it decided to snow constantly and lasted for about a week! I was really disappointed and it was a very hectic day calling all the parents to let them know of the cancellation, but everyone completely agreed with my decision as it was too dangerous to drive in such weather. I was also able to arrange a later date for the show which all the parents were happy with.

Unfortunately, we then had two weeks break for Easter and so we just had one rehearsal before the show.

I was really worried that due to the long break all the children would have forgotten everything. I decided though that it couldn't be helped, there was nothing I could do, so there was no point worrying too much.

Surprisingly the long break must have helped, for in rehearsal everyone seemed to remember it and were actually performing much better than they had before!

I arrived a few hours early on the day of the show, to get set up, organising costumes, chairs, hair accessories and other bits and bobs. I remained relatively calm even though I knew that I only had about forty five minutes to get everyone ready into costumes. Three of the Mums from my ballet class had kindly offered to help so I also had to let them know of the running order and any quick changes.

I was worried that we wouldn't run on time and that it would be impossible to get all the children into costume looking tidy with hair neatly back. But thanks to all the parents help we did manage to start at 4:30pm. I think staying calm also helped!

I was a little shocked when somebody informed me that we needed more seats putting out. I wasn't expecting that big an audience! As it was my first show and I hadn't planned on it being a big event I was pleasantly surprised to discover that around seventy people had turned up!

The children were brilliant. I couldn't have asked any more from them. Especially my baby class - I have struggled for weeks trying to get them to make a nice circle when skipping! But on Friday they did it beautifully. I think the fact Mummies and Daddies were watching helped.

Everyone seemed really happy and kept coming up to me at the end saying how much they enjoyed it. It was a great success and it has made me confident about putting another, perhaps bigger performance on in the future.

With Olivia, one of the little ones from baby ballet, a shot taken by her father during the performance.

What I have learnt from this experience and what I will consider for future shows.

• The parents were brilliant in helping getting the children ready and the majority of hair was neat and tidy. Next time though, I will allow more time to get ready and insist on all hair being much neater with a lot of hairspray to keep back wispy bits! Also, looking back I wish I would have done a quick costume check before we started the show as there were little things that could have looked better such as all bows tucked into ballet shoes, all hats the right way, etc.

• I think next time I will need more assistance with children getting on and off stage, getting ready for quick changes and so on just to keep the show running smoothly.

• I did film the show with the parents consent and the video is very good but as the camera was set up in the corner there were a few things that wasn't caught on film so next time I think I need to organise this a little better.

• As this was my first show and we did the performance in the hall I didn't charge the parents to watch. Hopefully in the future when my school is a little bigger I will be able to hire a theatre and sell tickets for the performance.

I think all of the above will be improved with time as my school grows and I have more assistance from parents or perhaps other dance teachers I employ. 

Apart from being a great experience that all the children could be involved in it has also been a great advert for my school. As all the parents took pictures and have posted them onto Facebook along with spreading the success of the show this has got a lot of other people interested in Rossett Dance. I have had several phone calls and emails this week from Mums wanting to bring their child to dance class after seeing the pictures from the show. 

So hopefully it won't be too long before Rossett Dance can put on a bigger show!

Current Networks

What are the current and different ways (tools) that you have, or do, engage your professional network?

• Email
• Facebook
• Word of Mouth
• Google
• Dance Websites (Starnow, Dancerspro, The Stage)

I am constantly sending emails in my professional career. Here are a number of ways for which I use email:

Rossett Dance - To send all parents news and reminders.

Jobs - When applying for performing or teaching positions.

Employing - When I recruit a teacher for my school.

Enquiry - When I get in touch with various companies and businesses with queries regarding auditions and teaching opportunities.

Without email my life would be a lot harder. It is via email that I have sent my covering letter and CV and received approximately 80% of all the jobs I've had.

Where would we be without Facebook?

I am not a big Facebook fan but that being said I am coming to use it more and more in my professional career.

I am able to give weekly updates on my Rossett Dance page, quick and easy, where all my customers or prospective customer can see.

Along with helping to spread the word about my school it also provides more opportunities for me as a dancer. I have just recently come off Facebook now after finding two agencies offering dance work. Two extra contacts could mean extra work! I found out about these agencies as I noticed a friend had 'liked' their page. So you could say that it was also through word of mouth that I came to know about the agencies. 

Word of Mouth has been of great value to my school.
It is all very well receiving a leaflet through your door or coming across a poster in your local shop to advertise dance classes or any other business, but nothing works as well as word of mouth.
A person will take a friends advice and will trust their feedback as they have the same interests and understanding. If a Mum is taking her daughter to dance classes and she recommends these classes to a friend then that friend will more than likely give it a go as they trust this friends opinions and would like their daughter to socialise with other girls the same age.

If I need to answer a quick questions or find a bit more information about a topic I will turn to Google.

When I was at college and had just started looking for auditions, at the time I didn't really know of any dance websites that I could go to so I would type 'uk dance auditions' in the google search engine and this led me on to dance websites such as Starnow and The Stage.

In the past I have searched and applied for millions of jobs through dance websites such as Starnow, The Stage and Dancerspro. There are a lot of jobs on there that don't suit my criteria or location and it is a lot of hard work going through them all and using your own initiative to know which jobs are for you or even which ones can be trusted and are genuine. It can be a put off as well sometimes when you see how many girls have applied for that same job. Despite all this, I have come out with most of my jobs through dance websites and I always return to them when I am looking for more work.

What are the established (and different) ways that others use their networks, especially if they are more established or experienced practitioners that you admire?

A lot of my dancer friends have moved to London.
I currently enjoy where I am at the moment, I have built up a career and feel I have no reason to move but I can see the appeal in moving to London, especially for those who take advantage of what the city has to offer.

Being able to attend dance classes at Pineapplie Studios, all auditions more easily accessible and more teaching opportunities. All these reasons I think are great at getting your face seen and your name known.
In other words NETWORKING.

A couple of friends in my mind at the moment took advantage of NETWORKING to get them where they are today.

These friends have gone down completely different paths, ones ambition to be a ballet dancer and the other to do more commercial and musical theatre work but they have both used the same tools to get them the job they desired.

Below are the tools and their advantages:

* Attending weekly dance classes - Keeps you in the frame of mind as a dancer. Pushes your bodies stamina, builds your strength and maintains your technique along with testing your ability to pick up steps and routines fast which is necessary for auditions. You will also begin to build friendships with fellow class mates. These friendships will allow you to access more information in the dancing world. Whens the next audition? How did you hear about that workshop?

* Attending workshops - For all the same reasons as attending dance classes and more. These workshops are run by choreographers and directors. If you get your face known by these people then there will be a point when you go along to an audition and they will be on the panel; if they know your face and think you are a hard worker then it goes in your favor.
By attending workshops you are going that extra mile. You are connecting with other dancers and through these connections you will find out about more auditions. This is also a good way to keep on top of what's out there. What is your competition? Keeping your finger on the pulse and moving with the times. There's nothing worse than going along to an audition thinking you are prepared until you look at the other dancers around you who have a different style to you, who are stronger and have more personality in their performance.

* Auditioning - The more auditions you attend the more likely you are to get a job. It not only speeds up the pace of getting a job but it also gives you that priceless experience that you can build upon or learn from for the next audition. The panels at auditions quite often cross over to various other auditions. You will recognise them and they you. If they see your work is consistent and you are constantly performing and pushing yourself to the max then the more likely they are to offer you a job.

Are there methods, approaches and technologies that you use socially that might apply and help you develop your professional networking?

The key method of excellent networking to me so far is through word of mouth and being socially active.
People who use these skills really well seem to go further down their career path than those who don't use these skills to their advantage.

I personally like to feel that I have done the research and hard work to find out about auditions and job opportunities without the help of other people. I see it as an achievement in itself to be able use my own initiative to find out about auditions to which I attend without having to follow the crowd.
This worked really well for me at college in finding auditions that weren't necessarily mainstream and a bit more unique than your usual cruise audition. I was able to find out about a few contemporary auditions that I came across using google. I wouldn't have found out about these auditions if it weren't for my own investigations.
So I believe that you can't always just rely on other people to do the work for you, you have to use your own initiative.

I recognise though, you have to put pride aside and know that everybody needs the help of others at some point and as I said previously, I do believe having contacts for sources of information and getting your face known are extremely vital in todays world if you want to become successful.

A dancers world is a small one. Everybody knows each other.

I would like to become more proficient in using these tools that are at hand.  Building these contacts will lead me towards different opportunities, getting my face and name to be known will ensure prospective employers hear about me and through my contacts that I have maintained they will know if I am the right person for the job.

When you reflect upon current networks, can you think about the motives of others to be in the network and what values and purposes they have in mind?

I mentioned before two friends who moved to London to get their names know. One is now touring with Vienna Festival Ballet and the other is performing in the West End production of Wicked.
Their motive was to achieve their dream and through building contacts and good relationships they were able to do just that.

What would your ideal network look like and why?

I have mentioned before in one of my previous blogs how I feel I didn't receive the support and careers advice that I would like to have had to lead me in the right direction.
My ideal network would be a place where dance teachers could collaberate together to put information out there for young dancers who are just starting out on their dancing career. A place where these teachers could share their experiences, give advice and provide the contacts to benefit a dancer of any style and any ambition, for example, giving a dancer the information and the right contacts on how to become a dance teacher or to somebody on how to make it in the musical theatre profession.
This network could be a place where information is not a secret and young dancers could ask questions and seek advice from more experienced professional teachers.

What realistic things could you do to work towards developing your ideal network?

I would like to be a teacher that can give that advice to young dancers. As my school builds and when my students get to the age where they want to know how to achieve their dream I hope to be a teacher that can provide information to get them on the right path.

What tools and methods do you need to use? What do you know about your current, and intended networks, and importantly, what do you not know?

To ensure that I am a dance teacher who knows how to lead other dancers in the right direction to achieve success, I need to first;

Build my contacts

&

Build on my experiences as a performer and teacher

Inquiry

What in your daily practice gets you really enthusiastic to find out more about? Who do you admire who also works with what makes you enthusiastic?

Running my own dance academy has brought out qualities in me that I didn't know I possessed.
I am extremely passionate about the school for several reasons and I'm very proud of what it is and hopefully what it will become.

I started out in August with the intention of just running one kids class and one adult class. I put out a few leaflets and posted an advert on our village diary website. The first week just one child turned up for the Ballet/Tap class. I remember walking away feeling really disheartened and ready to give up and throw in the towel. A career in the dance industry is a hard path to take and especially if your trying to set up you own business. I was feeling low and disappointed but my passion for dance took over and pulling my shoulders back I went to teach the class the next week. I'm really glad I did as it went from just being one child to four.
Suddenly every week I had a new child turn up and in just over a month I had a class of ten kids.
It began to feel like I was running a small business. I suddenly had a bit more to organise with bills, invoices, emails and ordering dance uniforms. It was only a one hour class but with preparations and organising this took several hours. I found none of this a chore though. I was earning a little bit of money but it wasn't the money that was making me enthusiastic, it was the fact I could see how my class had grew in the last few weeks and the prospect of what it could become. I loved the fact that the kids really enjoyed the lessons and came back each week but it was also the parents who were really supportive and encouraging.
I set up a website www.rossettdance.co.uk and attended our village festival to spread the word about the dance classes. This helped again in building my numbers.
At Christmas I decided that I would get really serious in advertising the classes but also expand and open new classes. Although my kids class seemed to be a success my adult class was not having the same luck.
I designed a brochure advertising the kids classes and adult classes along with the new timetable and I posted them through all the doors in the village. My persistence and determination surprised me as I had not realised before I could be so passionate about something without anyone telling me to do this or do that. I was doing it all myself. I was making work for myself. I was looking into and exploring ways I could expand my business and then going out and putting these ideas into practice.
My dream came true...Rossett Dance was suddenly no longer just a class but a school.
My kids class more than doubled, I had three adult classes that grew in number and my new classes brought new faces also.
The fact the school has grown bigger obviously doubled my work load in my spare time. It takes me over a few days now to sort out bills, emails, uniforms and letters
But as I said before, this is not something I dread doing or I get frustrated with. I love the fact that the only reason I do have a lot of invoices to write and emails to send is because I have a good amount of students that attend Rossett Dance.

I admire dance schools who have started out the same as me. Setting up a few classes at a village hall and over time growing and expanding and then becoming a big, ever growing, successful school and also a good business. The school I trained at from a young age did exactly that.
My ambition is to be as successful as Tozer Studios (please follow the link for more information- http://www.tozerstudios.co.uk/).
At some point in the future I would like to have my own building where I can set it up how I want and have as many classes running as possible. I want to become known as the school to go to for dance in my area. It is going to be a big step financially and at first I may feel more of a loss than a gain but I hope with persistence, passion and hard work my dream will come true.

I want my academy to be more than just a place for kids to come and dance though. I want it to be a place where adults feel welcome and can come to enjoy dance socially. As I wrote earlier, my adult classes have grown since seriously advertising after Christmas but there is still a lot more room for improvement.
My big question is: How can I attract adults to Rossett Dance? How can I make them feel welcome within my school?

When I first opened Rossett Dance, August 2012

                                   
                                                 

What gets you angry or makes you sad? Who do you admire who shares your feelings or has found a way to work around the sadness or anger?

Dance is one of the hardest careers you can get into.
We start dance from a young age, for example, I started ballet and tap when I was just two years old. From then on I attended classes every single week. It went from once a week, to twice a week to eventually four or five times a week I would be dancing.
I took exams in all styles starting from preparatory up to advanced level. I was involved in festivals and performed in shows and pantomimes to eventually I got to the point where I got accepted into a dance college, The Hammond, where I danced five days a week, 9:00 am to 6:30 pm.
In the last year of college I started auditioning. I graduated from The Hammond and I was still auditioning. Every audition was the same. Hundreds of dancers fighting for a job. Each girl with probably a similar sort of dance background to me just waiting for a chance to achieve their dream.
Eventually, after much hard work, I got a job as a performer with a well known cruise company.

There are two things that I would like to talk about that make me angry, frustrated and sad.

Firstly, I get upset with people who don't understand a dancers world and consider dance as a hobby and not as a profession.

There are people who don't appreciate the hard work that dancers do and the let downs and disappointment that we go through at auditions.
I know it is hard to get a job in any sector due to the times that we are in at the moment, but at least when they are successful in achieving the job/career they want it is acknowledged and understood as a decent, normal and money earning profession.

I am now a qualified dance teacher with the IDTA which is a well established examining board and one that I'm very proud to be apart of. I teach most evenings and every Saturday. My days usually consist of preparing for those classes and working towards higher qualifications in teaching. I don't earn a full time wage but I'm happy because at least I am doing something that I have a passion for.
But as it is part time work and part time money people question why I don't have a "normal" job. I am sure if I was to say I had a full time job as a receptionist or shop assistant a lot of people I know would say 'well done, at last you have a job!' but if I was to say that I had received an offer to work evenings for a big dance school, I am sure that this would not be seen in the same light and as easily praised. It seems ridiculous as I have been working twenty three years to get to the point where I can have a career in dance, not as a shop worker!

The qualifications I have are not really understood by people who are not in the dancing world. This is one of the reasons why I decided to start the BAPP course with Middlesex University. I plan to go on to gain a PGCE and at least then this qualification should not be questioned.

Secondly, what frustrates me is I feel that sometimes as dancers we don't get the help and support we need to lead us down the right path.

As young dancers all we know is that we want to become a performer or a teacher. To dance in the West End and tour the world or teach in a well established school or college. We attend a dance school, take exams, move onto a college, start auditioning and achieving qualifications but all the while thinking is this going to work?

I personally feel I didn't get enough support, careers advice and answers from teachers in school and college to guide me down the right route for where I wanted to go.

Eventually, at twenty five years of age and after twenty three years of training I feel that I know where I am heading. The qualifications I will gain in the next couple of years will enable me to get that full time teaching job in a college that I have wanted ever since I was eighteen.

To me it has been like being in a maze, going in different directions, seeing which way will lead me on further or which will just end abruptly, maybe with a qualification but not with an answer or clue as to how I can reach my destination.

Sadly, after a lot of stumbling around in the dark a lot of dancers grow tired and disheartened of not getting anywhere and they give up their dream. If they had the answers then maybe they would be able to begin the climb on the ladder to the career they want in dance.

A friend of mine from college never gave up. She knew she wanted a career in dance, her love being ballet and after so much hard work she has now begun her journey touring in a National Ballet. I really admire this friend and I am confident that she will keep on climbing the ladder to success.

What do you love about what you do? Who do you admire who also seems to love this or is an example of what you love?

To become a teacher after performing was always the plan.
To love teaching and it being one of the biggest passions of my life I didn't anticipate.
This only happened last year after returning from a seven month contract touring America.

After performing professionally I matured as a person and dancer and this affected me as a teacher. I felt confident within myself and that I could deliver classes the students would love and learn from. Being confident in your own ability does wonders. As I have matured with age and experience I have improved as a teacher and because I am confident in my ability I love what I do.

I enjoy entering the studio not knowing exactly how the class could go. It could be hard work and stressful and by the end of it I feel I haven't got through as many things as I wanted. Or it could be the opposite and I have achieved more than expected. Either way, it is always a positive feeling I get as I know the students are progressing and learning and that is through me and my teaching.
I love that students ask me questions and fully respect my opinions as a teacher. I always recall me when I was a student and the respect I felt towards my dance teachers. I aim to be like one of those teachers that I felt a big respect for and that a student can rely on for support and mentoring.

Rosalind Renouf, a friend and mentor is somebody I admire for their passion in teaching. She manages her school completely for the love of dance and not for any financial purpose. (Please visit her page for more information - http://www.deanrowdancing.co.uk/)

What do you feel you don't understand? Who do you admire who does seem to understand it or who has found a way of making not understanding it interesting or beautiful, or has asked the same questions as you?

At the moment my big question is will I eventually be able to make a living from solely teaching dance?

Currently, I teach about fifteen hours a week and for that amount of time I do earn a good amount of money, but it is not a wage I can live off forever.
My aim is to build up my dance academy with 100 to 200 students and to eventually teach in a dance college. I hope that my academy will be an ever growing profitable business and that my dream of earning a job in a good college come true.

Until that point though, this question remains unanswered.

A school I teach for in Warrington run a successful business. They deliver brilliant classes that the students enjoy but they also deal with the business side of things professionally to ensure it works financially. (Please follow the link for more information - http://www.stageproacademy.co.uk/)

A Critical Reflection

I have been mulling over a few ideas this past week and looking through theories in a bit more depth.
It is through looking deeply into these theories and seeing what interests me that I have created this 'Critical Reflection.'

I have posted my 'Critical Reflection here:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B18e7KyrwDEZVzdUM01HZzVNYkU/edit?usp=sharing

Howard Gardner's ideas really intrigued me and I would be interested to know other peoples opinions on his categorisation of 'Multiple Personalities.'

Journal Writing Experience.

Okay...I have been writing my journal now for a week. I took a leap and finally put pen to paper after the eye opening session with Alan and Sophie.

To begin with I didn't really think about the styles of journal writing suggested to us. I thought I would just let my pen flow...I recorded whatever happened in my day and where ever my thoughts took me. As I look back now over my first entries I see that I was actually using a style that was suggested to us. I naturally took the form of Description.

12th-14th March.
My first few entries were mostly made up of description. I explained my day and what had happened in a story like fashion. This is a good way to capture the events in an interesting light, but I think is a very inward way of looking at things. The way I see things and the emotions and personal opinions involved could actually scramble the facts and portray the events in a different way. As I read through now, I also notice another style being introduced without it being planned...Initial Reflection.

Through the use of my Initial Reflection I can sense my mood and feelings at the time of writing. I am apprehensive about starting a journal. I don't seem confident that I am understanding the process and it's benefits for me. Looking back now it is good to see how I have grown just in this past week.

14th-15th March.
At this point I can see my journal beginning to develop. I am getting to grips with the different styles of journal writing. I have a lot of ideas and thoughts flying about and I am practising various forms of writing to record them which include Reflection, What if?, Lists, Sketches and Graphs. 

15th-19th March.
At this period of time I am very busy and it shows in my writing. I am less descriptive and more to the point. I am writing in lists or just short sentences jotted down. Will this work? I may try this? Asking myself questions, coming up with ideas and plans and then later going back to write down if those plans were successful. I think that sections like this in my journal are the most beneficial for me as a teacher. Preparing for classes, teaching via the plan and then going back to evaluate what happened I think really helps me to see what went wrong and why and hopefully make me develop as a teacher, learning from what works and what doesn't and going about things differently the next time.

I have put in a few snippets from my journal as an example of the above and how it can really help you develop when you plan and evaluate the situation.

19th March.
Last rehearsal today for my Grade 1 ballet and contemporary before the Easter Event on Friday.

We will practise in the main hall where the actual performance will take place. I will set out markers on the floor to help them to know where they stand along with setting out the chairs for the "audience" so they can get a feel of what it will be like on the day of the performance.
We will also practise in full costume.

If the girls get the dance routines right then there is no need to keep rehearsing over and over again. We will do something fun to break up the class and they can see it as a reward for doing well. I am very enthusiastic that the routines rehearsal will go well today. If it does then it would be silly over rehearsing.

If there are mistakes in the routine...maybe I can film them performing the routine to see if this helps? That way they can see their mistakes and know where to improve.


What happened -
Both classes did brilliantly with the routines.
We rehearsed once without the music just to see if there was anything that needed going over. There wasn't, so this went well. Then we put on costumes which the kids were really excited about and made them more enthusiastic to rehearse. As this second rehearsal went well also I decided to do something fun at that point rather than at the end. I thought that this would break up the session and get them more enthusiastic so then making the last practise go well rather than being bored of repetitive rehearsal. We did fun stuff for 15 minutes.
In the last 5 minutes we did one more rehearsal, this time in our performing space with the floor markings and with me filming.
The rehearsal went really well. There was just one thing...not enough pointy feet!
They loved watching themselves on film and it had the exact effect I wanted. They found the video amusing because they could also see what I could see and had been going on at them about...floppy feet!


I was extremely happy after this rehearsal. I went away feeling like I had achieved exactly what I wanted and I knew that the class were happy as well.
I know that if I had not been contemplating and planning the class in my journal the class would not have gone so well. I would have been stressing and worrying about them getting it right...I would not have allowed time for fun stuff and would have over rehearsed which probably would have led to them getting it wrong rather than improving it. Even after writing my plans I did find myself looking at the clock thinking, shall we not do fun stuff, we haven't got time, shall we rehearse again? But I scolded myself as I was determined to stick to my plans. I'm really glad I did.


As a whole my journal so far has been about my dance school, the rehearsal process for our Easter Event and preparations and evaluations of my teaching for dance classes at other schools.
I am interested to see how the journal develops as time goes on and whatever is going on in my life changes.

I started my journal with Description as I found this the most natural method for me as I enjoy telling a story. Funnily enough I have found this form of writing the least beneficial for me in my practise.

The types of writing I feel have helped me and will build and develop me as a teacher are -

• List
• Evaluation
• What if?
• Initial Reflection

2nd Campus Session

I attended the session last week, so I am a little bit late at putting down my thoughts and ideas that were triggered on the day...this is a memory of the experience so forgive me if it is not completely correct, but I do hope to share as much as I can.

The statement about a memory of the experience is probably the first thing that I took from the day of the session and have been mulling over it for the past few days.

We watched a video of Daniel Kahneman talking about "happiness"...The Riddle of experience vs. memory. 

'The second trap is the confusion between an experience and memory. Basically it is being happy in your life and being happy with your life. These are two very different concepts...The third trap is the focusing illusion, and it's the unfortunate fact that we can't think of any circumstance that affects well being without distorting it's importance...'

This video triggered off a discussion of our opinions on experience vs. memory and times when we could relate to this.

Kahneman went on to say about a man who had been listening to a symphony which he found to be glorious..but as he listened he got to the end and he found it to be dreadful and he said that it ruined the whole experience for him. Kahleman explains....'it hadn't ruined the experience for him. But it had ruined the memory of the experience. He'd had the experience, he'd had 20 minutes of glorious music. They counted for nothing! Because he was left with the memory. The Memory was ruined. And that was all he had left.'

This last statement really got me thinking. How many times I have said just that...the whole experience was ruined! I don't know why it's never clicked with me before...it's really obvious when you stop to look and think about it. Of course, I still had the good pieces of the experience. The bad pieces do not suddenly delete the good.
I do think it can work in a different way also. Instead of deleting the good, we often can look back on experiences with tinted glasses. Everything appears rosy and perfect...because a part of our mind has thrown away the bad experiences and only remembers the good.

In February, my partner and I stayed at a castle for the night on my birthday. We had stayed before and it had been really lovely so we decided to revisit. It was still a really enjoyable visit but I remember saying...'It wasn't as good as the first time.' I have said this on many occasion when I have revisited a favourite place.
But thinking about it after listening and reflecting on Kahneman's talk...this isn't true. Obviously somethings may have been better the first time, certain things may have happened for it to stand out to me, but I see now...it is memory that changes the first experience. The memory of my experience is difficult competition for a real, present experience.
It would be interesting to see how I would feel if I could swap the experiences around. If I could wipe the memory of the first experience, go through the second experience as the first experience and then the first experience after. Would I think my original first experience the better one? I doubt it.

We still have an experience even without the memories (photos, mind memory), but it's the memories we construct that remain where as experiences disappear.


After the video, we discussed various topics Kahneman mentioned which led us on to the art of reflection.

A few ideas I got from the discussion:

Reflection should not be an emotional way of thinking, of how we felt at that time, but instead should be an account of facts, of reasons why and how we responded or should have responded.

Letting feelings and emotions make our judgement is not a fare and reasonable analysis, instead it becomes more of a personal view. We should be looking at it from an outward perspective as if we are not involved.
When writing the journal a good way to do this would be through the style of another view.


One last point that has stood out to me since starting this course and seeing how we learn - Do I just investigate, take on board and remember topics that interests me?

What captures my attention is usually something I can relate to or that interests me. This I can expand upon and learn from and then hopefully move onto things I wouldn't have necessarily been interested in learning before.

Is this the natural way of learning? Is this how most people learn? How can I go about making the things I am not so interested in stick? Are there things I am missing and not taking on board? As I am always going through the doors that are unlocked (things that interest me) and just ignoring the locked doors (things that don't interest me), hoping that there may be another way to get to them through the unlocked ones.


All these points have certainly helped me to get started on my journal. Reflecting over these ideas have made me very much aware of the true value they hold.

These points were something that I already did know as scrambled thoughts, but it took Kahleman's video and our discussion to actually become aware of them and build sense onto them.

I had the pieces but now they have clicked together to form the jigsaw.

Starting my journal...

I have heard somewhere that a journal is supposed to be the window to your soul.
I really like that expression and I will aim to remember it as I go along this task as I feel this will prevent me from editing or scrapping any thing I have written that I feel has no use.

I used to write journals when I was a child. Back then I would call it a diary, but after my research and readings on keeping a journal I think now they were more like journals than diaries.
I wrote down my daily activities for several years in different diaries. I actually came across these diaries just last week. I had a quick read through my entries and they were very amusing but also really lovely memories to look back on.
I consider myself a very creative person in many different ways. I love writing and am very passionate about story writing. I have been writing fictional stories for my own enjoyment since I was a young teenager and have been working on a number of long stories for the past couple of years.
Because of my creative streak I am looking forward to keeping a journal and I'm not scared of writing down my thoughts and ideas.

Something that has held me back from starting the journal right away was one word that I kept coming across as I was reading the material given to us about journal keeping. That word was learning.
I could easily write down my thoughts, plans, ideas, daily activities and work issues..I could even do it in a creative way that I would enjoy. I have really enjoyed blogging for this reason.

But I kept asking myself....would I actually be learning? 

If I documented thoughts and ideas down in a way I always have done would I actually be pushing and improving myself?

Maybe I am looking too deeply into it. Maybe the learning process is not something that jumps out at you but happens over time as my writing changes with thoughts and ideas progressing and transforming into other thoughts and ideas. If I looked back over my writing, analysing and reflecting my earlier entries, would this be the point at which I can understand my improvements and how far I have come from my first entry to the latest entry?

I aim to create my journal in different ways. Description will be my main tool to portray my daily accounts as I would a story. But I would also love to use imagery. I think sketching and drawing is a lovely way to put across thoughts. I often have ideas that I can't describe with just words.
But descriptive writing and drawing is something that I already enjoy doing. I feel I have to push myself a bit more. So I aim, after more research to find different ways in which I can approach my journal. I may find that these new techniques bring forth new ideas.

I have decided to write my journal in a book format. I am very traditional and I knew I would enjoy writing more than typing! I could also jot down any thoughts I had at any time. Great ideas always come to my mind when I am just letting my thoughts wander.... In fact a lot of my choreography is created from me sitting down, with or without my music and just looking unseeing out of a bus or train window, steps and movements flowing in my head. It is at these times that I could pull out the journal from my bag and start writing....I won't have to rely on my memory anymore!

I have a habit of scribbling things down when I'm in a rush or writing some sort of list in different note pads and on loose paper...I didn't want my journal to become another junk pad....or maybe, upon thinking about it, that's exactly what it needs to be? After all, from piles of junk you may find a precious treasure!