Insight into academic writing

I was interested in both the dicussions by Peter, Ruth and Sam and their ideas about ways of accessing academic writing. When I first read a piece of text, I'm somewhat baffled as the words don't always resonate with me and I start to question my understanding. So I felt a sense of relief when Peter said it was ok to feel like that. I also liked the way he linked his thinking of art alongside his writing in particular the actual process. I listened carefully to ideas about how to read academic text. Suggestions included read the text in layers, don't try to understand it, don't read it word for word, just scan. I liked the analogy of the butterfly, allow yourself to flit from one place to another, just allow your eyes to rest in certain places, absorb then move on. That made me feel a lot better! Through discussion, we were given an insight into ways of accessing and viewing academic text. For example, with reference to a paragraph, I learnt that the first line begins with the point, then it goes on to the explanation, the evidence and then the comment. Another area of questioning was when you see a word, what does it mean?- question what you see. Think of it as spending time reading what it means rather than understand it? I then thought isn't that the same thing - understanding and meaning? Apparently not as google says : meaning is the symbolic value of something while understanding is mental, sometimes emotional process of comprehension, assimilation of knowledge, which is subjective by its nature. Another interesting point was not to go straight into detailed reading i.e. reading word after word - don't get sucked into the glue of the text whereby you feel you can't move forwards because you don't understand. This was helpful because this is how I sometimes feel and as a result I switch off. Discussion progressed as Ruth and Sam talked about what makes a text academic and it was suggested that the SQ3R technique may help develop this thinking process. I will endeavour to reflect on the diagram as I hope this will help me get a sense of structure. With this in mind, I'm off now to have a rummage through some text!

Free writing - a therapeutic tool?

Really enjoyed today's discussion with Ruth about free-writing. I've never done this as an exercise before, but to be honest I found it fun. Focussing on just writing about whatever comes into your mind for about 8 minutes seemed a daunting prospect, but when I looked back at what I had written; I was surprised to see how much reflective information appeared in the written form. Without realising it, I had asked myself lots of questions and I had attempted to identify some of my feelings and thoughts. The aim of the exercise brought to mind what happens in a psychodynamic counselling sesssion. The counsellor sits and says nothing, no interaction, just silence. The aim is to make the unconscious conscious and it is hoped that by simply talking brings unconscious thoughts and feelings to the surface. So, I feel that free writing could be seen as writing therapy, a tool to help unlock and allow the flow of thought. With that in mind, I'm going to challenge myself to do a free writing task each day in the hope that it will free my mind!

A little light reading....

Took the day to do a little light light reading and on-line research. Found some of the reading by Schon a little heavy although A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning (Moon) was a little easier to digest. Interested in the varying concepts of Pedagogy and theories of constructivism and instructivism. Having studied psychodynamic counselling I was fascinated by some of the therapeutic language used and the profound approach to reflective writing.

Dear bloggers....!

I must admit the first week seemed a little daunting but once I got foccused and made a plan going forwards, it all became much clearer and I felt calmer as a result. I remember during our first session, Helen mentioned about looking at our CVs and that the way in which we presented ourselves and our experiences may change. At first I didn't know what she meant but having reviewed my CV today; my whole approach and focus changed as did the choice of vocabulary! To be honest I felt quietly chuffed. From here I was able to see a clear link with my past and present and this in turn helped me design, in my head, ideas for my essays - just got to get them down on paper! In terms of my learning and my understanding I need to find a space that is quiet, so that I can be totally in tune with my thoughts - it's a space that I'm not really comfortable with as I love listening to music, or when I see a picture or object my mind starts to create....rather than concentrate. Maybe there's a question here for reflection but not sure what it is. Any ideas?