My learning cycle

Re-evaluating my journal entries has certified at which point I enter David Kolb’s learning cycle most often.  While reflecting on my ISTD course, I note now I struggle to focus and learn while in a classroom environment. I find it extremely difficult learning from others or reflective observation as I prefer being involved in my experience.

In my journal I reflect on a day of teaching where I was left feeling somewhat deflated. I note that I didn’t feel I contributed enough to the class, allowing another more experienced teacher to take control of a lesson that I had full capability of doing myself. I note that I need to stop second guessing and doubting my initial reactions.

In this situation I wasn’t learning from reflecting on the teacher. I felt that I had to be actively involved in the teaching experience to benefit and learn.

I have reflected upon another day in my journal on my ISDT course, expressing my frustrations at my inability to learn the mechanics of an exercise and comment on how it helps us develop as dancers. I note that on returning home and actively teaching myself from the syllabus book and working it out on my body is only when I fully understand how the exercise can be beneficial to a dancer’s development.

I enter at active experimentation, physically doing the movements, I then relate how this feels to what I already know, concrete experience and I then connect the old and the new working out the relationship in my head, abstract conceptualisation and finally I teach this exercise to other dancers to see if it works, reflective observation.

It depends on what activity you are taking part in as to where you enter the learning cycle and although I use all of these cycle of ideas, though reflection I have have learnt th

at I enter and learn most from active experimentation.