STUDY SKILLS - THE 5 STAGES OF REFLECTIVE WRITING
This information is taken from:
Bolton (2010): 6: Reflective writing: a how-to guide.
This is a practical guide for getting going. Experiment with it and have fun. It is for your benefit not for assessment.
Bolton (2010): 6: Reflective writing: a how-to guide.
This is a practical guide for getting going. Experiment with it and have fun. It is for your benefit not for assessment.
THE FIVE STAGES OF REFLECTIVE WRITING
- the six-minute write
- the story
- read and respond
- share your writing
- developing writing
1. THE SIX-MINUTE WRITE (AN EXERCISE TO GET YOU GOING)
Choose a comfortable uninterrupted place and time ...
Starting with six minutes’ writing can help prevent the dither of ‘What am I going to write? by dumping mind-clutter onto the paper. Some of this writing will be useful … springing from seemingly nowhere, some only shopping lists or scurrilous moans. Stow all safely on paper and the mind is free to continue. Awareness of anything other than the hand putting words on the paper can inhibit the flow, so allow the writing to follow its own track and leave obeying writing rules (grammar, logical sequencing, and so on) until later ...“I always do my 6 minutes, but then I screw it up and throw it away without reading it.” (Bolton, 2012, pp.107-109).
- Write whatever is in your head, uncensored.
- Write without stopping for at least six minutes.
- Don’t stop to think or be critical, however disconnected it might seem.
- Allow it to flow with no thought for spelling, grammar, proper form.
- Give yourself permission to write anything. You do not even have to reread it.
- Whatever you write will be right: it is yours, and anyway no one else need read it.
2. THE STORY (CHOOSE SOMETHING TO WRITE ABOUT)
Write straight away about any time in your experience, telling the story simply and allowing it to come in its own order. Focusing on a particular occasion, chosen seemingly at random, is facilitative to reflection. Try to choose the first event which occurs, without striving for significance. The most vital issue might be located or clarified by the seemingly mundane.
- Write with a focus
- Choose the first event which comes to mind
- Allow 20-40 minutes to write
- Re-create the situation as memory gives it
- Consider it fiction
- Do not worry about spelling, grammar, syntax
- Proper form does not matter
- Allow reactions, emotional responses, feelings (Bolton, 2012, p.110-11).
3. READ AND RESPOND (FIRST IDEAS)
Reading writing back to yourself is significant … reading is then like a dialogue with the self, hearing what the hand had to say, and being able to respond back to it, Reflexive interpretive thoughts might be written in response, re reading undertaken privately, slowly and respectfully, with responses noted, gives insight ...
Read with attention yet openly, non-judgementally, looking at content rather than form
- Be aware of underlying links
- Write additions, alterations, make deletions
- Fill out with as much detail as possible (Bolton, 2012, p.113).
4. SHARING YOUR WRITING (SHOW IT TO SOMEONE ELSE)
Peers responses can open up fresh avenues. They can support towards deeper levels of reflection … Seeking just the right person or people can be worthwhile. E-contact can be a good substitute … A colleague might be right, but they or life-partner might be wrong: emotionally charged relationships may add non-useful complexities ...
If you are giving writing feedback:
- Be positive and supportive
- Comment on writing, not writer
- Consider everything read and discussed as confidential (Bolton, 2012, pp.114-115).
5. DEVELOPING THE WRITING (THE FINISHED PIECE)
You can’t write the wrong thing ...
Sometimes writing a further piece can feel diffcult
Creative ideas for re-writing:
If you wrote the initial story in the present, try rewriting it in the past, or vica versa
Rewrite the story with the gender of the main character switched
Write the next chapter
Retell the story with a different ending or focus, or in a different style
What themes or patterns relate to others in your life?
What is missed out of this story?
Contunue the story six months/a year later
Explore the area which puzzles you (Bolton, 2012, p.116-118).
REFERENCE
Bolton, G. (2010) Reflective practice: writing and professional development. 3rd edn. London: Sage.
Bolton, G. (2010) Reflective practice: writing and professional development. 3rd edn. London: Sage.