now magic is going to spread in other parts of gujarat

hi friends,
for your kind information we have started second phase of life skill
programme. it is held in vadodara district.

"28 and 29th november 2009" it was first workshop of second phase.

here are the points that we have discussed.
-drama in education
-reflaction
- diary writing
-emotions
-statue
-three step statue
-face to face talk
-10 life skills
-10 quetions of emotions
GAMES WE PLAYED ARE..........
-walk walk "phisical feelings"
-walk walk "emotional feelings"
-pass the emotion
-guess the emotion.

keep visiting a blog for more information

News

Swaroop Sampat's kidding around

Tuesday, February 03, 2009 06:23 [IST]

Mumbai: Actress Swaroop Sampat (wife of Paresh Rawal) recently met up with Kirit Joshi, the educational advisor to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi to discuss concrete plans for setting up a Bal University in the state aimed at boosting educational facilities for children from low income groups. Joshi was originally an educational advisor to Indira Gandhi and was one of the main think-tanks behind the setting up of IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University).

"I'm trying to do my level best in whatever can be done to improve the children's educational structure. I couldn't have done it without the support of my kids and Paresh. Every 15 days I have to go to Gujarat and my family has been encouraging metremendously. That's very motivational especially when a woman is not bringing any money into the household through her work," Swaroop says.

She adds: "I was asked by Narendra Modi to work in his state and I'm happy that I can see progress. It will be very beneficial for many children who really need basic education. Gujarat will grow because children will be better educated."

Swaroop recently spent 10 days in Gujarat to spearhead a residential camp for 25 children belonging to backward classes. She says the project was aimed at educating these children about Mahatma Gandhi's principle of self-sustenance.

"These 25 kids were between the 3rd and the 7th standards. We had a camp in Sagra with five teachers and me and we taught them the Gandhian principle of doing one's own work. We had classes, played games with them, hosted dramas, etc. It was a training ground for these teachers too because they will teach others and their numbers will swell," she ends up saying.

News and information

By Dr Swaroop Rawal

Making-Magic in Gujarat
( MIG 2008-09)

Our mission statement:

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

-Barack Obama


Phase 1:

Teacher training is almost completed and will be completed in the last week of March 2009. We started in Sept 2008.

Subjects covered:

1. Learning about Drama-in-Education- drama has the power to transform human behaviour. Drama in education is a learning medium and were mainly concerned in how drama as an art form could be utilized by educators to explore important issues, events and relationships

2. Learning life-skills: emphasizing education concerning life skills or psychosocial abilities that help people think, feel, act and interact as individuals and as participating members of society. Life skills education is a way to make children resilient, so they can confront the problems they face in life with strength.

• Emotional Understanding,
• Empathy,
• Understanding Self ,
• Communication Skills
• Creative Thinking

The above mentioned skills were dealt with in details. More complex skills like Critical thinking, Decision-making, Problem solving will be covered but not in details as they are skills for older children. Consider this course is especially designed for teachers of Std 1-7.

Coping with stress and anger are covered purely by the method we are working and teaching in. However, theory was dealt with to.

3. Learning Disabilities.

4. Reflective Practice- Reflection was a way to ascertain that both the process and the learning objectives could be clarified and evaluated by the teacher and the students in order to deepen the experience created during the drama lesson.

Reflection is the most important element in action research is reflection; it lies at the core of action research

5. Action Research (AR) as a Teacher-research Methodology ? The philosophy followed - ?Built into action research is the proviso that, if as a teacher I am dissatisfied with what is already going on, I will have the confidence and resolution to attempt to change it. I will not be content with the status quo...? & ?action research presents an opportunity for teachers to become uniquely involved in their own practice?

6. The teachers are presently following an AR project; collecting data while teaching and will be writing a paper each.

7. Completed a 10 day residential drama camp co-organized by the Rajpur School. 25 children from 3 villages and 5 teachers participated.

8. We are presently in the process of completing the teacher-training manual for future classes to be used in Phase2 and so on.

9. We manage a blog on which we post study material and interesting news concerning our work. mig2008.blogspot.com

10. Conducted a Introductory Session on Understanding Learning Difficulty for Senior Secondary students of TY level through Video Conference.

11. Planning of Phase 2- In the next academic year 2009-10 the present teachers (hence forth referred to as T-T) will be trained on how to facilitate the next group of teachers. This will be done in approx 7-8 sessions.

As planned we have request the GCERT to allot 90 newly inducted teachers who will participate from the following districts:

1. Baraoda district.

2. Baroda Co-operation

3. Bharuch

4. Panchmahal

5. Aanand

The teachers from the above mentioned districts will participate in the weekend training session and return home in the evening ( as in it will not be a residential training session).

An additional 40 teachers will be chosen from the remaining 20 districts of Gujarat. For these teachers the training session will be a two day residential one.

This program will follow the methods of Phase 1.

At present we have17 trained teachers and by Phase 2 we should have approximately 52 trained teachers. At the same time the training of the T-T (teachers in Phase 1) will continue. In Phase 2 we shall meet every month to review work done by them in their classes and the work done in training sessions. This will ensure that the programme does not go astray.



12. This programme will begin Phase 3 in April 2010. In Phase 3 ALL the 26 districts of Gujarat are the target. Phase 3 will begin with an Introductory Session via Video conference following which every 3 months new teaching sessions will be held. A team of 5 teacher-trainers + Dr. Swaroop Rawal ( as the chief facilitator) will address the 26 districts simultaneously. The TT from phase 1 and 2 will be on the spot in the districts and will supervise the class from there.

Posted By Dear Swaroop

This story is posted by

Dr Swaroop Rawal (Dr=Dear)

And I post here to share with all of you-Our known and unknown FRIENDS


One day, when I was a freshman in high school,
I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school.
His name was Kyle.
It looked like he was carrying all of his books.
I thought to myself, 'Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday?
He must really be a nerd.'
I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.
As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him.
They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt.
His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him...
He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes
My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye.
As I handed him his glasses, I said, 'Those guys are jerks.'
They really should get lives.’

He looked at me and said, 'Hey thanks!'
There was a big smile on his face.
It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.

I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived.
As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before...






He said he had gone to private school before now.
I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.
We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books.
He turned out to be a pretty cool kid.
I asked him if he wanted to play a little football
with my friends

He said yes.
We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.


Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again.

I stopped him and said, 'Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!

'He just laughed and handed me half the books...
Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends..
When we were seniors we began to think about college.
Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke.
I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never
be a problem.
He was going to be a doctor and I was going for business on a football scholarship...
Kyle was valedictorian of our class.
I teased him all the time about being a nerd.
He had to prepare a speech for graduation.
I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak
Graduation day, I saw Kyle.
He looked great.



He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school.
He filled out and actually looked good in glasses.
He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him.
Boy, sometimes I was jealous!
Today was one of those days.
I could see that he was nervous about his speech.
So, I smacked him on the back and said, 'Hey, big guy, you'll be great!' He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled.
' Thanks,' he said.
As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began

'Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years.
Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends....
I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them..
I am going to tell you a story..'

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the
first day we met.
He had planned to kill himself over the weekend..
He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home.
He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.
'Thankfully, I was saved.
My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable..'
I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment.
I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.
Not until that moment did I realize it's depth.
Never underestimate the power of your actions..
With one small gesture you can change a person's life.
For better or for worse.



God puts us all in each others lives to impact one another in some way.

Look for God in others.
You now have two choices, you can : 0A

1) Pass this on to your friends or

2) Delete it and act like it didn't touch your heart.
As you can see, I took choice number 1.

'Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly..'



There is no beginning or end.

Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is a mystery.
Today is a gift.

Are you AngrY???

ANGER CONTROL TECHNIQUES

Helpful Ideas

Talk it out with someone

Count to 50 by 5’s

Take a deep breath

Find a place to be alone

Listen to music

Punch a pillow

Clean or organize your room

Scream

Walk, jog, or run

Switch on the music and dance

Write about what made you mad

Talk to yourself

Play with clay

Draw your feeling

Play a sport

Not Helpful Ideas

Eat a lot more (or less)

Fight

Threaten to hurt someone

Hurt yourself

Withdraw from everyone

Blame it on someone else

Take it out on an animal

Destroy property

Start a rumour

Run away from home

Laugh at the person

Yell at the person

Curse

Throw thing

Stay Cool
If an angry outburst does occur, react with calmness. An angry reaction from a parent will only escalate the situation. You don't want to mirror the child's inappropriate behaviour. Remember, when you lose your temper, you lose. Calmly allow the child or teen to face the consequences for their inappropriate expression of anger. Model how to be assertive rather than passive or aggressive.

Expressing feelings

Encourage children and teens to talk about their feelings. Help children learn by your example. Talk openly about your feelings with members of your family. When your children do open up, don't make them feel that they are being judged or rejected. Encourage talking by being a good listener. Children and teens will feel safe to share their deeper concerns when parents listen in an open, caring and non-judgmental manner.

See The Whole Picture
It is also important to realize that when a family member is feeling angry, you may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg.

E.g., a child returns home at the end of the day loudly shouting, "I hate school!" That statement can be an indication of deeper concerns, such as difficulty with learning, problems with peers, feeling rejected or inadequate, being discouraged, fearful or lonely.

Time And Space
Give family members time and space to process their angry feelings. Some parents find it helpful to take time to cool down when they sense their anger escalating. Kids can also benefit from a timeout to relax.

Avoid Triggers
Sibling rivalry, inconsistency, a lack of boundaries or limits; fear and unmet needs can cause families difficulty in their efforts to function as a unit. Such stress and frustration within the family can result in feelings of anger and resentment. When possible, try to prevent the conditions within the family that cause anger.

Strengthen Family Bonds
Providing emotional support, practicing open communication, being consistent with meals and schedules and becoming an active listener are good practices for all relationships within the family.

Set Limits
Angry feelings are natural in adults and children, but when it is expressed inappropriately, parents need to address it. Parents should work together to determine acceptable ways for family members to express their anger at home. These expectations and limitations then need to be communicated not only to the children, but also to caretakers such as grandparents. It is also important that these guidelines are explained before they are imposed and that they are enforced consistently.

Choose an alternative to losing your head.

Try the following routine when anger begins to grow and help other family members to learn the technique by your example:

· Stop

· Think peaceful thoughts

· Avoid physical action

· Avoid using aggressive or hurtful words

· Take timeouts for yourself

· Use an "I" Message ("I feel _____, when you ______, because _____.

I wish you would_______.")

· Express your feelings—e.g. what bothers you, what you need.

· Stay calm -- As long as you are calm, you are in control.

Recognize the Need for Support
Parents may feel that they are alone when experiencing excessive anger in their family. It is vital to acknowledge the need for support. If an uncontrollable child or adolescent is disturbing the normal family balance

Consider a visit with your child's school counsellor for support.

By Swaroop Rawal

Dance can help

By Dr swaroop Raval:

Most people don't nourish their body with movement, as much as they do their minds. Why is that? We're all born with movement in our bodies. Yet we tend to neglect or negate it.

Dancing goes back to primitive times, and magical powers have been attributed to it. When a witch doctor dances, it is to exorcise evil spirits from the sick person.

I read that during the Middle Ages people even danced to avoid the plague. The Tarantella of Italy is believed to have originated after a poisonous spider’s bite caused tarantism, and the cure for it was a jumping dance.

Today’s talk is evolved from the age-old idea that dancing has the power to cure. Dancing is a primal response to rhythm and music.

Dance practitioners believe that the body, mind, and emotions, are interrelated and that the state of the body has a positive or negative affect on our attitude and feelings. It is known that each one of our five senses sends messages to our brain through the nerves. And we react accordingly. In a nutshell, we jump for joy when we’re happy about something, we slump when we are sad. That is body language. When the body doesn’t react to the messages of the brain, we may blow an emotional fuse, and withdraw.

Illness, injury, emotional and physical trauma can cause us to become out of balance and our way of expression and functioning in the world changes as well. Dance seeks to open up these restrictions by allowing the students to uncover and express them in movement, integrating and accepting them as part of the whole. It also provides a means of communication beyond the self, enabling the individual to go beyond any isolation to connect, share and express common ground with others.

Dance can be helpful for a wide range of problems.

It is useful for those with restricted movement of movement, whether from arthritis, aging, degenerative disease, or other causes.

Children, who don’t have the patience or attention span for other forms of therapy, can benefit from the openness that comes with expressive dance.

Adults whose emotions have been buried or who are not in touch with their feelings, are otherwise unable to articulate their problem, may find insight and release through dance.

Even those confined to wheelchairs can move their upper body in response to musical rhythms.

Dancers and therapists engage in treatment with schizophrenic adults at Atmashakti, Bangalore,

Hearing-impaired children at Hamsadhwani Bangalore, and

Mobility training programs at the National Association of the Blind.

At the Baldwin Opportunity School in Bangalore, where a dance therapist worked with eight children who were moderately mentally challenged. They were very mobile, and full of energy.
"One day it was social skills, such as holding hands and moving them. Or placing their palms against each other's, and pushing playfully. Gradually, their coordination improved. We finally choreographed three dances incorporating mirroring, sculpting, and other exercises we'd done as therapy. Even their teacher got involved, correlating dance to their learning problems. When they had perceptual problems with drawing a circle, we'd walk in a circle, getting it into their bodies. My three years with them were very rewarding."

What made the experience valuable? "Each child had different problems. One had a short attention span, another could not coordinate with rhythm, and a third found relationships difficult. They could dance on their own, but not with the group. I took each problem and made it the goal of therapy," says the researcher

Although Dance Therapy is still a fairly new practice, it is known that it can provide an emotional release for pent-up, repressed feelings, and as a result, the patient may be sent on the road to improved mental health.

And for the average person, putting on some music and dancing around in the kitchen, is not only great therapy, it’s also fun!

 

Dance can assist in interpersonal relationship within the family and can serve as communicator for those with speech and learning disabilities and autism. It is also a means of relaxation and stress reduction. Dance’s expressive element may also add an aesthetic and spiritual dimension to the experience. An evolving area of dance therapy is in its disease prevention and health promotion programs.

1. to foster a physically and emotionally safe, non-judgmental    environment that is respectful of individual limitations and achievements

2. to facilitate individual expression and communication with other people

3. to increase body awareness, spontaneity, creativity and a healthy self-image

4. to promote and integrate emotional stability (including anger management and stress reduction)

5. to support personal growth through insight, energy, and an expanded movement repertoire

Body movement reflects inner emotional states and …changes in movement behavior can lead to changes in the psyche, thus promoting health and growth.”

Moving as part of a group overcomes isolation, encourages and reinforces social and emotional bonds, and generates positive feelings. Rhythmic movement lessens muscular rigidity, reduces anxiety, and increases energy. The ability to move without regimen, in a spontaneous way, reinforces self-confidence and trust in one’s actions. And the creative aspect of dance therapy encourages self-expression and allows the individual to think in new ways.

On a physical level, dance therapy provides exercise, which in turn improves health, well-being, coordination and muscle tone. The actual movement increases circulation, resulting in better oxygenation of tissues, including those in the brain. Dance affects the emotions, and may stimulate endorphin release, reducing stress and heightening positive feelings. The range of expression through motion can also lead to release of repressed emotions, anger, frustration and loss.

The mental acuity needed to perform postures and series of movements can result in better gait, balance and coordination as well as enhancing cognitive skills, motivation and memory. And the sheer pleasure of the expression may enable patients to focus away from pain to a pleasurable experience of the body.

We feel parents need dance as much as children as they're out of touch with their own bodies.  In India, we have so many classical and folk dance forms which were intrinsic to our community. Then, why are people so distanced from their bodies today? Except for disco bhangra or disco garba, it's no longer a part of our everyday lives. So, we have to use more structured exercises to get people moving here. 

The Reflective Learner

We do not store experience as data, like a computer; we story it.

Richard Winter

You will be both researcher, and the subject of research. You will be reflecting on episodes (these might be seemingly minute) within your practice in order to:

·        Gainfully explore issues/incidents which have perplexed/exhilarated/puzzled/surprised/worried you

·        Draw out knowledge and skills embedded within your actions, which perhaps you didn't know you had.

·        Share that knowledge-in-action with other practitioners within the group; and benefit from theirs

·        Perceive ways of building on the understandings gained,

You will do this through reflection

·        1. in action

·        2. through explorative writing

·        3. through discussion of that writing

·        4. on action affected by 1, 2, and 3

·        5. on perception of theory as affected by 1-4

·        6. on appropriate theoretical/professional texts you've read, as affected by 1-5

·        7. on alternative texts (fiction, poetry, spiritual, radio philosophy, TV, advertising, etc.) in the light of 1.-6

·        8. on the new links formed between previously isolated themes/theories

·        9. in action, as affected by 1-8

This kind of research will probably not provide 'right answers', but it may throw up invaluable questions, startling links, fresh light on relationships, new angles on hitherto unquestioningly held views. The effect on future action, however, may not be straightforward. Expect to be surprised, or even unsettled for a time! Many, many researchers respond to this writing and reflection process by exclaiming 'I didn't know I knew that!'

Reflecting in this fashion, opens the researcher to confusion, and not-knowing, leading to vulnerability. This can either result in defensive attitudes as a coping strategy, or an open evaluation which will lead to change and development.

Issues arise sometimes through the writing, which would normally be felt to be too threatening to expose to the possible ridicule or censure of others. Yet instead of loss of face, there comes from the other members of the group a capping with similar experiences, a compassionate understanding, and offer of support in creating a strategy for future action built on experience.

 

About Writing

"Begin at the beginning," the King said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end; then stop."

Lewis Carroll[Ref11]

Words can be taken for granted so easily, as the tool we use every day. After all in the beginning was the Word. We use language every day, all the time. We were all taught to write when we were little, and learned more and more through our school and undergraduate days. And then stopped. Yet writing has as complex a form, process, and set of variations as any other cultural form, say music or algebra. There are many more different ways to write than there are writers, because each writer can tailor their writing style appropriately to the work in hand. And each piece of writing belongs to the writer, while it is being crafted.

This course will help you unpick your assumptions about writing: what it is, for whom, and why, how where and when it might be written. It is saying: take ownership of your writing, and only hand it over to your reader when you are ready. Above all: use it as a learning tool; enjoy it for its own sake.

Introduction To Writing

Trust the Authority of Your Writing Hand

Writing is a valuable mode of expressing, sharing, assessing and developing professional experience: it is the one of best ways of reflecting solo, and stimulating effective shared reflection with peers and colleagues (Bolton 1995, 1994, 1991; Greenwood 1995; Landgrebe & Winter 1994; Paterson 1995; Rowland 1993; Snadden et al 1996; Tripp 1993; Winter 1889, 1988, Smith et al 1996). Reflective, or fictional writing is also an excellent mode for personal exploration (Bolton 1995; Progoff 1975), and research (Clough, 1996; Rowland 1996; Winter, 1991). Moreover, as students we have to write in order to: express ourselves; store an aide memoire; present an argument; demonstrate knowledge; explicate experience; or create a piece of literature. As teachers and lecturers, we are also involved in the same processes. If we are not, then something is wrong. We can only properly support our students if we have first-hand knowledge and experience ourselves (Murray 1982).

Writing is a staged process, and the initial stages can too easily be left out, to the detriment of our skill and confidence. To be literate, and make full use of that literacy requires confidence in our abilities. Writing does not come easily to many because of our early didactic training. We have all spent many years learning proper ways to write: the essay with its sequenced argument; the sonnet form; the beckoning beginning, slick middle, and sting-in-the-tail end of fiction; the punchiness of the journalistic voice. Writing, for most professionals, is for reports: a burdensome and long winded, hated but essential, means of justifying our work to our authorities. All too often we strive to imitate successful writers, to please our teachers, editors, line managers: we have lost ownership of our writing, forgotten we have our own voices.

One of the aims of this course is to encourage you to trust yourself to go back to the very first stages of writing. It is out of its scope to go through any more of the writing stages after these two. But then they are the vital ones: taking you from that hitherto frustrating time of seeming to have an empty head with no writing in it at all, to writing a telling account. Never again (well, not quite so much) that 'Oh my God' fear of a clean sheet or empty screen.

The first two stages of writing will be discussed in detail, in this course. This is partly because they are the vital self-explorative, self-expressive stages required for reflective writing. And partly because they are the stages all too often skipped over. Suggestions will also be made as to how a reflective piece of writing can be developed.

Why Writing?

Suspend your disbelief

Anna Freud

Why Writing?

·        Writing and sharing this kind of writing is a way of communicating really effectively with yourself, as well as with colleagues when appropriate.

·        Discussions around pieces of writing tend to be well-focused, offering depth and significance.

·        Writing can have a developmental power distinct from that of talking or thinking.

·Explorative and expressive writing:

·        Is a process with effects all of its own. It is possible to write things you did not really think you knew, thought or remembered

·        Is private until wittingly shared: a communication with the self in the first instance. It can therefore be a vehicle for deeper and more explorative thinking-through than conversation, in which something which has been said and heard, can never be unsaid

·        Can be torn up or burnt unshared with anyone, even the writer themselves, if that is required

·        Leaves footsteps which aid progressive thought. It is there in the same form the next day / year / decade to be worked on. Talking and thinking shift like Chinese Whispers, and then vanish on the air.

·        Is a longer, slower, more focused process than thinking. This allows for greater depth and breadth.

·        can readily make use of images or tropes such as metaphor; metaphors can give indirect access to feelings, thoughts, knowledge, ideas, memories not accessible to non-image contact which would be risky because too shockingly full-frontally direct.

·        Can readily make use of the fictional mode, which is confidential, less exposed, dynamic, and can convey ambiguities, complexities and the ironic relationships which exist between multiple veiwpoints.

·        Is a creative process which tends to increase self-confidence and self-esteem.

How to Start

You can't write the wrong thing. Whatever you write will be right - for you.

The initial stage of writing need not be shared; in the first instance it can be a valuable communication with the self. But in order to allow this relationship with yourself to be meaningful, you have to tell yourself that the words which cover the page may not be useful in themselves (you may never need to read them / allow others to, or you may redraft and edit them out of recognition); but the act of committing them to paper is invaluable. Writing is a staged process: every written word does not have to be public and perfect.

This first stage of writing is invaluable for reflective writing. It is also, however, fundamentally the same whether you are writing a story, a report or an essay. Some lucky people create everything clear in their head before beginning to write, and then write their complete piece without having to alter a word; their first draft is also more or less their last. But most of us feel we have nothing, or just a jumble, in our heads initially. Further to this, when confronted with a blank sheet of paper, I think all sorts of things need to be done before I can begin to write (like looking up just one more reference, or watering the plants). Although it is possible I am not ready yet to begin on this dangerous journey, these are usually mere delaying tactics.

Try the method below before you get in a dither about what you are going to write. It involves dumping the bits and bobs that are cluttering your head onto your paper. Some of these will be useful for the project in hand, some might be only your shopping list (or a scurrilous moan about your head of department).

But if that list is safely on paper, you'll be able to move on and concentrate more single mindedly on whatever you should be writing:

Begin by allowing the pen/cil to cover the pages on its own:

·        I. choose a comfortable uninterrupted place and time, and writing material you like

·        II. make sure you have everything you need to hand - like coffe

·        III. write whatever is in your head, uncensored

·        IV. time yourself to write without stopping for about six minutes

·        V. don't think about what you are writing, it will probably be disconnected and might seem to be rubbish - but don't stop to think or be critical!

·        VI. allow it to flow with no reference to spelling, grammar, proper form.

·        VII. give yourself permission to say anything, whatever it is.

You don't even have to reread it. Whatever you write it can't be the wrong thing - because no-one will read your writing in this form.

Have a go at the How to start method - writing for six minutes without stopping - try and allow your writing to be purposeless. You may find a subject emerges you wish to pursue for longer. If so - follow the vein - whatever it is, and the same way of writing, for about twenty minutes.

Now you no longer have a blank sheet or screen in front of you. You may have written quite a lot by now, or only a little seeming rubbish. Don't worry: the six minutes writing sometimes turns up gold, sometimes dross. It is always useful, however, for beginning to scratch the surface. As you write in this next way, try and remind yourself this is the first draft only, so it doesn't matter what you say - because you can redraft it - no-one else need read it. What matters is capturing those ideas.

About Critical incident

The Critical Incident - History

The idea of reflecting upon critical incidents is not a new one. It has been refined from a technique developed by John Flanagan who was working with pilots in training in the American Air Force:

An incident is an observable type of human activity which is sufficiently complete in itself to permit inferences and predictions to be made about the person performing the act. To be critical it must be performed in a situation where the person or intent of the act seems fairly clear to the observer, and its consequences are sufficiently definite so there is little doubt concerning its effect.'

Flanagan 1954

It has been used to collect data concerning knowledge-in-action, (Rowland 1993, Jacobs 1973) and excellence in practice (Benner 1984), for research (Winter 1991), as well as to enable reflective learning (Landgrebe and Winter 1994, Bolton 1993, 4, and 5).

Writing a Reflective Splurge

Forget about grammar, syntax, spelling - for now. They block the inspirational flow. Correct them later.

This is writing about a time when... , and follows straight on from the above. Focusing on a particular occasion is particularly facilitative, for reflective writing. Continue to write in just the same way as for the six minutes free-flow writing: that is allowing the words to arrive on the page without you planning or questioning them in any way first. But write now with a focus in your mind; the writing will come out like a story. You will find yourself writing the story of an occasion which was vital to you. Try not to ask questions. Just write it and ask the questions afterwards. The most common blocking query people make is: why have I chosen this to write about; it's not nearly important enough?!

Choose the first event which comes into your mind. Try not to reject it, for whatever reason. The more you anxiously cast around and around in your mind for the right account to be written, the more the really right one, which was the one you thought of first, will slide away from view. Choose the first one which comes to mind.

One of the best ways of preventing this anxious casting around for the best time when..., is only to allow yourself twenty minutes altogether in which to write. The more time you waste thinking, the less time you have to write it! I have known students set an alarm clock, and stop when the bell rings.

Recreate the situation, as far as possible, rather than an idealised what you would rather have happened.

Consider it fiction! Unlike case-history, fiction can be dramatic, leap over the boring bits, tackle issues head on; convey ambiguities, complexities and ironic relationships that exist between multiple viewpoints; and side-step the problems of confidentiality and fear of exposure. In short it heads straight for the heart of the matter. (For a study of the ethical problems of confidentiality see Hargreaves, 1997)

Spelling, grammar, syntax, usually flow very well, naturally, in this kind of vitally charged writing. If infelicities, or repetitions do occur, leave them until the end, they will be very easy to correct.

Try not to force the writing into a set good story form (or poem, if that's how it seems to be coming out). Stories have proper beginnings, middles and ends. Life doesn't (whatever the King in Alice hoped!). So let it come out with the same sort of glorious muddle format as it originally had. You may well find at this stage that musings on the event (what you should / should not have said, for example) will interrupt the narrative flow. None of this matters at this stage. Writing is endlessly plastic, and can be altered and tidied up later, before anyone else has to make sense of it, or embarrassingly read your innermost feelings.

Allow your pen(cil) to notice exactly what occurred - detail and feelings. As one replays the experience chronologically, details begin to emerge which were ignored at the time of the experience, or only noted in passing.

Try not to censor reactions, emotional responses, feelings.

Refrain from judgements at this stage.

Write A Time When I Learned something Really Vital

 

According to the above Reflective Splurge way of writing. Be as creative in your understanding of what constituted vital in your choice of time when... , and in your understanding of learned - there are many many ways to learn. Remember this writing is for you. You need not share it with anyone.... 

Newman- Tensioin of Teaching-----

I wanted to shift the teachers' gaze from "teaching" to "learning"--both their students' and their own.

We invented a vehicle for ourselves--critical incidents--to help us explore what was happening in our classrooms. I started out by asking the teachers to make note of whatever was going on that made them uncomfortable, moments when they weren't sure what decision to make, or where they were unhappy with the consequences of some judgement they'd made. We recorded very brief accounts of these moments on small index cards and then discussed these incidents in class. These stories became the basis of our inquiry into curriculum.

 

Types of Writing and Topics

You might write straight autobiographical or fictional narratives, stories with plots; poetry or songs; dramas; or descriptive passages.

Detailed accounts of experience are among the most interesting ways to write for Reflective Writing. You may follow such a passage with some general interpretative thoughts; or you may, on the other hand, leave these unwritten and wait to see what the group think.

Subjects for writing may well be suggested by the group. Each piece of writing will also generate fresh ideas.

The kinds of titles we have used in the past have been:

·        Changes

·        A Conflict

·        In Control

·        Taking Care

·        A Dilemma

·        A Moment of Joy

·        A Sensitive Subject

·        A Clash of Interests

·        A Conflict of Loyalty

·        A Misunderstanding

·        A Frustrated Episode

·        A Misunderstanding

·        A Missed Opportunity

·        A Parting or a Beginning

·        A Case for Compassion

·        An Evocative Occasion

·        An Extremity of Emotion

·        The Most Dangerous Time

·        A Breach of Confidentiality

·        A time when I was incapacitated

·        The blowing of the pressure valve

Why Fiction?

Unlike case history, fiction can be dramatic, leap over the boring bits, tackle issues had on; convey ambiguities, complexities and ironic relationships that exist between multiple viewpoints; and side-step the problems of confidentiality and fear of exposure. In short it heads straight for the heart of the matter.

Throughout the course we will maintain the fiction that each piece of writing is fiction.

This preserves confidentiality and confidence.

Further Writing:

·        Read, Extend, Vivify

·        Trust the process; have faith in yourself

When you have finished your first draft, reread all (including the six minutes scribble) you have written with attention: for content rather than form. Be open to perceiving divergent connections - things previously perceived as separate, or inappropriate together. Be open to such underlying links and to fresh understandings and awarenesses. Jot notes in the margins etc..

Fill out the narrative. Check the observation is sufficiently detailed - remember you have five senses - smells and sounds as well as what things looked like can give vital clues. You may want to tell about time of year, discomforts, intuitions, exactly what people said... . Everything that occurs to you is significant.

Ask yourself some of these questions:

·        I. Have you pinpointed the nub of the situation? Is it important enough to you, or are you skirting round the real issue? The most vital issue might be located or clarified by looking down the wrong end of the telescope at a seemingly mundane trivial matter. As with fractals, the tiny recapitulates the great; and it is a great deal easier to concentrate on the small than the unwieldy.

·        II. Notice contrasts within the story.

·        III. Note the way officialese/jargon can be used to conceal.

·        IV. Try not to come to an answer, or even a question - yet.

Reread to yourself with an open, non-judgemental mind.

Note down anything that occurs to you as you read: additions, alterations, deletions, deepening of the narrative, connections between the time when... and the six minute mind-clearing exercise. Then decide how much of this you wish to share... .

 Sharing your Writing with a Peer

Your writing has the power to influence another, and them you.

A peer's thoughts on your reflective writing can open up fresh avenues of thought. They will be able to help you see aspects, which even the illuminating process of writing hadn't highlighted. They will also support you towards deeper levels of reflection, as well as to see your account in a wider context. (Your marriage partner might be the wrong person.)

You may like to share writings with a reader before you email them to all of us , thoughthe Wisdom group is your primary audience, Here are some guidelines:

·        I. Be kind and supportive! Not negative!

·        II. Read and comment on the writing, rather than the person who has written it. You are not reading the work to offer therapy or support for the writer, but to engage with their writing in order to suggest useful and developmental avenues of thought. The safest way of containing the discussion to the writing is to consider the story to be a fiction. If the characters and their actions are fictional, then the reader has as much right to suggest ways of thinking and of developing the writing, as the writer.

·        III. Any written or oral discussion should be confidential to the parties involved, unless they specifically decide otherwise. This will offer sufficient safety for participants to say what they feel and think.

·        IV. The writer should make it clear to the reader/commenter, any particular kind of parameters they have for the discussion.

·        V. Don't apologise for your writing - you are all in the same position - it can become like a competition - who can apologise the most convincingly!

Email us your writing, or share it with a friend/colleague first (with the above guidelines) - this process of exposure does get easier. Enjoy deepening the reflective process - verbally or in writing.

 

 

Developing the Writing

Thinking inhibits creativity: believe it or not! Let it flow.

Rewriting your story, or writing an additional one which reflects upon it, deepens and widens the scope of the understanding this kind of process can offer you. There are a great many reflective questions you can ask of your writing, considered in other units. This section concerns further reflective writing which is in the same mode as the original piece: in story (a time when... .)form. This may well take you excitingly and illuminatingly into the realm of real fiction: playing with what if... . You will be creating a web of related stories, all elucidating the original account.

Here is a list of developmental ideas for you to explore. You may pick an idea from this list, invent a similar one, or wait for the group to make appropriate ones.

·        I. Give your story a title.

·        II. Have protagonists other than the main character aired their opinions and standpoints? Try writing from a different or opposing point of view:

Write a similar story from the point of view of one of the other characters (either someone like, for example, your patient, or an observer to the main events).

·        III. Rewrite the story with the gender of the main character(s) switched.

·        IV. Write the next chapter.

·        V. Write a commentary on your own or another's text, either as yourself or as one of the characters. VI. Retell the story with a different ending / focus, eg happy for sad.

·        VII. Write what a particular character is thinking at any one moment.

·        VIII. Write about a (some) missing character(s). Like a photograph, a story is always an unreal and slim slice of reality - think of the area beyond the frame.

·        IX. Rewrite the story in a different style/genre - a newspaper article / fairy story / narrative poem / children's story....

·        X. Write thought bubbles for vital (or puzzling) characters at significant points in the narrative.

·        XI. Rewrite the story with the focus of control/power altered.

·        XII. You are a reporter: interview a character from the story.

·        XIII. Take a character who's just left the action; what might they be doing/ thinking?

·        XIV. Write a letter from yourself to one of the characters, expressing your puzzlement / anger / sympathy. Write their reply.

·        XV. Write a letter / transcribe a phone conversation between two characters.

·        XVI. List the objects/colours in the story. Are they significant?

·        XVII. Write the story in a range of different genres (eg romance, detective, sci-fi, adventure... .)

·        XVIII. Write a film / dustjacket blurb for the story.

XIX. Explore the area which puzzles you.

·        XX. Continue the story six months / a year later.

·        XXI. Consider asking someone who was involved in the real situation to write their own version; or interview them. 

--
Rakesh Patel
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