developmentoftash

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Bibliography

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Callery, D. (2001). Through the body. 1st ed. London: Nick Hern Books, p.22.

ClearerThinking (2016). What's Your Reasoning Style?. [online] Programs.clearerthinking.org. Available at: http://programs.clearerthinking.org/how_rational_are_you_really_take_the_test.html#.WvQ44C_Mwb0 [Accessed 24 Apr. 2018].

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Google Dictionary (2018). Google Dictionary (by Google). [online] Chrome.google.com. Available at: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-dictionary-by-goog/mgijmajocgfcbeboacabfgobmjgjcoja [Accessed 1 May 2018].

Haynes, B. and Haynes, B. (2017). 21 Reasons Why Goal Setting is Important. [online] Leadtoimpact.com. Available at: http://leadtoimpact.com/21-reasons-why-goals-are-important/ [Accessed 20 Apr. 2018].

JessBeautician (2018). What I Eat in a Day #26 (Vegan/Plant-based) | JessBeautician. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwoV0IWEhVs [Accessed 5 May 2018].

Kalel (2017). what I ate today (VEGAN!). [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AQxt8TbeiY [Accessed 5 May 2018].

Learning-styles-online (2018). Overview of learning styles. [online] Learning-styles-online.com. Available at: https://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview/ [Accessed 5 May 2018].

Merlin, B. (2007). The complete Stanislavsky toolkit. 1st ed. United States of America: Drama Publishers, p.34.

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Oprah.com (2012). Quiz: What's Your Conflict Style?. [online] Oprah.com. Available at: http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Whats-Your-Conflict-Style-Quiz-Dealing-with-Conflict/13 [Accessed 26 Apr. 2018].

PETA (2018). More Reasons to Go Vegan. [online] PETA. Available at: https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/reasons-go-vegan/ [Accessed 4 May 2018].

Smart, N. (2017). 21. What I Eat In A Day | Niomi Smart. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiV3-Tom2_E [Accessed 5 May 2018].

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Executive Summary

As my first year of university comes to an end, I am finding it so fascinating to reflect on how much I have learnt as well as how much has changed over this past academic year. It is safe to say I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the modules so far, I have built up some lovely friendships and not only developed academically, but made a positive progression in my own personal life while experiencing living on my own.

The modules I have studied are Dramatic Theatre, Post-Dramatic Theatre, Contemporary Music Theatre and Physical Theatre, all of which I have been able to learn new techniques and exercises that I will be able to carry on with me throughout future projects. I am very pleased with myself for having one hundred percent attendance for all of my modules and this is something I hope to continue in my second year of university. I was particularly fond of the Dramatic Theatre and Physical Theatre modules. Both are very different styles of performance in that one is very traditional and script based, while the other is a post-modern theatre practice focused on movement rather than text. One thing in particular that has stuck with me since the Dramatic Theatre module is the breathing exercises I practiced in lectures and read about in The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit book I referred to in my Academic and Creative Development post on my blog. This exercise has really enabled me to focus my mind and relax before each performance. The Callery exercises that I learnt in Physical Theatre (also mentioned in the Academic and Creative Development blog post) opened my mind to the idea that you do not have to brainstorm everything, sometimes the best pieces of movement come from improvisation and playing around, known as body-storming.

I am feeling overjoyed with my personal progression so far this year, I have successfully managed to commit to a vegan lifestyle and thanks to my dance lessons as part of the Contemporary Music Theatre module, I have had the motivation to complete short work outs and engage in a lot more exercise than what I was doing prior to starting university. Having said that, I do believe I need to put more effort into going running on a regular basis. One of my goals for my second term was to go on a thirty minute run once a week, which unfortunately I did not stick to as regularly as I had planned due to lack of motivation in the evenings, so this is something that I am willing to improve over summer (see Second Term Goals and Health & Wellbeing: Exercise blog posts). So far, I have been able to complete the majority of the goals I had set myself for the past academic year. I think setting goals and organising a plan has encouraged me to stay focused and driven. I have recently happily accepted a new full-time temporary job back at home for the summer that I secured after creating a goal for myself to do so, which I am eager to start.

Across my first year, there has been some new challenges that I have had to face such as creative blocks, making new friends, lack of sleep and settling in to new surroundings. These proved incredibly hard to tackle at first as I would feel under pressure and stressed, ultimately lowering my mental health. Although I have always enjoyed my lectures, during my first term I felt uneasy as I struggled to fit in because I felt it was difficult to connect with other people on my course. However, after the Christmas and New Year break, I felt refreshed and raring to get stuck into second term. Since then I have felt much happier in myself, plus I have grown much stronger friendships. My creative blocks during devising our Contemporary Music Theatre and Physical Theatre performance's were met with large amounts of stress and frustration. I found it physically and mentally draining. Upon reflection, I think it actually helped that I was under pressure with deadlines at the time of my creative block as I had no choice but to just push through it, luckily panning out successfully in the end. Unfortunately my sleeping pattern has gone from good to bad over the duration of my Performing Arts course but at least it has given me something to focus on over the summer. I can set myself a short-term goal for the summer break to reduce the amount of time spent on my phone before going to bed and perhaps setting a specific time that I have to be in bed by on weekdays to ensure I am getting a full nights sleep throughout the week.

Focussing on the academic year that is ahead of me, I want to continue to be punctual and have a high attendance to lectures as well as rehearsals and personal study time as I think it is important to always be present so that you can absorb as much information as possible to guide you in your work, resulting in high grades that you can be proud of. Over the course of my first year, I have kept a rehearsal log where I write down notes, feedback, doodles and anything that will benefit me in my practical work and theoretical work. I plan to continue to keep a rehearsal log for my second year of university as I find it really helps to be able to look back at previous notes to remember certain information when writing about a specific topic or devising a piece of theatre. My Performing Arts degree will continue to be my main priority and I hope to come back after the summer break, much fitter and ready to work hard and push myself even harder. I am determined to make the most out of my degree, and strive to be the best I can be.

Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at De Montfort University so far and look forward to what's in store in the following years to come. I have noticed myself take on new responsibilities and I have surprised myself at how well I can cope doing job's for myself. I have stayed focused, I have planned ahead, I have set myself personal goals and I feel I have achieved great things within my degree and in my personal life.

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Health & Wellbeing: Sleeping Pattern

I have decided to reflect upon my sleeping habits and patterns across the whole of my first year of university and talk about how my sleeping pattern in first term compares to my sleeping pattern in third term.

Before starting university I worked full time for a private physiotherapy company where I my working hours were 08:30 – 17:30 Monday to Friday every week. Due to having a job with a routined schedule, my body clock naturally formed a reasonable timetable for when I should eat, sleep and work. When I quit my job to start my university degree, I still had the same routine of going to bed at a reasonable time as I was used to falling asleep around 22:30 - 23:00 each night, to then wake up at 07:00 the next morning to get ready for work. Because I was used to falling asleep at this time, this routine continued pretty much throughout my first term at university (aside from a few nights out here and there where I wouldn't get home until around 02:00am at the earliest, but soon enough I would fall back into my usual routine). Therefore throughout my first term, I would get roughly eight hours of sleep most nights, so I wouldn't find it difficult waking up in the mornings and I would feel energised throughout the day. However, there were definitely nights where I would find it incredibly hard to fall asleep due to the noise of the city, and Freshers being awake and partying in my student halls. I tried to socialise and join in with some of the parties to make friends, but the partying did go on for a number of weeks, which I found hard to deal with on nights where I had to be awake early the next morning for a 09:00am lecture. For the entirety of my life, until now, I have lived in a small village fairly near the country-side and do not experience any noise throughout the night, so moving to a city and not being used to noises on the street during the night was a big change that I had to adapt to.

When comparing my sleeping pattern from my first term to my last term during my first year of university, my body clock seems to have changed massively. Once or twice a fortnight I find myself napping in the afternoon because I am ridiculously tired. Considering I never used to be able to sleep during the day, I think this has made a big impact on my sleeping habits. I used to only be able to sleep in silence, but since moving to Leicester there have been nights where I have fallen asleep with my window open and the sounds from the streets have not woken me up. I also sometimes fall asleep whilst watching a film/tv programme which is something I never used to be able to do as the dialogue would keep my brain awake and thinking. Having said that, more recently I don't tend to fall asleep until midnight at the earliest which means I either do not get as much sleep as I used to (if I have to be awake early for lectures) or if it is the weekend, I 'lay in' much later in the mornings. I believe this change has happened due to a number of things:

•I have had more nights out with friends since being at university compared to when I was living at home.

•I am being pushed out of my comfort zone mentally and physically on a regular basis meaning my brain could be more awake for more hours of the day.

•I stay up late looking at social media on my phone

•I talk to my best friend from home on FaceTime for several hours multiple nights a week, which leads to me showering and getting ready for bed later in the night.

To resume to a good sleeping pattern I know that I need to start putting my phone down an hour before I want to fall asleep, as I know that sitting on your phone late at night does not help your brain relax. I also need to start having showers at a more reasonable time, therefore I will be ready for bed earlier.

“Practice a relaxing bedtime ritual. A relaxing, routine activity right before bedtime conducted away from bright lights helps separate your sleep time from activities that can cause excitement, stress or anxiety which can make it more difficult to fall asleep, get sound and deep sleep or remain asleep.”(National Sleep Foundation, 2018: online)

I have found a full time temporary job for the summer with working hours of 09:00 – 17:30 Monday to Friday. I feel that having a daily routine like this will help my body clock get back to a regular pattern and I should, hopefully, find it easier to fall asleep at a more reasonable time at night.

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Time Management

“One of the most effective skills you can have in life is powerful and effective time management. If you're not managing your time well, there's no way you're going to reach your goals at work and the life outside of it. Sure, you might make some progress. But your time management will be an uphill battle if you don't take your time seriously. For people who squander and waste the precious little time they do have, they know all too well how difficult achieving even mildly difficult goals can be.” (15 Time Management Tips for Achieving Your Goals, 2017: online)

I have had one hundred percent attendance throughout my first year of university, I make a conscious effort to be at my lectures ten minutes before the lesson is due to start. I think it is important to always be present and punctual so that you do not miss any valuable information or exercises. In everyday life, I feel that I am able to time manage fairly easily. On the odd occasion I find myself spending more time on a job than what I had expected, however because I tend to plan ahead, I am usually not overly fussed if I run out of time unexpectedly. I try not to leave work until the last minute as I know I do become quite stressed out if I happen to have a tonne of jobs to do so close to a deadline. However, sometimes my jobs do get pushed back slightly if I have been invited on a social event with friends. Before starting university, I used to never be able to turn down a social activity as I hated letting people down and would often give in to the temptation of doing something fun. Although, I do think since the beginning of my Performing Arts course, I have become more focused and there have been times where I have put my work first, and compromised by saying to friends “I will meet up with you later, after I have completed some of my work”. I do think it is important to have a good balance of work and play. It is important to build friendships, especially when you are at university and living away from home. It is good to be work driven, and ambitious, but you have to make time to create relationships with people otherwise over time people will no longer want to spend time with you if you are always turning them down to do other things.

Personally, while I am at university my degree comes first. Therefore, if I do not have time to fit in other commitments that don't count towards course work or my social life, I will place them on the back shelf until I do happen to have time to complete them. To make sure I manage my time effectively, I create a weekly router style plan, where I will write down my commitments and then when I have time and space I will write down little jobs that need to get done on certain days. You can see an example of this in the photograph's above. This helps me to think about my time realistically, and also helps me stay focused on what I need to get done on a day to day basis.

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Health & Wellbeing: Exercise

During our dance lessons in our Contemporary Music Theatre module we were taught movement and dance sequences that we then worked on improving each week. We filmed ourselves and watched the footage back to make notes on what we can do physically to improve our movement. The following week we would then add on extra movement to the dance piece so that we had new material to work and focus on. Unfortunately my videos of the dance will not upload as the files are too big, but I thought I would still include examples of some of my own personal notes, and reflect on how I feel I improved across the weeks. 

Week 1 Dance

Today we learnt the basic routine and rehearsed it so we were comfortable with the movement. After being filmed, I watched myself back and noted down my areas of improvement for next week:

• To learn and practice the sequence so that I am more confident with the movement next week and perform less mistakes. 

• To articulate certain movements, e.g. point fingers/ keep arms straight.

• Keep knee’s apart when bending legs, do not let knee’s come together.

Week 2 Dance

This week, we practiced what we had already learnt, and added on some extra movement to the sequence. Area’s where I have improved since last week:

• Arms are much straighter, movement looks stronger.

• Less mistakes

• The dance as a whole looks much smoother as I am more confident with the movement.

Where I need to improve:

• Work on where my focus needs to be during specific movements.

• Make standing up from being on the floor much smoother. 

• Embellish my movement, e.g. which way does head move when arms drop?

Week 3 Dance

In week 3 we completed the routine and mirrored it so that we performed it once where we move to the left and every gesture starts on the left hand side, then we continue the dance with every gesture being on the right hand side. From last week, I have improved:

• My focus, I can see in the video that I know where I am looking and I am doing it purposefully.

• My movement is much stronger. Although a small mistake when performing the mirrored version of the routine, other than that I moved slick and smoothly.

Things to take on board for future exercises:

I think it has been really beneficial to record ourselves dancing, and be able to watch them back to give ourselves critical feedback. When you are performing you are concentrating so much on what you are doing that sometimes you do not realise little slip ups, or areas where you could improve. Being able to watch yourself back is really handy as you can see yourself from someone else’s perspective. During my dance lessons, I did not actually feel myself hugely improving over the weeks aside from minor improvements such as learning the routine. But when you watch back all three videos at the same time, a couple of weeks down the line, you can see how much better and stronger my performance became each week. 

This is a really useful tip for the future, not just when dancing, but also when it comes to any choreography or direction that you get given for a performance as you can learn from watching yourself back and taking notes on what you need to work on to better your performance. 

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Health & Wellbeing: Exercise

Throughout my teens, when I was studying at high school, I really enjoyed sports. I was very athletic and was one of those annoying people in Physical Education lessons at school that could literally try their hand at any sport and naturally be quite talented at it. It is accurate to say I was a bit of a fitness fanatic! There were times where I would run three to five miles almost every night. I felt fit and healthy. Unfortunately when I left high school, I also left my athletic nature behind. In all honesty, I started to become a lot more lazier, plus started earning my own money which ultimately would get spent on numerous take-aways! At the time I did not notice any different in myself, and did not understand the consequences it would have on my health and my body. Now, four years later, I look back and wonder why I ever gave up sport.

As a child I competed in British gymnastics, went horse-riding, swimming, kick boxing, trampolining, dancing – you name it, I did it! As a teenager I was captain of a local women's football team as well as playing football for Suffolk ladies, but due to work commitments I was forced to give up.

As a twenty-two year old young women I do not exercise nearly as much as I would love to. Currently, I am attempting short twenty minute work outs in my bedroom in the evenings, three nights a week. And jogging no where near as often as I say I would like to. Thanks to my Contemporary Music Theatre module, in my dance lessons I am able to complete a more intense workout that takes place at the beginning of the lesson to help us warm up and stretch our bodies. I enjoy completing this workout as it gives me the motivation I need. I try to push myself each lesson to make sure I complete the workout fully. Our workout started out as:

•Jogging around the room to get us moving and our hearts racing. Then adding skipping and side skipping.

•Thirty Russian twist's.

•Twelve leg lift's.

•Twelve push up's.

•Twelve upper body lift's.

This sequence is repeated three times over, and each week we add on to the amount of each exercise, for example, the first week we completed twelve leg lift's, but the second week we would complete fifteen. This is to help us build our core strength.

I am enjoying the exercise, and want to continue to create an exercise plan for myself to complete over summer. I feel it would be really beneficial for me to become fitter and lose weight, therefore I have decided to go jogging two or three nights a week for twenty to thirty minutes each time. And make best use of my local gym. Two of my brothers have gym memberships at my local gym so it might be a fun activity for my brothers and I to get our teeth stuck into going to the gym one night a week.

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Academic and Creative Development

Before the start of my Performing Arts course I never really had any need to complete large amounts of writing. I finished my college course in mid 2014 and did not start university until late 2017, so I had a good three years out of education where I worked full time. Within this time the only real volume of writing I completed on a daily or weekly basis were sending emails each day. Because of this, I did feel that I would need to have a bit of a refresher on critical writing. I spoke to my personal tutor at the beginning of my first term of university about my struggles of not feeling overly confident in my writing abilities and I was given a small task to write a short review regarding a recent performance I have watched. I enjoyed this task as it helped me to think in a critical manner and gave me the opportunity to spend time analysing, which is a way of thinking that I had not done for some time. I still feel like there is plenty of room for improvement in my essay writing however now that I am three terms into my degree, I do feel like I am slowly learning more and trying to better my performance with each assignment that I complete. I take on feedback willingly so that I can grow and improve. I am aware that I am not the most academic person in my class but I will always try my best.

My creative development has changed hugely throughout my time at university so far. I have always been a creative person so there has never been a time where I felt under confident. I enjoy pushing myself and working hard, which is one of the reasons I chose to study at De Montfort University. De Montfort University's Performing Arts course focuses mostly on contemporary and post-modern theatre – something I have never really performed before. I am used to performing in Musicals in my local theatres back home so I thought it would be interesting to try something new and push my boundaries. During my Contemporary Music Theatre and Physical Theatre modules I did feel my creative juices running low. I found it incredibly hard to devise a piece of theatre based on an area of performance that I had no experience in. I really enjoyed working with my group of peers to create these performances however at times I did feel the group dynamics did not always work. Sometimes the motivation from other members of the group was not all that high, and I found myself struggling mentally and physically to come up with ideas and movements that the entire group would be on board with. Most of the time throughout the Contemporary Music Theatre module, I felt like I would be the only person in the group to suggest ideas which made it very tiring for me, and towards the end of rehearsals I would feel drained, like a sponge had been rinsed, I would be all out of ideas. This was very hard to cope with as I do not think I have ever experienced a creative block before. What made it especially difficult is that we were on a time limit to create a fifteen minute performance in about four to five weeks. Eventually, we managed to work together to compromise resulting in a performance that we all enjoyed. But when we then moved on to our Physical Theatre Module, we only had three weeks to devise a fifteen minute long piece of Physical Theatre. At times, I did see myself slipping back into that stressed out state of mind where I began to have creative blocks, however I do feel like our group dynamic worked smoother the second time around. Although sometimes the motivation from certain members of the group were still fairly low, everybody was willing to body-storm and create great work. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the Physical Theatre module much more as I had masses of fun creating a thrilling and sinister piece based upon possession and spirits. Our final performance was named Ouija.

Over the course of my first year I have learnt several techniques that I have found interesting and helpful that I have and/or will be able to use in future projects to develop my work. One example of techniques I have learnt to help improve my performance are the breathing techniques I read about in The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit. Using breathing techniques to slow down your breathing can really help you relax and focus before a performance. Due to nerves you tend to have a lot of adrenaline pumping through your body which can sometimes make you forget actions/dialogue or can make your performance more sped up. By taking the time to focus on your breathing it allows you to think and concentrate on the performance you are about to give.

“You have no choice- you've got to breathe. And, as most meditational practices reveal, breathing is closely allied to relaxation.” (Merlin, 2007: 34)

Additionally, I learnt exercises in my Physical Theatre module that have enabled me to body-storm. Callery talks about exercises in her book Through The Body and gives you step by step instructions to help you identify your body and articulate your movement. I found these exercises beneficial as they build up your energy, move your body and use your awareness.

“Increasing awareness improves physical sensibility. Observing the sensations of different movements, noticing how the body responds to each articulation and how these responses affect the inner being, promotes understanding of fundamental basic sensations used in acting.”(Callery, 2001: 22)

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Third Term Goals

This is my third and final term of my first year at De Montfort University. For my final term I will be studying the Physical Theatre module. This module includes working in groups to devise our own physical theatre performance and learning how to edit music and sound to make our own soundtracks/soundscapes. The following goals are my targets for this final module.

Third Term:

Short-term Goal:

My short-term goal for my final term is to make sure my group have discussed and agreed on an idea for our physical theatre performance before we break up for Easter. Since starting our third term we have a week of lectures before the Easter break, where we will each be split off to go back home and see our families/to work/etc. By the time we come back from the Easter break we will only have about three-to-four weeks left before we perform our piece, therefore it will be a good idea for us to have a solid idea and plan so that when we are reunited after Easter, we can put that plan into action and spend more time actually rehearsing. To make this possible, my goal is to have a group chat set up on Facebook by the end of this week so that we can all communicate and discuss ideas even if we're apart. Furthermore, we will arrange to meet for an hour before the end of this week so that we can play around with ideas and exercises that will help us in our devising process.

Mid-term Goal:

To have my brothers birthday presents bought before I go home to celebrate his eighteenth birthday is my mid-term goal. This is obviously a personal goal and not overly ambitious, but it is something that I have been thinking about as he will be celebrating his eighteenth birthday this year, I have wanted to do something special and thoughtful. Originally I wanted to buy him tickets for an 'experience' such as a 'segway in the forest' experience near our hometown or tickets to see a comedian live, etc. however as I am a student and currently do not earn much money, this seemed a little too ambitious as it's highly unlikely I would be able to afford either of those things. That's when I had the creative idea to buy my brother eighteen little gifts. My plan is to create a list of eighteen things my brother enjoys and see if I can find him a small gift that relates to that idea – even if it's just an item of food! Surprisingly, it is actually quite difficult to think of eighteen separate gifts for someone when you're on a budget. As my brother will be celebrating his birthday with a big family (and friends) party on Saturday 28thApril, I will be heading home for the weekend to celebrate with my family, meaning I need to have all of my brothers presents bought by that point. At this moment, I have roughly six/seven weeks to buy the presents, so my target is to have a list of eighteen present ideas written down within the next three weeks, and then to have all the presents bought in the following four weeks. To do this, I will put aside two-three hours each weekend to go into town and buy appropriate presents.

Long-term Goal:

I would like to have a job back at home over summer so that I can earn money, and be able to save some money up for when I start my second year of university. So that I can start attending interviews when I finish my first year of university, I will begin to look and apply for jobs in and around the Ipswich area around the end of April, giving me a good three weeks to apply and prepare myself for any interviews or opportunities that might come my way. To find local vacancies, I will be using indeed.com. I have used this website before and it helped me find my most recent job before starting university. I will start looking for jobs around three weeks before the summer break, and spend a maximum of 4 hours a week looking and applying for preferred jobs.

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My Learning Styles

“The Seven Learning Styles

Visual (spatial):You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.

Aural (auditory-musical):You prefer using sound and music.

Verbal (linguistic):You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.

Physical (kinaesthetic):You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.

Logical (mathematical):You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems.

Social (interpersonal):You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.

Solitary (intrapersonal):You prefer to work alone and use self-study.”

(Learning-Styles-Online, 2018: online)

Personally, I see myself using a number of the different learning styles. I have always known that I am someone that learns better when I am being physically shown something, whether that be a demonstration via video or in person. My brain seems to absorb more information if I can see an example of something, or if I can move around physically to express my own ideas. I am very much a visual person, if I go to watch a performance, usually the main area I focus on which determines whether I think a performance is good or not is whether it was visually and aesthetically entertaining or not. I enjoy reading, but I have never been all that good at it. At school I always used to feel like every one could read so much faster than me, and still to this day I have to read and examine text thoroughly for my brain to take it all in. This is why I prefer to have somebody explain something to me verbally rather than read a mountain of text off a sheet of paper. Often when I try to read it just feels like I am looking at letters scattered around a page, and my brain finds it difficult to absorb the correct information. I enjoy pictures, sound and physical movement, therefore I believe my learning style is a mixture between Visual, Aural and Physical.

I learnt throughout my Dramatic Theatre module at De Montfort University that I can actually remember dialogue rather easily. At first, if I am unfamiliar with a script I do find it hard to read, yet once I have learnt my cues I find it easy to remember my lines. As I had to play Abigail Williams and Judge Danforth in our performance of The Crucible, I worried at first about having a large number of lines to learn. But once I had rehearsed my cues with other people in the scene and choreographed movement to match my dialogue, I found that my lines would flow much smoother. I think this links to the Aural learning style. When I hear someone resite a piece of text to me, my brain automatically learns what comes next. This is why I am able to remember ridiculous amounts of movie quotes. Even when I watch a film that I have not watched in years, I can still remember certain dialogue throughout the film because the sounds and words resinate with me. To this day, if I hear a song that I used to listen to and had on an album as a child, I can still remember what song would come next on the CD's song list. I think this is because my brain enjoys sounds like dialogue, song lyrics and melodies. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always had a creative mind. I much prefer art and music to mathematical equations. Colour and sound is way more interesting and expressive to me than letters and numbers.

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My Commitments

At the moment I really do not have all that many commitments. My degree comes first while I am at university, so whatever I do not have time for aside from course work does tend to get pushed aside. I try to spend a good couple of hours at least every week with friends outside of lectures to talk about things other than our work. I think it's important to de-stress and have a good laugh with friends away from your work.

I do create a weekly schedule for myself (which I will touch upon more in my Time Management blog post) so that I can give myself a rough plan for the week ahead. I write out my timetable boldly and hang it on my notice board so that I am always aware of when I need to be in lessons. I then use a weekly planner to note down any little jobs that need to get done throughout the week, as well as any social activities. That way I can see when I'm going to be busy and when I have spare time. Even though I may not be in timetabled lectures, a lot of my time throughout my modules so far has been spend rehearsing in my own time. My class would get together a lot of the time to rehearse throughout our Dramatic Theatre and Post-Dramatic Theatre modules in first term as we were working in large groups to direct and choreograph sequences. I found this very fun although sometimes quite frustrating as there would always be a large number of people in each scene, so there would be distractions as so many people would meet in a studio at one time.

I would like to try and find myself a part time job to have while I am at university, however so far this academic year I seem to have just found myself to be so busy and time has slipped by so quickly, especially as I currently still feel like I am settling in to Leicester. So I have not yet had the opportunity to search for a job. If I do not manage to find a job this academic year, I most certainly want to find a job for my second and third year of my degree.

[developmentoftash]

Health & Wellbeing: Diet

I came across these video’s online which have helped and inspired me to come up with my own vegan recipes, as well as some meal ideas for me to try to duplicate.

[developmentoftash]

Health & Wellbeing: Diet

I came across these video’s online which have helped and inspired me to come up with my own vegan recipes, as well as some meal ideas for me to try to duplicate.

[developmentoftash]

Health & Wellbeing: Diet

I came across these video’s online which have helped and inspired me to come up with my own vegan recipes, as well as some meal ideas for me to try to duplicate.

[developmentoftash]

Health & Wellbeing: Diet

Food and Diet:

Since the age of nine years old I have been on a vegetarian diet (someone who does not eat any meat and other animal products). At the time of writing this, it is currently January 2018, I am officially twenty-two years old and therefore I have been on a meat-free diet for the last thirteen years. This year, I have decided to set myself the New Years Resolution to eat more vegan foods. Veganism is something I have been curious to try for a couple of years now, and having done a little bit of research I feel inspired to attempt a vegan diet.

VEGAN

ˈviːɡ(ə)n/

noun

noun:vegan; plural noun: vegans

1.a person who does not eat or use animal products.

(Google Dictionary, 2018: online)

I initially became a vegetarian as I hated the idea of killing and eating an animal. But what I had never realised until late 2017, is how poorly animals are usually kept in farms such as dairy farms. The thought of animals not being treated fairly is something that makes me feel so uncomfortable and angers me. For that reason, I have taken it upon myself to start a cruelty-free diet. Now I am not saying I am going to completely cut out dairy for the rest of my life, as I know that even the most strict of vegans have minor slip ups due to unknowingly eating a little bit of butter or milk here and there. But I am willing to try out this new lifestyle and create a weekly food shop based upon non-animal products.

“When you add up the damage that the meat industry does to our health, the environment, and animals, the question isn’t really “Why should I go vegan?”—it’s “Why wouldn’t I go vegan?”” (PETA, 2018: online)

As I am a student, this does mean that I can be on a bit of a budget. Each week I plan out what meals I would like to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, then make a list of all the foods/ingredients that I need to buy in my weekly food shop. This way I don't find myself going astray, and I stick to what I have written on the list so I can stay on track of how much money I am spending on food each week. I try to buy ingredients to cook at least one meal from scratch per week. I really enjoy cooking and baking, but with being on a budget, there is only so much items I can buy each week which is why I don't cook from scratch every night.

[developmentoftash]

Second Term Goals

These are my personal goals I set for myself at the beginning of my second term of my first year at university.

Second Term:

Short-term Goal:

I would like to spend more time building friendships outside of lectures. Now that I am starting my second term at university I feel there should be more time spent getting to know my classmates away from lessons. If I am only interacting with people within lesson, I don't actually get the opportunity to have personal conversations and build personal connections with other people as our main focus in lesson is our work. I think it is important to not only talk about work but to hang out with people and have fun as friends rather than co-workers, otherwise you are not taking the time to get to know one another if your only conversations solely rely on creating work. After my first term of university, I have become comfortable with my surroundings and worked with my classmates enough to know who I get on with the most in class. Now that our timetables have changed for second term, the class groups have been altered meaning there will be new people in my class that I have not yet worked with or socialised with, therefore it is the perfect opportunity to make new friends.

To make this possible, I am going to set aside at least two hours a week for the next term to socialise with people. Those two hours will be spent either going into town, chatting over a coffee, inviting someone to come round my flat, etc. Hopefully, by the end of the term, I will have built up established friendships with other members of my new class.

Mid-Term Goal:

Before the end of my second term at De Montfort University, it would be beneficial to have watched more live performances, especially as I am now studying Contemporary Music Theatre where by the end of the module I will have had to devise and perform my own Contemporary Music piece. As I do not have a lot of experience in Contemporary theatre, I think it would be valuable for me to watch more contemporary performances. My goal is to watch at least three different local performances by contemporary artists within the next two months. I have set three performances as my minimum as I cannot afford to spend lots of money on theatre tickets, plus I want to spend my time wisely and productively, so I do not want to pre-book tickets for a bunch of performances that I will not be able to attend due to scheduled rehearsal time for our own Contemporary Music Theatre performance.

Long-Term Goal:

Following on from my long-term goal from my First term, I want to continue to get fitter. However, to make this terms goal a little more driven, I will be adding on a mini twenty minute work out that I will complete in the evenings at least three nights a week, before going to bed. As well as going for a thirty minute run once a week, I will be completing my own small work out consisting of ten lots of core twists, ten push up's, ten kickback's and ten cross body crunches, then repeated three times over. I will complete this work out three nights a week. I found this work out on Instagram @fitonomyapp, which suggests this work out will help you build core strength. (fitonomyapp, 2018: online)

[developmentoftash]

My Conflict Style

“Whenever people need to work together, as a part of a team or collaborative unit, it’s almost inevitable that conflicts, arguments, and disagreements will arise.

We all have our own specific wants, needs, ideas, and opinions that we project when we work with others. Sometimes, these ideas and desires will mesh well with the people around us. Sometimes, they won’t. . . And that’s where tensions may arise.” (Mindvalley, 2018: online)

I came across a blog post by Mindvalley which explains and identifies what conflict management is and the importance of conflict resolution.

“Conflict management is the fair navigation of conflict. Conflict resolution involves the reduction or termination of conflict. In fact, some forms of conflict resolution seek to avoid the potential for conflict to arise in the first place.” (Mindvalley, 2018: online)

I took a light-hearted quiz based upon conflict styles to discover what my conflict style is like and how I can work on my conflict management, however I do not feel this was a very accurate answer:

“Cucumbers have nothing on your cool facade—even when you're hurt or stressed, your smile doesn't waver. But people-pleasing can be a dead end: Your opponent doesn't know what you truly want, and you're mad at yourself for saying one thing when you mean another. Rules of Engagement:Stating what you really think may feel abrasive at first, but it grows easier with time. If you're flustered by a request, resist a knee-jerk assent. Instead, use a set answer—"Let me check my calendar first"—so you can respond after giving it some thought. If you feel pressured to bow to someone's opinion, an empathetic statement ("I understand where you're coming from") can placate an opponent without compromising your stance.” (Quiz: What's Your Conflict Style?, 2012: online)

For me, I do not feel a connection with this result as I am quite an honest person. I do feel like I am pretty chilled out, I don't easily get offended and I very rarely ever get wrapped up in drama or gossip. I don't like to take life too seriously. Although, I can sometimes become rather stressed when it comes to deadlines. I worry about having a good amount of work done, and being able to complete things on time to a high enough standard. The response about feeling pressured to bow to somebodies opinion is very inaccurate when applied to my own actions. I value other peoples opinions and belief's, and love hearing my peer's thought's, however I am not someone who would hide how I really feel towards something. Therefore, if I disagree on an opinion or dislike an idea, I will be honest about it. That doesn't necessarily mean that I rage over it, but I will try to politely offer an alternate route. In fact, there are a number of occasions where I will say the phrase “I understand where you are coming from...” (as suggested in the quiz results). In fairness, I do not enjoy conflict, and I suppose I would avoid it if I could, but that does not mean that I will agree with someone just to be on their good side. I will happily disagree and create a discussion, but in a way that I try not to create a heated argument.

I think discussion and disagreement is important, especially when working in groups with different people. It shows each others interests and highlights what people are passionate about. I think it is also very important to understand that just because two people are having a discussion, it does not mean that they are having an argument or that they are no longer going to be civil with one another. A discussion is fine as long as you're willing to negotiate. I think disagreeing with each other when working in a group is actually quite important, as it helps everyone put their own ideas into play, and makes everyone compromise and work together as a team to create an outcome.

[developmentoftash]

First Term Goals

I have decided to create and set myself goals for the duration of my first year at university. This is to help me stay focused and motivated, but also so that by the end of my first year I will be able to measure my level of success by how many of my goals I managed to either stay on-top-of or completed. I will set myself 3 goals per term, short-term, mid-term and long-term.

First Term:

Short-term Goal:

My short term goal for my first term is to make sure I have learnt all of my lines and choreography for The Ible within a week of receiving the dialogue/direction. This is so that I can focus on perfecting the movement and speech sooner, and not have to panic about what I need to do or worry about what comes next during the performance. I want to receive a good grade, and be confident that I performed to the best of my abilities, without getting flustered.

To complete this goal, I will try to absorb as much information as I can when it is given to me, as well as writing plenty of notes. But I shall also put aside 30 minutes, 3 days a week, to rehearse and run over lines/movement either in my bedroom on my own, or with friends.

Mid-term Goal:

My Mid-term goal is to have completed all of my Christmas shopping before I go home for Christmas. I would like to have my Christmas present shopping bought and wrapped before my term ends, and I go back to my family home for Christmas on 16thDecember. It is important for me to stay on top of my Christmas shopping this year as I am not working, so I need to make sure I do not over-spend. Also, in previous years I have rushed around at the last minute to complete my Christmas shopping which would fuel me with stress.

To have all my Christmas presents bought before the 16thDecember, I have decided to start my Christmas shopping in October this year. And my plan is to go into town every weekend, for a couple of hours, to buy or make a mental note of products that I feel would make good presents for my family and friends. I have decided to create a list of present idea's for loved ones. Once I have bought one of the gifts on the list, I can cross it off. That way I can stay on top of what I have already bought and what still needs to be purchased, so I can keep an eye on how much money I am spending.

Long-term Goal:

By the time I start my second term, after Christmas, I want to feel a lot fitter and more energetic. Therefore, my long-term goal is to make more effort to exercise and try to sustain a relatively healthy diet. With Christmas just around the corner, it is easy to over-eat and forget how much junk you are eating/drinking, especially since it is the season to be merry! I am not ruling out unhealthy food altogether, because come on – who doesn't love to whack out the Quality Street's?! But I want to pay more attention to HOW much I am eating, and make sure to keep a relatively balanced diet. I also think it is important to stay fit, as I will be starting to have more dance lessons as part of my Performing Arts course [after Christmas] I would like to feel certain that I am starting the new term feeling fitter. This is so that I can work to my full potential and be able to push myself even further. To keep up with this goal, my plan is to write down a little list each time I eat fruit/veg. I will not be making a note of ALL foods I eat, as I can imagine, what with it being Christmas it's going to be hard to do so, but so that I stay focused on having a balanced diet, my goal is to make sure I have written down at least five different fruit/veg that I have eaten each day leading up to Christmas and New Year. Adding to that, I will go for a thirty minute run at least once a week. Currently, I do not run, and have always struggled with cardiovascular endurance, therefore I feel it would be beneficial for me to start running small amounts each week. Once I am back at university starting my second term, I can then build the running up and go more frequently.