For someone who hasn’t had a lot of experience regarding ‘formal reflection’ in the past I found this whole idea of online blogging a bit daunting. The process of vocalising my thoughts and personal feelings towards a certain subject for all to see was seen as a challenge. I am definitely someone who gathers thoughts in my head and when it comes to putting it down into words I find it slightly uncomfortable. My past blogs on my Eportfolio have seen me sit on the fence and you could say I have adopted a democratic standpoint and went with the general consensus beliefs. However, after reading some of my peers blogs for inspiration I see that they are starting to form very strong independent views which I can only guess will benefit them hugely in their future professional career. They are able to question professional viewpoints and question the world of teaching in terms of why there are certain teaching methods and why some areas of the Curriculum are not as valued as others. It was nice to see the contrast in the posts blogged by peers from topics they liked to ones that they feared. It was reassuring to see that my peers were blogging about topics that they do not feel confident with equally as much as the ones that they feel passionate about as opposed to shying away and becoming complacent.   

It was interesting amongst these blogs to also read about topics that go beyond our course, for example one blog I came across was about an issue which is happening down in England regarding children and obesity which is a very common problem all over the United Kingdom. This has spurred me on to really start to engage in reflecting on areas outwith the course for example I love to watch documentaries which could easily relate to problems occurring in the Primary School. I have decided that I am going to make more of an effort to go beyond what is prescribed (TDT tasks and reading tasks) and really make a conscious effort to start forming my own opinion and most importantly writing and reflecting on them afterwards. I have taken it upon myself to buy a notepad which I am going to keep purely for personal reflection. I am going to make an effort to reflect after each input on what were the key points in that lecture/workshop and how do I feel about them. This will hopefully spark more questions in my head and I will be focussed on finding out more by engaging in extra reading and hopefully it will help me come to more of a standpoint which will really mature me as a student.