Free_Writing_Skill

This first essay is about developing a free writing skill about my thoughts on xxxx. I enjoyed writing this way because this is my first time studying again after a very long time and also first time of writing freely without anything or topic in mind. Initially it was very difficult for me at the beginning, but I was able to overcome my angst after allowing my thoughts to flow freely. I started thinking about my life story and becoming a social worker or a youth mentor. My life story talks about my past (history about me), what I undergo as a child, my identity then and now, my values and my family. I started thinking of becoming a social worker when I did voluntary work for Milton Keynes Citizen Advice Bureau; I wanted to give something back to the community where I live. I spent most of my childhood with my grandmother, and not until I started KMDA and GMZ that I understood what attachment meant and at the same time see things differently. Reflecting now on my past life from childhood till now, everything is similar to most of what I read in the books. In addition, this ‘free’ writing skill made me forgot about the ‘traditional expectations’ of good writing and I did allow my thoughts to flow back to my identity and the identity given to me by my family. I had time to reflect on my prejudices and just kept on writing. I wrote about my experiences, what it meant to me and how it has affected my live. The way I define myself is very important to me than the way I am seen by people or the ascribed identity they give to me. There is a big similarity between KMDA and GMZ, because they are almost parallel to each other in context. All this require my ability to draw upon knowledge and be able to use to think about or reflect about being a social worker in the sense of it or in practice. Another thoughts about this writing skills that came to my mind, was how it brought back my ‘thinking’ skills, I can now analyse things and situation better, because there was no guidelines, and things were just writing down in a simple way, it was like day dreaming on paper. And I believe the knowledge and theory that will be achieved from writing this will make me more effective as a social worker or youth mentor. It has also help me develop self awareness, because it has encouraged me to think about ‘myself’, what I am and how I become what I am today. This kind of writing is relevant to my writing KMDA because it has given me an experience that I have had in my personal life. According to Boud and Knights (1996) who has described reflection in three phases - “returning to an experience, attending to feelings connected to the experience and re-evaluating the experience through recognising its implications and outcomes” indicates that “reflection is not only about making connections with knowledge (cited Gearing, KMDA, p.48). This experience is very vital in making the connections for me to work through KMDA profitable, while at the same time managing my critical awareness so that my reflective practice can be developed. Finally, it will help show that I can reflect more; this type of writing is more enjoyable to me than the traditional way with strict guidelines. It will also help build up my confidence in reflective writing and also make KMDA easier to grasp and more enjoyable.