Reimagining the Diary: Reflective practice as a positive tool for educator wellbeing
If you’re in education, then you know that while there are many positives to the profession, it is also facing many challenges. This easy-to-use, accessible, and entertaining book shows us how diary-keeping can help us gain insight into our wellbeing needs and move forward in our lives, personally and professionally.
This book is the perfect starting point to explore what reflective practice means to you. From an overview of diary-keeping and why it’s important for educator wellbeing, to plenty of practical tips, strategies, and activities for you to try out yourself, it is filled with simple pragmatic guidance to help make diary-keeping a sustainable part of your practice.
Reimagining the diary – to include writing, drawing, audio recordings, photographs, scrapbooking, and other approaches – is not only fun and creative, but essential when it comes to understanding yourself and your own complex needs.
By adopting small changes in a way that suits you, you can start to address your individual wellbeing needs and rebalance your work and, more importantly, your life.
This book is the perfect starting point to explore what reflective practice means to you. From an overview of diary-keeping and why it’s important for educator wellbeing, to plenty of practical tips, strategies, and activities for you to try out yourself, it is filled with simple pragmatic guidance to help make diary-keeping a sustainable part of your practice.
Reimagining the diary – to include writing, drawing, audio recordings, photographs, scrapbooking, and other approaches – is not only fun and creative, but essential when it comes to understanding yourself and your own complex needs.
By adopting small changes in a way that suits you, you can start to address your individual wellbeing needs and rebalance your work and, more importantly, your life.
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
I loved this book. I am a committed diary keeper, but very much hope that Lucy's powerful message reaches all those whose preconceptions about what diary keeping involves might deter them from considering the practice. In her impressively referenced, research-informed, balanced and realistic consideration of how the diary can be 're-imagined', Lucy explores a wide range of strategies for using a dairy/journal/record which is bespoke and personal, aligned with our own choices and context. She offers a wealth of practical suggestions, tips and actionable guidance as to how the reader can make a diary work for them, and why it is a worthwhile use of our time and energy. Lucy explains in an entertaining, accessible and compelling way how such a record can support our reflection, help us to process our experiences and our response to them, and serve as an invaluable 'safety-valve' and source of relaxation and ease.
Lucy exhorts us to prioritise ourselves and create the space for intentional reflective practice, which she believes is key to helping educational professionals find a manageable and sustainable balance in their lives. She asserts, "I want this book to help you fall in love with diary-keeping - whether that's for the first time, a second time, or a third time." It certainly worked for me, and I am confident it will work for others.
Kelly draws on an extensive body of knowledge about humanity and our connection to the written form to create a unique guide to understanding the process of teaching. Teaching is not a role that we can ever truly perfect, as our variable (children) is such an unpredictable one. Instead, Kelly focuses our attention on developing an awareness of the process of reflection, enabling teachers to look back retrospectively and see their sustained development over time, thus leading to a sense of healthy well-being. A special read for teachers and leaders.