Reflective practice involves raising a thoughtful eye on oneself and the families in which we are immersing ourselves, allowing us to gain self-awareness and deepening insight into the families we are researching.
We do this when reflecting on practice during the month in Pains and Gains and when developing depth of understanding through our writing of family stories. Interested in finding out more about reflection?
Read article this was drawn from Mortari, L (2015) Reflectivity in Research Practice – an Overview of Different Perspectives - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1609406915618045
1. Length of time of submissions suggested when there are eg. over 8 people present - 3 minutes for Pains and Gains, 6 minutes for Family Stories
2. A thoughtful approach to sharing information about others in our stories and also if talking with others about our class.
‘In Search Of…' is the first topic for 2023 - ’Have you found yourself needing to search extensively for someone who holds a fairly central place in your family tree? Begin by describing the details you had at the beginning of your search. How did you apply yourself to get a better sense of their lives and their relationship with other people? What did you find out? Choose someone you haven't written about before.’
‘Time Travelling!’ is the alternative topic - 'Have you ever felt that you have been time travelling into the lives or your ancestors, or that you have grown very close to a particular person or family in your family tree? Share this experience with the group.'
International Women’s Day falls in March. In the past (though not in February', we’ve noticed a tendency towards ‘his’ stories, so this March we’ve chosen the topic 'Her Story'
‘Her Story’ The chance to write about a woman in your family research you have come to admire; someone who has struggled and prevailed; perhaps someone who experienced a family or other tragedy, or multiple tragedies; someone who fought for women's stories to prevail; who participated in the woman's movement; who had a particular gift which she shared with the world or other theme which you feel pertinent.
Or
The ‘G+’ (female) Collection
Add a new story your ‘G+’ collection. Write about a (great, great great, or even great, great, great) grandmother or aunt you haven’t written about previously.