Dear class,

I will encourage all of you to keep a personal journal. Since all of you own a laptop, you can simply type your thoughts into a Microsoft Word document and save it, using the date as the filename and it will be good if you can keep them within a folder, and name it as “My Personal Journal”. You can then pen your journal at the end of each day at home.

Some of you might be wondering about the reasons for penning an additional journal alongside your journal for the lesson. This is because the journal for the lesson reflects your understanding of what you have learnt in class. However, this personal journal goes beyond your understanding of the lesson. In fact, it will enable you to understand yourself, especially when it comes to your communication and working style. 

Some questions that you might like to explore will be:

• Have you encountered any special incident (such as a remarkable achievement or a sudden insight) during the lesson?
• Do you happen to take on a different responsibility or role (such as a coordinator) for the lesson? What difference does it make? Do you have any difficulty coping with this change? If so, how are you going to adapt to such changes?
• Have you met some team mates who have different viewpoints from yourself? How did you resolve these differences in opinion?
• In your discussion with your friends, how is the progress like? Can you identify the different working styles of your team mates? How did you reconcile the differences and strike a consensus when you disagree with any of them?
• At the end of the lesson, do you have any sudden insight with regards to the lesson? Write them down if there are.
• How do you usually manage your time? Is it efficient? If not, what can you do about it?

Review what you have written on a regular basis (weekly, fortnightly, monthly etc) to enhance your own understanding of yourself.

The list of areas that you can explore is indeed inexhaustible. Nevertheless, I hope that all of you are able to explore any uncharted terrain to the best of your abilities. This is one of the few ways that you can improve through self-understanding.