Moving forward with Module 3

Module 3

Blog post 2

Moving forward, planning and research.

So, over the last few weeks since receiving my feedback I’ve been busy trying to stick to my schedule by creating a GANNT chart. It’s been useful and I’m determined to stick to it.

I’ve been busy trying to find reliable sources for my research and I’ve set up my first interview. I’m a little nervous about the interview and I’m still not 100% sure on my questions I’m going to ask. I’m hoping that from this first interview it will give me more ideas and information to move forward in my inquiry and maybe produce further questions to ask in my next lot of interviews.

The next thing I need to do is set up my SIGG group. The last time I set up a SIGG group it wasn’t very successful! I just wondered if any one has any helpful hints, tips or ideas on how to get the most feedback/response out of there SIGG group?

I feel like I’m finally moving through into phase 2 and at the moment everything seems clear I just hope when I gathered all my information I don’t get too overwhelmed trying to analyse it all!

Reflecting on Module 2

Module 3

Blog 1

Reflecting on Module 2

During Module 2 I was extremely busy and manically trying to find time to get everything done! I didn’t make any online tutorials, didn’t have much time for my Blog or reading others Blog posts. I was completely overwhelmed and not sure if I was going to get everything completed never mind knowing if I was getting it right or understanding properly as to what was required from my proposal.

I passed Module 2 and got a decent mark so I was thrilled. However, after receiving my feedback I realised that my proposal was quite one sided. I realised I was basing the whole thing on what I already know and not looking at the bigger picture!

Feedback is always a good thing but sometimes trying to understand how you can apply feedback to an already existing idea can be hard. However, after a one to one with my tutor and after finally attending some online sessions I have realised it doesn’t change what I’m doing its only going to enhance it!

I’m going to expand on my initial question by looking at regulations and professionalism on both sides of the dance sector and gathering as much information as I can to see if I can answer my question and to gain a greater understanding and knowledge than I already have.

On reflection, even though I passed module 2 and worked my hardest, compared to my mark in Module 1 my results for Module 2 does reflect that the online sessions, Blog posts, reading and communicating with others is a helpful and vital tool in gaining greater understanding of what your trying to achieve and offers support and suggestions of how you may improve.

Ok so over the last couple of weeks I've been reading and researching to try and find my question for my proposal.
I still don't have a definitive question but I do feel like I'm heading in the right direction!
So here is some of what I've been up to!
First of all I set up my SIG group, now in theory this seemed like a great idea! I added lots of different dance professionals that I have either worked or trained with and posed a few different questions to them in the hope that their responses and answers would help me narrow down which direction my question might evolve. However only 1 person actually responded which was a little disappointing!

Has anyone else had problems getting responses and conversation going with their SIG?

I thought I would write the same questions on here and would really love to hear your responses!

1. What effect does reality T.V such as dance moms have on students and how does this impact on the demand of the dance teacher and school?

2. How relevant is acrobatic dance and gymnastics in the dance world and training today?

3. Does acrobatic dance and gymnastics have any impact or advantage when it comes to dance employment?

4. Does acrobatic dance and gymnastics have a positive or negative effect on a dancers technique?

5. What impact are unqualified dance teachers having on students and how does this affect teachers who are qualified?

6. Should the private dance sector be regulated?

The more I look at and read these questions the more I feel that these can all be connected In my question when I eventually figure out what that is!

I also decided to help me try and make things a little clearer I would look at key words I had used in my questions and brainstormed ideas that went around those words such as:

Acro dance

Qualified teachers

Quality

Progression

Regulated.

I also made up a list of pros and cons about gymnastics and Acro dance as well as trying to find some literature to gain some clarity on the subjects I had been looking at. I'll be posting some of my findings in my next Blog.

I've also discovered after reading reader 4 that I work within an inter disciplinary context, that I need to do qualitative research and I'm also going down the route of participant observation to gain more accurate subject knowledge.

I'm interested to see if others of you are trying these avenues of research and how you have found it helps you. Or is there another avenue of research others can recommend for me to try?

Module 2 The Question!

Hi Everyone,

Well aftera nice long break for the summer i am back and ready to begin Module 2 of my BAPP.
Throughout this Module we have to begin to find our question that we will use for our professional inquiry.
Now for a while over and over the summer and towards the the start of the new academic year i have begun to notice a particular demand for Acrobatic dance and gymnastics skills.
As i am not qualified in this genre i have found this has posed a particular quandry for me as a teacher in two ways really.

1. other dance schools in my area seem to offer these classes and so many of pupils are branching out to other schools therefore potentialy threatening loss of buisness.

2.the increased risk of injury to pupils as they experiment at home without proper training or supervision.


This has led me to lots of different avenues of thinking.

• how can dance schools possibly keep up with the demand of the latest fads and trends?
• do i do the course to become qualified to join the trend and please the masses, even thogh ethicly it might not be something i agree with?
• why is traditional dance no longer good enough for parents and students 

After having all these thoughts and being unsure as to how to move forward as a teacher in this area i have begun to write out and explore possible questions for my propsal for my professional inquiry whihc have now been posed to my SIG group.

I already have professionals from outside the course on my SIG but it would be nice to see how others feel about this on the course.

I wondered if anyone else has ever felt the same way as me and if so maybe you might like to join my SIG group?!

I look forward to hearing peoples feedback and am intrigued to see other peoples interests as we move forward in Module 2.

Relective thinking and how this enhances my learning experiences

So for this part of module 1 we have been asked to keep a reflective journal and see how this enhances our learning.

I know a lot of people find this tricky but for me reflection is part of who I am and something I do pretty much everyday so starting a reflective journal was a satisfying task!

Now I would describe myself as an over thinker who probably reflects too much ( although how do we know when we are over reflecting?)

I often find myself reflecting in the car or first thing in the morning when I'm brushing my teeth and not just about recent events it could be reflecting back over a number of weeks, months or even years! I find this really useful to improving not only my skills as a dance teacher but also in reflecting on myself and the kind of person I am and want to be.

The only negative side to this is that I find it hard to switch off.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Take for example writing this blog or setting up my you tube account I just decided to give it a go , throw myself in at the deep end and use my previous experiences of using social media such as Facebook to aid me in finding a way to get started! And only after seeing people's reactions to my posts and having time to reflect afterwards do I feel I've truly learned what I need to to move forward and improve on my blogging skills. 

This is much the same for many areas of my professional practice . So I have come to the conclusion that I reflect off action - after the fact! Time to digest, reflect and then act!

Does anyone else find this is the way they reflect?

However when it comes down to teaching my dance classes I do use in action- online reflection. Teach, observe, correct, see the improvement and this has been part of my teacher training. 

Does anyone else use both online and off line reflection to enhance their teaching and choreographic skills?

So back to the reflective diary , as my brain reflects so quickly and frequently I have found it easier to record my reflective thoughts on my dictaphone.

This is due to the fact that when I'm writing my brain throws out thoughts quicker than I can write them down and I often forget and miss out vital parts of my reflection. 

Also I know I am a huge culprit of waffling on a bit! ( although sometimes I think it helps to waffle on a bit to hit that eureka moment, anyone else experience the same thing?)

By recording my reflective thoughts vocally it's less time consuming , quick to get those vital thoughts down without missing anything out and when listening back to the recording I'm able to pick out key points that are more influential to my learning process.

By doing this it also makes recording these thoughts in writing much easier by either keeping a much neater journal that makes sense or putting the most vital learning points into a spider diagram.

I'd be interested to hear how other people feel about reflective journals?

 Do you find it easy like me or is it something people find tricky?

Do you find being reflective enables and enhances your learning as a professional?

I know for me reflection is a big part of my everyday life and is what encourages me to grow and improve as a professional.

My first you tube clip!

Hey everyone,

So I decided to brave it and set up my very own you tube channel.

Check out my very first video an introduction to BAPP and myself!

Please like and share! I'll be uploading more clips in the weeks to come!

https://youtu.be/1-nKNEFG6Ak

New technologie!

Following my last blog post and discussion with my tutor i had a go at looking for myself on google and it turned up a few things but nothing that exciting or informative about myself or my skills. 

So I decided to sign up to a few more applications that would help promote myself and my skills as a dancer and dance teacher.

So just recently I've signed up to tumbler and I have created a you tube channel.

Now the you tube channel I'm not too worried about I just need to upload some videos the first being my introduction to BAPP video which I intend to do this weekend ( a little scary I don't want to look like a total dork! But I'm going to give it a go!) so keep your eyes open for that and let me know what you think?

If anyone out there is a regular you tuber and tips or hints would be great fully received!

However the whole tumbler thing is a little daunting I'm not quite sure how this works. I know I can create another blog on there which is where I may start but again if any one is a regular user on this site I'd be really great full of some helpful hints and pointers, do's and don't ! 

At least I've attempted to sign up though that's a big step for me!

I am also thinking of sorting out a proper website for my dance school but this may take some time but I think it's high time I sorted that too!

Isn't it amazing how something like doing a top up degree can push you to do things you never thought you would!