4b - I've got my SIG :)

Well this week has been enjoyable. I've spend a lot of time reading fellow students blogs. Developing my relationships with other professionals and getting my thoughts into shape.

I've whittled my head full of ideas down a fair bit thanks to fellow students and colleagues and really want to spend my time now looking at respect and enjoyment within teacher/student relationships.

This theme is relevant to my current practice and will also help set me up well for where I hope my future practice will lead me.

I've found a small group of Bapp students that share my interests and through the wonderful world of Facebook we have managed to get together to form our SIG. I'm sure we will continue to thrash out ideas, question and encourage each other as we progress through this module.

It's funny but I've really found that hearing my own ideas spoken in other people's words has made me able to access that bit of clarity that seems to constantly be on the tip of my Tongue!!!

So thank you all and I look forward to continue to develop our inquiry's together.

Just to add. This weekend I will be throwing all my thoughts and ideas at a few of my teaching contacts. I'll blog next week there ideas and responses with you all and specifically my fellow SIG's.

4a - Initial questions.

A set of question relevant to my practice???

What is my practice? That is a question in itself! I feel a little in limbo. Right now I teach musical theatre as an extra-curricular activity. The reason I'm doing this course is so I can go on to gain Qualified Teacher Status and work within a school setting as a dance and drama teacher.

The two careers are very similar but yet worlds apart. I feel that I should be looking into the questions I have arising about my up and coming career. But this is not yet strictly classed as my practice.

So I've thought long and hard about the transition between the two and have come up with a few themes that interest me and are relevant to my current and future practices :)

1. Student / Teacher relationships.

2. The importance of understanding that every student is different with individual needs.

3. What skills do I need as a teacher to enable the successful teaching of many different students.

4. How do students of different ages need to differently interact with their teachers.

5. Does a successful student teacher relationship have any baring on how successful a teacher is?

6. As a teacher are students ever to young to learn the benefits of self teaching. At what age/stage do you introduce this?

7. Do the relationships teachers have with their students vary depending on what subject they teach?

8. What form of teaching to students best respond to?

Moving my career in a new direction is taking me out of my comfort zone. I have a great relationship with my current students but they are all of a similar age, back ground and status. I fear I may be like a fish out of water in a big state secondary school.

Once you have there attention the rest can be worked on. So if I can master the art of good teacher/student relations hopefully I'll become the successful teacher that I aspire to be.

Module 2 Campus session 1.

Great session with Rosemary yesterday. Was good to hear other people's thoughts on their inquiry's and lack of thoughts was also reassuring as I'm still to finalise my subject area!!!

We discussed a better way to stay in touch and share ideas and form sig groups. As promised I've started a Facebook group for all to join.

Middlesex Uni Bapp SIG forum.

Look forward to hearing from you all on there :)

Welcome 2013 :)

Happy New Year Bapp staff and students. Hope you all had a great Christmas and new year.

Back to reality tomorrow. Final draft of critical reflection will be completed (I hope!!!).

Hope your all ready for the deadline and not nursing a hangover!!

See you all at the next campus session.

My Over Critical reflection...

Wow, who would of thought that we had covered so much ground already on the short time we have been on this course.

I've just about finished going over all my blogs, notes and general scribblings and I have to say I'm pleased with what I have read. But not only what is written down...I can see a lot of what I have learnt already coming into play in my professional and personal lives.

I'm going to use my notes from the writing workshop earlier this term and spend the next few days going over a few drafts, hopefully having the finished product in my hand by Christmas.

Hope your all getting on well with it and looking forward to a great Christmas :)

Tomorrow is Today Already!!!

Was just thinking to myself that I will start the first notes for my critical reflection tomorrow, only to look down at the clock and see that it is tomorrow already!!!

How time flies when your blogging.

How is everyone getting on with there critical reflection? Any tips? I'm feeling rather daunted!!!

A little pic to help cheer me up and remind me there is more to life than just work :)

My Daughter on our trip to winter wonderland at the weekend. We had an amazing time :)

Sources of Information 3c

My 5 most important sources of information...

     1.    My students

2.    Apple

3.    Affiliations

4.    Facebook / utube

5.    Blogs

1.    My Students, they are right up there at the top of my list because without them I would have no job. It is there eagerness to return week after week that keeps me in work. Listening to what they want, how they want to learn and what interests them enables me along side my own skill set to prepare and plan lessons that are engaging and successful.

 

 Sarah Robinson writes in her blog, “In my role as dance Teacher I deal with people on a daily basis. My students aren’t quantities to be processed, or robots to be programmed, but are unique entities that come with there own agenda and that provide me with a wealth of knowledge.”

 

I couldn’t agree more, I’ve learnt more valuable lessons for my career through the children that I teach than I ever did when I was the classroom myself. Finding a balance is of course important because not always is what the children want necessarily what’s best for them and it can be easy to not always know where to draw the line. Knowledge most certainly does come with experience.

 

2.    Apple, My iphone, ipod and itunes, where would I be without them! My phone enables me instant communication through calls, texts and emails, access to so much stored information...song lyrics, scripts, information about my pupils, copies of my qualifications, certificates and insurance. My phone also provides constant access to the internet and tools provided by web 2.0. My ipad is just a back up and more user friendly version of my phone. I bring it into class with me sometimes using it with the children. But my favourite has to be itunes. As a dance teacher you can never have too much music. And there it is every piece you could ever want just one click away. It was nice to read in Melanie Browns Blog that I’m not the only one that relies on my phone, although it did get me thinking that what if this source was taken away how would I cope? Have I become too dependent on it?

3.    Affiliations, There are several groups of people that I rely upon for information.

 

Karen Stephenson say’s, “since we cannot experience everything, other people’s experiences, and hence other people, become the surrogate of knowledge.”

 

The parents of my pupils are a very important source of knowledge for the children’s and my own safety and well being. The information they pass on to me can make or break a class and make a huge difference to how well there child and other children settle. As a teacher it is invaluable to learn about each pupil as individuals.

 

My Family and friends, poor them!!! I am forever running stuff by them for there Joe public reactions. As a dancer it is very easy to get carried away and go over the tip when putting numbers together for my class. I often sit my friends and families sit down a get them to be guinea pigs to my latest creative master piece. The odds are if they enjoy it an audience full of novice parents will gain the same appreciation and enjoyment.

 

It has been really reassuring reading Clare Orlandi blog post on this to see that I am not the only one that likes to involve the parents and use them as sources of information.

  

4.    Facebook and utube, Although mostly social many of my fellow dancers and teachers only hold the role as friends now as I work mostly by myself so face book is a great medium of staying in touch and being able to reach each other when we have ideas and opinions we want to share or need advice. Looking through all the Bapp blogs I can see it is a source of information a lot of us share in common. Utube I use mostly for research, so much about dance and performance is visual it is much better tool than reading a book. I often use it to show the children examples of particular styles and examples and ideas that run along side our own projects. I personally and I sure many others do need to be conscious of checking the validity of information sourced this way. One person’s idea of something can be very different to someone else’s. Likewise someone’s own interests could out weigh the help they may offer you. It’s a competitive world out there, let’s not forget that.

 

5.    Blogs, I think we are all in the same boat here. A very useful new source of information. I just need to learn to find the time to put more information in, in order to gain more back. Its tit for tat and its only fair we all do our own bit.

 

Whilst writing this I have realised that I have a great set of sources for information for my current professional life style. But I’m at a stage in my life where hopefully my career is moving on and developing, perhaps my sources should too.