Thinking Time

Here I am, back in the blogging world. I took two days "off" from blogging, to go over my findings so far and to re-read some of my literautre.

I was playing the interviews and dicussion groups I've concucted so far, over and over again ... my dictaphone is basically my best friend at the moment. Can't live without it ;)!

But at one point, suddenly one thing jumped at me. It was something one of the students had mentioned.
One of my questions I asked the participants was "What is the most important thing to you in a dance class, in order to learn the most?" And one of the students answered, "I need a feeling of to togetherness:"

This was when it struck me ... I was looking at my inquiry from a completely wrong angle. Instead of treating the students and teachers as two seperate groups and assessing the differences they have, I have to look at them as one union and find the similarities they share. At the end of the day, both teachers and students share the same goal. Teachers want to pass on their professional knowledge to their students in a way that the students gain the best technical ability from it. And students try to absorb as much of it as possible because they aim to achieve the best possible technical standard.

As soon as I started to read through my notes again, with that thought in my mind, I found many similarities between my two inquiry groups.
By the end of the week, I'll definitely update you on what I have find out from my findings so far and I'll fill you in on one of my books from my literature list. It's called 'Teaching Dance - The Spectrum of Styles' by Elizabeth Gibbons. This book has helped so much, not only for my inquiry but a teacher in general. If you ever get your hands on it read it. But more about it later this week.

Finding the right track!!

This afternoon, I had my first set of student discussion groups and I have to say it was really interesting.

It was great talking to all students and actually having a productive discussion about a topic that concerns their teachers and themselves.

Before talking to them, I had them fill out a questionnaire to gather information about their points of view and their opinions. That was already helpful and I have to say, I learned a lot from it. I realised, surveys are great in order to get a first insight into people's opinions and especially, to get them prepared for further interviews and discussions. Therefore, I was already looking forward to having a personal discussion with the participants.

Luckily, I wasn't disappointed. All of them shared their opinions and ideas they had and nobody was put under pressure. We really had a great discussion!

I got so much information from the discussion groups but at the same time, just as many questions emerged. Right now, I have to sort out all my thoughts and find the right path for my inquiry.
Tonight, I'll definitely have to sit down and sort out my thoughts. Getting everything down on paper and having a good nights sleep always helps ;)! Tomorrow is a fresh start and I can dive into some more researching, so watch this space :)!

Getting ready for student interviews

Today I'm having my discussion groups with the students that are participating in my inquiry. I'm just doing some final preparing and reading so that I can get most out of it. I'm excited to see what they have to say on the topic of teaching.

I've already handed out a survey last week which was about their opinion on teaching methods and teachers themselves. It's already super informative but I'm sure I'll get much more out of it when talking to all of them.

I'll definitely let you guys know how it went later today. Fingers crossed everything goes the way I planned ;)!!

Skype session!!

The other week I had a skype session with Paula to discuss my inquiry and I have to say,  "Thank god!". I would recommend it anyone who hasn't had one yet - it's super informative and helpful!!

I was feeling rather lost before talking to Paula; I wasn't sure where my inquiry was heading and I lost my focus.
After discussing my inquiry with Paula, I feel back on track and it also opened up new possibilities for the way my inquiry is going to head.

I'm feeling much better now about my work and can't wait to dive further into my research!! :)

Inquiry tools

Before starting to my inquiry proposal I had to determine the inquiry tools I was going to use in the course of it. It was very helpful reading through reader 6 as it gave me a great insight into all the possibilieties I have and the pros and cons of them. I realised that I had to use multiple tools in order to achieve the best possible way of gathering information for my inquiry.

First of all, I decided to create a survey which I let fellow BAPP bloggers fill out. I found it very helpful and it was an easy way to collect data.

http://de.surveymonkey.com/s/MHLKF8J

The great thing about it is that you can see trends in questions very clearly and gives you an overview over the general view of people. The downside is that it's very impersonal. You can discuss answers beyond the point of what is written down, you only get what you ask for in the survey. Another issue is that people might be unwilling to fill it out and not take it seriously, so it's hard to make people participate in the survey. I will definitely use a survey as a tool of inquiry because it's the best way to collect general data and to see what trends there are.

Next, I conducted a pilot interview with one of my colleagues. I have to say it was far more difficult than I've imagined. It was hard for me to stick to the questions I've prepared because I other questions kept on popping into my head. I realised that I had to be better prepared for an interview and plan it more. Otherwise, I will not get the information I want and need from the interview. WHich I found really helpful was using a dictaphone. I made notes but only a few because I wanted to focus on the interview rather than making notes. Having the interview recorded helped me afterwards when I completed my notes because I didn't have to worry whether I forgot something. Also, it's great to have footage of the interview as evidence.

Conducting a focus group was a bit tricky. I did it with only a few people because eventually I'll do it groups of 4-5 people anyways. I prepared a set of questions but in the end it turned out to be more of a group conversation. I did quite enjoy it because I felt that everyone was more relaxed rather than at the beginning when I was asking questions. I think it will work better when I let the group members talk amongst themselves with me only inoutting questions and encouraging them to talk about it.

Finally, I also observed a class. I didn't participate in it but looked at it from the outside. It was difficult to the it because people in the class were distracted by my presence at first even though I've explained it to. I think the problem with observation is that everybody behaves differently ones somebody from the outside joins in. I will have to do another observation as a part of the class rather than just an outsider in order to see which one does actually work best.

Trying out all these different tools was a great experience and it helped me a lot when in terms of my inquiry. I decided, I will definitely use survey, interview and focus group as inquiry tools. I will probably also do an observation, I'm just not sure yet, how I will go about that.

Helpful research guide =)

Hi everyone,

For everybody who's interested in research and maybe needs a guide, I found this workbook really interesting and helpful. It basically explains research, different forms of inquiry and ethics.

Have a look ... it's definitely worth it ;)!

http://www.brad.ac.uk/management/media/management/els/Introduction-to-Research-and-Research-Methods.pdf

x

Task 5c: Professional Ethics

Looking into ethics, I realised that it is so wide spread and goes far back in history. It also made me look at my experiences with teachers as well as me teaching.

Back at college we had a teacher who was great when he was in a good mood. The classes were fun and, personally, I got so much out of them. On the other hand, on bad days he would be the worst. He always used to pick on one or two particular people for the whole class and ignoring the rest of us. I'm a person that doesn't mind criticism and when somebody is a bit tough to me but looking at other people I saw that really upset them and hurt their self-confidence. Even when I wasn't the person that got it in the neck, I remember standing in class and feeling horrible for the way he behaved.

Being a teacher myself now, I realise that it's hard to seperate your private problems, feelings, emotions from your professional life but ethically it is very questionable when somebody behaves that way.
Equity is one of the main points when talking about ethics and through my own experiences I try to be as fair to all of my students as I can. At times, I'm maybe a bit tough to own student but at the same time I'm trying to encourage with praise so that they see that their are imporving instead of just putting them down.

I think Hobbes (1651) theory of a social contract applies most to our lives today. We need a set of rules in order to be able to live together peacefully. The only problem here is that every culture has its own moral view and at times it is hard to combine them.

I'm not too sure I agree what Immanuel Kant (1779) is saying. Right, the idea of helping people no matter what sounds appealing although I feel like it would never work in our society. Putting your own desires and feelings behind in order to help other people is maybe good and advisable in a small dosage but living you whole life that way is something completely different. Also his idea that lying is always wrong is something I don't completely agree with. Of course, I'm not saying lying is a good thing we should all go around the world telling fairytales and stories but I do believe that sometimes lying isn't a bad thing and is actually a tool to prevent further harm. We all tell them, little lies so we don't hurt other peoples feelings.

On the opposite we have JS Mill (1861) who basically tells to exact opposite. He believes that we should always act the way that benefits the greatest number of people. According to him, lying is acceptable as long as the outcome is: the greatest good for the greatest number.

Looking at ethics made me realise one thing, it's all questions. Reading through one theory I think "yeah, I totally agree with that" but after sleeping on it and thinking about it, I come up with a whole bunch of questions. It's hard to always be ethically correct, so there is definitely I have to think about for my inquiry ....

Task 5b: Codes of practice/ conduct

Working on this task made read through various 'Codes of Conduct' from different companies and organisations. Without research, I came up with the more obvious points: no stealing, no racism, no bullying, etc. Researching further into the subject made me realise that there is so much more to consider as a teacher. After having a look on the internet about work regulations, I read through a couple of blogs. One I found very interesting and helpful was Melanie Brown's blog about 'Codes of Practice'.

http://melaniebrown10.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/5b-codes-of-practiceregulations-in-work.html

She posted a link from the RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) on their 'Code of Conduct'
(http://www.rad.org.uk/files/ART255_Code%20of%20Conduct%20English.pdf) which is very similar to the 'code of Conduct' from the 'Council for Dance Education and Training':

http://cdet.org.uk/teaching-and-qualifications/code-of-conduct/


Looking at my previous blog and my thoughts on workplace ethics I realised that I mainly focused on rules that apply to students and not so much on my own behaviour as a dance teacher.
Looking at both 'Codes of Conduct' there are a couple of points that stood out to me the most:

• Integrity

Behave fair and honest in all business and professional relationships, f.i. don't misrepresent qualifications or experience. Furthermore, it is vital to respect the confidantiality withni a working environment.

• Competency

Continuing Professional Development ... This is the key to this point. I think it's a teachers duty and part of his/her profession to keep up-to-date on any changes there are in the dance industry. For instance, if there's a new syllabus for RAD exams, the teacher has to make sure that he knows what is required. Ultimately, dance is constantly changing and students come to classes to learn and if teachers don't know what they are teaching and don't know anything about it, how should to students learn from them?

• Health and Safety

Teachers always have to make sure that the teaching facilities are adequately maintained and provide a safe environment for learning. Only with the right tools is it able to achieve successful teaching and learning.

• Courtesy and Consideration

I think this the most important point and should be the top priority for any teacher: alawys promote and safeguard the interests and well-being of students and justify student trust and confidence. As teachers it is our goal to teach students and we can't do that without their trust and their confidence in us. I remember it being harder to teach students when I first started because I hadn't gained their trust yet and they didn't know me but now it is much easier to work together.


Both the RAD aswell as the CDET 'Code of Conduct' have helped me very much in my teaching and are a great guide for anyone starting out as a teacher.

Task 5a: Workplace ethics

For this task we have to think about ethics that apply to our workplace and the dance community. This turned out to be harder than expected because most of it is common sense, therefore it took longer to consider that aswell. Here are a few points I came up with so far:

• No stealing

• No racism - everybody no matter what religion/ethnicity he or she is has to be treated equally

• Copyright - make sure you have the right to use music, film material, sheet music

• No bullying - both from teachers aswell as children

• Professional conduct - in college that would be f.i. No student - teacher relationships;                  - within a workplace it would mean to behave professionally and like an employee/student towards choreographers/teachers even though you're friends outside the dance studio

I think most of these are common sense so when it actually comes to writing down paper what we should actually be thinking about ethically, it's hard forus to do so. Those are only a few of many ethics that have to be considered in a workplace.

Ideas, ideas!!

I just can't seem to decide on my final inquiry question/topic!!

Everytime I think I've got it I seem to come up with different ideas and questions. 

BUT I think I (finally) found my topic for ma inquiry:

What defines a good dance teacher?

What do you guys think about that? I would hugely appreciate any feedback because, to be honest, I am freaking out a bit here because everybody seems to be working ontheir inquiries!

PLEASE, if you've got some spare time, let me know what you' re thinking, I'll definitely return. The favour ;)! 

X

Task 4d: Award Title

I've been thinking about this for while since I think this will identify my professional practice.

At the moment I have a couple of 'options' for an award title:

• BA Hons Professional Practice Performing Arts

-> To be honest I do feel like this particular title is pretty general and broad which was also the reason for chosing it. I'm not sure whether i would like a more specific award title which shows deeper knowledge in one specific area.

• BA Hons Professional Practice Dance

-> This was the first one I came up with because that was were my professional training was in. I think this one would probably be the most accurate one in regards to my previous training. Although thinking about my future and the possibility of me becoming a full-time teacher I would probably have to reconsider it.

• BA Hons Professional Practice Dance Education

-> Thinking about a career as a dance teacher this one would definitely be the best suited title. The reason I'm not entirely sure about chosing this is award title is that I still want to dance before actually getting my hands on teaching. 

A the moment, this are the 3 award titles I'm toying with. I'll definitely have to think about my definte award title for a while. I would appraciate any comments, suggestions, etc. :) 

Task 4a: Decisions, Decisions!!

For the past week I was trying to get my head around, what to do for my inquiry.
I came up with a couple of topics that I find very interesting:

• health and nutrition
• influence of teachers
• injuries
• transition from performer to teacher
• different learning styles

I find it hard to decide purely because we'll have to stick to the theme/ topic we use for quite a while. Therefore it has be chosen wisely!!!

The two topics that interest me the most are injuries and teachers and their influence on students.
After talking to co-workers, students, etc. I came up with a couple of questions:

1. How important is a good student/teacher relationship in regards to the learning success of the student?
2. What needs to be improved on and how can teachers help students in order for them to pursue dance as their professional practice?
3. How important is good technique in order to prevent injuries at a later stage?
4. What are the key elements for injury prevention?

Personally, at the moment I feel most interested in question 2.) because the dance school I teach, a couple of girls are toying with the idea of going abroad and studying dance or musical theatre.

Please let me know any thoughts any ideas you have. I promise I'll try to help out and reply to the best of my abilities ;)!