Surreal experience

I have just done a search on Google for an article that I had found, but I cannot access today through my Delicious account and up pops my Literature review as one of the search results. It was rather strange seeing my name and photograph and a link to my Blog!

Module 3 Group Skype tomorrow?

To all module 3 participants, we are planning another group Skype call tomorrow morning between 9 and 12 for anyone who wants to take part? I would just need your Skype address if you have not already been on one!! I have put in on our Facebook SIG as well, but thought I would Blog it in case this reaches more people!!

Literature review 3

Porter.L. (2008) "Evidence about disciplinary practices" in R.Matheson (ed)Young Children's Behaviour Practical Approaches for Caregivers and Teachers, 3rd Ed., Maryland USA. Paul H. Brookes Publishing
I wanted to find literature on morality in children and this book has a small section within this chapter relating to "Research about the effects of guidance". The section discusses morality and states
                    With respect to moral reasoning, children are more willing  to listen and will develop more sophisticated moral thinking when their parents reason and negotiate with them rather than deliver lectures about their behaviour. (Walker et al. 2000).


This would definitely follow the modern theories about child discipline and the way that parents are supposed to bring up their children, but has this theory caused a lack of "good old fashioned discipline" which told a child immediately that their behaviour was unacceptable ? The author also continues by saying
                   Controlling discipline may achieve immediate compliance, but at the cost of undermining childrens' moral reasoning by fostering an external focus of causality (I'm only doing this because they made me) anger towards and rejection of the disciplinarian and rejection of their parents' standards (Kochanska et al.2003)


We were taught what was and was not acceptable as far as our behaviour and this instilled our moral values, so can this decline in "controlling discipline" be the reason behind some childrens' declining moral standards and their lack of deference?
I am hoping that my inquiry will help us to understand how these changes in discipline have affected the class culture that we need to create with in a dance lesson in order the achieve the best balance of enjoyment but good behaviour.

Draft introduction

I have submitted the draft of my introduction to my adviser today , but on reflection I am thinking that it may have too much depth and not enough breadth. In other words I think I may have talked about the reasoning behind my inquiry and the background far too much and not covered all the theories behind why and how I am making this inquiry! This made me realise how much more I actually use reflection on my work!

Skype group chat

Well following on from the Skype session with Adesola on Tuesday, we had a small group chat with Natalie Kirk and Hannah Shepherd. After initial difficulties with the technology, meaning that Natalie was unable to call both myself and Hannah, I was able to set the call up and we talked for about 40 minutes. Both Natalie and Hannah are working in mainstream education teaching dance and their inquiries are relevant to that sector. Although I teach in the private sector and our inquiries are different our conversation was very helpful as we talked about how to analyse our information and format our inquiries and tried to help each other with any problems that we are encountering. I found it useful to verbalise my thoughts as I found it clarified things within my head! I am looking forward to repeating the process again maybe in a fortnight and hopefully with even more participants.

Literature review 2

I have found this article about classroom culture, which although aimed at school class rooms has a lot of relevance within the dance http://gallery.carnegiefoundation.org/collections/castl_k12/ewojcicki2/outcomes/characteristics_culture.htm
The majority of the article is very positive and are points that I would agree with. For example,
                     The teacher should exhibit passion for the subject or passion for teaching or both. Passion makes the students interested in and excited about the subject. Who wants to learn from a deadbeat?
 This statement, to my mind, is extremely relevant to a dance class environment and  is also one of the theories that I feel relevant to back up my research about practical demonstrations from older teachers with less physical ability.
However, the article also states
                    Students should not be criticized for their interests or their attire. If they want to wear pants that look like they are falling off, respect their right to do so. When they are twenty, they won't want to do it.


I am not sure how many teachers would agree with this statement, even in a school with a uniform code, I am certain that this type of attire is frowned upon. In a dance class, there are many rules relating to attire and I do not think many dance teachers would respect the right of the student to turn up dressed however they like? Of course this does depend on the dance class as a freestyle jazz or street type class may well be more acceptable of this freedom of attire.

Adesola's Skype coffee morning!

Well it actually turned out to be a very  good session for me as I was the only participant! I suddenly realised that this was my chance, I could ask the questions that have been bubbling away in the back of my mind without the fear of sounding stupid as no-one else was there! So Adesola, sorry if I sounded stupid but it really helped me to clarify the whirlpool in my head. We discussed my inquiry and how I was struggling to decide how to analyse the data that I was collecting, and Adesola pointed out that I had nothing to "rub it against". We talked this through and we talked about our days at Arts Educational school in London and how the school created its own classroom culture and how I needed to start from those memories.

This has inspired me to change  the title of my inquiry, although ultimately it all boils down to the same point about our expectations of the behaviour of children.

Thank you Adesola! A good Skype coffee morning yet again!

Literature review

I have found an article on a website aimed at new teachers, which I thought was relevant to my inquiry although it is not specifically aimed at dance teachers. http://www.newteacheruniversity.com/resources/teacher-articles/continued/teachers-must-earn-respect/
This article describes how new teachers must expect to earn the respect of their students by being the person that the students wish to become. Whilst I agree that this is one of the thoughts behind my research, I also think that as a teacher, you should also expect a certain level of respect from your students by the very fact that you are a person in authority. A person whom the parents have entrusted their children with. The article states

 

                                            "Today, in a society where good morals are on the decline, while self-                                            centredness is on the incline, we can't afford to educate students                                               like our teachers once did "back in the day"."

 

In my opinion this is talking about declining good morals creating a lack of deference in general to older people and to people in authority. This, to me, is different to the type of respect that needs to be earned by the teacher!

I have used this article as a source for my research, reading sections of it to my participants and recording their comments. I am looking forward to seeing how this progresses once I have all my information recorded.