Making me think!

Well its been a long summer and this is the first time I have thought of blogging for a while. What prompted this sudden urge?? Well, it's GCSE results day today and my youngest daughter is full of nerves and trepidation! But, I have already started seeing reports that the number of A*-C passes has dropped again this year due to stricter marking!! Little consolation for the children who have worked just as hard as their predecessors and possibly even written exactly the same answers but will achieve a lower grade? Very frustrating for the students, but I found myself thinking about it from a teachers perspective. Here you are with a class of students that you have calculated should be due x percentage of A*-C grades, then when you analyse the results they are lower than in previous years and your expectations. You must start to have doubts about your teaching skills?? As a dance teacher I can pretty much gauge how well a child is going to do in their dance exams, allowing for mess ups on the day, but if I started to see a drop in the marks across the board I would immediately be questioning MY ability.

I could understand if they had already implemented changes to the exams - i.e. the publicised return to two levels of exams like the old 'O'Level and CSE combinations that were available when I took my exams. This would be clear to anyone in the future, as it was to me as an employer when GCSE's first started to appear on application forms for jobs. But as they are still GCSE's and effectively the same exams how can a future employer be expected to remember that up until 2011 the marks were easier to attain than in 2012 and 2013. Ridiculous!!!! Rant over, but wishing all GCSE students a happy day!

Done and dusted!!

Well Module one assignment submitted and received. It did seem strange trying to summarise all that was learnt over the last few months in a mere 750 words. However, I think I have covered it all! Hope everyone else was on time! Just the results to wait for now. Having a bit of a break and then gong to plough on with Module 2 over the summer as it school holidays for me to plenty of time to do the work!! (In theory!)  Keep in touch over the summer fellow bloggers!

Something strange going on???

Well, I have just looked at my Blogger page where I can see any posts made by people I am following and all my Blogs have disappeared, it says I have no Blogs in my reader list!!! Marvellous so I shall have to go though the BAPP Blog list again and add them all again!

Assignment!

Well, draft of assignment done. I found it quite useful to summarise everything that we have looked at over the course of this module and you do realise that you have actually learned something!

3c - My five most important sources of information

If I had been answering this question about ten years ago, then there is no doubt that the content of my answer would be different to today. The increased accessibility to the internet making it not only accessed via PC or laptop but now on mobile devices has most definitely  impacted my information sources. How many times would I have said ten years ago - "I must go and Google that?".

 I have become increasingly reliant on the Internet as my main source of information. There are many reasons for this. For example, the exam board that I teach for has a teacher area on their website, which is an invaluable source of information to ensure that your teaching and syllabus knowledge is kept up to date. This area of information has developed rapidly over the last four years and has mostly eliminated the need for paper communications being mailed to teachers.
I am also constantly using YouTube as a source of choreography ideas and when attempting to source music. Of course, the information needed to study my BAPP course is also all accessed via the internet. Of course, you do need to ensure that anything that is sourced on the internet is reputable and verifiable. Iona Holland talks in her Blog about being wary of  information on sites like Wikipedia which cannot be confirmed as accurate due to the nature of the amount of access everyone has to the information. So you do have to use your own judgement to make decisions as to how to use information gained from various websites.

My professional network is also a vital source of information. I have a network of other dance teachers, colleagues, old dance friends and choreographers. It is important to feel that you can approach people for help with questions that you may have on a variety of topics. I have also found my network invaluable in arranging events and workshops for my students, as well as sourcing information about on-going vocational education to pass on.

My third important source of information comes from good old printed text, or publications. I always ensure that I have the printed syllabus available for reference whilst teaching a class. Despite the fact that I may have taught the same grade for many years, it is always important to refer to the syllabus to ensure that you do not develop your own interpretation of the set choreography or exercises.
It is interesting to read the Blogs of people who are still performers and the fact that they are very similar in their sources. Georgie Bird mentions in her Blog about using the notice board at Pineapple Dance studios as well as other dance studios to access information about upcoming  auditions. This has not changed in the 30 years since I was performing!

My BAPP colleagues have been an invaluable source of information whilst studying for this degree. I initially started communicating with a network of people who were completing the ROL module with me via Facebook. We created a Facebook group and used it to communicate and support each other whilst studying. We have now tried to migrate this network via our Blogs  and have also added in other people who are completing Module 1 with us.

My last source is that of face to face communication. I quite often find that I am having a conversation with a parent, a friend, a colleague or even a family member and you will find yourself learning something from them. Whether it is a price of direct information that is useful to you, or whether it is a link to another source, it is all valuable and I am always certain to follow up.

Hoorah!!

Task 3b done - Phew! Good luck everyone! I am certain however, that even though the task is completed my mind is still going to continually reflect on these theories as it has been something of a challenge but it has REALLY made me reflect for the first time! I am certain from reading other Blogs that this is the same for other BAPP students.!

3b - Critical reflection on theories relating to networking

This has been the hardest task to date for me. I think it is because the task and the reader really made you reflect on the content and you could not treat this task lightly. Although previous tasks have made me think about and reflect on my current practices, this is, as stated in the module guide, a task to make to look outwards at theories that are out there and other peoples thoughts on those theories. This made me take a critical look at these suggested theories and planted several seeds in my mind.
I have spent several hours reading the material provided as well as other Blogs and also trying to research the theories and discover other theories.

Looking at the concept of co-operation, I was initially intimidated by this. The first time I read through the reader the thought of competition or co-operation dependant on your individual needs at any given time was something that I did not think was ever applicable to me and my current or previous working roles. However, after more study  as well as playing the game "Prisoners Dilemma" a few times where I tried to manipulate the outcome made me have  more understanding of this concept.  Interestingly the research carried out by Robert Axelrod, the results of which are published in the "Journal of Conflict Resolution" (Axelrod 1980a and 1980b) showed that Game theory where  people gain mutual benefit form co-operation but can allow one person to gain an upper hand by competing or exploitation of their opponent, found that the most successful strategy was "Tit for Tat" where the you would simply copy your opponents move after your initial move of co-operation. When I  applied this to the "Prisoners Dilemma" game the opponent also chose co-operation every time so it ended with a tie!
As for my personal thoughts on co-operation, on reflection I have realised that I will have used both co-operation and conflict when needed.
As a professional dancer in the past I will have used conflict during an audition process as it is important to be selfish in order to be able to stand out as an individual. However in developing my teaching career I have found it vital to use co-operation in communicating with parents and other teachers to ensure that there is a good relationship established between us. However, the thought that I would co-operate to maximum benefit and then defect would not be of benefit to me as I would potentially lose my network of parents and clients.

The concept of  affiliation has a few variations in its theory. Having studied the reader and looked at all the theories, there seems to be a basic recurring theme that affiliation leads to social well being. The theories suggest that there is a basic psychological need to affiliate with other people, which I agree with. Even the youngest children will form affiliations with other children and adults. However, as an adult I find that the concept of privacy regulation is something that is very relevant to me. Altman (1975) I do not think that children have the ability to chose to regulate their affiliations. However, I think that I am a prime example of someone who uses privacy regulation on an hour by hour basis. I am often in a teaching situation in the gym for an hour where I am interacting socially with colleagues and clients, but as soon as I walk out of the door my privacy takes over!

As a professional I think it is important to be able to hold affiliations but also to balance privacy when necessary. This is particularly relevant in the teacher/pupil affiliation. You need to create an affiliation with your student, but in my mind it is imperative that this affiliation does not overstep the mark and invade into either the students privacy or mine as a teacher.

Interestingly the example given by my fellow BAPP colleague Katie Hurley in her Blog is referring to Girl A and Girl B for the concept of affiliation could also be a good example of co-operation as Girl A clearly uses Girl B until she has reached maximum benefit , but could then defect!

I like the theory of Hannah Shepherd relating to affiliation. Certainly in the type of business we work in there would be many people who would maintain an affiliation "just in case" they could be of use in the future.

The concept of social constructionism is also a concept that I had to read and study many times. Constructionism claims  that meanings are constructed by human beings as they engage with the world they are interpreting. In other words the human race has developed or constructed meaning to everything in their environment. However, one persons interpretation of a situation or an object may not be the same as someone else's, even though the object is no different.
The extract from Crotty, M (2005) talks about a tree being a tree to everyone, but the view of that tree being different dependant on the persons environmental situation i.e. someone living near a forest as opposed to someone living in a treeless slum.
I have found through researching that Social constructionism is used as a psychological therapy. I have found this website
http://socialconstructiontherapies.yolasite.com/what-are-social-construction-therapies.php
which discusses how social construction has been developed into psychotherapists interventions with families. It talks about the analyst working with the family rather than creating interventions about the family.
In the professional environment I can see that this concept relates to how a person may appear to you within the work environment, but may appear as a completely different personality within another environment.

Connectivism is the theory that is mostly referring to computer networking or networking over the web. However, in relation to professional networks it pertains to how networks provide the means for individuals to connect and learn. It states that the traditional method of teaching - i.e. teacher to pupil, should be abandoned or modified as modern methods of learning are from the pools of knowledge available on the Internet or in the classroom.

I agree entirely with Iona Holland on this theory in relation to teaching dance. The thought that the child would use the Internet as their learning tool for dance is a good idea for  maybe attempting to copy styles and choreography. However, from a teachers perspective there would be no-one to tell them exactly how the steps should be performed technically. If no-one is physically coaching and correcting you, how can you progress? There is no way a child would be prepared for an exam without traditional teaching methods.

Driscoll (2000) defines learning as “a persisting change in human performance or performance potential…[which] must come about as a result of the learner’s experience and interaction with the world”. This definition clearly states that learning results in a changed state in emotion, physiology and mentality bought about by experiences and interactions with content and other people.
One of the most current theories relating to connectivism is in relation to the shrinking half life knowledge. The fact that the amount of knowledge in the world today is double what is was ten years ago is staggering and is currently doubling every eighteen months according to he American Society of Training and Documentation. George Siemens (2004) wrote a paper on Connectivism and the Digital learning age which challenges current and ongoing learning techniques.

Lastly communities of practice is the final concept to reflect upon. This is the method of learning through socialising within a  community. It is establishing a learning environment where everyone can contribute and work together rather than one person being in charge and dictating the learning process.
On reflection in my current role as a dance teacher I would say that I use this concept occasionally with the older students to give them a feeling of inclusion in the decision making.  I will often say to a class whilst in the middle of choreography "what feels best to you" or " which leg do you naturally want to use next?" it gives the class a feeling of community.

Overall, on reflection, although this task was extremely detailed and difficult, it really made me think. I found that after the second reading of the reader I was thinking about the different concepts and how they relate to me and my current professional networks. It is probably the first task that has made me actually think about what I had researched and how all the theories actually interlink and cross over.