** Interesting article on the impact of creative industries... **

I came across the following article which gives statistics of the increasing value that the creative industries have on the economy.  It is refreshing to see how much of an effect our industry boosts the UK economy and therefore still thriving.  How great to know that we are a part of this!

 

 

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-8million-an-hour-to-uk-economy

 

 

 

            

Task 2b: Journal Writing Experience

I found this task really quite a challenge and didn't really feel it becoming any easier.  What I did find hard was the fact that my practice of the Arts is limited at the moment and therefore I feel like there is only limited information I can use to reflect on.  Whilst I am still able to reflect on all of my days, I find that only when I am taking part in my professional practice I am able to gain new experiences to develop myself throughout this course.  It is the practical side of teaching which I learn from and the ability to be able to apply myself in order to see where change and improvement can be made.

I tried a variety of writing styles for my journal to try and develop one to take me through this course.

I began using the 'description' method which I seemed to fall into quite easily.  I do tend to describe and go into detail when reflecting back on my day.  Although I did find it easy to write in this way my worries were that if I was to look back on the information then I may find it hard to conclude and analyse from week to week.  I found that to use the 'initial reflection' alongside the description method gave me a more in depth analysis of how my day had gone.  This also allowed me to input my thoughts and feelings which I find extremely useful to reflect on.

I enjoyed the concept of using a 'list' but I found it really hard to reflect on my day in this way.  I would say that a list would be more appropriate for myself to use in the instance of preparation for a class.  For example, I may use a list to firstly jot down what exercises or movements I would like to work on and as a sub-list I would possibly include points to help aid the students in their learning.  

I use 'evaluation' for all my lessons, so to write this down in my journal has been particularly useful when planning the next lesson.  It allowed me to note down things that worked well or things to avoid in the future and therefore creating a more successful lesson for next time.

I didn't use the 'graphs or charts' as I found it hard to dissect my day into portions.  Although I looked at a couple blogs where people had shown evidence of how they used this within their practice I just didn't feel able to analyse my day in this way.

The other two methods of 'what if' and 'another view' I didn't find helpful.  I instead found myself writing about the day and not about how the day went, and how I could learn from it.  I find a lack of imagination in this form of writing and to view my day from another point of view just made me write about what I thought of my day rather than from someone else's view.

I have now been writing using a combination of description, initial reflection and evaluation but highlighting points which may help me later on.  I will be interested to see how this journal develops and whether I will find this beneficial at another point in this course.

Value-based Knowledge

An exert from Doing Practitioner Research from Fox Martin and Green got me thinking about how my knowledge within dance teaching may appear the ethical option from my point of view, but maybe not from others who do not hold the same knowledge.  I have a very mixed bag of classes that I teach and one of my hardest and most challenging classes consists of a variety of ages.  This will never be the ideal situation to teach in due to the vast range of capabilities from these students but my aim is to make it work and ensure maximum learning.  In the case that an older student may not quite complete a movement effectively, I may give two or three points for which they can work on to improve it.  For a younger student, it may seem from an outside view that an attempt made for a movement was poor.  In this case, I may give one correction but praise that child at the same time.  Although this may seem like I am contradicting myself, I may have seen some improvement or strong attempt not previously made and I would have to knowledge to know that one correction is enough for them to concentrate on for now.  The important thing about teaching for me, is to understand each students' capability and nurture that in order to gain maximum potential for the individual.  Every student is different, and every student has their own strengths and weaknesses and this is something that I enjoy identifying in all the students I teach.

References:

Fox, Martin and Green (2007) Doing Practitioner Research, electronic resource

A Reflective Thought...

'Have you ever known something before you realise what it means to you?'

After looking back through Reader 2 I pondered about the question above.  When I first read this I couldn't really comprehend the concept of not actually knowing something until you actually experience it.  I read through Graham McFees' description of this to explain this concept using an example and thought I would try and relate it to myself.

To be able to answer this question I have drawn back on past experiences and how they have developed my learning and understanding.  

I looked back at my time at College when everything was about performing.  Up until my 2nd Year in Dance College I thought I had understood how to 'perform'.  What I had actually done was to plaster on my cheesiest grin and hold it there until I was off stage.

I'm not sure how it clicked but I remember being in a Musical Theatre class and we were working on a particular performance that seemed to give me a rush of adrenaline every time the music played. We finished the lesson with our final performance and at the end my teacher announced that I had finally 'popped'.  I did feel a change in my performance and it was like I had suddenly learnt to enjoy the experience rather than worrying about everything else that came with it.  This also came from an increased ability to recall steps and to adjust the technique of how my body moves.

After that my ability to perform became second-nature and I realised why I was always prompted to perform more in the past.  When I started performing professionally we would often watch back performances and it became easier to spot those who had not quite got the grasp of performing yet as a dancer they would be amazing.Part of the idea of performing as a dancer is to complete the package!

Now as a teacher, I watch some of the students and they perform without any hesitation.  Others need that extra push but I know from experience that this is a skill they will learn to understand in their own time.  All I can do is to help them realise when they have finally got it.

References:

Middlesex University, 2014, Reader 2, Module 1, p.3

Task 1c: Audio-Visual

I have finally completed this task after taking some time to consider how I would like to complete it.  I took ideas from my experience of creating a showreel and used a variety of images, music and effects to create a clip of what I think will be useful to refer back to, to remind myself of my aspirations.

This is something that I enjoyed doing and actually completed this in a few hours in the early hours of this morning.  I found myself lured into the adjustments to get it just how I wanted.  No doubt I will look back on this and make adjustments!

Task 2a: Reflective Practise

My secret diary was a part of my life all through my childhood.  I remember having two: One was a much smaller compact one but this was the one where i would write regular entries on what I was thinking and feeling.  The other was a lot larger, harder to hide in fact, and in there I kept lists of secrets which only my closest friends were likely to know.  I have always found it easier to write down my thoughts and feelings rather than talking about then so at the moment this task for me feels like a breeze.  I suppose the era of the text hasn't helped this and probably made me even more so likely to write down thoughts as opposed to talking about them.  I am hoping that this course will help develop my ability to transform my thoughts into words and essentially improve my skills of communication.

When deciding how to go about this journal I had to take in consideration the easiest way to document my entries with never having a repetitive routine every week.  I thought about handwriting my journal but thought this would be harder to capture for future tasks.  So decided to go with a word processed version and look into Apps which might help me do this.  I found one App on my phone which I downloaded but it didn't give me the option to add pictures which is something I wanted to have the option for.

I looked at several other blogs to see if anyone else had other programs they may have used for this task and found one called Evernote.  I have seen this before and maybe even downloaded it before, not really knowing what I could use it for.  So this seemed like a good option especially as it meant I could use it as an App on my phone or on my laptop through the website.

What I decided to do was to begin my entries before looking through Reader 2 and then to explore the text in this resource and use it to see how I can adapt my writing from the previous entries.  I think this will be an interesting way to document my thoughts and ideas about this module and look forward to seeing the development in my learning.