On Wednesday 30th October I joined Laura Ferrin from Module 1 for a campus session with Adesola. This is my second campus session in the process. On my first session I had hoped it would be a chance to get 'Help' and direction and basically be told how to write my essay, but it is an opportunity to take away so much more.
At first Adesola asked me to talk about what the process had changed in my thinking. I really struggle with 'getting my words out' especially when I am so deep into my inquiry that I have 100 thoughts swimming around at once.
However I managed to string together that...
Previously I would have sort an 'answer, into what I was researching, hoping it would give me knowledge. Now I understand it's about finding information to change my thinking and opening new pathways for learning.
Adesola asked us to think about the 3 words
Knowledge Information Learning
And what the differences are between them. I used to think that information was knowledge if it was on the TV or in the newspaper it was worth remembering to give you knowledge. Through this process, I have discovered that information is there to INFORM your thinking and has to be looked at from different perspectives. What you then take away from that thought process is Knowledge. And in that process, you are learning.
Adesola than asked me to apply this idea to my Inquiry Topic. Throughout my literature review, I have found many articles were the Theory of Multiple Intelligences has been misinterpreted. The theory (Information) has been implemented without a full range of ethical and practical considerations, leaving the method questionable.
This lead us to talk about where the information is coming from, usually, we look to the centre ( an established organization, notable scholars) and take their word for it, but what would happen if we flipped it and looked at the discourses on the edge. The people asking the questions?
Are we questioning if the Right & Wrong applies to all cultures, societies and within a relevant timeline?
From this conversation, the same themes were emerging for me, and I found significance in the term Information.
We have to find a range of information on our topic and not take the first answer. Just because a theory has been well published it is not always true and right. We have to look at things from a number of perspectives. The right and wrong only applies in certain situations.
My inquiry is an overview of what I found significant. Someone else may find or take away something different from the same information. Mine is applied to my experiences and where I am in the world culturally, socially and at this time.
Adesola then asked what themes I had found in my research, saying it out loud really helped me confirm my thoughts.
Educational Perspective - Many of my sources discussed a need for change in education, I am going to apply this educational perspective to my practice alongside its relationship to Multiple Intelligences.
Interpretation of Theory - Not one size fits all is the basis of the Multiple Intelligence Theory, but it's not only Howard Gardner that is saying this. How is this interpreted in my practice?
Application of Theoretical Framework in Dance Practice - The headings above have motivated dance practitioners and scholars to create frameworks using a number of different theories. How are these similar or how do they differ? What are the ethical and practical considerations?
Adesola then tasked us with looking through our learning communities blogs with the idea of themes. Are people saying the same thing? Are they talking about the same topic but from a different perspective?
And then could we find relevant information in the educational journals in the library through Unihub that linked to our thoughts. I will conclude this task on another blog.
But for now, I would really recommend looking at the blogs to see if someone is thinking the same as you. But did they word it differently or is their practice different from yours? Get involved and start leaving comments, a conversation is sometimes the best way to help unpick what is significant to you.
Thursday, 31 October 2019
Thursday, 24 October 2019
Light Bulb!!!
I am currently reviewing my literature from Module 2 and searching for new literature to fill in the gaps. A few weeks ago I felt like I was in a fog, I had been given feedback to look more into what Learning and Education are in order to add more depth to the question ' What is the relationship between The Multiple Intelligences and Dance Teaching?' This is a big field with many different theories and I worried that I would disappear down the rabbit hole.
I have been collecting papers and journal articles on a computer folder that I have started systematically working my way through. Filtering out anything that was too far outside the net I had cast. George Siemens talks of Exclusion as a vital learning process.
'We cannot possibly consider every facet of a new idea. We exclude in order to move to the point of active cognition on, or interaction with, an idea.' (Siemens, 2006 pg 36)
Although I am not yet at the analysis phase as I have not finished my practice reflection journal I am starting to see links and threads appearing in my literature.
Now to get this party started....
Bibliography
Pintrest (2019). Lightbulb. [image] Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/677510337667509037/?nic=1a [Accessed 24 Oct. 2019].
Siemens, G. (2006). Knowing knowledge. [Milton Keynes]: [s.n.].
I have been collecting papers and journal articles on a computer folder that I have started systematically working my way through. Filtering out anything that was too far outside the net I had cast. George Siemens talks of Exclusion as a vital learning process.
'We cannot possibly consider every facet of a new idea. We exclude in order to move to the point of active cognition on, or interaction with, an idea.' (Siemens, 2006 pg 36)
Although I am not yet at the analysis phase as I have not finished my practice reflection journal I am starting to see links and threads appearing in my literature.
(Pintrest, 2019)
And Eureka! I feel like I am starting to get somewhere....
I still have a long way to go, unpicking the ethical considerations, viewing my findings from different perspectives, but for that brief moment the sun shone through the fog and I feel I have my Inquiry VIP guest list complete.
Now to get this party started....
Bibliography
Pintrest (2019). Lightbulb. [image] Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/677510337667509037/?nic=1a [Accessed 24 Oct. 2019].
Siemens, G. (2006). Knowing knowledge. [Milton Keynes]: [s.n.].
Thursday, 17 October 2019
Dance Artefact - Dance Your PhD
After last nights group discussion, I planned to write a post on Ethics.
I started with revisiting my Module 1 blog on Ethics which reminded me of a scholar 'Sho Botham' that is working to raise the awareness of understanding of Ethics in Dance Teaching. I re-read some of her work. Which is definitely worth a read, no matter what Module you are in.- http://www.ethicsdance.co.uk/downloads.html
And then I had a look through her bibliographies for sources of further reading and then I discovered this TedTalk Video at https://allworlddance.com/Style/education/ and I instantly had to share it.
Last night we also discussed our Artefacts and our ideas on how we can present our reflections on our practice using other than words. Eduardo said that he has been thinking on how HE IS the artefact as he is a product of his practice and this resonated with many of us on the call.
My practice is Dance, so I am currently thinking of ways to express the Module 3 process. Adesola recently reminded me that my body and dance performance can show my knowledge, my practice experience and my history. And I feel this video helps hi-light how dance can build more of a picture than writing in many cases.
I also wanted to share my journey to this video find as a reminder that we often find things when we are not looking, and that following a thread can lead to the most wonderful discoveries.
How does this video resonate with you and your practice?
Have you found any nuggets of wisdom when you weren't looking for them?
Bibliography
Botham, S. (2018). download articles. [online] Ethicsdance.co.uk. Available at: http://www.ethicsdance.co.uk/downloads.html [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].
Smith, C. (2011). TEDx Brussels: John Bohannon & Black Label Movement in Dance Your Ph.D. [Blog] All World Dance. Available at: https://allworlddance.com/2011/12/06/tedx-brussels-john-bohannon-black-label-movement-in-dance-your-phd/ [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].
Tuesday, 8 October 2019
Knowing Knowledge Revisited..
As suggested in the Module 3 handbook, I am revisiting Knowing Knowledge by George Siemans. I feel like I am reading it with new eyes, now in Module 3 I have a greater understanding of the message the book is sending.
In particular, the idea that the many different parts of ourselves holds different perspective - points for perceiving and (filtering) knowledge (Siemans, 2006)
This made me think of the above meme, not only do we have our own perspectives of our practice but those in our networks and communities have their own perspectives too. My data collection tools are literature review and a reflection journal. I am feeling very anxious that am not holding interviews or surveys as my research outcome depends solely on me working reflexively and being able the critically reflect on my own thoughts.
However my re-reading of Siemans Knowledge flow cycle has reminded me that the process of the inquiry is to further my own ideas and knowledge and not to solve a problem.
The following stages;
'Personalization... at this stage, we bring new knowledge to ourselves through the experience of internalization, dialogue or reflection.
Implementation... is the final stage, where action occurs and feeds back into the personalization stage. Our understanding of a concept changes when we are acting on it, versus only theorizing or learning about it.'
(Siemans, 2006 pg 6)
This is where I feel I am at the moment. The literature I am reading is giving me new information to incorporate into my practice, it is giving me new things to think about as I teach and bringing new processes to my reflections.
Where are you at? Is there anything you are reading at the moment that is helping clarify your process so far? Or anything that has thrown you off into a new direction?
Bibliography
I am a dance teacher. (2019). [image] Available at: https://www.memesmonkey.com/topic/dance [Accessed 8 Oct. 2019].
Siemens, G. (2006). Knowing knowledge. [Milton Keynes]: [s.n.].
Thursday, 3 October 2019
Some light bedtime reading...
I am now officially into the first week of my literature review, and I have found the best way to concentrate is to go to bed at 8pm with my post-it notes and I am currently Frames of Mind - The Theory of Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner.
I familiarised myself with his work in my Module 2 literature review but now I am reading his work with more focus on the Ethical considerations of his theory and applying this to my practice as a dance teacher.
I have enjoyed how reflexive Gardner's writing is, at no point does he portray his theory as 'The be-all and end-all' and for every intelligence, he highlights the cultural perspectives and considerations of disabilities and different cognitive abilities.
His introduction hi-lights that there is no definitive explanation for intelligence and probably will never be one. And in fact, we need to think critically about our attachment to the word 'Intelligence' and also apply this thought to many things that we label.
'There is a universal human temptation to give credence to a word to which we have become attached, perhaps because it has helped us to understand a situation better.... Intelligence is such a word; we use it so often that we have come to believe in its existence, as a genuine tangible, measurable entity, rather than as a convenient way of labelling some phenomena that may (but may well not) exist.' (Gardner, 1993 pg 69)
My reading also reminded me why I found interest in this topic, I hate the idea that we are all measured by the same system when our talents and intelligence are different.
'There must be more to intelligence than short answers to short questions- answers that predict academic success; and yet, in the absence of a better way of thinking about intelligence, and of better ways to assess an individual's capabilities, this scenario is destined to be repeated' (Gardner, 1993 pg 3)
This has made me think about how we measure dance ability. Is it only those with the highest kicks, best technique and performance that are the best dancers?
Gardner places his theory of intelligence across lots of different cultures from the Anang of Nigeria who by the age of five sing hundreds of songs, play several percussion instruments and perform dozens of intricate dance movements (Gardner, 1993) and how skills that to the western world may seem primitive actually require a high level of intelligence. Such as in Kikuyu in Kenya, a young child is taught how to recognize every head of livestock in his family's herd from its colour, markings and size and type of its horns. (Gardner, 1993)
How would these children fair in an audition? They clearly have remarkable talents but these would not necessarily be tested if they were just mirroring a choreographer. Or their talents would not be realised if they were just judged on a dance they had presented by themselves.
Instead of looking at the aesthetic of a performer and that being the marker of their talent, could we look further into their intelligence so that they can develop from a deeper place?
Bibliography
Gardner, H (1993) Frames of Mind The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Fontana Press.
I familiarised myself with his work in my Module 2 literature review but now I am reading his work with more focus on the Ethical considerations of his theory and applying this to my practice as a dance teacher.
His introduction hi-lights that there is no definitive explanation for intelligence and probably will never be one. And in fact, we need to think critically about our attachment to the word 'Intelligence' and also apply this thought to many things that we label.
'There is a universal human temptation to give credence to a word to which we have become attached, perhaps because it has helped us to understand a situation better.... Intelligence is such a word; we use it so often that we have come to believe in its existence, as a genuine tangible, measurable entity, rather than as a convenient way of labelling some phenomena that may (but may well not) exist.' (Gardner, 1993 pg 69)
My reading also reminded me why I found interest in this topic, I hate the idea that we are all measured by the same system when our talents and intelligence are different.
'There must be more to intelligence than short answers to short questions- answers that predict academic success; and yet, in the absence of a better way of thinking about intelligence, and of better ways to assess an individual's capabilities, this scenario is destined to be repeated' (Gardner, 1993 pg 3)
This has made me think about how we measure dance ability. Is it only those with the highest kicks, best technique and performance that are the best dancers?
Gardner places his theory of intelligence across lots of different cultures from the Anang of Nigeria who by the age of five sing hundreds of songs, play several percussion instruments and perform dozens of intricate dance movements (Gardner, 1993) and how skills that to the western world may seem primitive actually require a high level of intelligence. Such as in Kikuyu in Kenya, a young child is taught how to recognize every head of livestock in his family's herd from its colour, markings and size and type of its horns. (Gardner, 1993)
How would these children fair in an audition? They clearly have remarkable talents but these would not necessarily be tested if they were just mirroring a choreographer. Or their talents would not be realised if they were just judged on a dance they had presented by themselves.
Instead of looking at the aesthetic of a performer and that being the marker of their talent, could we look further into their intelligence so that they can develop from a deeper place?
Bibliography
Gardner, H (1993) Frames of Mind The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Fontana Press.
Friday, 27 September 2019
Through The Fog
(Symmetry Magazine, 2009)
Wednesday was the first group discussion shared with all modules for me this term. I think a lot of us joined the call with the hope that the discussion would help create some clarity through the fog that is the first few weeks of the term.
I am familiar with THE FOG! It's been present at the beginning of all 3 modules for me. Like the beginning of a new day, it's early and dark and a haze lingers across your line of sight.
However I now take comfort in the fog, it means that I am in the process of adding more to my learning. I'm aware there shouldn't be a clear answer and as was mentioned on the call, I need to trust in my ability to think critically and reflect on my journey so far.
In using the processes I have learnt, I can visually map where my thoughts are and start looking for themes. I can record my thoughts in my journal so that they marinade and develop substance.
I have taken time re-reading my Module 2 inquiry and although it's a bit daunting that I am now changing my data collection methods, it reminded me WHY I choose this subject.
I am looking into the relationship between Dance Teaching and Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences. This idea first came to me in Module 1 when I reflected on one of my classes where a pupil asked "How many steps they needed to take?" It made me think that I use music counts and descriptions of left, right, left but very rarely do I say " Take 3 steps!"
I am not a numbers person but looking at Howards Gardner's theory made me think that maybe some of my pupils are, and they would have a better chance understanding my teaching if I used techniques that spoke to their Mathematical - Logical Intelligence.
In Module 2, my literature review comprised mainly of Gardner's work through books and interviews, scholars that supported Gardner's theory and have applied it to dance teaching and scholars that stated the Theory was often misused and may narrow pupils learning.
In Module 3, I now plan to explore further literature of Intelligence Theories (without getting lost down a rabbit hole) and to find what other Theories are being used in education.
I would love to discuss anyone's experiences that made you question past or current teaching methods whether you were the teacher or pupil. Or if anyone currently in education has had experiance in theories or methods that may be transferable into dance or teaching in the arts.
If you would like to know more about Howard Gardners Theory and test your Intelligence there is more on one of my previous blog - Multiple Intelligences - Where do you fit in?
It will be great to hear your thoughts.
Photo CreditSymmetry Magazine (2009). Dancing with Physicists. [image] Available at: https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/august-2009/dancing-with-physicists [Accessed 27 Sep. 2019].
It will be great to hear your thoughts.
Saturday, 14 September 2019
What I wish I knew last year....
I can't believe how much has changed in a year. I remember my first Skype call this time last year, and I was sat there thinking 'What have I got myself into?' I had already read through the module handbook and was totally clueless.
I can honestly say, I had no need to worry. Through discussion, reflection and a trust that it will all become clear as you start to work through the Module Handbook, I am looking forward to starting Module 3.
Today's Skype call was more about the administration of the course. Where to find information on Uni Hub and how to best utilize the learning community. Here are a few of the things I have found helpful through my last 2 Modules.
Blogs - Reading List
To ensure I stay up to date with the newest blogs in our learning community I made a Reading List on Blogger. This then appears like a news feed, enabling me to leave comments and engage more.
Don't be afraid to just say Hello -
As Adesola said on today's call even if you are still processing your thoughts on a blogs content, its nice to just comment. Hi, Great Blog or I enjoyed reading this. It's nice to know that there are people reading your work.
Labels
I have found labels helpful to reference my work enabling to look back at specific subjects that I have blogged about or to find key words or themes that have carried across the different modules.
I have also found them invaluable when I have felt a bit lost or stuck. I have often used the labels on a supervisors blog to get a better idea of a subject. For example - Literature Reviews, Adesola has 16 blog posts on Literature Reviews, so I will have a look through and its likely that there will be information that will give me more insight or comments from past students sharing there ideas.
Blogs can be short and sweet, and don't always have to be written. Think about alternate ways to share your thoughts or ideas. Images, Videos, and Photos of your brainstorming sessions. Your blog will become another form of diary in which you can reflect on throughout the modules.
Long Distance Library
Today we discussed taking time to navigate Unihub and see whats available. I regret fully doing this early on. There were books on the reading list that are not available online and I feel I didn't take full advantage of the resources available to me as a long distance student.
I can honestly say, I had no need to worry. Through discussion, reflection and a trust that it will all become clear as you start to work through the Module Handbook, I am looking forward to starting Module 3.
Today's Skype call was more about the administration of the course. Where to find information on Uni Hub and how to best utilize the learning community. Here are a few of the things I have found helpful through my last 2 Modules.
Blogs - Reading List
To ensure I stay up to date with the newest blogs in our learning community I made a Reading List on Blogger. This then appears like a news feed, enabling me to leave comments and engage more.
Don't be afraid to just say Hello -
As Adesola said on today's call even if you are still processing your thoughts on a blogs content, its nice to just comment. Hi, Great Blog or I enjoyed reading this. It's nice to know that there are people reading your work.
Labels
I have found labels helpful to reference my work enabling to look back at specific subjects that I have blogged about or to find key words or themes that have carried across the different modules.
I have also found them invaluable when I have felt a bit lost or stuck. I have often used the labels on a supervisors blog to get a better idea of a subject. For example - Literature Reviews, Adesola has 16 blog posts on Literature Reviews, so I will have a look through and its likely that there will be information that will give me more insight or comments from past students sharing there ideas.
Blogs can be short and sweet, and don't always have to be written. Think about alternate ways to share your thoughts or ideas. Images, Videos, and Photos of your brainstorming sessions. Your blog will become another form of diary in which you can reflect on throughout the modules.
Long Distance Library
Today we discussed taking time to navigate Unihub and see whats available. I regret fully doing this early on. There were books on the reading list that are not available online and I feel I didn't take full advantage of the resources available to me as a long distance student.
There is a guide on the Librarians Introduction on Unihub on how to register to order books to your home address. (Please note - Email removed for security)
Dear Diary....
Start keeping a diary of your practice from today. It took me a while to pick apart my practice in order to see it in new ways and keeping a diary definitely helped. At first I just wrote what I had done that day and then started breaking it down into lens as I moved through the course.
I hope these tips have been helpful. I look forward to hearing what your tips may be, after all we are always learning.
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