Artefact

This blog hi-lights some of the significant discussions I had during Wednesdays Group Skype and this evenings Module 3 Skype on how we communicate ideas.

From the first call I took away the idea of staying honest to my practice. I have been worried about where and how I am going to film my choreography for my video, as I don't have the facilities of a theatre or a professional cameraman and was concerned filming it in my dusty old dance hall would look unprofessional. However, on the call, I was reminded that we want to give an honest representation of our practice and give the viewer of our artefact a real view into what we do and to keep our artefact in context with our practice.

Tonight's call also reinforced this idea, with Adesola saying that the length of our artefact should be in line with what we create in our practice. In my practice there's a time limit generally of 4 mins, dancers and choreographers only have that amount of time to capture everything they want to say in their creation.

Adesola added - The artistry is how poignant it can be, not how long. This made me think more about the content of my artefact. I want to tell a story of the journey of my inquiry that will communicate to everyone. On the call, we discussed how the art is telling a story that is understandable and not letting the watcher edit it for themselves.

I want to express the passion I have for dance but also show where the threads start to tie together. I have felt the journey has been quite emotional and I hope my music choices for different sections of my dance hi-light this.

Expectations were also a topic of Wednesday's call, how things very rarely go to plan and how deviating from the plan is part of the process. My artefact has changed shape a number of times now, but I feel it needs to in order to grow and strengthen as an idea. This evening we discussed how we have to be aware of our own creative process in relation to our practice. For me, this is a reminder that I usually play around with ideas, I'll create choreography at home and adjust it as I'm teaching. I'll change it dependant on the space available and pupils abilities and on watching it back. I can't expect anything different from my artefact.

Lastly, one point that was significant to me was the question - Will the process of making the artefact add to my already existing data in my inquiry? I hope it does, while my artefact is about the journey I have been on, not so much the discovery of information I hope I can use this process to add more to my practice.

It may help me concentrate more on portraying a story or working with my students to develop their storytelling skills. Once I have shared my artefact I may have new questions or ideas that I can take further and add to my presentation. I am starting to see how all 3 ways of communicating my inquiry process - Essay, Artefact and Presentation are linked together.

The Shift

I wasn't able to make Tuesdays Module 3 discussion due to work, but so far I have found the blogs on the discussion very helpful.

I can really relate to the idea of a shift happening during the inquiry process. For me, it was the understanding that 'The theoretical world is not composed of a single idea' (S.R Koff, 2003)

My inquiry question is....

What is the relationship between the Multiple Intelligences Theory and Dance Teaching? 

The theory has many different perspectives, and through reading them through literature I learnt that I have to stay reflexive. And not to look at the theory as something to behold but instead as something that can be adjusted, reworked to my ideas and practice.

I went into my inquiry not knowing how I will answer the question... And now I have completed my data collection and am in the final stages of writing my draft (cutting out the fluff and trying to get that word count down)

I still don't have a definitive answer, I do however have lots of new ideas, thoughts and questions.

I'm hoping that's the point!!! Right?

If you were on the call and made any notes, in the spirit of 'Connectivism' (G.Siemens, 2006) please do comment any of your thoughts below.

Bibliography

 Koff, Susan.R (2003) Why the Multiple Intelligences?, Journal of Dance Education, 3:1, 5-6, DOI: 10.1080/15290824.2003.10387223 

Siemens.G (2006) Knowing Knowledge, Milton Keynes

The meme says it all....

                                                   (Pintrest 2019)

This is me today!!! I have literally written this first sentence 10 times trying to find the right words to explain where I'm at. And I think that explains it all.

Right now I feel like I have hit a brick wall. I know what I've got to do but I'm panicking that I don't have time to do it. And that panic is creating a mental block, I feel like my last few study sessions (3 hours of peace, while the mother in law has my 3-year-old and 1-year-old) have been wasted due to me going into brain overload. And I'm starting to overthink and doubt all that I have done so far.

But I'm not going to lose my cool... At our uni session, I advised Laura from Module 1 to just start writing. You might write 100's of paragraphs that don't go into your final essay but its all part of the process. Adesola agreed and explained that the first things we write are how we start to shift through our thoughts and the final draft is the conclusion of our thoughts. If we start putting down our thoughts too late, what we TurnIn is essentially our unfiltered thoughts.

I think I have been concentrating too much on what my literature is saying and not thought enough about what I have to say. 

SO all I need now is a week locked away from the world to start writing. If only!!!!

How's everyone else doing? If you could just leave one word, what would it be?

Image
Pintrest (2019). Forever Panicking. [image] Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/373306256598250019/ [Accessed 8 Nov. 2019].

Campus Session - 30.10.19

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.

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. 

(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.].

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].

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.].