Pause for reflection

It has been such a long time since I've blogged that I thought I'd keep it short and get back into the swing of things by imparting a few thoughts before I continue my MAPP discovery throughout module 3.

As I start to write my first blog of the term, it seems unbelievable that for those of us on module 3 it is the final term of our journey..........Argh!!!  The prospect of being in the final term is one of mixed emotion and not unlike how I felt back at the start of module 1; excited, scared (in a good way) the kind of scared that allows the adrenaline to rush through ones veins and ask the question 'why am I doing this to myself'?  The fizz of excitement combined with nervous energy made me think how my emotions and experiential learning are similar to the students that I teach;  A new first years fears of a different learning environment is comparable to the 3rd years fears who will soon be going it alone into the big wide world, and utilising all that they have learnt and discovered for themselves. 

As I reflect on my MAPP journey thus far, I realise that just as the 3rd year students, although a daunting prospect of the unknown, I am ready for the next challenge, into what I hope will be an exciting research project throughout this final term. 

My past informs me that I survived my first year at school and college, and have survived MAPP module 1, I fine tuned my learning in 2nd year college, and MAPP module 2 and I am now nearly ready to fly the nest as I did as a 3rd year student, MAPP module 3............................ now that (although scary) is so exciting and illustrates reflection as a road map and coping mechanism to what I feel are natural anxieties.  I am able to nurture and learn from my past in order to move through the present and aim towards the future.  This pattern of reflection also strikes a chord with my research topic as part of my study is looking at our heritage as dancers with a particular focus on how modern and post-modern dance can inform empiricism and creativity in dancers of today. In other words, looking back, learning from the past in order to inform today! 

I definitely feel 3rd year like and can not imagine what I will discover throughout the research process but hope that I prove to myself that I can do it well and that I am ready to take on and validate the unknown!