Musing

I've been reflecting lots lately, but then I think in this strangest of years, 2020, so have many others.  Musing prompts a natural pause, a moment (or several) to stop, think, perhaps peruse and do, or not do, as the case may be and realise where we've been, what we've done and how this might inform the next stage.  One of those reflections was reading back over past blogs when I was studying for my masters degree and reading how they helped me to fathom out things and make sense of whatever I was trying to make sense of - so with 'thought in hand' and keyboard at the ready, I am here once more writing a blog and reflecting.  

I am no longer a MAPP student as cited in my previous blogs, I am in fact an extremely proud MAPP graduate and look back on my Middlesex University work based learning days with great fondness.  The skills, information and independent research that I learnt on that journey have continued to inform my everyday life both personally and professionally.  The experience also continued to quench my thirst for learning, something that I seem to have an insatiable appetite for (as long as its not maths of course)!  Since graduating I gave myself some breathing time for a couple of years and allowed the process of this level of learning to settle and inform my work.  

In early 2019 I was off again on the learning curve and started to study hypnotherapy and counselling skills.  That has been incredibly interesting and promoted my understanding of my own, and other peoples behaviour.  In order to progress and develop as a skilled hypnotherapist, I had to study for several months, 18 in fact, and work with case studies before successfully qualifying.  Throughout my hypnotherapy training I would naturally pick up on similarities that I had experienced before, writing journals, writing essays, researching practitioners, enjoying the process and the 'new' knowledge, experiencing those feelings of 'feeling out of my depth', but like before in my MAPP days, I did it, I survived and I am now a qualified practicing hypnotherapist and able to help others achieve and overcome whatever is holding them back - that's a great and wonderful feeling and I'm looking forward to my therapeutic journey.  

I am continuing with my learning journey and am now training to be a counsellor in addition to being a hypnotherapist.  Once again, those demons of not being able to make sense of theories and practitioners have their moments of rising to the fore and making the homework tasks seem somewhat stressful.  However, what I noticed the other day when I was preparing for a staff presentation on 'Curriculum Review', is that already my knowledge and understanding of the theorists linked to the counselling world, informed my delivery of the presentation with a more considered approach towards my audience; I prepared with the thought in mind about different human behaviours, the different ways in which we view the world.  This may sound strange, because it's a well know fact that there are different styles of learning, but, I personally, have not considered 'human behaviour' in the way in which I do now as a result of my early counselling training.  So that got me thinking even more, and more mindful questions were being asked in my psyche, one of which was "why don't you go back to writing a reflective journal/blog?" Reflection is such a powerful tool that 'we' inherently have.  It can be our own natural powers of hypnotherapy; those daydreaming moments, pause for thought, positive musing.  Just by taking 'the' time, whatever 'the' time is, we can question, find out and discover. I think it's that bit, the discovery that I love most about learning, they are the 'aha moments', the 'penny drop moments', in some aspects the 'relief moments' that bring about realisation and change within ourselves.

So, as I go off to read some more books and learn some more about counselling theories, I will also start my reflective journal and try to make sense of the various different changes and musing that I'm experiencing at this point in time. 

www.attandw.co.uk for anyone who is interested :-).    

The Artefact..........My students and 'Me'

Apologies for taking a few days to blog post our Skype last Sunday, I have been snowed under with work which has unfortunately diverted my attention away from my MAPP!

How poignant Helen's post has been for us all?  Each of us appears (reading through the blogs) that we suffer this terrible sense of uncertainty and nervous anxiety when it comes to vocalising our thoughts through our blogs.  I can definitely relate to this and feel like it during every Skype session as well.  I get nervous to my stomach whenever we have a Skype session and internally panic in case I say something that's wrong and makes me sound a bit dumb and I definitely hate going first!  So last Sunday was fab for the nerves.............I went first!!!!  However, after reading Helen's blog, the nerves weren't so bad, I just went for it and although I felt as though I babbled my way through my description of what my artefact is likely to be, I felt better for getting it out there and comforted by the responses that were fed back to me. The irony of it all, is that I say to my students ALL the time, words like "just do it, take a risk, have confidence in yourself, no-one's judging you, you won't know unless you try" etc etc, and yet I am the hypocrite who becomes that student when asked to do the same.  So with that in mind, using the experience of being a hypocrite I will use just that to explain my take on what the artefact for module 3 should be...................

I was teaching my students yesterday and they were asking me questions about what their Autumn term assessment project needed to include, how do they present it and what do they have to say and do.  This rang immediate bells with me as their anxiety and uncertainties pushed my mind to think ahead about my own oral presentation and artefact. Swiftly and in seconds my brain shifted away from personal 'me' and back to teacher me, and my response to the students was this; "think about your presentation as being something of a lesson to the audience, remember that not everyone in the audience will know what you've been studying or working on for the whole term and they won't understand unless you tell them the ins and outs of it all".  I gave them the idea that an assessment is the celebration and performance of all that they've been working hard on in each lesson throughout the Autumn term, so it was important to be proud of what they had researched, learnt and achieved and for that reason it was important that they share this with their audience.  I posed a question; How fantastic would they feel after their presentation if the audience left feeling as though they had learnt something and felt more informed of what students were learning in other areas of the college?   They could potentially be responsible for teaching something new to other members of staff and students as a result of their presentation.  The students understood this explanation and seemed to walk away from the class feeling more assured and confident about what they had to prepare and had a better idea of how to do it. 

As I drove home and reflected on the days lesson, my thoughts informed me that what I had spoken to the students about was exactly what I needed to speak to myself about.  That is what I need to do on 19th January........... that is how I understand our oral presentation and artefact should be.  Another analogy I gave the students was that of a tube map, that it was important to stop at each station so that the audience understood the route and would be able to make their own way back should they need to - in other words, they understood how they got to their destination and would be able to recall the route back to the start of the journey. 

I'm probably babbling now, but I've always been a great believer that we learn from our students and this is no exception, by me having to explain to my students what was expected of them in terms of their assessment, I explained my own assessment to myself......I hope!  A classic example of 'do as I say and not as I do'.  Only, I think I need to do more 'do as I say and make it, facilitate it to become the do as I do as well'.

I think, I feel happier now about my artefact and will try to maintain in my own head what I have said to my students.  Any other thoughts on the artefact, oral presentation, data analysis (my Achilles heel and current state of struggle) please share.

Getting Closer

I have had such an interesting week and one that has been full of changes in my environment and offered me time to consolidate, take a step back and take off again.  I almost feel like my whole body and the world around me has been part of a huge 'clean up' plan and the Spring cleaning/re-decorating has been in place - I'm currently still at the dust sheet phase of the decoration but the wallpaper and paint are next in line and that in itself feels good, as I know that everything is in place, even though it is not yet complete!

Last Tuesday (28th) I visited Middlesex University and had the absolute pleasure and indulgence of observing a Graham technique class and attending a lecture on 'A choreographic Idea - Its beginning and possible development' (Cohan, R 2014).  Both of these were fabulous and a real help to my deeper understanding of American Modern Dance.  As I sat observing the Graham technique class I was able to assimilate the intricacies of the exercises and combinations that I'd learnt as a student, and I was able to make much more sense of how and what each exercise was for, and make reference to the literature I've read into the background and knowledge of Graham's choreographic principles and technique. I felt a real connection to the work and privileged to have the opportunity to experience it 'first hand'.  The class was so cleverly choreographed and delivered with such inspirational teaching and attention to detail; I was desperate to be a part of the class and given half the chance, I probably would have joined in. 

My connection to Graham was then endorsed even further when I attended the lecture on choreography.  Now I was sitting in a studio theatre looking at Robert Cohan, who apart from being a revered choreographer and founding Artistic Director of The Place, prior to this, he worked with Martha Graham and was a member of her company for 20 years.  He was among the great modern dancers such as Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Jose Limon, Helen Tamiris, the list goes on as does his incredible and enviable CV; I felt as though I could almost touch the history of modern dance, to an extent I was looking at it, I was looking at a man, a dancer who has been part of the historical context that my research is based on; ............my literature review was coming alive, it was surreal, unbelievable and truly inspirational!  Not least of all, Robert Cohan is a remarkable man and who is mesmerising to look at and listen to, a legend of modern dance.  My Tuesday lunch time was most definitely one of the highest quality!

Being on the University campus last Tuesday, allowed me time to appreciate the student environment, take a breath as it were and enforce time out, away from the books, computer and reflective journal, it was an immense observational day that I have since reflected on and taken stock of all that it had to offer, not only to my research and my teaching, but to me as a person, a dancer.  As we all become closer to our deadlines regardless of what module we're on, it's easy to get caught up with individual stresses and frustrations.  Tuesday allowed me the time to let the dust sheet settle so that I was able to re-connect my thoughts and proceed with the final stages of my research.  It was great to meet with Helen, whom I must thank for escorting me from studio to studio and spending time out of her day to do just that. .  The days experiences fulfilled me on every level and has served to encourage my research inquiry with an additional momentum; a jewel in my memory box that I will cherish and use to inform my professional practice. 

Reflections and Process

I would say that I am naturally reflective and am a person that ponders and mulls through things before taking action.  However, I think this has probably come from  being the same person that also can act on impulse. This I have found through experience, is sometimes good, and sometimes not so good. The result of which all stems from the power of reflection and hind sight!  I believe that everyone in life experiences some kind of reflection and depending on what we do with our lives throughout our day to day activities depends on what level of reflection we choose to work with in order to empower our understanding of the developments in the world around us.

Since the beginning MAPP (DTP) I have been on an adventurous journey of learning; I know things now that I was completely ignorant to before embarking on the course and it has made me hungry to discover more and more.  In terms of digesting these new experiences I have used the power of reflection to inform and consolidate anything and everything that I have done and learnt so far.  It is the 'key' to where I am now in terms of my research study and almost acts as a confidante that enables and supports each task that I have done throughout modules 1, 2 and now 3.  In a strange way I almost find my reflective journal as being cathartic............not sure if that's the same for everyone, but for me I'm able to make notes, scribble thoughts and somehow this makes everything clearer in the long run, especially when I read back over the facts and emotions that have been recorded.  I suppose it's like having a one to one with yourself, re-evaluating what you've written and making sense of it all.  It's part of the process that provides clarity. 

 

My reflective journal is definitely my 'power tool' when it comes to writing essays, it becomes a text in its own right.  One of the hardest things for me throughout the MAPP journey, was having the confidence to trust my own abilities, working autonomously.  I'm not sure if that's part of who I am or the fact that I haven't come through an H.E. route in my education; probably a little bit of both. Nevertheless, my reflective journal has served the purpose of strengthening my ability to act autonomously and grow in confidence.  My advise would be to write anything and everything down that is relevant to the task in hand, how you understand it or not as the case might be (I've got plenty of those in my journal), emotional feelings, what you need to do, what you have done and so on.  No matter how you write it or draw it, too many scribbles are never enough when it comes to the final writing for each module. 

 

The books that I found useful are:

 

Helyer, Ruth (2010) The Work-Based Learning Student Handbook: Palgrave Study Skills

 

Bassot, Barbara (2013) The Reflective Journal: Palgrave Macmillan

 

Moon, Jennifer A (2004) A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning, Theory and Practice: RoutledgeFalmer

 

Good luck to everyone...............exciting and nerve wracking times ahead, but reflect and think how far we've come in our personal journeys. 

 

Enjoying The Momentum

It is a week since our first Skype of the term and the positive vibe that was free flowing from our group discussion has remained with me throughout the week.  I have really enjoyed reading the various blogs and getting back in touch with everyone and my own mind in preparation for the term ahead.  I have posted a question on the MAPP LinkedIn discussion group, so if you get chance I would be grateful for your thoughts, ideas and comments.

My research in a 'nutshell' is seeing if I am able to encourage vocational dance students to work more independently and creatively by developing a greater understanding of their heritage as dancers and utilising the principles and techniques of Modern and Post-Modern dance as a means to stimulate improvisation and choreographic ideas.  I am also interested to see if the research will provide an education that is supportive to their current needs within dance and musical theatre training and if it develops autonomous and more confident dancers.  In my 25 years of teaching, I have seen so many students afraid to follow their own impulses to create movement and when challenged to do so, they usually either back off and don't want to proceed or choreograph movements that are akin to what they already know in terms of the syllabus that they study and therefore create a sequence of familiar steps.  However, in my experience, when the students are either given material to work on that is outside of the 'normal' technique classes or they go the theatre to watch something a little different to their training they are enthralled, inspired and genuinely enjoy the 'different' form that they have been exposed to.  If we were able to prolong time, I would love to be able to learn and endure every aspect and style of dance that is available to us and ultimately pass it on to my students.  For this reason, I have chosen to focus my inquiry of the Modern Practitioners, as it was them (I believe) that have given us much to talk about and much to utilise and develop in the future of dance.

I watched Matthew Bourne's latest production 'Lord of The Flies' last night and found myself not only enjoying such immense creativity but I also noticed the seamless connections that were had from various genres of technique within one production.  There was evidence of classical ballet, contemporary, street, hip hop and pedestrian movement that all worked so well together.  An added bonus was that one of my male senior students was a member of the cast and it was wonderful to see him working alongside the Professional members of the company and delivering Bourne's choreography so well and with great attention to detail.  I couldn't help but imagine, if I am able to give my students some of what Matthew Bourne has got in the way of investigation, historical research and creative confidence then they too, could be the potential next generation of 'Modern' choreographers, or at least well on their way to the creative map of discovery.

Even though I only studied contemporary/modern dance as a mandatory subject as part of my vocational training, I have always been drawn to this style choreographically.  For me, there is so much to be had from this style of dance and I see it more and more coming into play in the 'new' ballet works that are being showcased around the globe, as well as Musical Theatre.  Dance is such a wonderful discipline to be part of and a great place to be; forever changing, evolving and giving 'us' so much to think and talk about.  Like our viral community, dance is the community that will continue to be my momentum and driving force behind these very modern and collaborative times..............Exciting!

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! 

Light Hearted Moments

I have been making good use of the latter part of the half term week and done as much reading as one can in-between essential chores and a little 'free' time.  I have to admit the 12 hour stint was a little ridiculous as it took some time before my eyes were able to properly focus again.  However, within the schedule of hard-core reading I have been able to observe a large amount of words that took me back to what was a much talked about and very funny television advert in the 1980's.  For those of you nearer to my age, this reflection may bring a smile to your face as it did with mine whilst you're passionately and desperately trying to get to grips with paradigm. 

There used to be a series of television commercials advertising the services of BT which starred Maureen Lipman as an extremely expressive and proud grandmother, who for the purpose of the advert was always on the phone to her friends boasting about her grandson. One in particular from the BT series is when she is on the phone to her grandson and to her disappointment he has evidently failed his exams, however, hanging onto the notion that he's passed his sociology the tag line to the scenario which had great comedy timing was Maureen Lipman declaring how clever he was because............."he's got an ology".   Admittedly it is one of those situations where you had to be there to appreciate the humour, but after all my 'ology' reading and getting to grips with meanings and definitions I thought I would share an 'ology' moment with you. (I hope the link works......my first experience of sharing links and no ology to show for it)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK5-2fPyCjA

Let's hope that we too get an 'ology' at the end of all this and someone (most likely our nearest and dearest) can boast on their phones about us!

Music and Dance

I have so far had an enriching start to the half-term and as I reflect on the influences that have stimulated my thinking over the past few days I realise that experience can not only set us up for further development but it can inspire and serve as our practical experiential research. 

To start the week I visited Ronnie Scott's jazz club on Sunday and watched the incredible musician Al Jarreau.  What an inspiration.  At the age of 74 he has the ability to not only entertain and deliver music at the highest level but imparts to his audience so much of himself and the experiences he has been through in his musical career.  Whilst listening to him and his super talented musicians, I started to think about how much 'we' as dancers, teachers and choreographers research music and very often find incredible possibilities within the 'found' accompaniment.  Although this is not exactly the in-depth study of research that is required at this stage of our journey, it is something that has helped me breakdown the barrier (a little) on the process of research.  It struck me that the pattern of searching for music is almost symmetric to any other research.  The search often occurs from either hearing a track and we then investigate that further, which can lead to other tracks, albums, composers etc, which can then lead to other artists and so the search for music goes on.  The trail of searching for songs often gives us findings that we've never heard of and yet we've found the right piece to accompany the class or choreography.  I suppose it's a bit like a 'jazz hands' style of archaeology. It's also encouraging to extend the  musical experience of our students/dancers. I have no doubt that the dance students' ipod is an eclectic mix of musical choices that perhaps might not be so if they didn't experience dance.............what do you think?

My second enrichment was yesterday when I watched one of my students at the Royal Ballet School.  The day was specifically for JA's and the focus was historical dance.  Although I have seen the content of the day many times before, yesterday was the first time I recognised so many research opportunities to be had from the experience.  So, already my MA is forcing me to question, recognise and reflect in a way that I never have done before.  The children learnt a 17th century dance known as 'Picking of Sticks' which is taken from the Playford Dances.  The day was not only beautiful to watch but was a combination of social interaction, history lesson, research project, musical appreciation, equality and diversity, social etiquette - the list goes on.  So much to be had from the day and so many research opportunities.  The children had such a wonderful time and the education (which they probably didn't even realise) was superb. This brought me to a feeling of both joy and frustration:

Joy - because how lucky we are as dancers to have so much investment into our art from the people who are passionate about its history and development and are those who teach us.
Frustration - because too little of the outside world (i.e. outside of the arts) don't recognise the amount of first class education that is to be found in dance.

However, there is a positive to be had from my 'frustration'.  I remember Adesola saying during our last Skype session that in Module 1 we were the children of Middlesex University (the parents) and in Module 2 the parents have let go of our hands.  As children of Middlesex University without being held by the hand we are being trusted to let go and develop the future for the dancing children that we see before us.  I know that possibly sounds a bit deep, and I apologise if it does, but it's exciting to think that our research could potentially make a difference in the future and hopefully the more 'frustrations' will promote a need to invest more and more into the development and recognition of dance education. 

There is so much to be had from our past and future - who would have thought that 17th century music and dance would be enjoyed by children and adults of 2014?  I'm not sure if I'm any closer in gathering material for a potential research proposal, but the excitement of possibility is driving me on each day. 

What a difference a week makes!

Already I am beginning to feel at one again with my initial understanding of the module 2 handbook and the literature that I have started to read.  It's hard to believe that only this time last week I was what felt like being 'clueless' and most definitely apprehensive about the next stage of the journey.  As I wrote my blog last week, I made a conscious effort to focus on and utilise the coping strategies that I had highlighted within it - using the reflective journal, reading and allowing myself the initial freedom of head space in taking the time to process and go slow until I felt I could move onto the next paragraph, page, chapter etc.  Although I am still at the very beginning of this process, I do feel that I am further forward than last Sunday and that I have at least started to understand how I might be able to see my way across the 'black box' and I am confident (this week anyway) that I'm able to drive the bus!

Books that I have found to be really helpful in dissecting fear of the unknown and directing me onto the right bus route are:

Bell, J. (2009) Doing your Research Project, A guide for first-time researchers in education, health and social science, 4th edition, London: Open University Press

Fraleigh, S.H., Hanstein, P. (1999) Researching Dance, Evolving Modes of Inquiry, London: Dance Books

They are a straight forward read that can be picked up and put down whilst my mind processes the information.  Although I am only at the beginning of each book they have helped in my understanding and unravelling of thoughts.  I hope they may be of equal help to fellow MAPPers.

Thanks to Helen's advise, I have also looked back over my AOL's, this has been another helping hand in finding my way around the beginnings of module 2 and has steered me closer to developing a few possibilities for my research inquiry.  This is now my work for the rest of today and the week ahead, developing my reading and investigating the possibilities further. 

For those of us that respond to metaphors, analogies and various quotes I would urge you to treat yourself to a beautiful photographic book that I have just purchased from Amazon: Dancers Among Us, A Celebration of Joy in the Everyday by Jordan Matter.  It is packed full of beautiful photographs of dancers placed in everyday situations/images and the quotes are indicative to the image and most are very poignant to this stage of our MAPP journey.  I leave this blog with the following from the book which is relevant to our black box and bus journey analogies: "To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive" Robert Louis Stevenson, "Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves" Henry David Thoreau.

Moving On and Looking Back

Once again it was great to be involved in our Skype session this morning and be able to share my apprehension and anxiety among friends who are in the same boat!  If I'm honest, I'm not sure if I feel any less scared at the prospect of Module Two, but at least I have the comforting thoughts of Adesola's encouraging metaphor of the black box - I just wonder if I'll ever find my way to the end!

We spoke about so many things this morning with a cross-over between modules 1 and 2, it's amazing how much was covered in just over an hour.  One of the topics raised was about the actual learning process and getting to grips with everything in Module 1. Jamie pointed out that it's important to accept and appreciate ones' personal learning style and not to worry if this is different to others. In tandem with this, it's also important to accept and appreciate ones' fears and potential blocks to learning.  Myself being a perfect example of this as I write my first blog of module 2 and try to understand the content and expectations of the handbook.  When I don't quite get to grips with something, I seem to mentally clam up and can think of nothing other than the mind gremlin that tells me I can't or won't be able to do it.  This then blocks any form of thought process and prevents me from moving on.  To any new Module 1, who may be feeling the same trepidation, I discovered that my reflective journal became a sanctuary for off-loading negative thoughts and blockages.  Taking time out to record, process and break down what I actually needed to do in order to move on, provided an element of calm to my apprehension.  Just as Mary said that the books are steadily becoming friends, they also help in providing clarity and promote more positive and productive 'thinking and doing'.  I appreciate that reflective journals don't necessarily work for everyone, but in addition to balancing reading and completing each task, I found that recording all the highs and lows of the journey was invaluable to my personal development and summary of each event.  I have no doubt that I will be doing a lot of reflective writing as I embark on module 2.  I also find the blogs really helpful, and I would like to improve my own commitment to this by writing more regularly.

Books that I found to be helpful during module 1 were:

• The Work-Based Learning Student Handbook by Ruth Helyer
• The Study Skills Handbook by Stella Cottrell
• A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning, Theory and Practice by Jennifer A Moon.

I would really like some suggestions of helpful reading material to get going with on Module 2?

Before I sign out of this blog, I would like to point you to Jamie's blog (he beat me to it), he has recorded essential information that was discussed earlier today which is extremely helpful and encouraging.  Thanks Jamie.

Question? does anyone know how we can set an email alert for each persons new published blog and/or comment?

Book of Inspiration

I have recently purchased a few books from Amazon, one of them being the following: Pedagogy and Practice - Culture and Identities edited by Kathy Hall, Patricia Murphy and Janet Soler.  Although a little hard going at times, I am finding it extremely helpful in my understanding of pedagogy and incredibly inspirational.  I particularly like the following extracts and find them to be immensely encouraging:

Pedagogy is by its nature a shaping process, and freedom, say, in choice of task may be offset by control through differentiation and assessment.  Above all, we have seen the power of talk to define not just communicative competence, rights and responsibilities, but what it is to know, to understand, to learn and to be a child.

It does matter whether children encounter information technology, the arts, science or citizenship alongside the universal 'basics' of literacy and numeracy, for these can enable them to gain access to and participate in different cultural domains.  Equally, a badly skewed curriculum will deny access to, and ultimately belittle and weaken, the aspects of the culture which are underrepresented.

It will take me a while to process the information that I'm learning from the book, but I have already found myself talking about it and questioning not only my understanding but also my journey as a teacher, and how that journey may continue as my experiences grow.  Although there is no crystal ball enabling a glimpse into the future, the prospect of enrichment looks to be an exciting one!

Perfection

The majority of my thoughts, reflections, reviews and mental proposals happen in either my sleep or driving to and from somewhere in the car.  It's always so fluent, in detail and makes perfect sense.  If only I had a device in my brain that could record it all for later, in chunk size pieces - I'm sure that would be a great advancement on my contributions to my journal and AOL's.  In actual fact, life in general would surely have more clarity, if this were the case?

One of my subconscious thoughts in the early hours was about perfection. I had magnificently written an entire passage on the reasons why we as individuals seek perfection and why it will never be.  In my waking hours when I tried to bring the perfection self-debate to the fore I couldn't quite remember the exact details.  I think the point that I was making to myself in my slumber, was that to strive for perfection was a positive, aspiring to do one's best, but to let the need for perfection rule me, was only to be one of disappointment and one seldom achieved.

My module 1 journey, is a little like my subconscious perfection; desperately seeking to do well, achieve at every task, immense self pressure. In reality, I realise that in order to achieve my best and take control with an element of calm, the journey has to be faced with an understanding of 'up's and down's, clear thoughts and muddy thoughts'!  Sometimes, the thoughts and work just flows and other times I still spend hours and hours desperately searching for something in my brain to make sense.  It's often thought that dreams have a meaning, it's possible that my one about perfection was provoking me to think more closely to the task in hand and take each day and thought as it comes.  I hope so anyway!  

I have recently bought another book which I highly recommend 'The Study Skills Handbook' by Stella Cottrell.  As I work my way through the book I think I might be able to research a little further into my dream about 'perfection'.

'Click'

As I sit in my dining room (like Amber) attempting to write this 2nd blog, having made another cup of coffee (like Mary) I'm comforted by the thought;  'I'm not alone', thanks to my fellow MAPPers and their wonderful blogs!
Struggling to 'fit' everything in with work and home life I knew would be an issue, and one that I was aware of before embarking on the MA course.  What I didn't expect was MYSELF to be the issue. I have spent the past week thinking, reflecting, re-thinking, reflecting some more, jotting notes, writing journals, reading books, moving from one room to another, making more cups of tea and coffee in the hope that something very soon would click and fall into place............ - nothing!  That is, until the latter part of this week and in the early hours of this morning. 
The first part of my 'click' adventure was an impromptu experiment I did with my students on reflection.  After cramming my brain with extensive reading, I was curious to see how my students would relate something they had learnt at school, reflect on it and convey it through movement.  The result was extraordinary and one that filled me with great joy as I watched them move through the music with their own reflective thought. This impromptu performance was quite magnificent and surprisingly helpful in securing my own value and purpose of reflection.    The second 'click' event was within my reading material.  I've been dipping in and out of the core text books and not really grasping all of the material.  This I have found frustrating and once again found MYSELF to be the issue - not the books.  However, last night I finished reading from cover to cover 'The Work-Based Learning Student Handbook' by Ruth Helyer.  The light was back on "I Get It" was the cry in my head- I felt connected, motivated and able to relate my findings more easily than a couple of days before.

Following an array of reflective dreams I woke up early this morning, raring to go and have been on the laptop since 7.30am.  Reading the latest blogs from my fellow students provided the final 'click' - identification and reality - "They're feeling the same as me". 

In a strange macabre way, and most definitely upon reflection, I'm enjoying all these strange emotions.  Whatever it is, for the time being, it's 'Clicked' and I am now more able to look at the piles of books and notes all over the dining room and push self doubt and issues of MYSELF further into the distance.

Helen promised this would be an eventful journey - did she really mean in the first two weeks?!

Hi to everyone who is reading this first blog!

My name is Amanda TOOMS-PEEL and I have just enrolled on the MAPP course as a 2013/14 'newbie'!  I think it's fair to assume I am somewhat nervous (extremely actually), but hugely excited at the prospect of what I'm hoping will be an enriching and life changing experience.

So, who am I? Well, I definitely fall into the mature student bracket as I celebrated my 50th birthday last July.  I am happily married (coming up to 25 years next year) and I have a daughter who will be 18 in December and is currently in her 2nd year of training at Bird College.  I started my working life as a professional dancer, back in the days when you had to work for so many weeks in graded theatres to complete your 'provisional equity' before being the proud owner of the 'full equity card'!  Whilst dancing professionally I also enjoyed choreography and spent many a contract either choreographing my own numbers or assisting.  This experience has been extremely beneficial to my career and I have received awards and commendations for my work.

My working life falls into two categories - I am Principal and co-owner of +Footsies Dance Centre; Footsies is an evening and Saturday dance school where I teach RAD and ISTD syllabi Primary through to Advanced 2, as well as non-syllabus classes every evening and all day Saturday. The school has been running for 21 years now and my co-owner/business partner is my mum Tracy. Students of the school have been successful in securing places with The Royal Ballet School, Stage schools, Vocational colleges and performing in the West End.  We are a school that enjoys taking part in Dance festivals and local community fetes, charity events and pantomimes.  In my other job (during the day) I am Director of Vocational and Artistic Studies at +Reynolds Performing Arts.  Reynolds Performing Arts is a vocational college in Dartford Kent.  I am deputy to the Principal and have worked for the college for 8 years.  My day to day routine is extremely varied ranging from teaching, employment of staff, student liaison, management meetings etc the list is long - in short my working week is 'exhausting' but I love it!

Until last Friday when I met +Helen Kindred, Debbie, Mary and Aggie (all 'newbies' like me), I had never set foot onto a University campus before and didn't really know what was expected of me.  I found the entire site quite invigorating and strangely peaceful.  Although I had spent the arrival journey feeling extremely nervous and apprehensive, once I had met with Helen and the other girls my nerves were calmed and I genuinely am looking forward to the next 'long' months of study.  Aside from the study, I'm also trying to get my head round a new laptop and all the IT that is required for the MA, this blog being one of them.  I'm not sure at this stage which is more daunting, Skyping, blogging or studying. However, one thing I am sure of, I'm ready for the journey, looking forward to the challenge and excited at the prospect of meeting new people. Plus the bonus of being a VERY PROUD owner of the Middlesex University student card - that has to be worth it!

I hope you enjoy my blog, I wish myself and all other MAPPers 'Good Luck' and I look forward to reading yours!