Thoughts and ideas surrounding ways of communicating...

I just had a Skype with Maria, Nicole, Shanice and Rachel focusing on communication in Module 3. I realise I haven't posted a blog in a while as I've had my head in my laptop focusing on my essay. I have now received my feedback on my essay which I'm pleased with and look forward to working on the suggested alterations.
In terms of communication, we communicate via three different modes in Module 3, the essay, a professional artefact and a verbal presentation. Lots of things came up during the Skype which I found useful which I will discuss.
I discussed my idea of creating a choreography based on my idea of a thread that weaved through all of my modules. In module one I was unsure on what my practice even was, as I was doing emergency work and doing lots of unsuccessful auditions. Now in module three, I am employed as a teacher, with plans to do a PGCE next year whilst all still auditioning for performing jobs here and there. Therefore, auditions have been a constant in my life and that is the thread that has run through my learning. My practice has crystalized during the process which has been great for my professional development.
To articulate this idea, I am pondering whether to use a rope (I used to perform on cruise ships) as one line and 'dance around the line' just like I did with my learning process and inquiry. I think by the end of my piece I will have moved my rope into a different shape, maybe a circle to show the cyclical style of learning or a spiral shape to show going up and the learning never coming to an end. I like the idea of the transition of the rope, just like the transition of my practice and mind state.
I think creating a piece of choreography is the best for me as naturally this is how dancers communicate through their body. Some of my findings within my inquiry showed that many believe dance can help people express their emotions and feelings as a way of helping with mental health, so I think creating a piece of choreography about my own feelings relates back well.
Practically, I will present my choreography by filming it in a hall that I teach in, and upload it to YouTube. This idea was discussed about the privacy and how much we want it to be available to others which is something I need to think about. I also like the link that Nicole made about using YouTube for her showreel, as it is the same way I have presented my showreel. I like the link between practically using this medium to present my artefact, and how I use it in my professional practice. Using it for a showreel also directly links back to my inquiry, as sometimes the use of a showreel and technology in this manner can eradicate the need for an audition all together!!
Lots and lots to think about... let me know your thoughts! Happy Easter holidays everyone!

Analysis of Data

I'm now at a stage where I am beginning to look for themes in my data. Some are really obvious and have kept appearing but others are more subtle and harder to find but I feel they are still relevant to my project.
I have a couple of worries about my analysis of my data -
1. I have SO MUCH data! I have pages upon pages of transcriptions, and pages and pages of quotes from literature, not to mention my own experiences and my own journal entries to look at! A way I think I can tackle this is to be disciplined and make choices about what is most useful and relevant to my inquiry. In my last Skype discussion session, Helen compares this idea to when we create a piece of choreography. We create lots of material then have to make choices on what material we will use to fit into the piece. I feel this is what I need to do with my data.
2. All my data seems to be negative towards auditions! I haven't found many themes that revolve around any positive thoughts to do with auditions. This worries me because I feel when presenting all this negative data, it may come across like I'm trying to prove a point rather than add to a discussion. I still need to find a way to tackle this. If anyone has any thoughts surrounding this I would love people to share!

Thanks for reading,
Laura

MY BRAIN IS BUZZING!!

Wow- I am in the thick of searching through tonnes upon tonnes of literature at the moment. I feel like I've been buried in books, papers, text, quotation marks etc etc!

One thing I wanted to share on my blog from my learning experience is how much my searching tools have developed. I recently shared a Skype with just Maria as I was the only one and we decided to share screens and start my searching process for literature which was really useful. Previous to this I hadn't been searching very 'smartly' when it came to key words. In Google books it is so easy to search the key words you are looking for from inside the book and then read around the area. Maria also advised me to think of different words that meant the same thing as what I was searching - for example - I had been searching words like mental health and dance and all it seemed to be coming up with was initiatives where people are using dance as a form of exercise to help them with their mental health, or other illnesses including Parkinson's and Dementia. Maria suggested searching the word stress - which has lead me to so many pieces of relevant literature!! The problem is I feel there is now SO much to read and explore my mind keeps going wild and running away with what I'm reading. A key thing to remind myself is what is the question? I keep coming back to this when I feel I'm wandering off my path to remind myself of what I want to find out. I have been interested in the theory of clew by Robin Nelson, as this thread I'm weaving seems to be very useful for learning, however I feel with my topic being as broad as it is, I cannot stray too far away from my path.

As far as progression from module two goes, I have also found myself seeing the same things, and the same names coming up regularly, which suggests to me these may be key players in my field of inquiry. I have done some research into these key scholars, including their background which I have found very interesting. Some people write about dance as it is a hobby for them, but others write about it as they have had a career in it. These two opposing stances to the Performing Arts world seems to be creating different opinions. When I research stressors I seem to find the same other contributing factors come up like performance anxiety, lack of self worth, and also things like financial strain, body image and the influence of social media. Every time I see something new my brain seems to send off a firework that sparks me into a new direction, and opens another door for me to look at.

Basically, although this seems to be my brain thoughts splashed across my screen, what this very 'higgledepiggly' blog is about is that I need to remind myself constantly of the question, this whole process is a learning curve that I am thoroughly enjoying and will continue to do so. I'm off to go on a run now, to manage my own 'stressors' regarding my buzzing brain!!

What do I really want to know?

I have started Module Three by reminding myself of what I really want to know from the inquiry. I've made a pretty long list, so need to be aware of time restraints, but having this to refer back to will hopefully keep me on track.
My inquiry title is "Does constant rejection from auditions affect our mental health and how can we cope with that?" This is directly linked to my practice as I continue to audition and teach simultaneously. Therefore I am hoping it will help me with the audition process, but also others who I present my project to and finally all my current and future students that I can share my deepened understanding and knowledge of the subject with.

Here is my list I made...

Module 3... Can you believe it?!

Module Three started this past Monday and I've been starting to work on getting the ball rolling with my inquiry. However, I firstly feel I have a lot of background work to do before I dive straight in to set the foundations. Before anything else I need to get my head back in the game - especially after a lovely long Christmas break!!
I decided to do this by reading all my notes, essays and feedback from Module One and Two and created a map of my learning journey over the past year. My findings were interesting as not only has my BAPP journey crystallised but so has my Professional Practice.
One thing I noted was that in Module One I was auditioning with little luck and doing 'emergency work' alongside so almost felt a little lost within my practice. However moving through Module Two and into Module Three, I am currently teaching full time and have a clear path of where my Practice is moving to as I have been accepted on a PGCE course. This clarity and reflection of my journey felt like a real lightbulb moment for me as it allowed me to realise how much I have learnt about my Practice from this course.
Secondly I discovered that all the theories I learnt in Module One which felt slightly irrelevant to my shop assistant job at the time are now things I use everyday in my practice. Web 2.0 is something I have improved my skills with dramatically and will continue to use through the rest of my career. Even in my interview day for my PGCE I had to demonstrate my competency with technology. Reflection is also now a huge part of not only my learning process but also my well being in life. I find it extremely therapeutic at the end of the day to note down what I've achieved, what I've learned from the day and how I feel about it all. Looking back on my reflective journal, it is a useful tool for my Module Three inquiry process. Finally the networks I discussed in Module One has become a huge part of my life as I am now using the networks I nurtured to carry out my inquiry!
Module Two was a learning curve for me in terms of my learning style. This style of learning is seeming to suit me more and more, as I feel I've grown as a student and learnt to merge my 'university work' with my 'teaching work' to see them as a whole professional practice rather than two separate entities.
In Module Three my path is clearer. It is still long, and I'm sure I will stray off it numerous times to discover new things, however, it feels good to know where I'm aiming to be and how I'm going to get there. I feel curious and ready to research and deepen my knowledge of my inquiry topic - lets go!

Module 2 Skype Session 17/11/18

Yesterday I joined a Skype session with Adesola and a couple of others from Module Two. It was really useful and opened my eyes to things I hadn’t previously thought about. The focus was based on ‘What if you can’t interview anyone’ and the ‘importance of analysis’.

One of the key things I learnt was to think about what you would do if you couldn’t interview anyone. What I thought this meant was using other forms of data collection techniques for example surveys etc but what it actually meant was what happens if you can’t speak to anyone to gather anymore information. This was when the penny dropped, and I realised this session was more about finding the background to your topic. Adesola described it as layers – finding out the background and culture of the topic is the first layer and then finding out other’s opinions is the second. Finding out the opinions of others would be useless without the first layer anyway! For example, you could be looking to do your inquiry based around disabilities in dance and wanting to push for initiatives to allow more people with disabilities to be able to dance. However, if you do the background investigation you would find this has already been implemented in a lot of places. That is just an example but clearly shows why finding out the culture of the topic is so important.

In order to do this, we can look at articles or blogs posted around the subject. Forums are cheating slightly as that is still finding out people’s opinions but have a look for movements or things that have been done or acted upon within your topic. Uncover the history of the topic. This will give us a better understanding of what more we want to find out from others.

Once we have done this and gathered our data we must remember that data is no use without analysis. For our analysis we are looking for themes that emerge within our data. For example, Adesola used my inquiry topic as an example and it really helped me understand. Whilst finding out about how auditions and constant rejection can affect mental health, for example, I could see a common thought from my participants that living outside of London puts a mental stress on them when it comes to an audition. They may be worried about taking the day off work, the trains may be delayed, or it may be a struggle to pay for the expensive travel. If this was something that kept reoccurring within my data I would say that there was a theme emerging about travel influencing mental health when it comes to auditions. Don’t forget, don’t take what we find in interviews as truth, we are not looking for an answer.

I hope this has helped anyone that reads this blog, it has also really helped me to crystallise it in my head. 

MORE Form Skype Session 05/11/18

Yesterday I joined in with the Skype session hosted by Adesola and Helen focusing on the MORE form. It was so useful for me as I found the form quite overwhelming and confusing at first, however now I seem to understand it a lot more. I hope this blog will help others that couldn't attend the session as much as the session helped me.

A few tips -

• Put (BAPP) in brackets at the end of the name of the project 
• Add your supervisors name so it can be sent to them for a signature
• If nothing else, read sections 1, 4 and 6 of the MORE form page on Unihub
• When you get sent back your form from your supervisor, if it says rejected it doesn't mean you've failed, it just means that you have notes to look over

I personally asked about how appropriate it was to reveal peoples ages an gender in my final inquiry project and Adesola raised a few points that got me thinking...

1. Why is it necessary to reveal this? Will it really add weight to my project at the end of the inquiry?
2. If you have to do more forms for the release of personal information you need to think about the impact of the participant having signed lots of forms before the research has even started. How may they feel about all the forms? Will this affect them and their answers?
3. Gender is a large topic to unpick as I would need to think about how they identify themselves as this may be different to how I perceive their gender. Am I allowing for people that don't class themselves as male or female. Adesola suggested she knows of lots of people that cannot be a part of research because they can't fit into a tick box. This was something I hadn't even thought about so made me really consider whether it was worth revealing the gender, and whether it has relevance to my inquiry topic in general. 
4. Age and gender if spoken about in the inquiry would first need to be explained and this is a big topic to unpick especially considering we only have 12 weeks to do it. You could not include the gender of someone without giving it some background and context firstly, and this may be too much to do within the time frame we have

All these points have made me consider whether I do want to reveal the age and gender, and how much this information will really add weight to my final project, or whether it will open up too many doors and create a project that is too large for me to deal with within the time scale.

I hope this helps some people and please feel free to comment your thoughts!