I thought I would do a quick..ish blog on my areas of wonder as I am struggling to decide on what my line of inquiry will be. I am conscious I don't want to spend too much time deciding as this is only the first step of module two so I feel pressured to decide! So I thought writing a blog would help me reflect on my thoughts and weigh up the pros and cons of each one.
One of my first ideas is whether we are more affected by poor mental health being in this industry as opposed to other industries. This would be an interesting topic and when I spoke to my friends about it, many of them felt very strongly. I also had some mixed opinions which was nice to hear both sides of the story. When I had a look at my diary, it is something I constantly come back to as I always write how I feel in journal, which sometimes also isn't great. I also had a look in the library and online via google scholar and also some blogs and there seems to be a lot of literature out there on this topic already. There were many articles on newspapers and although this is good that it is being spoken about I want to make sure I'm not just re-inventing the wheel. I need to ADD to it in some way.
Secondly, I was wondering whether to focus on how dance teaching styles have to be adapted when teaching students with different teaching styles e.g students who learn visually/ audibly/ socially etc. I find this topic interesting as due to dance being a physical subject, it may be difficult to teach people who learn well from reading or writing. But I am one of those people who don't really learn kinaesthetically. So I guess I am the kind of person that would 'break the mould'. I enjoyed touching on this subject in Module one and the preconceptions some have about how dancers must learn. So it would be interesting the delve deeper into this and to find out what others thought. When I looked at what literature there was already out there, I struggled to find anything directly linked to the arts other than one article on the Middlesex Library. Everything else was just about learning styles as a general topic.
Lastly, I feel performing arts is a subject that everyone should learn - not only to be good and dancing, acting or singing, but to be a well rounded, confident human. So I was wondering what the national curriculum said. In Primary education Performing arts doesn't seem to be a compulsory subject. Music is a part of the curriculum as is being able to perform movements as part of the Physical Education curriculum. But nothing that is necessarily Performing Arts. Therefore I feel this would be a good subject to discuss. I know other people feel this way and I have read lots of articles about it myself prior to this course as it was something I was previously interested in. I am just not sure how it will benefit my practice in the future - as I would eventually like to teach A Level dance, not Primary education.
Sorry if I waffled on a bit - it was just meant to be a quick summary of my thoughts. I'd love to open a discussion about these areas of wonder I have, so please feel free to comment to spark my thought process, and hopefully something in here may have sparked yours.
Laura :)
Hello,
ReplyDeleteA couple of your lines of enquiry are not too far from my own. Firstly in response to the thoughts on mental health, I personally feel that it is definitely prevalent with in the arts. I also have the theory (judging from my own experience) that many people take the arts route as performing allows them to become somebody else effectively taking them away from the person they are. I am physically unable to stand at the front of dance class or speak easily in a group as I feel exposed and judged. However, put me onstage in a character role and I will act, sing and dance my heart out. Why? Because I am being somebody else. I am becoming someone who I prefer over me, who doesn't live the mundane life I sometimes consider too routine and unadventurous. This makes me question whether sometimes the performing arts is a means of escapism rather than a career.
In regards to your second query, different teaching styles can be easily switched between when teaching. I once taught grade five modern to two very different girls. One was incredibly methodical and academic and required the counts of an exercise in order to remember the routine. The other was severely dyslexic and a visual learner who could only retain the exercises through a series of stories. I would teach it slowly with the counts, as essentially, both students needed to know them. I would then 'be silly' and create a story centred around it which always injected some fun into he lesson. When practiced with the music I would alternate between counts and the story. I am considering a similar line of inquiry for my module three. This opens up the conversation on how well your teaching and the learning styles fit in with the likes of Maslow and achieving self-actualisation and Piaget and his theory of cognitive development. This can all easily be linked to the arts... Happy to help if you need it.
Lastly I agree that the performing arts is something that everyone should learn but it is becoming harder to keep it alive with in schools, particularly secondary. This is largely due to how schools are now judged with in the league tables. Schools are now judged on their Progress 8 score. Effectively, the higher the score the better the school. Some courses don't carry the progress 8 score, meaning the results for that course don't count towards the final score for the school. Schools are therefore dropping those subjects in favour of ones that count towards their league tables and unfortunately, very few arts subjects carry these scores. This is a large reason why the arts is suffering in schools. Not only does it not allow students to build their confidence in being able to stand up and speak publicly (many will go on to work in offices where they will go on to give presentations etc.) It also affects students that struggle academically, they rely on the practical subjects to allow them the opportunity to pass some GCSE's. Ultimately this may affect your practice in the future as a lack of performing arts subjects in secondary school may have a knock on effect on A-level. Students who only experience arts through school, due to family situations, will not have this opportunity and therefore may not take that route in the future, thus affecting your future career choice.
I hope this has been of some help? I work in secondary education in a school that has promised to protect our arts programmes but not all schools share the same opinion.
Good Luck.
Hi Beverley,
DeleteThank you for replying! You have sparked many thoughts in my head for me to explore more. I think I will mainly focus on mental health having thought about it more today, but I hadn't yet thought of the idea of escapism, which is one I really like and want to explore further.
It is interesting to hear first hand from a Secondary teacher how the schools are now judged and why they are maybe dropping certain subjects. It is a real shame as as you say, the arts helps with more jobs than just a singer, actor or dancer. It helps people with confidence to do things like presentations, helps people to interview well, especially in group interview sessions. Therefore I think it is so important to build confidence and create well rounded citizens. I'm pleased to hear your school has promised to protect your arts programme!!
Did you have any thoughts on what your lines of inquiry are? I wonder if I could maybe help spark some questions for you too?!
Once again, thanks for replying! :)
Laura x