Task 6A.

MY PILOT INTERVIEW

For my pilot interview I intend to interview teachers with a similar teaching class to me to see what there opinions are on the age groups the style and the structure of the classes.

Before starting the interview I would give them a small document stating who I am, why the interview is taking place, and a place at the bottom for us both to sign to state it will be truthful and only used for the research stated above.

Here is an example of this;
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yc5gkHoU8qqUgBFR4Yg6wK-fNnqxbQlr8STEUszIBo4/edit

I would like my interview to take place face to face, as I feel I would get more truthful answers with them not having chance to preplan and also by looking at there body language when answering the question.

As bell stated;

‘The interview is a qualitative method where you collect what people say (from your sample) and use it as evidence. Its advantage is that you “can follow up on ideas, probe responses and investigate motives and feelings” (Bell, 2005, p.157).’

I would like to list some brief questions I would plan around during my interview, more to have as an outline than an actual structure because talking to another human with different opinions topics can change and develop and go on a path you would not have though about so I would not like to have to many structural restrains;

Listed below is a few questions I would ask;

• What are the different age ranges that you teach?
• What are the learning differences you notice between each age group?
• How do you change and adapt your teaching to suit the age group?
• What level do you find more challenging to teach?
• Do you feel qualifications are beneficial to making you a better teacher?
• Do you feel you need qualifications to be a dance teacher at all?

With this interview I hope to first and foremost learn how to take an interview as that is something I have never done before face to face so I feel I shall learn something about myself from this, and also begin to learn more about the path my inquiry is beginning to take.

MY PILOT SURVEY

I have created just a general teachers survey with the link below just so that I can understand the work that goes into a survey.

 http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/V5QHFBF

 MY FOCUS GROUP

The focus group I will be using I feel is the SIG group I have set up

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/BAPP-dance-education-4664320/about

Here I have already began discussions on my chosen topic I intend to further this by adding more discussions and also a few polls, so please feel free to join and get involved.

MY OBSERVATION

I plan to carry out an observation at the school I currently teach at as there are a number of classes going on other than my own. For the past six weeks I have actually been doing teacher observations as part of my i.s.t.d teacher training, templates of these observations can be found on the i.s.t.d website;

http://www.istd.org/home/

So I feel I fully understand the structure of observing a teacher, so for me to learn a new skill I would like to observe a class but fully focus on the students and how they act during a class. For this I would need to make sure I have consent from the teacher whos class it is but also the students parents as it is the children that I will be observing.

In the link below I have made myself a table to fill out during my observation.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/137_0XR8pwFQYRcx1AorK_LBIrY471SAU2X_sqR-JgNg/edit

 

I hope you will take some time to complete my survey and give me any comments for improvement to the rest of my research methods.

 Steph.