Where im at at the moment..........crisis!

Ok so as you can see i havnt blogged for a while, iv had a busy few days ( though i know that is not an excuse) 

Iv moved house which has been more hassle than i expected and now currently live with the worst phone signal and no internet until moday waaaaaaa, so i currently have my head glued to my window tryin to get signal to write this blog on my phone.

Its strange how havin internet taken away from you can make you feel so disconnected from the world!

I feel so out of the loop and behind as i havnt had access to a computer with internet for ten days waaaa and i see people blogging and commenting i cant help having the feelig of being bogged down.

But then i felt its time to shake myself! Worse things can happen! And get on with it! Taking it all one step at a time!

SO MY PLAN FOR THE FINAL DAYS!! 

I have been given my feedbck from paula and i can see i have got a bit confused with what of my reserch i need to show and how to put my inquiry down onto the paper, when i first read her notes my mind literally went OMG what hve i actually been doing!

Then i took a step back and began writtig my own notes about paulas notes! I can see my inquiry is jumbled in there somewhere i just need to tear it apart and tick it back together in a more creative way so to speak! I have decided to do this simple in sections so i dont come to bogged down with startig a section then movin onto another! I want to begin with my intro, tidy up my appendixes as i seem to have ended up wih a lot more than i need, and work on ot section by section! 

MY ARTIFACT

again i have took togood old fashione scribbles on paper with my artifact! This i feel less stressed about as i feel i havr the shell in my head and then once t gets goig i will go into a flow....i hope! 

I have decided to do it in two parts as its aimed at teachers and parents.

An a4 bullet point for the parents

And a short booklet for the teachers.

Wanted to get my thoughts out in the open to help settle my mind.

So this is where im at and i hope everyone else is ploughing on and not panking to much as i am waaa

Putting my findings to Practice.

I have currently took over some teaching classes for a friend of mine as she is on maternity leave. There are three classes which I teach, which are free based classes all of the young age group two to five years old. From my research there are some teaching points that stood out to me that I felt I would like to incorporate into my classes to see how the outcome develops.

 

The first point I wanted to add into my lesson was ‘encouraging the children to think for themselves’ this had came up in my interviews as they stated they liked to encourage creativity and also if the children had an idea themselves to peruse it as it was something the children where interested in and would focus on. In my classes I tend to do a  miming game with the children where I suggest we go to the beach or the forest. So with this exercise I decided to let the children develop this and see where there imaginations wanted to take them. I allowed them to pick the location, This time we went to a magical fairy land. Then let each child add a description about the land as we ‘walked through it’ This exercised worked out well, the children were really engaged and excited about the exercise and wanted to continue it on for much longer. This is something that I will now continue to develop in my future lessons as I feel it is helping stimulate the children’s minds as well as there body’s

 

The next teaching method I used in my classes but felt I could use it in more productive ways. This is the use of props. I use musical instruments in my lessons to tap along to rhythms but from my research I feel I could take this further. Two of my interviewees suggested props to grab the children’s attention when the class was becoming tired or distracted or to better explain something. I chose to put both of these together by using some scarves as props. They were a new addition to the class and brightly colored so immediately the children were interested and I had there attention. I then used the scarves so they would help the children over exaggerate the movement and fully stretch it out. For example I suggested waving them from side to side, making big circles with the scarfs. We even did some throwing and catching of the scarves so children could work on there coordination skills, and we even did a fun ‘cleaning of the room’ activity which aloud the children to use there imaginations also.

 

The final point I wanted to add to my lessons was the parental involvement. I had to think about this as these classes are not my own so I did not want to come in change everything and disrupt the balance within the classroom. I spoke to the teacher I had took over from and made a suggestions. As it is the run up to Christmas I would like to invite the parents to come into the classroom during the last lesson so that they can watch the class and see what the children have learnt. Another way I decided to bring the parents more involved with my lessons is linked with the point above. Props. I gave a suggestion at the end of the lesson this week of a Christmas tree prop as we are beginning the run up to Christmas I have decided to make my lessons Christmas themed with mimes and little dances and decided to bring a bare Christmas tree to the lesson so the children can hang there Christmas tree prop on it at the end. The prop could be something the parents have made with the children or bought, but I thought adding this helps the lesson carry on outside of the classroom and makes the parents feel more involved. I hope!

 I will blog the outcome of this next week.

 

Update

Today i have spent the morning catching up on peoples blogs and taking inspiration from them. The first one i have taken inspiration from is Sarahs Blog

As you can see. I enjoy the way she documents ‘where she currently is and what she has achieved and what she has left to do. I find this useful as it gives you a visual on what you have overcome, the achievements you have made and where you need to go next.

So here is my update.

-i have compleated and wrote up all my interviews.

-Some interviews because of time restrains i was not able to take place so i would like to dcument some thoughts on this and how it affected my artifact.

-i have gathered my literature and information from there.

-i feel further expansion could be done on my literatures.

-my artifact ideas are starting to come forward, as you can see in my Artifact Blog

-i need to break this down to start to develop the idea. 

–will it be photos or pictures involved, how to make it accessible to both parents and teachers. Ect.

-

Another blog i took inspiration from was Emilys blog

Here i like the way she stated that instead of using the feedback she has had now and re-edit her inquiry, to keep side notes and to edit her inquiry later on as it is an ongoing process. I want to take this information and use it myself. I have flew out to italy to be with my partner for a few days so i really wanted to get the basis, (very basic ) draft down onto paper, before i left so i felt i had achieved something, and compleated a chapter so to speak. Now having done this from reading blogs and continuing into my research whilst i am here i ama ready seeing things that i want to add in and edit or explain and develop things further.So i have decided to keep a seperate document of the things i want to change, add into my inquiry or expand upong, so when i go back to editing and finalising my work i have easy access to the information i want to change.  A first edition of my development doc can be seen here;

Additions, Edits, Explanations

So thanks for the inspiration guys and keep blogging J.

Continuing on

I finally feel as if things are commingle together, my interviews are competed with my notes wrote up providing me with the information I need to co-inside with my literature findings and I am beginning to piece together my written frame work.

However I have had a mind blank of how to quote and reference my interviewees any help n this would be much appreciated.

Thoughts about my artifact seem to be forming now also.

Being a teacher myself i thought of ways of how i would like the information easily presented and accesible to me. My first thought was with all the technology and social networking i would like to make my artifact an app, a sort of how too app, offering useful tips and sharing ideas with people. (however i then remembered i am not that technical so had a rethink and maybe one day.) so instead i decided i would like to make my artifact a two parter a hardcopy and a virtual copy. For the hard copy i would like it to be a booklet offering ten key tips and teaching methods i have came across the most in my research and that i feel are valued the most. The current working title would be something like......ten tips for teaching tots. I would then like to make the virtual copy as a similar set up, in slide format prehaps that can be downloaded and easily accessed on phones for people on move and so they can have access to it atany point and anywhere.

I hope to continue on with this progress.

Further Reading

After continuing my literature reviews I decided to expand my knowledge base further by looking into articles to do with educating the early years in general. I found some articles offering tips and suggestions on teaching this age group in general education. I noted a few common approaches cropping up in all of these literatures and also over lapping with the movement literatures I have read. (I feel I can now see my inquiry taking shape.)

The points that most cropped up are;

• Having a routine in place,
• Parental co-operation and involvement.
• Planning

Links to my reviews are below.

literature review f
literature review G
literature review H
literature review I
literature review j
literature review k

Back Home and Back to it.

Well iv landed back in the u.k and finally over the jet lag, and now intend to take full advantage of unlimited wifi once again woooo. To continue and get back connected with my BAPPS program.
I feel I am still on the right path I just need to finalize some things that I struggled to do without internet whilst being away. I have sorted out my google docs now (thanks to sarah) so my blog on literatures is now fully accessible so please feel free to have a read and comment on any thoughts.

I have continued with further literatures whilst I have been afew and so intend to put an updated findings blog up in the next few days.

Plans for today and the next few days;

• Sit in front of my laptop enjoying being able to research easily once again (and with lots of cups of tea)
• Finalize the analysis of the two interviews I have carried out so far.
• Contact the people I intend to interview to arrange interviews for this week.
• Find more literatures expanding to areas not just based on dance but still focused on teaching a young age group.
• Categorize my research so far
• Enhance my use of social media.
• Get back connected and comment with people on the bapps program.

So hopefully I will be up to date and fully communicational once again within the next few days.

look forward to collaborating with you all once again.

First artifact ideas

I have been putting off thinking about this for a while, as the topic of it still feels slightly hazin my mind, but hopefully putting my mind to paper so to speak should hopefully help clear it.
I have been unsure about how i want to present my artifact as i feel i want to get all the information across in a clear and precise way. After developing my literature reviews and reading various different styles of text. I came to like the bullet point style some texts offered.
So in thinking this i would like my artifact to be produced in a kind of bullet point style way. As my inquiry is about finding out peoples different approaches to teaching the age group two to five. I think i would like to sift through my findings and make notes of the most common approaches people have suggested. To make a sort of top ten teaching tips bullet point booklet. Where each tip would be a bullet point and then the tip expanded on further with explanations and pictures where possible, as i feel if i did something like this it would help show to my audience within the BAPPS program the research i have developed, and it would show to my audience in the public sense, useful approaches i have found to teaching this age group which can be of use to me and others in the future.
The downfalls i feel to creating this booklet is i may not be able to fully explain the research that went in to it and any obstacles that i faced.
This is currently the first thoughts i have had about it and is of course a working progress, but your thoughts and feedback would be much appreciated.

Google drive help!

As you can see further down I have placed links to my literature reviews in my Google drive, however on the tablet I am using I can not work out how I make these files public, any help would be much appreciated,!

feeling connected

I finally feel asif iv become up to date with the social networking scene once again, being out here on a ship i have found it difficult with the lack of internet at times and everthing seems to move so fast with networking, conversations develope new topics come into play and im still reading the first sentence! I have spent some time catching up and joined the facebook bapps sig group so now i feel much more in the loop and looking forward to exploring discussions with you all.
I have updated my linkedin account, and have now come to realise i feel i did not use it to its full potential in the previous module. I used it for a base for the SIG group i created, asking people to join and give their thoughts. I have now came to realise that linkedin itself could be a great SIG for me, being able to connect with variations of people that share the same interests as me and find groups that releate to me that have already been created. I am home from the ship in ten days, So i have planned my first BAPPs activity to be exploring linkedin to its full advantage and make it work for me, not as a sig group but as a way of connecting with people i would not have come across before.

Findings From literature Reviews so far.

I have now made notes on the points in each literature review that I have studied that have come up in more than one review. As I feel this is a solid basis of approaches to teaching dance to two to five year olds as being firm approaches and good approaches as they have been backed up in various literatures I have read. Lists of these are below;
·Encourage health benefits and also social benefits.
·Encourage children to think for themselves, set them challenges so they feel they are developing the class and skills themselves.
·Keep the class exciting and varied, imagination, voice tone ect, keep them interested in you and the tasks.
·Everyone moves and develops in different ways remember children work at there own pace.
·Have lessons planned with extra incase children get bored.
·Be flexible and ready to work with the children not against them.
·Work with the parents, they know there children best, they can advise you and also encourage and help there children.
·Be positive! Children learn from the environment negative environment negative development, keep everything positive.
·Distraction, instead of shouting at the children for attention distract them with something else to regain there focus.
From this I intend to look at more pieces of literature to see if these points of advice crop up and if any others are there that I feel will be useful to my inquiry. I also want to cross reference these points with the interviews that I have carried out to see if the people I have interviewed also feel these are good approaches.
My literature reviews are in google docs with the links below.

literature review a

literature review b

literature review c

literature review d

literature review e

Conversation with paula

After speaking to Paula on the phone afew days ago, i feel much more clear and connected to the BAPP world once again. (Even though i am still over the otherside of the world.) I still need to become more connected with my peers as i deffered for a term i now have new peers, So expect some comments in the next few days. I feel i now better understand the path i need to take with my inquiry i feel the dots have now joined up and i can forward my research in a posative way.

Looking back at the first interview i carried out, I can see that i gained some usefull information but it did not really go much below surface level. I would like to carry out a follow up interview with them to talk about their dance background.To find out what inspired them to teach, as the 'why' information (being why they teach) co insides and backs up the 'how' information. I shall blog the follow up interview and my thoughts when compleated.

I would also like to expand my knowledge base further, as my inquiry is based around the age group, two to five ear olds, i would like to have some conversations and discussions with some people that teach this age group within different subjects, to learn and see what methods and teaching styles they use, to see their points of view and if any methods reflect or co-inside with the dance teachers i have spoken to.

I would also like to look at the actual title of my inquiry after speaking to Paula;

'What are the different approaches to teaching dance to two to five year olds and what do teachers say are the best approaches?'

Looking at the word BEST im not sure if it is the right word for my inquiry question, as no one can have a correct response to what is a best approach as what someone thinks it may be someone else could disagree,
Taking the definition of the word best;The most excellent or desirable type of quality.
I was thinking of ways to reword my question so that i have a more clear inquiry.

l What are the different approaches to teaching dance to two to five year olds and what do practitioners feel are the approaches they value the most?
l What are the different approaches to teaching dance to two to five year olds and what do practitioners say are the approaches that work well.

Your thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Getting social

So i have began to update my web based presents once again, as you can see i have my blog up and running again and i now intend to access uni pages and find out who i shall be participating in this module with, so that i can get commenting and starting up discussions with my peers.

I have also refreshed my linkden ( my SIG Group) with a new topic of discussion, so please feel free to join me and share your thoughts.

https://touch.www.linkedin.com/?sessionid=3459868761522176&or=true#home

I decided since i was progressing onto anew and final module i wanted to widen my social networking experience. I have my delicious account,linkdin, twitter ect but i want to develop my social networks as much as possible, as i feel from what i have learnt from the other two modules social networking and web 2.0 is the way to advertise and manage yourself as a business for the sector i am working in.

The new social networking site i decided to join is pintrest. I came across this website when i was searching for literature i could review. I am sure many of you know and use it already, however it is new to me. It is where you basically have a virtual pin board where you can pin websites ect that are of interest to you, i intend to use this to pin all the websites i have took research from so i can visible see where i have been and it all be in one place.

http://www.pinterest.com/stephlarty/boards/

Finally i am reaching out to students of the BAPPS course past and present to see if you could help me with my inquiry process. One of the tools i am using isinterview, asyou an see in my blog post below. The part that i am struggling with is getting people to agree to be interviewed. I wonder is anyone else having this problem? I set about with five people in mind that i wanted to interview. Three of these i have contacted by email (As that is the only contact i have) To receive no response from them, which is frustrating as i am sure you all know, as i planned out a time scale of when i would like things to take place and be completed by. However i understand you can't plan for other peoples lives or responses. So i am reaching out to you people on the BAPPS program,I am looking to interview people that teach dance to five year olds and below, or know anyone that does. So that i can carry out an interview,over the phone, skype or even just via email, anything would be much appreciated in the help to further my inquiry.

Thank you and i look forward to collaborating with you all.
Steph.

reflections and further developement

I now feel I am beginning to pick up the pace with my research once again, I have started to produce two literature reviews to do with the benefits of dance to young children. My inquiry title is:

 

What are the different approaches to teaching dance to two to five year olds and what do teachers say are the best approaches?

 

However I do feel the benefits of dance should be covered in my research also, as teachers would not teach if they did not feel it was beneficial to there students.

 

The first review focused on dance as an art form and as part of the arts world, and did not want it to be viewed as a form of physical exercise for children. So this article focused more on the mental positive dance has for young children a quote from it is;

 

We are concerned with studying dance as dance, i.e., as an aesthetic domain with its own goals and characteristics. We use both terms ‘dance’ and ‘aesthetic movement’. We use the latter term to refer to movements of an aesthetic kind, i.e., movements that have a representative form (a gestalt).’

 

I particularly like the part where it sates it is looking at dance just as dance in its pure form, this is something that I have not come across as much in my research as it is normally always related to health benefits.

 

            The other review I looked at was a booklet advertising the benefits of dance for young children, and this stresses the importance of how healthy dance is for children:

 

‘Dance is a universal language and in an age where child obesity is increasing and the taking of exercise is decreasing it has never been more important to present dance to young children in an enjoyable format. In doing so it is more likely that in some form or other participation in dance as a form of exercise may continue into adult life.’(Fouracre.M)

 

This I find seems to be a more well advertised positive for children, which is again a very key factor when looking at the physical well being of this age group. It is giving them a healthy life style in a fun and enjoyable way.

 

I have carried out two interviews so far with two teachers who teach this age group and older, the recording of this is below.

 

This is the first interview I have carried out for my research so the questions and answers aren’t very detailed they give me a summery however of the areas that they teach and the different styles they use, I now intend to focus more specifically on some of the questions they have answered to create new questions and develop them into more detail about there teaching styles and methods.

 

            I am currently working as a dancer on a cruise ship so at the moment having access to the internet is slightly limited. From here I intend to go forward with some more interviews with other professional people via email or skype I am just awaiting there confirmation, and hopefully plan on getting my SIG group more up to date this week to develop some conversations with more professional people in this field. I also intend to hold a second interview with the teachers but make it more of a group discussion developing there ideas and theories.

 

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

New Start to mod 3

Hello all,

Haven’t blogged in a good while so feel very out of the loop! Had to put my studies on hold for a term but now back to them and looking forward to sharing some ideas with some new people at this stage of the course.

            Im slightly nervous to get back to it as its been afew months sincei had my head in the studying mindset but hopefully I should get back into the flow.

            As you can see in my past blogs I am a dancer and dance teacher and my inquiry question is based around teaching dance to young children around the age of two to five.

            I now plan to refresh my SIG group which I have on linkden

 http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=4664320&trk=anet_ug_hm

Your thoughts and comments would be much appreciated, and any SIG groups you have that I may be able to give feedback to please comment with the link.

I look forward to getting back to it and sharing ideas with some new people.

Interviews

I havent blogged for the passed two weeks as iv had some job changed so not sure if or when i can continue with this course at present. But i thought instead of being stuck in limbo it is something that i want to comleate so why not carry on now and hopefully the financial and time side will be figured out in the next few days so i will know where i stand.

With regards to interviews this is something i have really struggled with, i chose four people to interview, two who owned there own companies specialising in teaching dance to this young age group and two who currently teach it.

Out of the two that teach it one said she has been happy to do it but has been off very sick for the past two weeks so i have not been able compleate the interview. The other i do not work with and is a friend of a friend so i don't see them often thus i am still waiting for them to reply back to me.

So those side of the interviews are still on hold at the moment, i was wondering if other people have struggled trying to set up interviews having to work around other people?

Out of the companys one did get back to me and has been a great help, as she is based in london and me in north wales we have been corrasponding via email at the moment and i shall post some answers to our first email interview below, from this i intend to carry out a phone or skype conversation with her to further delve into the questions and answers.

I still feel slightly overwhelmed at the moment but if we don't try we won't succeed i intend to look at paulas slide show this weekend so intend to blog my thoughts after that.

The interview;

The questions that I would like to put forward to you are as follows;

 

• Why did you decide to focus on this particular age range to teach?

I find them the most fun, innocent and rewarding age group.

 

• What do you base the structure of your class on?

Fun, we explore 14 different dance styles but its very loose at this age and the emphasis is repetition to build confidence and fun to keep them engaged

 

• What characteristics do you notice coming out in the children during the class.

Confidence is the main one, it can be instant or take a few weeks but there is something about dancing that at this age they love and naturally cant resist doing to funky music.

 

• Do you think a dance class bestows values on children, if so what are these values?

Its good for social skills, turn taking, manners and confidence within their peers.

 

• What is the length of your class?

45 minutes

 

• What are the energy levels and physical excursion levels of the children during your class?

Very high, our music is very funky and poppy so the children are full on. Everything has to be taught with energy and enthusiasm to keep this age group engaged. Every elemant is short and we move from one thing to the next quickly to keep their attention and keep them moving.

 

• What would you say your dance class focuses on for the children?

Co-ordination, rhythm and motor skills plus increases confidence.

 

 

• What do you feel the children gain from your dance classes?

All the above plus learning that dance is fun and being active is enjoyable in the hope this view will stay with them for life.

 

• Do you feel there are any downfalls to starting dance at this age?

No not if taught in a relaxed, fun way where theres no pressure of technique, competition or exams.

Reflecting on begining

Well we are coming to the end of our second week so i feel here i would like to voice where i am up to with my inquiry so far, i stated that last week i was going over my information from module two and booking in my interviews, this i have found particularly frustrating as i would like to work within the time plan that i have made for my inquiry and i find this increasingly difficult with interviews as people are in no rush to sign up for them and much prefer to work around there time instead of yours ( which is understandable) So as of yet i have not carried out any interviews, i have one planned for next week and two the week after so hopefully i shall have some feedback from them then.
     i have spent this week begining to look at the literature that will help me further my inquiry, for one of the pieces i have decided to continue using one of the literatures i used as a trial in module two;

Movement and Dance in early childhood by mollie davies.

I decided to do this as i feel it is very relevant to my chosen inqury.

I also began by putting a poll on my SIG group;

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

I have had no response to this from my SIG group, but after further thought i feel that it may be because when i started the group it is off a much wider field of discussion just on dance in general and not honned in on this specific area, so i have decided to look further afield and found a number of dance forums that have different areas for teaching and different ages, where i intend to post similar questions there and see what the response is.

My next plan of action is to begin studying the literature and progress with the interviews when they booked in. I am still feeling anxious about this module as it just seems such a large scale thing to compleate in a short space of time, and i worry i will not gather enough information to produce my critical review and artefact (which i am still unsure of how i am going to produce)

but with it being the campus sessions this week i am hoping the people that went will share the knowledge they have gained to help give a better understanding.

Any of your thoughts or how you are feeling would be much appreciated.

First Blog of 2013

Well even though we are know well into 2013 i would still like to wish everyone a happy new year as this is my first blog. i spent january as most people did, deciding on the changes and what i wanted to achieve out of 2013 and i can happily say i had a full tidy up of my personal and working life allowing space for concentrating on things i feel are important to me, the BAPPS program inparticular as i feel this module is going to challange me the most as at the moment it feels like such a huge leap. However im sure i have stated this at the begining of each module, something new is always daunghting at first. But i intend to dive right in and give it my best.

After spending the day reading the handbook and reader i can safley say my first thoughts were AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!! however once i settled down i realised i need to take it all in my stride and as i did with the other modules i feel the best way to succeed is to PLAN PLAN PLAN, as i have stated, before an organised space is an organised mind. I intend to spend the next few days organising my research and how i am going to carry it out with putting together timetables for myself aswell as documents that i know i will need to carry out the research so that i can just pull them up as and when i need and will not need to spend time in the future weeks typing them up.

I look forward to getting back into blogging and sharing ideas with everyone.