If life is what happens to our plans, then dance is what happens to our steps.
ideas sometimes when you wait they come to you.

Preparation for starting with BAPP

Thursday 8 October 2015

PM skype chat reflections

The pm skype on Tuesday was also a great chat (I think I always say that but the chats are always really interesting and useful so…) We talked about how part of getting started is about finding your own voice. A lot of module one is about finding YOU in your practice, YOU in your study. Finding your voice is highlighted in the blog posts because you have to think about how you want to communicate. We talked about the issue of not being sure of the style of writing you should use for blog posts. We came to the conclusion that you can use different styles according to how you feel, what the subject of the post is, what kind of writing you want to practice or what response or feedback you want. As you try different styles you are also practicing different aspects of your own voice.

We talked about how the tasks across the course are part of the action of observing – observing yourself, observing what other people have said and done within a subject, observing activity within your practice. We talked about observing in general (in terms of observations for an inquiry). This lead us to talk about the importance of both being open to seeing something new and also be prepared enough to know a little about what you are observing so you can look for meaning and have direction to the observation.

We also talked about ethics looking at the ethical implications of situations where a person was teaching an art practice but is not a qualified teacher. We saw ethical issues both for the person and the institution where the person was teaching. Ethics teaches us there is no right answer there is just care and awareness to what you are doing. For instance there is no right answer here there are problems which ever way you look at it.
In one way there are problems when an artist has a lot of experience in their field and is very accomplished but because they do not have a teaching certificate they are not paid the same as someone who does not know about the practice to the same depth.
In another way there is a problem that someone who has no teacher  training is working with children  - both issues with the well being of the children and also because a qualified teacher would have  had training in a variety of methods and ideas.
The bigger problem seems to be respect for practice. In both case there is an assumption that a practice (the art practice or the teaching practice) is something people can just take on. In the conversation we all had experienced something similar to this problem in our careers.

The conversation was over an hour and so everyone is posting on a part of the conversation they want to share or take away to think about. Have a look at peoples post and comment… Lets keep the conversations going.

Tina www.lynnterry001.blogspot.com is posting about talking to people from different modules and how useful this is – how the modules support each other – seeing the course as a whole.

Andrea www.andreamorrison82.blogspot.co.uk  is going to post on tasks and the usefulness of keeping coming back to them even when you have finished a module. She also has some Module Two question ideas for people to feedback on.

Stephanie  www.stephanieswann02.blogspot.co.uk  is posting on seeing the CV as a self-evaluation tool and the importance of ‘looking back’ and ‘looking forward’ as you are thinking.

Ami  www.amikaraevans.blogspot.com  is going to post about understanding the course as a whole and her ‘ahhh moment’ in this…

Darren www.darrentaggart.blogspot.co.uk is going to post on the importance of thinking about why you are doing something as well as what you are doing. Looking for meaning in the tasks and direction of the course; not just doing things like steps without thinking about where the steps are taking you.

Nafisah www.nafisahbaba.blogspot.com is posting about how it is good to communicate across the learning community – you are not alone.

Lisa http://lisameiklejohn.blogspot.co.uk  is going to post the conversation and reflections.

OK what do you all feel?
Please comment …

Adesola

1 comment:

  1. Hi Adesola,

    The discussion about working as an unqualified teacher really applies to me. I think that sometimes the pressure to be as a good a practitioner as a qualified teacher is sometimes too great. I really believe that having a good subject knowledge is important, but establishing good teaching practice is key when working as an unqualified teacher, so that the school has confidence in you and the students get the education they deserve. I think that ultimately, as an unqualified teacher you have to be especially proactive in developing your practice (through observing others, getting others to observe you and seeking different strategies) to gain the skills you need to become a good teacher. As you said, this is even more the case when students are involved.

    Thanks,

    Jess.

    ReplyDelete