Communication- Our group SKYPEs...

On Tuesday we had out First Tuesday of the Month SKYPE chats. We did a lot of sharing of ideas and practice. People said it was really helpful to just talk to each other about where they are at and what they are doing. As you are all starting a Module (1 or 2 or 3) it is great to hear other people are also in that “oh my goodness I’ve got to start place!!!”.

Remember the blogs are sharing and listening too. They are not a place to post perfect task responses. We don’t have to see all that all the time. The blogs are for you to communicate and participate in the community of learning that is BAPP (Arts).

Bethany: http://hucklebethany.blogspot.com/2016/03/module-2-researching-my-professional.html

People talked about ideas like:

Improvisation visit Cathy Hayward’s blog if you have experiences and ideas about improvisation. It was so useful to talk to people who looked at improvisation from lots of focuses: improvisation in dance, music, teaching…. That the beauty of the Learning Community people from many different aspects of the field. Cathy: http://catherinehayward.blogspot.com

We also talked about the importance of the Literature in all the modules. It opens new doors up to you. The Literature shared ideas with you, you might not have thought of.

Jessica Plant: http://jessicaplant.blogspot.com

We talked about the practicalities of starting a SIG. this could be getting a group together on Facebook or Google hang-out or physically in a coffee shop. Some people are in the same place as each other you can meet up and skype someone in. Its just about sharing ideas with other interested people. SIG stands for Special Interest Group – it’s a group who all have a special interest in something – that is all.

We talked a bit about privacy on-line and how you don’t have to post anything on your blog you do not want someone at work to read. You can start to use the principles of ethics we look at in Module Two maybe not use the real names of people or places  and still make your learning point or idea.

Have a look at the following blog’s of people who said they would share further info and ideas that were sparked from the conversations:

Victoria: http://victoriamayvickers.blogspot.co.uk

Jess: Jessboswell@blogspot.co.uk

Lily: http://lilygrundy95.blogspot.co.uk/

Megan: http://meganlouch.blogspot.co.uk

Darren: http://darrentaggart.blogspot.com

Irini: http://irinibapp.blogspot.co.uk

Chloe: http://westchloe.blogspot.com

Most important GET ON WITH THE MODULE!!!!!! And don’t worry so much ‘about getting it right’. Getting it right IS getting on with it….

What do you think?  – My new moto is ‘don’t be a stalker, be a talker’ = Don’t just look at peoples blogs, comment.

Adesola

Skype group call March 3rd

Hi BAPP-ers
We have our first group Skype calls on Tuesday March 3rd. That day we have two chats one am (for people who work in the evenings) and one pm (for people who work during the day)!

These calls are really helpful and a great way to meet and exchange ideas with the other people doing the course.

 It is our collective experiences that makes us strong. It is our collective experience that changes information into knowledge.

So please let me know which call you will be joining by making a comment on this post indicating which one you will be at.

10am (in London)
9pm (in London)

Looking forward to hearing how everyone is doing and exchanging ideas and thoughts on professional practice and the module you are on.

Best wishes
Adesola

AM Skype conversation - what do you think?

Today’s morning skype session went really well we had a great conversation. Because the conversation flowed so well we talked about lots of things. A point I thought that was really interesting was about how as your professional career develops you also get more confidence in your academic work (BAPP work). We are hoping also that as you learn and get more confidence in your University work you get more confidence in how you approach your professional practice.

We talked about how the two are developing around and next to each other. But before you have the confidence to do things you sort of have to do them!! So you have to try things even if you have a little voice saying “I didn’t do the work yet” or “I am probably the only one who hasn’t done xx”. You are not the only one. The campus sessions and skype sessions are so you can meet others, peers and share your experiences and ideas.

Have a look at what Mel http://melaniebrown10.blogspot.co.uk  and Lara http://larafbapp.blogspot.co.uk think.

Looking forward to talking on skype Wednesday at 8pm (in London).

The Summer begins….

Just finished sending out feedback today. Make sure you received it! This is your feedback only, your grades will be announced by the University next week. You can find them in the usual manor on the MDX web-site. 

Often I am asked what your grade means. Here is a helpful table:

For reference:

1^st/Distinction                        2i/Merit                                2ii/Pass                                    3^rd/Pass                                 Fail

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

Please note:

17-18 – Compensation Allowed

19 – Compensation not allowed

20 Fail – Incorporating failure to participate in assessment necessary to achieve all learning outcomes. Compensation not allowed


As the summer begins I really want to keep the blogging going. I hope you will help me in making my blog a place people come to read, share and COMMENT!!! 

Looking forward to sharing the summer with you. 
Any thoughts? 

Adesola

OMG - its almost another Second Tuesday (non-campus session)

Finally some spring-ish weather and the second Tuesday of March!! So tomorrow Tuesday 11th is another SKYPE chat day. We have two times one in the morning at 11am and one in the evening at 8:45 (London time).

The SKYPE calls are like non-campus sessions where you can ask questions and find solutions and up-date on how your work is going. If you have not joined in before it's a great chance to collaborate to other people on the course and hear their experiences and ideas and solutions.

All you need to do is be on-line  on SKYPE.
BUT
if I don't already have your SKYPE address then make sure you send me a contact request so I can call you.

Looking forward to hearing how things are going and speak to you tomorrow…
Adesola

Saturday (pm)

Today I went to a number of panels. I went to one about teaching dance in higher education. One paper was about teaching ballet from a feminist paradigm. We talked about how as a teacher you negotiate how the expected way to teach a technique might contradict your own principles. The question set by Gretchen Alterowitz was about teaching ballet without adhering to the power structures often associated with ballet, such as the teacher being the only voice in the room, assumptions about what beauty is and genderise movements. In order to teach in formed by a pedagogy that involves notions raised by feminist writers she draws on democratising techniques such as having students self assess, work in pairs, collaborate in meaning making, comment in class and link their experience in the ballet room with outside experiences. I thought about how rigours I am with my principles of teaching on BAPP and MAPP and how I do not fight half as hard to adhere to those principles in my practical teaching. I am planning to re-think many of my technique classes to see where I tacitly accept the rhetoric of the dance studio at the expense of my moral / ethical beliefs.

Another discussion was about assessment (particularly in choreography classes). Most of the room agreed that it was not so much the choreographic aesthetic that was assessed but the students transformative journey within the learning experience. This is how we assess BAPP and MAPP too. It is about the student articulating the learning they gain through the process of the course. I talked about how we had introduced the Professional Artefact at Middlesex in order to allow students to create a comment on their learning process within their own terms (and the terms of their profession).

I then went to a workshop run by a MFA student I had when I was guest teaching in USA last summer. She shared her whole process and really constructed a whole approach to contemporary dance informed by her ethnographic experiences of being Korean  born, having trained in “traditional’ dance and western forms of ballet and contemporary  (Graham). It was really interesting and inspiring.

After lunch I went to a roundtable talk about Jazz dance. What Jazz is? How it is taught again we had some deep conversations about the ontology of dance itself. The panel talked about how Jazz ‘takes you there’ and you can’t be afraid to go. You are one with the music feeling the beat in your body. Jazz is also its history linked to roots in Africa and yet at the same time defined by it experimentation with the ‘here and now’. I thought about how one teaches a style of dance (any style) where that is what it is to you a ‘style’. And you know that for someone else it is away of life – away to connect with the world. Do you say sorry I am not passionate enough about that to be a good teacher in it or do you turn to the codified version of it (and teach it as a process of accomplishing steps)?

The conference has really encouraged me to feel we are not alone at Middlesex in an insistence in deep reflective practices and links to ‘other subjects’ as part of the process of being a dancer. Particularly for me not to compromise my interests because things I am most passionate about (interested in) give me an energy to explore with rigour and brings deeper meaning to the work. Funny because its what I am constantly telling Module two and three students!!!!!

I am going to the performance tonight – looking forward to that.

Opportunity for conversation

This Monday (April 26th) there is an opportunity for BAPP students to meet some artists working in Education. We are meeting at Cat Hill. If any of you want to come and ask questions or comment about arts-in-education, etc... you are well to come along for 45 mins starting at 3pm. This will be room G.097 which is in the Peter Green building just on the downward ramp from the coffee shop. 

All so I will be having rehearsals for a show I am choreographing through May. If people are interested in this kind of process, I am thinking of having and open rehearsal... would anyone be interested??