Monday Module One focus AOLs

In this discussion we talked about AOLs. Apart grom the claim of prior learning thatvthey make to the University why have them along side Module One? We talked about how they help us unpack our current practice by looking at the skills and knowledge the experience of our careers has given us. How this influences ‘how’ we practice. So practice is not a job title “I am a dance teacher” or  “I am a singer in the West End” but about how we do these things. We look atvthis in terms of threads that run throught the tjingscwe do (even ones not obviously associated with our profession practice). These threads are where our life learning mamifests. We also spoke sbout the confidence to claim your learning and also the confidence recognising it and linking it to wider feilds gives you. 

Those in the conversations are posting thoughts and links to further pists in the comments below. What fo you feel?... please comment below. 

December first Sunday skype chats ...

We had two group skype chats on Sunday

AM

We talked about how we can not tell everything but need to direct what we are writing to make a focused point. For instance in an AOL you can not tell your own life story!!! Or in the critical reflection document in Module Three you can not explain every thing you did or thought!! You have to decide what story you are telling. Tara will post thoughts on this http://dancetara.blogspot.com

Later after the PM skype I spoke to Sarah and talked more about this

It is important to understand when you write an AOL or The final critical reflection or the project plan you are telling the story ‘of telling the story’.

For instance, in Module three:

• You decide on the story the research has told you ‘children respond to images’
• Then the whole document tells the story of telling the story
• The introduction says I am going to tell the story (that children respond to images) and this is why I am going to tell it, and this is where I found the story, and this is why I think it is important to tell.
• The literature explains other people have told stories about children and images too, and this is what stories they have told…
• The methodology and method says I am going to tell the story (that children respond to images) and this is how I looked for and found the the story, and this is how I am going to tell it
• The analysis – tells the STORY children respond to images
• The conclusion says now I have told the story (children respond to images) this is how I feel and this is the next kind of story I am going to look for to tell

 We talked about analysis of data and how it is personal and how it is general. We thought about how it is both at the same time not either or. Julie has commented on this in comments below.

We talked about how we have a tendency to see people as institutions. We wondered of this was particularly prevalent in Western Concert dance (history). Doing this affects how we see ourselves as actors in our narrative history. It also means we have to think about how we position subject and object as we think about ourselves in AOLs (for instance). Also between ourselves and the university – when we decide what to submit and what not to. (It is important not to loose sight of the fact you are explaining yourself to another human being (decisions need to make sense and be meaningful to you), you are not changing yourself to become part of a mechanism (institution) called University. Alanna will write thoughts on seeing people as institutions http://sustainablerisktaking.blogspot.com

Suzy also noted that for some people this is the last skype until final oral presentation. She will write about how helpful the skype chats can be. Please note graduates can still come to skype chats as Mary did in the PM one J https://zsurcy.wordpress.com

Amanda will write thoughts on the highs and lows of Module Two. http://alawford.blogspot.com/2015/11/module-two.html

PM

We talked about a number of specific questions: ‘should I send in this …? Do I do that…?’ We decided that the answer is to own the work. If it makes sense to you (on a deep level – think it through) then you should do it. If you have any doubts explain why you think it is a good idea to do it when you do it.

Think deeply about what you are doing – explaining your learning experience, proposing a plan, explaining what you have done over a semester… What you do should make sense. Imagine if you are on the receiving end of your work it should make sense. It is not a trick it just has to make sense. Cathy will write more on this https://cathieingram.wordpress.com

We talked about not getting overwhelmed and being selective. In other words, not everything you think and do might be handed in. You are trying to tell us something send in what makes sense to best tell that story (see above). Ainsely and Jade will write more thoughts on this http://ainsleymsudds.blogspot.com

We talked about a rhizome as an organizing structure. I have written about this before. By using a rhizome structure you can focus on the connections and networks – relationships between things. In this course we value these as a large part of the reflective process and the analytical process.  It is part of our rejection of dualist constructs to move away from defining things to start to look at how things affect each other, are linked, are part of networks. Sarah created a great rhizome diagram to organize her data. She posted this on her blog http://sarahsulemanji.blogspot.com

Tamzin is going to post on some sites she has found for gnat charts and other time organizing tools. http://tamzinhoward.blogspot.com

Please look at Lisa and Maria’s blogs too

http://lisanorris76.blogspot.com

http://mariaranden.blogspot.com

Mary joined us which was great. She is going to be going on a course that follows on from her module three over the winter holidays and she will be up-dating her blog so look out for that.

http://www.marymapp.blogspot.co.uk

Helen is writing about permission , judgments, relevance: how you value what you are doing in your study http://www.helenkindred.blogspot.com

What do you think?

Adesola

Nov 1st AM skype chat

Yesterday we had our first Sunday of the month skype chats.

I always feel the people who attend the skype sessions seem to get so much out of speaking to other people on the course. In our community of learners there are really interesting people with interesting and extensive experiences in dance: from the owners of dance schools to teachers in large institutions of dance to company directors and principle dancers in companies and all this from people who are all over the world at the moment. It is really wonderful to talk to each other.  I encourage you to join the next skype chat if you have not already.

We had two chats one in the afternoon which Helen is writing-up, please look at her blog http://www.helenkindred.blogspot.co.uk

We also had a morning chat which I will overview here.

We talked about analysis. This was raised from the perspective of analysis of your own experiences and history when writing the AoLs, in Module One and also analysis of the data collected in Module Three. (Analysis of your own interests, passed experiences and the inquiry process happens in Module Two also). We noted that analysis happens across the course. I felt the conversation moved towards realizing that to say analysis as if it were a thing is not enough. In many ways one needs to be clear what you mean by it. Other wise you run the risk of saying “I will do some analysis on this” without any idea what exactly you will be doing as if by saying the word you conjure up some event that will run itself. So what do you think analysis is, what attributes does it have?

In the conversation we moved from thinking of it as something that happens (ie one minute something is not analyzed and the next it is) to thinking of it as a process. I called it a process of seeing possibilities, and/or of seeing connections where you had not noticed them. Like a process of opening doors to see what is behind them.

Thinking about analysis led to thinking about a number of issues to do with voice.  I think this is because to analyze  something in the context of this course involves recognizing you are adding your voice/ideas to the thinking pot. Of course we believe you are anyway since you are experiencing through your body/eyes/life but recognizing this and contextualizing yourself within your work takes a kind of confidence. Confidence to be present in the work and confidence to know you don’t know everything but that is ok, you can still be there. We talked about this confidence. Sam talked about how strange it is however accomplished one is you can still feel a ‘little girl (or boy)’ : nervous and unconfident. She is going to blog more on this

http://samanthakettle.blogspot.co.uk

Confidence is interesting from an embodied perspective (like pain) it is one of those things that we can not feel in each other. So whenever we are judging other peoples’ confidence we are judging our ‘insides’ with their ‘outsides’, which is not like for like.  

Helen is going to post a little about the unknown and confidence in terms of improvisation and how improvisation teaches us to be ok with being in a state of response rather than needing to know what is next. She talked about the confidence of accepting the process rather than needing the conclusion.

All this brought up ideas about bridging gaps between knowing and feeling – this can be thought about both within the context of confidence and in the context of what we are doing when we analyze.

Sarah talked about the confidence and feeling, of seeing your own writing as an authentic voice. If you do not write much in your work or as a ‘dancer’ you might not see writing as a vehicle for your authentic voice and therefore it becomes something you add-on to things or avoid doing altogether (see not putting up blog posts !!!) but Sarah was saying like any voice it needs to be exercised and that she had newly seen the blogs as a way to practice communication through writing. Sarah is going to post on this: http://sarahsulemanji.blogspot.co.uk

Maria http://mariaranden.blogspot.no  is going to write further about connections and just getting thoughts down to be able to look at what you are thinking as it were. On her blog she has also written about the Professional Artefact in terms of looking for thoughts on this so please comment.

Julie talked about considering the process and not jumping to conclusions in a bid to feel something is ‘done’ or complete or must be understood. Look at the comments below for more from Julie.

Anna commented on not censoring yourself and bridging gaps in learning through exploring. http://annablogsblog.blogspot.co.uk

Suzy talked about fear of the unknown and also ownership of your own thoughts. She has written about connections as a response to the skype conversation  https://zsurcy.wordpress.com

What do you think…

Please comment

Adesola