Feedback

I wrote this for my BAPP blog. What do you think?

All most Christmas: I wanted to say a quick word about feedback. Remember the idea behind having an advisor and not a ‘puppet master’(!). Is that it is your work. You are not writing to please us. I understand that sometimes the University culture can seem quite foreign and you appear to be asked to do things for no particular reason other than to say you did it, but do not let this mean you start to feel you are just ticking the box of the whim of the ‘teacher’. We are helping with two things:

Firstly, the form you present your ideas in – that is they are your ideas but we are helping with the conventions of academia.

Secondly, we are helping with teasing out more ideas or helping you develop your ideas further. But they are your ideas.

So how does this reflect when you ask for feedback?

When you ask for feedback – explain what you want feedback on, what you want your advisor to look at. Just sending your essay again, again until the advisor says it is ‘right’ is not what this is about. You are in discussion with your advisor with your work write a note explaining what the draft is attempting to do or explaining changes you have made.

For example:

“Dear Adesola, I have changed the order I introduce the different elements of the research inquiry. Can you tell me if you think it is easier to follow in terms of understanding what I did to collect data? “

It is important you feel ownership of your work and you don’t feel you are having to stab in the dark at what someone else wants from you.

Happy Holidays!!

Adesola

What other people say and what you say!!

Hi
I wrote this for my BAPP blog but I think it might be interesting for you too….

Christmas is coming!!! First, I wanted to put in a word for citations and using them!!! This is about linking your ideas to things beyond yourself. In Module One we talk about communication, reflection and networks.  These are foundational ideas that we return to each module. Think of citations in terms of them. Citing (talking about) other peoples’ work and ideas is how you show how your ideas link to the ‘network’ of ideas about a subject. This also shows how what you think links to the ‘reflections’ of others. As you do this you communicate your ideas in your own way and then share how other people have ‘communicated’ similar ideas.

Now don’t be afraid of citations just because they have a particular format. The formality of citations is just so there is a standard way of doing things; so we can all find the work you are talking about. I have talked about this in a couple of past blog posts have a look.

Starting up

What Sam and Billy say

Citations

Rubric

Now for word counts and editing – again don’t be afraid of these. Word counts and starting to edit your work is part of sharpening your skills in writing and being clear in your own head what you want to say.

Here are some ‘tips’ on self-editing

• Don’t get too attached to everything in the essay; nothing is ever lost; it can be used elsewhere. 
• Whatever you write, write about what is necessary to the points you are making.
• Be sure that everything in the essay contributes to what you want the Reader to experience or learn from your writing.
• Don’t read to edit immediately after you have written something. Take a break and come back to it.
• Write what you mean and stop when you’ve said it!!
• Put your ideas in order.
• Think of the essay as a whole: have only one beginning (introduction), middle (the points you want to make) and end (a conclusion drawing it all together). Don’t write a beginning middle and end for every thought you want to talk about.

Looking forward to reading your comments

Adesola

Notes from December 15 Group SKYPE

We had a great SKYPE chat on Sunday morning. I think it was our largest group yet. 

We talked about AOLs and credits – We were saying that Helen and I would pretty much assign the number of credits an AOL is worth. If you are writing big AOLs it might end up that you have a number of credits for that one AOL. Or you might write a number of small ones which each have a smaller amount of credit. So you don’t have to worry about writing to towards a credit target number as you write each AOL. But we also discussed that the title of the AOL will be on your transcript. People don’t look at transcripts much in job interview situations I know but to remember that if you have a big AOL worth a number of credits then it will appear to be weighty on your transcript. I used the analogy of a long AOL called ‘Administration for dance in schools’. If I wanted my transcript to reflect that I have a large amount of credit (ie my MA is heavily weighted with administration) then that would be ok. But I see my self more as a choreographer and the work I do in ‘administration’ as part of the learning I have about moving people around, making things resonate together, work together, weaving people and things in a dance of life with each other. So some of the learning that I use to do administration is, for me, leant through and about choreography so I would write about it in my ‘Choreography’ AOL. This would make my choreography AOL larger and consequently have more weight on my transcript. You might not want to bother with this kind of strategic detail and as I say transcripts don’t get read much but I just wanted to point it out.

We talked about the reflective essays in all the modules. I was saying I had just done some professional development and at the end of the training we discussed what it means to be a teacher. I had said I think it is about holding a space for possibility – the possibility in the Other (the student) and of course because we are all connected in ourselves also. I think the Reflective Essay is about talking about how you have held the space for your own learning during the activity of the module. It is a reflection on how you held that space and what you therefore learnt from holding it for yourself. What do you think?

We talked about the practical ‘object’ that is handed in for module one, particularly in terms of how to present the evidence (illustration) that goes with your AOLs. Alison described it as a kind of sophisticated scrapbook. This is a great way to think of it. The evidence (illustration) is attempting to capture the experience you are writing about by showing the objects involved at the time – these can be programmes, official advertising or information from the organisation you were working with, photos, DVD’s of work etc… It is a pick-n-mix (!!!) and therefore it needs to be clearly sign posted in the written AOL. We talked about using a colour coding system so the Reader can find the object of evidence (illustration) you refer to in the written AOL.  REMEMBER send photocopies not valuable originals.

We agreed to each write something about the meeting so look at each others blogs.

My reflecting on the meeting: I think it went well; as you know we are newly introducing the idea of the group SKYPEs since it seems valuable to talk to peers. The idea is about team learning, collaborative learning. I am quite passionate about this and think that collaboration is a real alternative to many power structures that riddle society, over-spilling from a Victorian system (see Sir Ken Robinson’s work). The idea behind the SYKPE meetings is that you talk to each other about the problems and solutions you have discovered. I am working on how to facilitate the meetings so they don’t become about asking questions of Helen and I. I felt we veered that way a bit in this last meeting. I think it was because it was our biggest group. I want to improve my facilitation, I would be really interested in how you felt and any ideas you think we could try in our next meeting. I was thinking that before a group meeting I should be more proactive with my advisees to check they don’t have burning questions. Also maybe in the introduction we could make an agenda list sort of say “Hi I’m Adesola, I want to talk about finding time to work, I am finding it hard to at the moment.”  or “Hi am Adesola, I have a wonder poem I wanted to share that really inspired me this week.” Then after everyone has introduced themselves we decide on a few of the things on the agenda to talk about (and see if there are some that cross over). What do you think?

We decided it would be fun to get together one more time before January so we are slipping in a holiday chat on Sunday December 29^th at 11am (London time) again.

Look forward to your comments.

Adesola

Chat on December 15th

Hi everyone
Just a reminder about our group chat on SKYPE on Sunday December 15th at 11am London time. If I do not have your SKYPE address send me a 'contact' request over SKYPE or send an email so I can find you and send you a contact request!!

Speak to you all soon

Adesola

Odds and ends from about citation

This week Mary G. asked me a couple of things about citation…Here are some thoughts. Let me know what you all think…

We use the Harvard system. The idea of a citation is that you are letting the Reader know where you got an idea or quote from. It is making sure you recognise the places things come from. It also allows the Reader to go and find out more about that idea or the rest of the quote because they know where it came from. This is how they know you write the name of the person who said it and the date of the publication they said it in just after you mention it (for example (Smith 2012)). If it is a quote you also write the page number (for example Smith, 2012 p.65). Now the Reader has what they need to be a detective.

First they go to the end of your writing to the bibliography. There you will have written the longer version. The name of the person is first (Smith) so they can find the name you had in the text and then they check the date (2012). Smith might have written a number of things that you have quoted at different times so there maybe a (Smith, 2007) as well. Then the rest of the long citation in the bibliography tells us the name of the book and who published. The whole point of all of this is that the Reader can go to the library and get the same book you were looking at. Then they can turn to the page (p.65) and read what you read that led you to write about the idea in your paper. It is all about giving the write information so we can have the same (reading) experience as you.

For example:

James Smith writes about cows in his book ‘I love milk’. Here he is point out that grass is really important.

‘It was green and beautiful and fed the cows very well’ (Smith, 2012 p.65)

More about citation

If you quote someone – even if you have just said something about that person you still have to use a citation at the end of the quote, anyway you need to put the page number as well.

A quote should be on a separate line, in italics and indented. The quote also needs a ‘lead in’ and ‘lead out’ in your text. You cannot just put it there to make a point by itself.

Example:

Dewey’s Pragmatist perspective further develops the research’s understanding of dance as language. Whereas above phenomenological hermeneutics implies dance could be thought of as dealing with the leftovers of verbal language Dewey reverses this idea:

‘language, signs and significance, come into existence not by intent and mind but by over-flow, by-product, in gestures and sounds. The story of language is the story of the use made of these occurrences; a use that is eventual as well as eventful.’  (Dewey 1958, p.175)

Dewey sees verbal language as an adornment to the act of communicating. He sees communication as the drive to share and collaborate meaning. Effort of doing this can lead to verbal language but communication is not brought into existence by verbal language and the effort of communication could just as well lead to a movement language .  – Akinleye, unpublished thesis

The citation (Dewey, 1958, p.175) is linked to the following in the bibliography, which should not be separate, but a part of the same document. That means that when you read the above quote you can turn to the back pages and see which book it is. The citation tells us this: to find the book you go to the bibliography and look for the name Dewey. I may have a number of books by Dewey I have quoted from so then you look for the one published in 1958. Now you can locate the full detail example below. 

If there were two books by Dewey published in 1958 in my bibliography then I would put

(Dewey, 1958a p.175). Then the bibliography I would put 1958a again so you know which one of the two books by him published in 1958 I was talking about. So the bibliography entry will look like this:

Dewey, J. (1958) Experience and nature, New York: Dover Publications.

This citation format is Harvard:

Surname, initcal of first name. (Year the book you are looking at was published), where it was published: who published it

Note the punctuation as well as the content of the text. Using this method means your work is in line with standard citation formats, which means that anyone who is used to doing research can read your work and find the very text you have copied the quote from. Every book published in UK is in the British Library. That means that someone can find the book you are talking about. That is what citation is for. It is not to prove you know the quote was in a book by X.

Also note that the date is the date of the book you are holding in your hand when you look at the quote. So for instance Dewey did not first publish‘Experience and Nature’ in 1958, but that is the date of the book I have, so when I put the page number (…, p.175) you can find the page with the quote on it. In a book published earlier or later the print size maybe different or the size of the book pages etc… this means that that quote is not on page 175 of those books. This is why it is important the date is of the publication you have looked at, otherwise the page number is meaningless.

Citation and quotes from research participants

The idea of a citation for a book etc... is so that when we read your work we can then go and find the book (journal etc...) you had in your hand that you cited from. But the interviews are data you collected and we cannot go and find them somewhere. You are using quotes form interviewees as examples of something you are writing about, so it is a bit different from a citation for book (etc...) which is pointing us towards further reading or bringing to mind a theorised idea by someone else. So assuming you have given an outline of what you research looked like. [ie you interviewed six professional dancers. Billy works in UK, Jamie in Mexico etc... and any other relevant information we need to know about them while respecting their anonymity.] Then when you write about something they said you can write

'it's a long way to go to go to an audition' - Billy

So now a notes about quoting people in terms of the above:

First: the decision to give them names – many people say participant (1) or participant B. This is ok but think about the topic of your research. If it about people's experiences or feelings etc… then it is ok to present them as real people. Not labelled like test-tubes. If it’s a test-tube based data collection process then naming them A, B or C makes more sense. If you use names think about the implication of gender and cultural background a name can give.

Second, as I mention above take a moment  in the overview of the research project in your account to let us know who and where and how you collected the data so we can see any comments in the context of the inquiry. For instance some of my interviewee might be college students and other professional dancers and other teachers.

Third,  DO NOT use the quote to make your point. Make the point and then use the quote to give an example of what you are talking about.

'Most dancers I spoke to talked about the importance of auditions in terms of keeping current with what was going on, but also pointed out that there needed to a balance between the keeping current and the expense of preparing and traveling to an audition. 

'I live in Gistone (small village in the North of England) and most auditions I am interested in are in the South. its a long way to go to travel to an audition.' Billy (professional dancer)

Billy's comment underlined Smiths (2009) theory that dancers in the outside of major cities are disadvantaged when it comes to audition experience. However, Sam the other professional dancer I interviewed from the North of England saw a trip down South for an audition as part of a larger goal. Sam used the time to also meet up with friends and visit museums.

'I try to make going to auditions only part of what i do in a day. That way I feel less pressure in the audition. Otherwise I'm like thinking if I don't get this I've wasted the fare down here and what-not.' - Sam (professional dancer). 

Smith (2009) has said that professional dancers start to see auditions as away of socialisation. It seemed that the professional dancers who lived outside of major cities..... 

Smith quote....'

The quotes from Participants should be indented but I can't see how to do that on the blog post page and my computer keeps crashing, so I'M trying to get this posted before it dies again - but enough of my problems!!!!

Back to the quotes-- as we read more and more quotes we also start to get a sense of the personalities of the participants - that is also why its nice to give them names; it is easier to remember who said what.

As you start to write what you are handing in for assessment in any of the modules start to let go of the drive to make a point (tell the truth) - and think of the actual document you are making as also a work of art. how you write, structure and form the essay is an art too. It is not just about what you are saying because how we understand what you are saying is more subtle then just the idea, it is how the words are put together. I am very aware of this as a dyslexic - and it often seems like a magic trick to even get words together in the first place but every now and then you might read something or see something and think that was really well done. Think about what you think is well written and why. Alan did a post about truth, that was interesting to read. I guess I am saying the same thing. Let's suppose there is more than one 'truth'. What you are thinking about when you write should not be presenting the 'truth' of what you found but capturing the nature of what you found or experienced.   

(Sensitivity to the whole process not just an account of past.)

Group meet post

Today’s group SKYPE went well. We had a conversation between 8 people!

We talked about time management: the tension between MDX work and ‘work’ work. There were thoughts about how the MA can feed ones teaching and also how it can be emotionally exhausting leaving you feeling it is detracting from the teaching. Janet talked about how she shares her learning journey with her students, which has worked really well for her. We also talked about if you are an ‘am’ or ‘pm’ person – getting up a bit earlier than everyone else to work or waiting until the evening when everyone is a sleep to get some work done.  A key seems to be the reflective journal (and the blogs) as a way to keep the momentum of thinking going even when you don’t have time to sit down and tackle things for a long period.

We talked about peoples projects (from module two and three) and it was really nice to hear what people are interested in researching. We made a few connections with each other discovering that  people had similar issues, ideas and had even worked together in the distant past!

We talked about the AOL’s and how they are claims for MA level credits. So even if you did something remarkable when you were at a very early age you need to look it in terms of a kind of MA level analysis. So past experiences can be recalled to show the signposts that lead you to the MA level student you are today BUT the experience in itself as an anecdote is not enough to make your claim.  We also talked about how ‘evidence’ or illustrate items can be used to support and give context an AOL. We spoke about a simple colour coding reference system to link items such as programmes or DVD’s to the body of the text of the AOL paper they are supporting.

We also talked about the concept of the artefact (for module three) and how it is another form of communication, other than the academic form of the written report.

We confirmed the next meeting December 15^th at 11am. If have not joined in a group meeting and would like to in December you just need to contact me with your SKYPE address before the day of the meeting. You can do this by sending a SKYPE request to me. If you have problems feel free to email me too.

I felt the meeting went well. I worried about the dynamic of having 8 people talking to each other, but it seemed that everyone spoke and shared interesting ideas. I wonder how you all felt? It is a different platform for communication and while it is not the only one we use, it is amazing to be talking to people all over the UK and at times all over the world.

Well I would love to hear your feedback and thoughts.

Adesola

Remember, Remember 17th of November: Our Group SKYPE meeting

Hi
Don't forget our group SKYPE meeting is November 17th at 11am. (That is next Sunday.)
The meetings are a great way to talk through ideas with peers on the course in real time and also see links across the modules. The link made by people talking together from different modules are great because it helps to see themes that run across the course through the module and the teaching experience.
If I have your SKYPE already just be on-line ready. If I have not SKYPEd you before please send me a request, or an email with your SKYPE address so I can send a request to you!

Please comment to encourage others to join who have not done it before.
Say what you think...
Adesola

Order & Trust

This week seems to have rushed by.  

I have been thinking about order. There is a certain amount of trust that is required to follow the steps (tasks) in the modules. To some extent one needs to trust that they will add to your learning experience and not just be extra work or hoops or boxes to check. It is one thing to do them and another to open up – undo your thinking - enough for them to affect your plan or research or process.

This is the trust it takes to not look for the certainty of having ‘done that’ and allow instead for on-going development, on-going inquiry. This trust is not just some kind of courage to find within yourself it is also about how the ‘teachers’ / ‘advisors’ / writers-of-the-module present as trust worthy. I think learning is a two-way street the experience of learning is the situation of the material, space, teacher, student and those roles are interchangeable.

What do you think?

Adesola

Emergence and the learning self

This week I have been thinking a lot about transitional spaces. Reading Ellsworth (Ellsworth 2005) she talks about the space we need to leave to ‘becoming…’ for the change from what was known to what is becoming known in the learning process.

She talks about the learning self, exploring,

‘…the concept of the learning self as the sensation of coming into relation with the outside world and to the other selves who inhabit and create that world with us.’ P.117

In module one we are asked to start to locate what the learning self of you is. When it happens (what are the circumstances under which you have noticed your learning self.) In the second module you engage with the learning self opening yourself to new ideas in terms of research methods and terms of inquiry in the particular context of this MA. In the third module you start to look at the learning selves of others your students usually) seeing if you understand them differently through the lens of the learning self in you that you have been working with in the previous modules. 

Interesting. My question to myself is whether I work under the assumption that the learning self is really just the witnessing of self-emergence. Ellsworth distinguishes the learning self in part by looking at the learning environments that create a response of emergence; the pedagogy of places – transitional spaces.

Adesola

Ellsworth, Elizabeth Ann. 2005. Places of learning : media, architecture, pedagogy. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.

Keep Calm and embrace the Possibility!

It has been a SKYPE whirl-wind recently and I have not got into regularly blogging. But I am back!

Everyone seems to be moving forward well. Module ones are on their lists of areas of learning.  It is good to get an outline of each area of the learning then choose one to work on with your advisor. Then you can use the experience of writing that one to inform how you approach the rest. 

Some Module ones are on Google+ which is different from BlogSpot. It is interesting you get used to what you know about. Now, for me, going to a different blog hosts is like going to a different country - different language and different ways to move around! 

Module Two is a bit of a different pace that module one in that it is more a focus on looking outside of what you know where module one is about looking 'inside' to articulate what you know. It is best to decide on a general area of inquiry and then start to look at the general research methods that the handbook introduces you too. You might feel you are moving away from your question at times. But part of the point of this module is to learn a bit about research methods in order to shape how you will approach you inquiry. The methods themselves affect how you ask your questions; affect what the questions become. 

Module Three: well its matter of hopping around and hoping too and getting on with collecting the data you planned to gather. Remember data gathering is not research it is just getting your ingredients the research is in the analysis you do - what you do with the literature, data and reflections. Not very comforting words. But once you are stuck into things you find a flow.

Well, my words of the week is transformation and transaction (maybe my words of the everything).
The transformation of learning is about allowing yourself to be permeable both as the teacher and as the student (and as the Place in which it is designated to happen):
Here is a lovely quote on that:
"If teaching is about thinking and not about complying with the one who holds the superordinate knowledge, if thinking is an encounter with the unthought, then for pedagogy to put us in relation with each other in ways we have never been before, for pedagogy to be a democratic civic pedagogy, it must create places in which to think about "we" without knowing already who "we" are. It must keep the future of what our engagements with those places make of us open and undecided" Ellsworth, E (2005) Places of Learning: Media, Architecture, Pedagogy. Routledge:Great Britian (p 94-95)

Adesola

Induction with Module One-ers

This evening we had our Group SKYPE induction for people joining the course (Module One). It was great to meet everyone, so cool to be talking to people all over the country and soon to be all over the globe.

We talked about getting going with the blogs. Starting to comment on other peoples blogs and writing a kind of introduction to yourself on your own. Also getting set up with our group in linked-in. It seemed that directions and info. for the course is still available through LibGuides but I suspect it will soon be primarily on Moodle. Either way it is good to be starting to read all the handbooks.

I suggested planning your study by working back from the hand-in date in January 2014 and of course being really familiar with what it is that is being assessed!! In other words what you have to send in to the university. I was also saying that starting to get your study groove on can involve fun things like making a special corner for yourself at home or in a local coffee shop or library. Joining the student union and/or getting a student rail card!! Just enjoy the romance of being a student (again) – you might as well there maybe quite stressful moments too…so its good to get your student groove well nourished.

Let us know if you have any trouble with getting handbooks etc… Remember to make sure you have accepted your place at MDX – you should have a password for getting onto UniHub etc… and this is also an indication your enrolment is complete.

Lastly we talked about other important dates – June 2^nd 2014 at Hendon is when Module Three presentations are scheduled. Although people in Module One today, will only be in Module Two at that point coming to the presentations will give you an idea of where to go with your research inquires BEFORE you dive headlong into it.

Also we agreed on a date for another group SKYPE. This will be for anyone on any module – Monday October 14^th at 11am (London time).

Well we are off to a great start – lovely to meet everyone.

Adesola

Welcome back

Welcome back and welcome on board. We are getting ready to start back at MAPP. The summer seemed to fly by but I am looking forward to a fun, productive and thoughtful term. 

Getting started
We have  scheduled an induction/orientation chat via Skype on Friday Sept 20th, 17.00-18.30 (London time) for those joining Module One. There is also an in person look around if you want to do that too at 1pm earlier the same day. 

For return-ees we have a SKYPE meeting Saturday at 10am to 11:30 (London time).  

Some thoughts

We hope to be woven into your day-to-day activity to enrich your professional development and practice. For that reason we have designed the course to take place in your life (as it were) and on-line. But this is not about working in isolation (this is not an ‘on-line’ course) this is about creating a community of learners using Web 2.0 tools (interactive on-line based tools). How it works is that the assignments and suggested tasks set up situations for learning and presenting your learning. You will read about these in the handbooks. But the process of mulling it over, having conversations, having ideas, not having any ideas(!) is done together using blogs, group SKYPE calls, emails, Linked-In, (phone calls and of course face-to-face if you want to).

Web 2.0 offers two ways to work with time and space:

Asynchronous time, different spaces:

The great thing about Web 2.0 (blogs, emails, Linked-in) is that you can share your ideas at a time that works for you and someone else can respond at a time that works for them. So I could write something meaningful to me at 8am on Thursday (while you are working) and you might respond with something meaningful at 2am on Saturday (while I am asleep).[You were having a very long day!!!]

Synchronous time, different spaces:

We can also use Web 2.0 (SKYPE) to talk to each other in real time across great distances. Remembering we want this course to be a part of your day-to-day practice, this year we are using SKYPE to create group sessions that students can join-in with where ever they are. The first ones being:

September 20^th (5pm – 6:30pm) Induction / Orientation session

(New students)

September 21^st (10am -11:30am) induction /Orientation session

(Returning students)

(We will also be having monthly SKYPE group discussions across the term. These are an opportunity to talk with advisors and peers about your ideas, issues, ‘the tasks’, ask questions and give advice. The dates of these will be confirmed during the group SKYPE meeting) 

How it works:

You will need to open a SKYPE account (if you do not already have one). To join in the group SKYPE sessions you need to be on a computer or ipad (you do not have to have a camera on the computer just a mic and working speaker). SKYPE is FREE from a computer or ipad no matter how long you talk on it or where you are calling. But there are some costs for group SKYPeing from a mobile phone/device.

If you do not have SKYPE already:

Go to http://www.skype.com

Go to ‘join-in’ in the right hand top of the screen, and follow the instructions

Note what kind of computer you are using (is it a Mac or P.C. or ipad) and follow the corresponding instructions as you set-up

Or

Go to the App. Store and download the SKYPE app.

Note what kind of computer you are using (is it a Mac or P.C. or ipad) and choose the corresponding app.

A week BEFORE (or ASAP) the induction session:

Once you have SKYPE send an email to Adesola & Helen telling us your SKYPE name. Then send a contact request in SKYPE to us so that we can accept you into our SKYPE contacts list. Once we have you on the list you are ready to be included in the induction session. 

Speak to you soon.

Adesola

Spring!!

May!! As I said on my BAPP blog, a good time to have a draft into your advisor!! I am in the middle of drafts from people and its all looking great. Not got much to say here!! But I really want to write each week to keep up the pattern of posting regularly. So what do you think of the video below in terms of learning and what education, work and learning have in common.

Adesola

discuss!

May 31st 2013 hand-in date

Just a reminder the hand-in date for MAPP is May 31st  2013 (Hard copy post marked or handed-in  by 4pm, electronic copy by midnight).

At this point as we are heading into the month of May, I would anticipate you will have a first draft of the things you are handing in. But you may still feel as if you have a few more ideas to work through. In other words you would have the shape of things and be filling in details.

Keep up the good work
Adesola

Why being wrong is not possible on this course!!! the problem is about depth and possibility

Holidays

As its Easter Holidays I won't write much. I am sure you are either finally getting on with MA work in the break from teaching work or having a much earned rest. I hope the snow!!! isn't too distracting. So once we start back make a schedule for yourself so you can start winding down to the hand-in date (sending things in for feedback etc...) enjoy good thoughts of Spring.
Adesola

Containers

I am trying to write something each week but time goes by so quickly and I sometimes feel I have not moved on from the last thoughts in the last blog post. So for this week I am going to share my notes from listening to a talk and watching some work on-line by Ralph Lemon.

The talk was loosely about two pieces

‘come on Charley Patton’ and ‘How can you stay in the house all day and not go anywhere?’

His process means that a work takes years to make.

He talked about a container: the puzzle that is the inquiry that holds to together a activity. You can’t solve it, it’s a thing you read about, think about explore but it is not to be solved. The container is what holds a dance; it is an opportunity.

I am thinking about the containers we are so used to we don’t notice them – the things we do because we just always do and the assumptions we no longer question. What Janet was saying on Hopal’s blog about considering yourself a certain way like seeing yourself as ‘good’ and how that container is so helpful in that it houses you safely but also so restricting in that it houses you safely. What Hopal was saying about time as a container. Thinking about paradigms such as positivism is about the kind of container you use to organise being xxxx but this is also about the container being the assumptions you are willing not to question. Things you will let slide. In terms of research the container is the framework the assumptions you are aligning yourself with the assumptions that will inform your questioning.

He spoke about self-exploration as ‘tourism of My Self’. He talked about the gap where you want to follow your own rules but can’t. I think this is the space artists are brave enough to face again and again. In dance we explore what we do once we have figured out how to balance by tilting ourselves off balance again.

It was amazing how in questions and answers people had talked about habits, impulse, inhabiting the body – all of this Dewey writes about and yet the world of dance and ontological theory very rarely meet and share ideas.

When asked how he manages to keep up the tiring task that all artists have of questioning yourself he mentioned the importance of coming to terms with your Self – being kind

“I am beholden to trying to be as kind to myself as possible”

My final notes to myself in terms of teaching technique are: I am teaching toward - being a good dancer is not about virtuosity it is about being true to yourself, your body and your intent, to the possibility of your practice. That is what I want my students to learn when I teach a technique class. To that end I try to set exercises that through up physical questions that can be answered with the integrity of technique – or that is what I am working on anyway.

So what are your containers as you look at your past experience, or plan an inquiry project or carry one out??

What do you think?

Adesola

Mapping!

We are in week 5 and for my blog post on BAPP I reminded people that it is a good time to take a breath to recognise the process by thinking about where you are heading. To be sure you know what you are required to hand in for assessment and when that is due. I am particularly thinking about this because I have been taking a course at MDX and I find myself thinking ‘just tell me what you want so I can get this done and move on to…’ I am my worst student nightmare!!! But there is a balance between work that feels like it’s for ‘you’ and work that feels like its for ‘them’.  And by ‘for you’ are we really thinking about what we’ll get at the end to show for what we did or thinking about the process as being a moment to moment engagement in something ‘for us’. When it’s ‘for them’ the approval of the teachers who hold the key to being able to move on In both cases it is so easy for learning to become a commodity. So what makes it meaning –full? When it reverberates around your life – pricks some part of you in a way that transforms the world. A threshold moment you cannot un-remember. When it causes the collision of two ideas you had never known could collide. I think these moments are beautiful and unteachable. I think that we try to set up the situation for them, so at this point in the term taking that moment to step back from the hoops and wonder at the journey allows you to make a space for the threshold moment. For me this is the empty incredible space of analysis. It is analysis that will synthesise your learning and what we are hoping for in what you hand-in at the end of term. What am I doing and why? – like stopping the hike for a moment to look at the map: not to change the journey or calculate how fast you are going just to contemplate the process and what it means to you. 

Then maybe think about what is to come and prepare with momentum to move forward in a practical manor in order to get to the hand-in point.

What do you think?

Adesola

Rubric

I found this rubric as I was looking though some work. It is a good example of expectations for writing, might be especially useful for those writing their area's of learning although I think it is interesting reading for writing in the context of MAPP and BAPP in general. What do you think?

Example MAPP for blog Assessment Rubric (from 3/12/2008)

	Beginner fail (below level three) 17-2O	Expected pass 9- 16	Developed merit 5-8	Progressing distinction 1-4	Notes
External sources of Knowledge: Aware academic / professional ideas of other and seeing how they fit into your work.	Cite one or no external ideas.	Cite others work  two- three	Cite others work appropriately (examples) four or five Aware of others doing similar work as you	Cite others work effectively – (developed ideas on) more than five
Internal conception of knowledge: Recognising own practise as a source of knowledge.	Telling the story of something that happened that helped you	Realisation: Articulating an event or incident when self practise developed, (without the aid a teacher).	Trust: Articulate a time when you acted on your practice (self knowledge / things you have learnt) without confirmation or direction of someone else.	Giving / Risk: being able to articulate a through-line (show us how it manifests) of your practice in life outside of the arts or work.
Selection and Justification of approaches to tasks	Wrote the work	Work has a number of drafts, final draft could track the development of the drafts (work went through development stages)	Work reflects other forms of thinking used in the process of composing the essay.	Work is a vehicle that summarises a whole process of learning. Almost like a report on the learning that has been done (persons went through development stages)
Ethical Understanding	Know external frameworks.	Work articulates how student can see the impact of themselves and their practice on others. Aware of external frameworks (rules) and apply them.	Articulate how practice is informed by awareness of particular views and experiences, aware of the effect they have on others.  Know external ethical frameworks and incorporate them into this knowledge of their actions.	Articulate a clear understanding of responsibilities: Practice is informed by student’s perceived place in society – student shows a range of ways to engage with others because of the impact research / study might have. Analyse external frameworks and develop them for themselves.
Analysis and synthesis	Ideas are evident.	Can track where ideas have developed and how they have been influenced by experiences.	Show how ideas have linked in the past and the range of ways ideas emerge. Show the different ways in which ideas can be used. (concepts, principles, systems, models)	Articulate the personal process for developing and applying ideas, shows awareness of other peoples’ processes as well.
Self appraisal / reflection on practise	Explain how a teacher has helped their develop	Explain how a past experience has informed the way the student does things now. The Student explains how their impression of their work has differed from a teacher’s.	Explain how past experience has been used to inform a wide range of elements of practice.	Shows how the student has developed their practice through intentional use of self reflection (not instigated by someone or something else). Instances of this.
Action Planning leading to effective and appropriate action (B3)	Table or schedule of events	Evidence of how they plan, including prioritising and setting of aims and objectives.	Showing evidence of having planned for themselves and others. Plan would accommodate a number of people and schedules &/or use existing action planning tool/s.	Shows understanding of ethical implications and the impact of their work has on others. Their work theorises or cites other planning methods.
Evaluation of information (B4)	Student describes information that they think is relevant.	Presents ways that have been used to access information and identify what is important to their personal practice.	Present a range of existing evaluation tools/ formulas that they have found valuable.	Show personally devised ways and systems that are used to evaluate information.
Application of learning in number of contexts	Shows that student learnt stuff.	Learnt something and show how student used it in a different circumstance.	Learnt something and used it in two other contexts (home-life, teaching, technique class, relationships).	Learnt something and used it in more than two contexts, or at a very deep level.
Use of resources will be effective and wide ranging	Has put aside some time each week to study.	Shows understanding of relevant resources and how they would be useful.	Gathered a number of resources (such as people, things, ideas, funding) in support of their work.	Sees impact of their work on others. Can describe the strategic implications of their work as a resource for others.
Effective Communication	Good at story telling.	Uses the standard methods of written and oral presentation for academia. (sentence construction, argumentation and citation)	Articulation of the use of a range of approaches to communication / presentation and some are used.	Successful and clearly decided approaches to support impact of ideas and concepts in their work. Articulation of why this approach was used.
Working and learning autonomously and with others	Evidence of being organised and punctual.	Organised work, with a method of working developed from past experience. Can identify the people they work with ‘best’	Shows strategies for working autonomously and with others. Is willing to take a number of roles within a group (challenge, reflect, support).	Shows knowledge of when to engage with others, is aware of their responses to different group settings. Shows awareness of when and how to challenge and support others. Can articulate personal perspectives in relation to working autonomously and with others.