Don't mind if I do!

Some afternoon reading with a nice cuppa tea :)

David Kolb

David Kolb

David A. Kolb is an American educationalist who was born in 1939 and is well known for developing his idea of a learning cycle, which he published in 1984.

When learning something new we tend to remember and it normally has more of an effect on us if we, ourselves are actively involved with the process. Now a days teachers try to move away from the traditional way of learning and use experiential learning as it has more of an effect on their students, not only young students but people from all ages.

The first step is being able to recognize you have the experience, and then having the right tools to reflective upon it. Kolb’s looked further into learning experience and developed his own learning cycle:

Step 1- Active Experimentation- David Kolb’s thought it was useful if the learner was involved with every step of the cycle, which included the planning of the experience. Making sure you have complete understanding of what was going to happen and breaking each step down will help the learning experience.

Step 2-Concrete Experience- Making sure the learner is completely involved in the experience, with watching, doing, and making notes, or records depending on what situation they’re in.

Step 3- Reflective Observation- The most important stage of the cycle is reflecting on what happened. Knowing why it happened? How it happened? What didn’t happen? What you could have been done differently? Did anything go wrong? Although this is the most important stage of the cycle it is definitely the hardest, the deeper you reflect the deeper the meaning of the experience.

Step 4- Abstract Conceptualisation- The last stage is a conclusion of what has happened and the theory behind it all. This stage can easily be missed out but is very helpful and can also lead you to your next step.

Kolb’s learning cycle is very helpful especially in the dance world, and very interesting to think about when I’m teaching my classes. I have recently been experimenting in class on which is the best way to teach and have an effect on children. In the last few weeks I have been teaching my classes their pantomime dances so they have all been learning new steps to put in their new routines. I have noticed the majority of children find tap dances the hardest to pick up and get to grip with (I put this down to tap normally being performed to a faster pace music track so there are more steps to learn, and when learning tap it can sometimes feel the footsteps are very small and certain steps can look very alike to each other.) Breaking the dance into sections helps a lot, so they do not feel overwhelmed with learning a million of steps all at once. Having different methods of teaching makes it more interesting as well, my Grade 3 tap class are most effective when I challenge them to watch me perform a certain amount of steps and seeing if they can repeat it straight after me, they like to think of this as a game, and I’m testing them which makes them focus a lot more and is fun for them too.

You can definitely lose their concentration if they stand still for too long I find, they prefer to be moving and active and not standing around discussing or watching for too long, otherwise their minds tend to wonder especially for the younger ages, making sure they are focus on what you are trying to teach them is crucial. This brings me back to what David Kolb also believed that being actively involved has more of an effect on us when learning something new.

When it comes to older students normally around the age of 13-16 they like to know you can dance too, and I find girls really enjoy classes if you show them first full out, especially with kicks or leaps etc… If you impress them they normally want to impress you and want to be able to perform a step like that, everybody wants to wow the audience or their friends it is just finding them the motivation or drive to practice. Boys and girls are very different in this way I find, boys are really competitive and are not at all concern about making a fool of themselves or falling over, where girls on the other hand are still competitive but hide it more and dislike people watching if they haven’t come to grips with a step.

I also understand everyone has a different learning style and all prefer different ways to be taught, some of use like being active and involved whereas some of us prefer to observe, use the trial and error method and just try out different things until they find the right path or some people like to think and work it out in their heads before doing so. These four ways of learning are called; Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Active Experimentation and Abstract Conceptualisation. It does not matter which learning style suits you best but knowing which style has more of an effect on you will be a very useful tool in life.

Social Networking

Social Networking

• Twitter

Twitter is a social networking service which allows people to send and read short messages to each other and these are called ‘tweets.’ People who register with Twitter can read and post tweets and access the site through the website interface, SMS(short message service), or a mobile device. Unregistered people can only read messages and so cannot add their own input.

Twitter was designed in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass and by July 2006 the site was launched. The service gained great popularity and in 2013 Twitter was one of the most visited websites and as of July 2014 Twitter has more than 500 million users and 271 million are active. 

• Facebook

Facebook is another social networking service which was launched in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerburg, with his Harvard University roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughs.  At first it was solely for Harvard University students but very soon start to expand.

You have to register to use the site and you create your own profile and add other users as ‘friends’. This enables both parties to exchange messages, post status updates, upload photos and videos and receive notifications when others update their profile. Facebook now allows anyone who claims to be 13 to use the site and in June 2014 it had 1.3 billion active users. Facebook has faced much scrutiny and criticism about their privacy policies because they hold so much data on all of their followers.

• A Blog

A Blog is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and is displayed in reverse chronological order. Until 2009 it was usually the work of a single person on a single subject but as time went on it has become used by ‘multi-author blogs (MABS) from the media, newspapers, universities, think tanks and advocacy groups.

A blog has become another social networking service as bloggers produce content to post on their blogs and build social relations their readers and other bloggers. Many bloggers can concentrate on a specific subject where others use it as an online diary and many education systems use blogging for instructions and contact, these are called edublogs.                                     

• Skype

Skype was released in August 2003 and was created by Dane Janus Frijs and Swede Niklas Zennstrom but has changed hands through eBay and various businesses for very large amounts of money and ending up with Microsoft in May 2011 for $8.5 billion.

Skype is telecommunications software that provides video chat and voice calls through our computers, tablets and mobile devices via the internet. It is the most popular VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) as you receive free PC-PC calling and very low rates for PC calling all around the world with no contracts, no commitments, and no gimmicks service.

Personally I have always used Facebook as my friends from school and college have always used it and after years of using Facebook I feel very comfortable with it. When I went to Tring Park School for the Performing Arts at the age of 16 I felt terribly alone and if it was not for Facebook I think it would have been much harder for me as I would have lost touch with my friends from home. Having Facebook on our ipads, phones and laptop nowadays gave me the option to keep in touch with friends and family whenever I wanted to throughout the day which meant a big deal to me back then. Now I’m Facebook friends with both school and college friends as they are scattered all over the world from Japan to Ireland. Now one of my school friends is working in Dubai and as well as Facebooking her I also Skype her which means we can sit and talk face to face for hours and it is just so easy. I sometimes feel she is never away as we are always updated on gossip or work situations all the time.

2c Reflective Theory Task

Reflection

Experience

Experience is a good way of learning, it helps turn information into knowledge. Experience is observing and practicing in doing something but there are different ways for people to turn experience into learning. When you have experience and reflect on it this enables you to come up with new ideas which means you are learning something new. I found this quote while researching experience, and was really fond of it; ‘The experience gathered from books, though often valuable, is but the nature of learning; whereas the experience gained from actual life is one of the nature of wisdom.’ Samuel Smiles (Smiles was Secretary to the Leeds Parliamentary Reform Association May 1840-1845, he also wrote a book called Self-Help.)

 

Here are two definitions of the word ‘Experience.’

 

1.    The accumulation of knowledge or skill that results from direct participation in events or activities

2.    The content of direct observation or participation in an event

Learning is more confusing than you think, it is not just about learning a new word but actually learning what does the word mean? You need to understand the term and know how to use the word in a sentence. Such as being ‘divorced’ you need to understand what being married is and not being married, you have to learn the meaning of that subject just to understand one word. If someone really didn’t know the meaning or understood the word ‘divorced’ and asked you what does it mean, you would have to explain what being married is first, and then explain the word divorced. Otherwise the word divorced does not make sense. Understanding the concept of a word is much harder than what you think.

The first step of knowing you don’t know a meaning of a word is when you realise something is missing. This is called reflection when you look at something and know you don’t understand. Seeing something is missing is the first stage of learning something new, you now have the power to find out what is missing to make sure you can make complete sense of it.

Reflecting on your work is a useful tool in life especially if you have a career where things are always changing. Such as a teacher, education is always changing and different students pick up certain subjects faster than others, it is our job to reflect on the situation we are in and teach at the right speed and the correct subjects.

Many specialists have looked into how experience works, and how is it most effective, John Dewey is one of these people. He believes there are different levels of experience, and as he was an educationist he felt the level of concentration effected the outcome of the quality of experience. He also thought that if people fully experienced and fully engaged with their life they would be better in society, solving problems etc… As they were using their brain to their full advantage. Dewey liked to use the term ‘Reflective thought’ and this meant understanding you had experience and would reflect on it finding ways to link this to other people or situations and expanding on your own experience.

David Kolb

David Kolb believed reflecting on our experience is a tool we all need, and as we all have the ability to use concrete experience, reflecting observation, abstract concepts and actively experiment but all of our minds work differently which means we tend to realise something is missing or we start learning something new at different speeds. This is an image explaining experience by David Kolb:

Concrete experience- This is when people start learning when they are involved in the activity themselves.

 

Reflective Observation- Some people like to observe and while watching they start to learn.

 

Abstract conceptualisation- This just means some people like to work it out for themselves in the head first.

 

Active experimentation- Last but not least some people like to try out new ideas until they find the right way of doing it. I would call this the trial and error method.

I personally think I observe something first but then would definitely want to try it out for myself, I’m not the type of person that will sit there and think about something I like to have a go for myself and be hands on so I know how it feels and how it would affect things.

Multiple Intelligences
The next subject I am going to talk about is multiple intelligences, I found this section really interesting as I have never looked into this before. I researched all types of intelligences and while reading up on a few I thought of people I knew who I could slightly connect it too. Howard Gardner broke down the idea of engaging and learning even more than David Kolb, he made known that there was different ways to be intelligent:

• Spatial- knowing what is going on around you, this type of intelligence means a person is very switched on and aware of the situation they’re in.

• Verbal-linguistic-this type of person loves to read, write and learn new things. They are very talented with words and are very good at explaining things, also they can pick up languages easier than others.

• Logical-mathematical- being good at maths, number and patterns. Working out complex calculations in their heads and connecting things together.

• Bodily-Kinaesthetic- like to use the body, sense of touch is extremely important, they tend to notice different textures. They are good at sports and exercise and like to express themselves using hand gestures.

• Musical- understand and appreciate musical rhythm and patterns, also enjoy playing musical instruments.

• Interpersonal- understand people and their relationships, being able to communicate and interact with people, they enjoy relationships at work and at home.

• Intrapersonal- having the appropriate reaction and attitude to other people and their situations, normally enjoy meditation, praying, good at visualisation, good at problem solving and helping with people’s emotions.

• Naturalistic- this type of intelligences are in tune with nature, nurturing and exploring the environment, learning about species, subtle changes in their environment. 

This theory comes in handy as it helps us understand there is many more ways to look at a piece of experience, and the process of turning it into something we can reflect on and learn something new. This shows us many ways to engage this process and how there are different ways to learn. We can all see a piece on information but we would all read it and process it in different ways. Gardner had this idea of multiple ‘lenses’ which meant we all see things multiple ways and learn from it differently.

Learning

When people are learning something new, it is important to think about is what frame of mind they’re in. If they are negative it can really effect on how they look upon something and can block learning. Also past experiences are crucial as what has happened in the past has made us who we are today so we are more sensitive with certain situations and feel certain things are important which someone else might not feel is.

Reflection-in-action and Reflection-on-action

Reflecting on something that has happened is very important, but when you reflect on it is also an interesting subject. Donald Schon (1987) introduced us to an idea of ‘reflection-in-action’ and ‘reflection-on-action’ the difference being ‘reflection-IN-action’ means reflecting there and then in the situation, dancers are very good at this as while dancing can feel something isn’t right and can experiment while performing a sequence of steps until they find the right movement they like. ‘Reflection-in-action’ normally happens with a full involvement way of working. Whereas ‘reflection-ON-action’ happens for more academically careers, this is when someone looks back on something, and analyses it after it has happened. Both types of ways of reflecting are very helpful, but ‘reflection-in-action’ is more effective as time always has an impact, we are only humans and we forget certain things, or forget how we felt in that precise moment in time etc... Having to wait until you reflect on something is hard and having to think back and correct something for next time, you have to remember as much as you can. Reflection-in-action is harder to achieve but is more powerful as you are in the moment and you have to multi-task technically, think on the spot and change it, you have to go with your gut feeling and take the risk.

On-line and Off-line

Robert Kottcamp also introduced the idea of reflection-in-action to ‘on-line’ and reflection-on-action to ‘off-line.’ He also believed that on-line was much harder accomplished and had a bigger effect. Reflection-on-action/off-line is slightly like an afterthought and you are looking back on what happened.

For a dancer it would be extremely hard to wait until the evening or the following day to correct their steps they did yesterday, having to remember what you did before and how to improve it. Another valid point would be a dancer choreographing her own dance is a sole collector which means it is her own work and it is her personal opinion what steps she likes and what steps she puts into her dance, it is her choice and is her own person opinion weather she likes her dance or not. Everyone else would have their own opinions and like different sections or not like the style of dance maybe. When dancing and reflecting-in-action also brings us to tacit knowledge, which is expressing what you feel without speaking and showing it with your body, it is in your choreography.

Tacit Knowledge and Muscle Memory

Tacit knowledge is having an understanding of the importance of using natural instinct and trusting your own beliefs in the art form, different types of artists use this in their work weather or choreographing or not. Another peculiar feeling for a dancer is muscle memory, it is natural instinct to put our body in that position or remembering a sequence of steps. We don’t think about it, it just happens. I remember being at college, I was constantly relied on to remember routines or dances as that was one of my stronger abilities, but I always use to panic and my mind would be blank, but as soon as the music came on somehow it would all come flooding back to me and my body would natural remember it, but if you had asked me to explain the steps to you, I would of found it impossible. Everything we know and feel is through using our bodies, ears, eyes, brain, muscles it is the framework or our world.

Muscle memory is an incredible tool to have, but after researching more into I found out it cannot be some handle too. The saying ‘practice makes perfect’ is slightly true if you practice well then it is very helpful, but if you keep practicing again and again when you are tired and keep making the same mistakes your body starts to remember the mistakes and it becomes a habit, practicing poorly is useless and does not help at all.

Journal Reflection

I have recently been writing in my journal and at first I found it awkward and hard to come up with idea’s to write about, but gradually I have come to grips with it. It is not just about writing what has happened to you, but how you felt, would you do something differently, what if, planning for an upcoming event, writing your own personally aims. Expressing your emotions and feelings in a notebook is really rewarding and sometimes it is nice to let off steam after a stressful day at work. Reflecting on a daily basic has made me appreciate more and I actually have more of an understanding as you actually reflect on what you learn so it has more of an effect on you, I find I challenge myself more with small goals at the end of the week and I feel I have been building on my own perception. After all reflection is just made up of feelings, emotions, and decision making. I have also found my own personal way of writing in my journal and not only using words to express and reflect but writing in different colours, using capital letters where appropriate, exclamation marks, images and little sketches in the corners even if they are just little doodles they normally can explain the way I was feeling that day.

Another useful way of reflecting is working in a pair or group which can lead to discussing and confronting each other. Hearing different opinions is always good and can be a breath of fresh air which brings new ideas. We are all different at the end of the day and maybe the way we read and interpret something can be different to the way someone else would.

I was reading an interesting article about journal writing and how we normally write in our diaries or journals in the evening when the main events of our days have been and gone so our true emotion at the time has faded. It is nearly impossible to be able write in your journal though-out the day with the busy lives we live but if we could you would get our true emotions, in the heat of the moment, when our emotions are at their highest when we are most vulnerable. This also brings me to my final point of privacy especially when writing in our journals, expressing our inner most thoughts and things we wouldn’t dream of saying out loud has a large amount of danger to hurting people around us. We cannot leave it in reach of others, or on the other hand when writing in your journal think would you want a teacher, boss or friends reading this, and if this did happen how would they react?

 

Conclusion

Over all learning from experience is something everybody does in life, but you have to reflect and analyse what you have learnt and making sure you learn from mistakes and also knowing your next step is important. We should always be learning something new in life weather it is in your career subject or everyday life.

 

 

What do children enjoy about dance?

Recently I have been wondering what do children enjoy about dancing, and as lots of children do lots of classes I wanted to find out which one is most popular and why? Is it the uniform? The music? The teacher? The style of dance? Their friends are in that class? There are many possible reasons why a child enjoys a certain class or why someone wouldn't enjoy a specific class and I would like to look into this with more detail. I know each child will have different opinions and enjoy different genres of dance, but normally the most common class is street, I know this by looking at the registers and looking at how many children attend shows me it is very popular.

How exams effect children differently

I was teaching last night and while rounding up the children to start their barre work, I over heard a group of girls talking about exams and how some really enjoyed them and how others felt they didn't perform to their best standard while feeling under pressure in an exam. Some of us are better at living up to expectations when under pressure than others, and lots of children react differently in certain situations.
Sometimes we have tears before they go in if they get too worked up and start to panic before they go in, others tend to go very quiet, and you also have the type of children they will over practice just before an exam and run all their classwork over and over again in panic mode.
When I am in an exam helping with music it is also very interesting to see how some children that don't perform in class all of a sudden perform in an exam which is also nice to see, but others can obviously do the opposite, and not perform in an exam. I find lots of children make little mistakes in exams just with the nerves but most of the time children come out and say it wasn't as bad as what they thought it would be. At the end of the day the examiner is there to see their best qualities and help them work or certain things they are weaker on. I might go into how children behave differently in exams, and find out more about what children do and don't like about them and compare exams with actually performing on stage as lots of children react differently to going on stage too but always have the same type of emotions or panic as well.

Professional networks task 3a

I like to think me and my work collages have a good working relationship, we all communicate via our phones mostly but with texting, phone calls and whatsapp more recently, as where I live I pick up a strong French connection so it is easier for me to use my wi-fi on whatsapp. When it comes to transferring music or larger documents with different notes for dances etc... We use emails. Also having Facebook is extremely helpful, if our local dance school posts information online we normally see it on our home page (and is always good for remembering each other's birthdays too!) Even though we are all different ages varying from 22 up to 60 we all get on very well, and spend a lot of time going for dinners after shows or gatherings back at the boss's house especially over the summer. It is also interesting on how we all rely of technology to communicate, my boss's husband is a producer and works up in London during the week days so they obviously communicate via phones and emails too, they both have a lot of work over pantomime season and know many famous names too which is always exciting to hear the latest gossip!  
I was discussing how the internet has become such a big thing, and how our lives revolve around it now  with my parents earlier. My parents have their own business and they get all there new customer's through their website now which apparently was never the case when they first started. They found it difficult keeping up with the times and designing their own webpage, Facebook and twitter but it has opened many new doors for them and their company is much bigger now.
I also stay in touch with my ballet teacher and she is an incredible women, she is now in her 70's and is still running her own dance school. We always send birthday cards and Christmas cards to each other and she was their to watch my first performance at college which meant a lot to me. She recently rang me to tell me about a new job in Hong Kong which I might want to look into and to tell me how the new RAD ballet syllabus is beautiful.
I went to a performing arts college in Hertfordshire and made so many life long friends and we always try our best to stay in touch as we live all over England and even different countries. We meet in London on occasions or we are all having Christmas dinner together this year too which I am looking forward to as well. One of my good friends found me a job being a dancer in a hotel out in Egypt but I had already said yes to my teaching job which I enjoy so much. We all communicate via texting, phone calls, whatsapp, Facebook, instagram and snapchat.
I have a very good friend who I have known since secondary school and we both went to different dance schools when we were younger and she is also now a dance teacher. She helped me a lot when I was looking for a teaching job and actually got me a job at the school she was teaching at too unfortunately she left but now has a very exciting life in Abu Dhabi teaching ballet to children out there. I was extremely sad when she told me she was leaving as I use to see her every day of the week, but which technology its not too hard having her away, we whatsapp, snapchat and Skype. Skype is incredible it is as if you are with the person face to face, we can spend hours catching up some evenings. 
She found it hard to come to terms with the world out there as it is very different to ours, she was use to wearing shorts, strappy t shirt, skirts, and short dresses in the day but there are certain rules in countries such as Abu Dhabi where she had to be careful, and now has to cover her shoulders and make sure she wears clothes that cover her body which is hard bearing in mind it is a very hot country. She had to adapt to Abu Dhabi way of life such as no dancing in public (only in night clubs and in your own home,) no drinking and driving, and you can't show affection in public unless married and you can only hold hands if you're married nothing more. I know she had her friend come visit her who was a boy and there was a slight problem with her land lord excepting they were sharing an apartment together and not married even though he was sleeping on the sofa and she was in the bedroom. You can also be fined a lot of money is you are caught with a dirty car, and she now washes her car once a week.

LEE EVANS!!

My 21st birthday was last year and my wonderful family bought Lee Evans tickets so I have been waiting over a year to see Lee Evans live! I am a huge fan, and we have watch one of his DVD's every Christmas the last 3-4 years. I can even remember by first time watching Lee Evans in year 10 after school with my friend, I think he is incredible and obviously he lived up to my high expectations of seeing him live, I laughed (cackled like a witch) from start to finish. He is a true performer and there was not one dull second.
I thought maybe as the 02 in London is very large and only having one person on stage (with no dancers or musicians etc..) it would fill empty and hard to involve the whole audience but he did it so well, as soon as he stepped on stage he waved to everyone, and after the applause he said hello to the seats at the front, back and sides and he went from there.

I also found it really interesting how he spoke about his wife and family so openly to complete strangers but that is where he researches for all his tours. He is inspired from everyday things with his family or the public etc... and I think that is why he is so amazing, everyone can connect with him! This also brings me to not being sure what type of audience would watch Lee Evans live but after I got there I found out all ages and all types of people such as older couples, to families like me, and groups of friends slightly tipsy watching the performance too which was also a performance in itself watching them climb to their seats and falling asleep before it even started. Lee Evan wears suits when performing and is known for looking so hot and sweaty but always very smart which is important as this is his career and should always look professional.
The lights also helped a lot with the performance, they obviously focused to Lee Evans as he arrived on stage with colourful spot lights going crazy on stage and the whole of the arena before his entrance and they all collected together on stage at the back as he walked out to greet everyone. Also at the end he has gold sparkly paper sprinkle on everyone at the front as he sang a song to his wife at the end of the performance to finish which was also effective and gave a feeling of celebrating or partying as everyone left the arena to go home.
I'm very upset he is now retiring but also glad I can say I saw his last tour, and had the chance to see him perform live. He comes across such a caring loving man to his family and I hope he now has time to spend time with his family more now he is not touring or working.

Energy drinks!

I have recently been told about energy drinks, not that I'm a huge fan of them maybe once or twice a year I will treat myself to a cherry Lucozade but that's about it. I personally don't enjoy fizzy drinks I don't like the after feeling it leaves on my teeth but my sister loves energy drinks, and has recently cut  down after I researched into it slightly more.
The problem we have with energy drinks is there is no limit on how much caffeine they can put in, and not only too much caffeine but they put lots of sweeteners in as well. Sometimes there is 4-12 times more caffeine in a energy drink compared to a soda or coffee which is crazy when you start to think about it. It is a well known fact that red bull and monster energy drinks kill more people than marijuana each year baring in minds children from all ages can go out and buy energy drinks.
Energy drinks dehydrate the body  and can cause many problems such as stoke, high blood pressure and kidney stones, theses are just a few of the side effects of energy drinks. From 2007 to 2011 emergency room visits have over doubled from 10,000 up to 21,000 from bad affects after drinking energy drinks, as there is no age limit on buying theses drinks people can react badly especially if they already have a health issue (weather they know about it or not.)

Just thinking...

I have recently been thinking why we believe dancing is more of a girls hobby. Why are boys put off of dancing more than girls? I teach at a nursery, two primary schools and a secondary school. At the nursery I teach the boys love dancing, they get just as involved as the girls if not more sometimes, but why when I teach at a secondary school I have no boys, not even one! Where does is all change? And why?

Crazy busy!!

I have been so busy at work recently taking extra classes and writing notes as most of the teachers are leaving for panto season next week. I will be left to teach their classes with a few supply teachers helping out too as most nights there are classes in two different locations. The next few weeks are going to be busy as I will need to plan extra lessons and make sure their panto dances look clean and everyone is in the right formation for their pantomime in January. I can't wait for Christmas holidays when we all get some time off to relax!

Journal Writing Experience

Journal writing experience  

Task 2b

I have been keeping a journal for the last couple of weeks which first felt very silly but the more I do it the more I seem to relax into it. It has helped break down situations in my head after writing them down on paper, not only have I been writing about what I've done, but what the atmosphere was in a certain situation or event, how I felt about it, how it made me feel, how other people reacted, what someone done well, or how I could of handled a situation better.

I am going to write about Wednesday 22nd October as its one of my busier days teaching in Canterbury at a youth club. I have tried many different ways of writing in my journal and certain ones have helped me on when reflecting on my day. One of my favourite ways to write was writing a list, at first it felt awkward just writing down things I saw, did and felt but I felt random things pop into my head and then I went into more detail on a few bullet points after I wrote a list of things. 

Wednesday 22nd October 2014

• Parking was busy
• Children at the primary school were full of beans
• A supply teacher had a different way of teaching. Drama teacher teaching dance different perspective, less technique or control, but more energy, liveliness, entertaining, amusing, funny etc...
• Weather was nice for this time of month, blue sky but cold air
• Traffic in Canterbury was busier than normal, roads were busier than normal in general
• Grade 4/5 were less chatty after our chat last week=BONUS!
• Classes worked really hard, even though tired by the end of the evening, especially Grade 3 tap picked up their dance very quickly! Was really impressed, surprised, proud
• Grade 4 ballet need to work on technique more turn out, stretching feet, lengthening legs and arms
• Tired atmosphere in Grade 4 tap, last lesson of the evening, atmosphere was lethargic. Kids feel drained by last lesson after some students have done 3 or so lessons.
• Enjoy teaching Wednesdays, evening raced along!
• Children are in need of half term! Catch up on sleep as there is so much to do before Christmas still

I dread Wednesday on Tuesday nights as there is so much to do and so much to plan for all my lessons Wednesday, I teach a couple of hours at a secondary school, primary school then drive to Canterbury to teach 6 lessons in the evening after school hours. There is a lot to plan especially this time of year when we are focusing on pantomime dances which us teacher choreograph and don't spend as much time on syllabus work which all us teacher know inside out and back to front.

 Teaching new dances they are going to perform on stage is always exciting for them so I feel the classes are slightly chattier too but in a good way, it is sometimes hard when people are missing if they're ill, on holiday etc... as each student has their own specific place and always makes the formation look odd which can be frustrating sometimes. The classes I teach in Canterbury have worked hard this term and I teach a great group of children, none of them are rude and always a nice atmosphere in class which makes a huge difference. Don't get me wrong some classes have their moments of being far too chatty especially my Grade 4 ballet class which consists of 14 girls around the age of 13-15 so they are always gossiping but I sat them all down last week and told them they need to be more focused especially in ballet as ballet should be disciplined otherwise their dance isn't going to look as clean and as tight as it could, they have all taken what I said on board and came back and were a lot less chatty so we got far more done compared to last week. Even one girl at the end of the class commented on how much we got done and most of them agreed with her which goes to show how much you can learn when you actually fully engage your mind and concentrate.  

Also today I was teaching at a secondary school later than normal so couldn't make it to the Primary School in the next town on time so we had a supply teacher stand in, and I watched/assisted for the second half of the class. This supply teacher that stood in for me today actually studied Drama at college, and normally teaches drama or musical theatre and had a completely different way of teaching. She focused her class more on energy and just letting yourself go rather than technique, for example the children got into pairs and then ran across the room and after every 3 runs and did a leap, instead of spending time explaining lifting one legs and thinking of jumping over a puddle and springing onto the leg in the air she showed them once and then just let them had a go. I think the children preferred this as they just want to give it a try and not put too much thought into it, and it was nice to see some of the children pick up leaping after just watching the teacher do it once, but some children needed to practice more as some were just hopping and didn't quite get the concept of springing onto the other leg and stretching their legs in the air. I think they all had fun and as she was a drama teacher she was very entertaining to watch with different voices and, pretending to cry and if the children smiled then she would smile too. I think the children had a lot of fun and relaxed quickly as some children can be quite stiff and awkward around a new teacher they have never met before. I picked up a few different ways to react with the kids and different voices and joking around with the kids can make it fun for them, but after a while I think the kids felt too relaxed and was very loud and more out of control than normal, and if the class was always like that I think the children would think they could get away with a lot more, like shouting and being sarcastic to teacher which I don't really agree with. I think the children should have a lot of fun and laugh in dance class obviously but maybe I wouldn't take it as far as this other teacher. I think it is nice to have a fun crazy class if you are just going to meet the children once or twice but if you see them every week you need to make sure the children know you're a teacher (not just a friend) and respect what you say. 

Wednesday's always fly along, I think because I am constantly teaching or driving to the next location to teach there is no chance for the day to drag. By the end of the evening I feel exhausted but also feel like I have accomplished a lot, once my mind is focused I normally achieve all my lesson plans and I hope the children go home feeling like they have had a successful day just like me.

 

Leeds Leeds Leeds!

Just got back from Leeds, furthest I have ever drove and really enjoyed it actually but very tired now. Leeds is such a beautiful city, so many old buildings and shopping centre was incredible! Us girls went out on Tuesday night and it was such fun, we went to a club called Hifi which had really good music and Leeds is sooooo cheap! It was crazy! I definitely want to go again sometime soon :)

Task 1D

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 (which is also known as web 2) is a popular term for advanced Internet technology and applications including blogs, wikis, Facebook etc... This is all to do about social networking and communicating with each other. If we go back to web 1.0 where websites were not interactive, visitors could only look at the website and not comment or like or make any sort of impact to the site. They could only look but not contribute to what they were reading. Most organizations had profile pages but visitors could not alter the profile in any way. With web 1.0 companies develop software applications that visitors could download, but they could not see how the application worked or how it changed. After Web 2.0 was invented in 2013-14 it was more often that people used social networking sites such as Facebook or Myspace which allowed the visitors to directly comment on the web pages and websites which was not previously possible. Web 2.0 will get better with the more people that use it, we will all interact off of each other and all have different opinions and facts we can share. For example if I re-posted a page on my Facebook about my dance school my friends would then see it, and could contribute by sharing it again with their friends, or just by liking or commenting, they can give me more ideas or suggestions which will help me learn and expand my own knowledge. With this being on my Facebook it means it is being pasted down the line which also means more people see it and know about it. 

After the web crashed people decided that the web was still more important than ever. Tim O’Reilly and MediaLive International started brain storming session and this is where they came up with the idea of Web 2.0. Tim O’Reilly describes Web 2.0 with a ‘meme’ map which is like a spider diagram with different sections of Web 2.0 surrounding my main points. It represents all the different ideas and concepts and what really identifies something as Web 2.0. Not long after he released the meme map in 2007 he posted and shorter definition of Web 2.0 while blogging ‘Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning, all connected devices; Web 2.0 applications are those that make the most of the intrinsic advantages of that platform: delivering software as a continually-updated service that gets better the more people use it, consuming ad remixing data from multiple sources, including individual users, while providing their own data and services in a form that allows remixing by others, creating networks effects through as “architecture of participation,” and going beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences.’ http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=NpEk_WFCMdIC&oi=fnd&pg=PT3&dq=tim+o%27reilly+web+2.0&ots=OYMCObnyGZ&sig=ha25rwSwCdk8VZ_XCRrJ_YH4E0E#v=onepage&q=tim%20o'reilly%20web%202.0&f=false
http://home.arcor.de/nils.skyline/Studienarbeit%20Winf/Web%202.0/Web%202.0%20Building%20the%20New%20Library.pdf.pdf

This then brings me to my next point of architectures of participation. Architectures of participation is about using the tool of networking and communicating which encourages and enables us all to participate with social networking. This is really important as we need visitors to be able to connect and interact by using Web 2.0. We need to be active and take part in both reading and creating our own opinions to share worldwide. We all need to participate which means we all need time, money and skills and as long as we are willing to try something new Web 2.0 will keep improving and gives us the successful relationships with each other and the social media. Web 2.0 is very powerful when you really start to think about it, when you share information on a website or social media you are sharing it with the world, and this has only happened recently. When we send letters to each other that is on a one to one basis and will still always be needed with private and confidential personal situations, but on the other hand we have mass media now such as TV and radios which is a many-to-many approach and is a lot easier, but with Web 2.0 we can all use and all see each other’s thoughts etc.. And it is a much quicker approach to sharing whatever we want with the world. There is so much for us to use by using Web 2.0 we can comment, criticise, share, remix information, music, pictures, video and the list goes on and on, this gives us the opportunities and the freedom to communicate. We all have the choice in what we search for online, what we follow, what we download and what we like as individuals, and all have a choice in what we share with the world and what we think is suitable to put out there for everyone to see. www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/mcloughlin.pdf

I personally use Facebook, Youtube, twitter, Skype, google +, Hotmail and lots more on a daily basis normally, and not only do I use it for business but for social networking with friends here at home that are just down the road and for friends half way round the world. As I am a dance teacher I am always downloading music and researching what music children like at all different ages. Most people have emails and that's how I keep up to date with my work colleagues and via Facebook with some. We all send emails and attach music tracks and documents for performances as we don't have the time to see each other every day (most of us are so busy with work and commitment.) When you sit down and think about how much we all use Web 2.0 it is insane, I don't know how we all communicated before. It is so quick and easy to use within a click of a button you can send whatever you need, and the fact we now have all of this on our phones, tablets, Ipads etc... We can do it anywhere and at any time.

We can all now remix data and transform the information we read on the screen into our own words. We all share pictures, music, ideas, text and all this information we share bounces off of each other and to other people using Web 2.0 this slightly brings us all together and emerges who consume the data and the people who make media. This now makes the artist the audience and the audience can also be the artist if they like, this makes Web 2.0 more popular and is one of the key selling points that we all get to watch and get a say in what we put out there. Also no information will ever be unfinished because somewhere out there in the world there will be someone sharing, commenting or renewing that information, the world is always changing and improving and hopefully has a snowball knock on effect. http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Mar_10/article04.htm  

Web 2.0 also gives us the chance to communicate with strangers, we can connect with our next door neighbour just as much as we can communicate with someone the other side of the world to us. Social networking has improved greatly that we can now find strangers that have things in common with us such as; the same secondary school, live/lived in the same location as us, people we have mutual friends with etc... We also come across people with completely different and diverse backgrounds to, and we can all come together as equals. Web 2.0 encourages social networking, where our pages or link can connect with someone else's, our information can be searched and positioned online where we are allowed to connect with other people. The fact there was 1 billion users using Facebook at the beginning of 2013 shows how powerful and how effective it can be for businesses trying to advertise.

Term 1

I have had a busy term so far, but only one more week until half term. We moved our dance school to a different premises at the beginning of this school year in September. The new dance studio is much nicer than our old one, its more modern and we have fitted wall barres and mirrors. We even have a waiting room for the parents which they really like and have fitted lockers for the children to put there belongings into while in class, the younger students were very excited about these for some reason but its much more organised having them. Also the new studio is in a nice location it is above a nursery school which has also helped gain a few more students too, our last dance studio was at a landmark and above a pub which was a horrible situation having the students walking in and out with people smoking outside etc... The new studio is a lot smaller than what we were use too, it can sometimes be difficult to fit leaps and travelling steps across the room when there are a lot of students in one class but it is also a lot easier to keep control of the younger classes as they don't have a huge hall to run wild in.
I have nearly finished all my choreograph as well for our annual pantomime in January which will be a huge relief after I've finished it all and taught it all the dances to the classes. I can't believe how quick this term has gone, it is crazy! We had auditions a couple of weeks ago so we have chosen who has the main characters and different roles in Cinderella which is very exciting! All the children did really well and they were all very supportive of each other which is always nice. We have even started sorting out costumes and measuring some classes for new costumes so I think it is all coming together really well as we are not normally this well organised but I'm sure January will be here in no time. Roll on Christmas!!

Task 1d

I have recently been thinking about how the use of images and audio-visual is so important to social media this day and age. Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, blogging etc... all use images and videos. It makes it easier for us to show rather than explain our situation in detail. We can now take images and audio-visual with a click of a button on phones, cameras, we have now invented such a thing as a 'selfie stick' which gives us more length (than an arm) to fit more in our pictures. Everyone takes pictures of everything; food, sunsets, views, friends, injuries, tourist attractions, holidays etc... it is such a good way of advertising!
My dance school is now designing/updating our old website because everyone uses social media, already there has been an improvement on more newer children wanting to try out classes. We also have Facebook and post pictures and details on events, classes, half term workshops etc.. the parents loves sharing photos of each other's children and it also shows their 'Facebook friends' our dance school and what the children learn. I think it is so impressive how we can all share images and so on so easily but on the other hand it is so scary with a click of a button we can show everyone world wide our life. Many people regret putting things up online and that's why we all have to be very careful!
For example Adele the singer-songwriter, was offered a recording contract from XL recordings after her friend posted a demo on Myspace in 2006, this was life changing to Adele obviously and made her who she is today. But also on the bad side people that are interviewing/auditioning for jobs more recently have found that their employers have been checking their Facebook and other social media, which can be a downfall for some people if they have posted inappropriate pictures, audio-visual or posts on their page. Social media is incredible as long as we think before we post it for everyone to see. It is such a powerful influence for good and bad.

Cheeky trip to the Shard

I spent the day in London today, after an early start to our Sunday morning we got to the big city at about 10am, we then walked along the embankment which was very busy full of tourists taking pictures and not having a clue where they are going. We eventually got to the Shard and I had a slight moment of panic when we got into the lift but after the doors open and you could see the whole of London it looked incredible! The River Thames and the rail line looked impressive winding through all the office blocks, housing and tourist attractions. I would suggest going to the Shard if you haven't been yet, as I really enjoyed it myself, doing something completely different is always a nice change to the normal day life but  I would make sure you go on a clear day as I was lucky we got there in the morning as in the afternoon it clouded up and was grey and miserable.

 

Later in the day we went for afternoon tea and filled ourselves up on finger sandwiches, scones, cakes, tea and champagne which was very yummy. I have to admit I felt like I should of been rolled home after eating so many calories! I need to work hard this week at dance to burn it all off!

 

 



Skype session 1

I had my first Skype call with Adesola yesterday and it was a huge help. I found it really helped me understand how to use blogging more and how to make the best use of it while working towards this course.
We also discussed that it is not about completing a million tasks, but doing the tasks that will most help me. I need to focus on what will benefit me the most so I am constantly collecting information and research on my practice. Other tasks I do not complete myself I can comment on and over vue someone else's task on their blogs so I still understand the point of the exercise.
Over all it was nice to speak to people and know how they are feeling, it was reassuring to know that blogging was not just new for me but for others too.

Power cut Monday morning

So I got to work today and as I jumped my class up to start the warm up we had a power cut... stood in darkness with 22 screaming girls was not the start I had in mind. We were then evacuated for the dance studio into the school hall and ended up playing bench ball. It wasn't the class I had planned but I think we had fun and all ended up a very good workout for a Monday morning!!