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.