12 TRAITS...

12 Traits of a Terrific Dance Teacher

By Nichelle (January 2015) personal blog.                     

“Apart from my parents, my teachers have done the most to shape my life.” George Lucas, filmmaker

This quote started her this specific blog off, which I really like. It really made me think about the responsibilities a teacher has, we help a child grow and improve in the topic you teach them. You need to have control over the class and most of all you want them to enjoy it. I like the quotes she has added in between subtitles, I think they add more emotion to the piece, I find this source more personal and it is her own blog.

1.    Love of dance- Every source I have found so far all agree on the passion and love of dance. I think you need to love dance to teach it every day, otherwise you would dread every day you wake up.

2.    Love of teaching- You have to enjoy being surrounded by children for many hours each day, which is not for everyone. You need to be full of energy all the time, fun, loud, discipline and lots more.

3.    Has been there and keeps going- I liked this bullet point, teachers need to remember more often what it is like to be a student. This comes back to understanding and listening to your students.

“A man should first direct himself in the way he should go. Only then should he instruct others.” – Buddha

This quote could also be applied to having the professional experience of a dancer before becoming a teaching, this is what my inquiry is about.

4.    Supports you- Every child needs to know they are supported by their dance teacher, they need to feel safe and having someone who believes in you and pushes you to your full expectation.

5.    Motivates you- All children need to see your love for dance which hopefully transfers to all your students, they should want to come to class and want to dance.

6.    Respects you- Respect works both ways. I think if they enjoy the class and feel comfortable with the teacher it will come naturally. You need to respect and listen to each other.

7.    Shows empathy- You need to understand each child is going through their own battle, some worse than others. But being there for a child, having someone to talk too or just time away from their problems, time to relax means a lot.  

8.    Can adapt and be flexible- A good teacher is always willing to try a different teaching method if they see the class have not fully understood the meaning or cannot undertake a new step. Sometimes it comes down to practice a step over and over again but also a new direction can help refresh a student’s mind. A teacher should have patience’s, time and the effort and be willing to go above and beyond to help her class achieve their goals.

“You can’t direct the wind but you can adjust the sails.” ~ Anonymous

9.    Cares- Having the right physical and mental health is both very important for the students and the teacher. Teachers should be able to give their students a safe area in which the students can try, fail and grow, which is the process of learning. Also being aware and understanding what a child is going through, being aware of all situations and supporting that child.

10.  Leads a process of discovery- All teachers need to bring something mad to the studio, something that makes it interesting for the students. Teachers need to be able to create a journey for their students but also questioned it. Making the children more involved, make them think about it, instead of the teacher breaking it down let the students help they will contain the knowledge more. Exploring and problem-solving makes the class fun.

11.  Speaks to every student- Translating difficult concepts of movement to students is a gift, and being able to explain it in lots of different ways until the whole class understand that movement, what it should feel like and what it should look like. It is important that a teacher takes in every student, and makes surely they all understand not just the majority.

12.  Creates a community- Creating the right atmosphere that children feel safe to explore and take risks, a teacher just not just teach their topic but teaches life lessons, motivating and pushes a child to do better!  

 

What Makes a Great Teacher Great?

 

 

 

Conclusion on ‘What makes a Great Teacher Great?’

Cheryl Jackson, Cindee Karnick-Davison, Mary Kooy and Richard Gerver are discussing what makes a great teacher great. This clip was uploaded on YouTube on 10^th May 2010. I found this video and I feel I really connected to it. This is based on all types of teaching so it is very open and not based on dance teachers but I think any teacher can connect and agree with this video.

The fact children are intelligent, they pick up on vibes from the teacher. You need passion! They need excitement, exploring and taking the correct journey helps children understand more. It is not just about vocabulary or learning from a text book etc. But the quality of progression, all teachers have high demands they need to succeed in, and it does not always come down to test results. I do think this is slightly different to dance teachers, good results are very important, but depending on what that exact class is aiming towards, sometimes it is better if they just enjoy some physical exercise, and have time to relax from home situations or school. Another reason why children start dance classes are for making new friends outside of school, I find I am closer to my friends at dance than I am to my friends at school, you have more in common but I am sure that is not the case for everyone. 

Children need to enjoy their classes and want to come, they need to be motivated, normally if a teacher enjoyed teaching and have passion for that topic, it comes across to the children.

All teachers need to emphasize, not always sympathising with a child, but understanding their situation, some will need to talk about it and some will come to class and be able to breathe if they are being bullied, or troubles at home, or just having a bad day. Teachers need to care, it cannot just be a job, and you are shaping their lives, like I said it is not about learning the facts from text books. But learning life lessons, teaching them to explore, create and motivate themselves, will go a lot further than copying from a text book. Experiments and storytelling from past experiences etc. helps teaching also.

Bringing all aspects of teaching into a classroom or studio, smell, taste or touch? In dancing it’s slightly harder but touch the muscles you are trying to work, look at the muscles working. Also this reminded me when I was at college we had improvisation, and using different emotions, seasons, food, and lots more as an idea for some chorography, to open your mind to a whole new level you had never thought about before.

Connecting to each and every one of your students is important, knowing what makes them tick? Which teaching method they best react to? They need to feel comfortable, protected, and cared for, each child is individual, and their backgrounds, culture, and families’ situations are all different. That need to feel special! They need this if you want them to trust you and build a good teacher student relationship. I think some teachers have too much control over the class sometimes, which sounds unnatural but it is a two way pull, I think a teacher needs to listen to their students just like the students need to listen to them. I think this comes back to respect but I know I have learnt a lot from my students also, sometimes weird animal facts but life lessons as well.

Some teachers lose their passion after a few years especially when they are pushing towards high exam results and all the other high demands a teacher needs to push for. Classes need to have a relaxed feel to them, and children should not feel too much pressure, or feel they are being rushed this is when they stop enjoying your class. But on the other hand you need to set high expectations for each student, they do not want to feel they have been forgotten about, and the class needs some sort of pace to it, otherwise it becomes dull and uninteresting. When discussing all of these skills it sounds literally impossible to fulfil all of them all in one class, but I think this comes down to preparing each class, if you have a set plan and know what you are aiming towards.

 

Literature Sources

I have been re reading one of my sources, which gave me a slightly different perspective after the summer break. I want to look into this more and find more sources and create a different angle to my topic. I still want to collect the same data and information but take a slightly different journey to get to my outcome. I still want to follow my plan of inquiry (module 2.)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/11347131/You-dont-need-a-qualification-to-be-a-good-teacher.html

6c

With only a few more days to go I think I have come up with my inquiry question, I am still unsure if it is final and it may have a few adjustments over the summer but only slightly. I am looking forward to Module 3 after spending the last few weeks planning.

'Do dance teachers with experience in performing on stage have a wider range of knowledge about performance that they can bring to their teaching career? If so I would then like to identify expressive and technical skills and investigate into do most dance teachers come from one more than the other?'

5c

After researching into all types of ethics, I would now like to relate ethics to my personal inquiry which is 'Is there a higher standard of teaching if that teacher has had a professional career and the experience of performing on stage? If so how does that help effect students with technical and expressive skills compared to a teacher that does not have a professional background nor the experience but is well qualified?' I am still looking into different angles of this question and may still need to re-word after developing more research.

It is important that we as members of staff behave ethically, as it is at the heart of what it means to be a professional; it distinguishes professionals from others. Here are 6 rules all professionals should follow:

1. All members must demonstrate
2. Act with integrity
3. Always provide a high standard of tuition
4. Act in a way that promotes trust in the profession
5. Treat others with respect
6. Take responsibility

Before finding BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Arts I looked into many different courses for dance teachers, and finding a good qualification. I found none of them mentioned having a professional employment before looking into teaching, which means it is not necessary to have that experience in the eyes of the law.

I feel I have had a good training I have completed all my RAD ballet exams from pre-primary up to Advanced 2, I dance every night of the week and Saturdays after school and going to Tring Park School for the Performing Arts also helped. I did A levels in the morning which I believe you need, extra knowledge and always something to fall back on if I was to be injured etc. After our busy morning we moved on to many hours of dance until late evening everyday Monday-Friday, I also attended classes Saturdays too. I believe this has influenced me in my teaching. After all, all that training and hard work has made me the dancer and the person I am today, and I find my classes have high expectations, a lot of drive and I do make my students work hard. I think this is the case with other teachers as well, I have many friends from college that teach and friends I went to school with that enjoyed a couple of dance lessons after school each week, I personally think there is a big difference between us, or at least for what I have seen in my eyes. People that have dance all day every day have passion, it has to be something you must really love, and also putting in them long hard days of dance you have much more knowledge compared to others who have had a 2 weeks course in teaching. We have experienced different teachers and different teaching method, I can compare teachers I have had and I try and take away each of their good points and add it to my classes. This is something I liked about the BAPP course, you already needed a level 3 diploma as this is further education, this means people who do this course are passionate about dance.

When I complete my inquiry in Module 3 I want to compare a range of peoples personal ethics mostly, I am interested in finding out their opinions on my topic and why. So far in my research I have found various different opinions which all have valid reasons, even my opinion on this topic is always changing. Some people believe that having a teacher with experience performing is inspiring, and makes you respect that teacher even more. Also they understand the dance world, they know how to prepare for auditions or extra tips, they also know a dancers life weather its on a cruise ship, touring or even just working evening performing they can pass on this experience. One boy also said another advantage would be having contacts in the dance industry, then that teacher can organise workshops for their students or help a student get into contact with the correct person who can help with their future. I found the people who agreed with the higher standard in teaching were the people who did not have the experience on stage, this was not the case for everyone but the majority of people.

Another side of personal ethics I want to look at is from a parents point of view. My parents found a ballet school with a good reputation and a high standard of teaching, I think this reputation came from her past experiences and it was very disciplined. At the school I teach at now, we have a website with our CV's on which shows our pasted employment performing or teaching, teaching qualifications, and our personal achievement's. I tend to find parents who have more in life and accomplished jobs are interested in the teachers background and expect more from the teachers and their child.

6b

After reading reader 6 I took a while to choose the tools that would most benefit my personal inquiry question. I also thought what type of data would be helpful and would show the best analysed results. I also had to take into account which ones would actually be possible for me to succeed in organizing with my SIG, for example I liked one tool especially but chose against it as the SIG I would want to use it would be hard to organised down to busy work timetables and time differences around the world.

• Focus Groups

Focus groups would be a great way for people to interact with one another and discuss different topics, normally a focus group are members of a workplace or all have something in command for example they might all have passion, knowledge or experience in the dance industry of some kind.  This would be a good opportunity for people to compare opinions and listen to other peoples point of view, you may even come to some agreement or for someone to change their mind if they have heard something new or something they did not know in that specific topic. There are also things you need to be aware of when planning a focus group, for instance some people are louder than others, and some people naturally take a leading role while others would prefer to sit back, be quieter and may even let their own personal opinion be influences by a stronger character. This is something the researcher would have to be aware of before and make sure everyone has a turn to speak and are not spoken over as the recording device would be difficult to listen too. Another way you could try and sort this problem out with be by organizing a seat arrangement maybe.
Going back to the recording device you would need to make sure you personally know the voice of each person at the focus group or each time someone speak you would have to make them speak loudly and clearly and maybe state their name before talking. This would be hard as I think this would easily be forgotten but you need to know differences between who's talking.
Being the researcher and being in control of this focus group session you would need to make sure the discussion does not lead off topic and that the gatekeeper is happy with the conversation.

• Surveys and Questionnaires

Surveys or questionnaires are normally made up of asking questions about who they are and what  they think. An advantage of surveys is you can ask a range of questions on different topics, events etc. You can also collect this data from a large group of people, after you have come up with your survey or questionnaire you can hand it out to as many people as possible also thinking about the range of different types of people. Do you want any gender, age, senior staff or junior, what will be most helpful for your topic of inquiry. Making sure the best results you can achieve are valid you need to choose an amount of people that will give you the best outcome for your questionnaire.
You can ask open or closed questions, if you chose closed questions then you can ask a wider range or participants to take part as it will be easier to analyse, open questions can be more difficult as they are normally answered with a sentence or two. Other questions you could use rating from 1-10 or quick and easy questions such as yes or no, theses will be quick to answer but you may need more in depth questions as well to find out peoples opinions.
Choose your questions wisely when planning your survey, you do not need to ask unneeded questions, you need to get to the point and ask questions you truly wants to know the answer to about your topic. Another thing to think about is how many questions do you want, you do not want to put off participants with too many questions but have enough for you to get the information you need to know. Presentation of your survey is key, the layout needs to be easy to understand, and clear to read, think about what format you want and do not choose anything too fancy. Before planning yours you may want to research into other surveys or questionnaires there are websites such as Survey Monkey which will help you. Start with a first draft and you can change the framework or layout before trying a second or third draft when you are finally happy then you can come up with a short and simple letter explaining to your participants why you are researching into this, and to thank all of your participants for taking up their time to answer your survey or questionnaire.

• Observation

I was always keen on the idea of observing as I liked the idea of watching at first hand and not just different opinions like the other 3 tools. I would like to watch a few classes in action and analysed it myself. Another keen feature I also liked was the fact the observer has the choice to participant in the event to make them more involved within that situation, after giving this a little thought I do not want to get too involved as I would want the class to be as normal as possible but interacting slightly might be nice depending on the circumstances.
On the other hand I know observing classes can be time consuming and attending those classes can often be difficult to arrange transport or finding time in your schedule, but I am luckily enough to have my main workplace based only  a 30minute drive away. I will also be able to fit in observing classes on my day off each week, and I can practice analysing and taking notes on Mondays and some Saturdays where I assist and learn new syllabus work, if I am to use observing I would want a to watch a few different genres of dance such as ballet, street, modern and maybe even some musical theatre classes as they focus on performing a lot of the time.
Something to always be aware of when planning to observe a class in permission. Having permission from the 'Gatekeeper' is always very important, I have also told my colleagues about my course from the beginning so when I mentioned observing classes they thought this would be helpful or me. There are 2 types of observing, overt and covert.
Overt, meaning the researcher has told everyone involved what their intentions are and what they are investigating, this has its advantages and disadvantages like many other things. The advantages of overt observing would be the researcher can be completely honest with its participants and avoiding being bias which is important. However the disadvantages would be as the participants know you are observing they can cause unnecessary or uncommon situations especially as teaching dance can normally involve children. Sometimes children can play up to extra attention and the class would not be as ordinary as their weekly classes. I do find as most of the students at my workplace know me and I've taught the majority I would know if a child was behaving or acting differently, but the fact most of them will recognise me and it would not be completely unfamiliar to them they will hopefully act normally.
Covert observing can be very risky, keeping the researchers true intentions a secret from the participants. Again there is advantages such as studying a class without them truly knowing the reasons behind it, can give you the correct data of a 'normal class' which provides you with the new information you want.
There are a few different ways to record observations, such as written notes, taping or recording depends on correct circumstances. I think written notes will help me, I personally enjoy jotting down notes and this always helps me remember it if I visually see myself write it down. I would like the opportunity to record some of my classes as I think this would show valid evidence and would also show I am not being bias, but it would depend on the right circumstances, and would think wisely to which class.

• Interviews

Interviews is collecting what people say and using it as evidence. Using interviews is a great way to get lots of information, you can not only have to ask one question and move onto the next but you can investigate and ask about their personal feelings, motives and a good question to ask is why? Asking lots of questions to people that have experience in my topic, or knowledge this will help my inquiry a lot. Interviewing is a very useful tool when finding out different opinions or new information, if you are skilful and have experience in interviewing people you can find out unexpected data, but you need to ask the right questions and use your participants time wisely.
There are a few types of interviews depending on what type of information you want to find out, you can have a interview face to face, or over the phone, you can have one to one interviews or maybe even a group of people if you want to discuss certain topics, or you can have set question and stick by them without going any further or you can have a informal method which leaves your questions or themes quite open for them to explain in their own way. Also another thing to think about with interviews would be how to structure it, you can have set questions and ask each personal all the same, or you can leave it quite open and even let the participants tell you stories of experiences and allow them to talk about anything they like too.
A big question you need to answer before interviewing is who will you interview? You need to ask people that have experience or knowledge in your topic but you also want a range of people too. So you may want male or female? What types of ages? People that have been in different situations or different types of employment? In my topic I would want a range of people with and without experience in performing as a dancer on stage, I think it would be nice get a male and females point of view as well, also ages I would take into account as people who are older or middle age will have a lot more experience compared to someone my age or younger.
I think if I was to interview people I would have a few closed questions at the beginning and then slowly end up more relaxed with open questions letting the participants talk freely and give their own interpretation. A few closed questions I can compare easily with a chart or graph etc. which would be nice to compare the participants but then to have a mix of lots of information and all hopefully different to one another. You need to make sure all your questions are to the point and they understand what you are asking of them. You especially do not want leading questions where you are putting words in their mouth, do not make them agree with your opinions leave the question relatively open so they are answering it for themselves.
When planning an interview I think it is all the little things you plan that make a difference, I do not want my participants to feel they are being questioned I want them to feel relaxed and I hope they tell me as much knowledge or experience as they can. I would make sure I choose a location we have been before or at least somewhere they feel comfortable, planning what questions will be hard as you do not want too many but you want as much information as possible too. Also something I need to think about more deeply would be how I plan on recording their answers, I could actually record it so I would not waste time writing notes down, but this is something I will look at more after I know the types of questions I will ask.
Sometimes in our busy lives it can be hard to see people face to face down to time, money or distance so another way interview would be via the phone or Skype. I do not know if this would effect your interview as I think being on the phone or Skype is not as personal but if it has to be done then I am sure you get a lot of information from it.

Conclusion
After looking into all 4 of these tools, I thought all of them would be helpful in their own ways but I wanted to think realistically as all of them would be time consuming and I did not want to attempt all 4 but not to the quality I want. I have chosen 2 of them but plan to use these tools a lot and find out as much new information as possible. I will be observing classes at my workplace and I will interview a handful of people, I plan on keeping my interviews being semi-structured as I want a few set questions but the opportunity to talk quite freely on different themes as well to see if I find out anything unexpected. I think this will also make the interviewee feel more relaxed and not so tense so I hope to get good results.

6a questionnaire

When I started to read into my 4 tools I could use for my inquiry in Module 3, I was unsure of which to use at first. So when I read my tasks for Part 6 I was glad I could plan and conduct at least one of them for a trial attempt. I choose I would have an attempt at a questionnaire as I was unsure to choose from interviewing or conducting a survey/questionnaire.
I had so many idea's for questions, and wanted to vary which type of questions, I did not want my participants to feel they had to write pages and pages, I wanted something quick and easy and a questionnaire that was not too time consuming. I found constructing my questions very hard and spent a few days re wording, simplifying and cutting them down but making sure they were easy to understand. My first attempt I started printing and then realised there was a silly mistake instead of putting down '12 teaching skills' I had put 10 and you had to rate them from 1-10 so I had to cancel my printing and change a silly mistake. I eventually narrowed my questions down to 12 which had 3 bigger questions, 2 questions rating 1-10, and a few closed questions and selecting answer/s, I then handed them out to a work colleague, and students I went to college with that now teach elsewhere or are touring in a show.
I found questionnaires harder than what I thought, there was a lot of time spent conducting the questionnaire and then analysing it, but I did find the answers helpful I just wish I could of had more in-depth questions. I then asked a couple of my close participants if they found it too short and if I could of made it longer but they both agreed it was the right amount of length and if it had of been longer people would of lost interest and their answers would of been short and not completely answered.

Question 1
Question 1 was easy, I first wanted to know what age group they feel under. I Had no one select under 18 or 31-41 most people were 18-25 then I had one from each group of 26-30 and 41 or older.

Question 2
Was still easy and I wanted to make sure everyone had been train in some way for dance, no one selected 'not ever' and most people started dancing 0-3 and a few older.

Question 3
Most people a gave my survey too, agreed to having some kind of paid employment on stage, varying between choreographing for pantomimes and touring the UK in Top Hat. I still had 3 that had no experience which is what I wanted, I wanted to compare and see if their answer were different to each others.

Question 4

For question 4 I made a pie chart to show the results more clearly, the smaller sections explain these are what people think are more important skills for teachers to have for example 'passion' and 'Hard working' is the smallest section by far. The larger sections such as 'organised' mean people found these less important over all.


Question 5
This question I thought would be very tough for participants, and was unsure weather to select it as one of my questions at first but not one participant complained about it being a hard question, I asked if you had to choose between expressive or technical skills, which would it be? I found the answer to this question was 4 people chose expressive while the remaining 3 chose technical.

Question 6
I was shocked with this question too actually, I thought the majority of people would prefer performing on stage compared to an exam situation. I once again found 4 who preferred performing on stage and 3 preferred exams, I now want to research into this further and see what else I can find out.

Question 7
Here is the chart for the results of question 7:

Question 8
I wanted to find out which type of teacher achieved the best from their students, I gave them 4 choices which were friendly, strict, high expectations and experience/respected. Most people chose experienced/respected but 3 chose high expectations and only one chose friendly which left strict with no options.

Question 9
Most people preferred an older teacher that could not demonstrate but there were still 3 that chose a younger teacher that could demonstrate but was not experienced performing on stage. I need to look at this question deeper as I think it also depends on the age of the students, younger children would prefer a teacher to join in compared to older students prefer the experience and wisdom.

Question 10
Asking people how important it is for your teacher to have knowledge on the dance industry, and being able to say they have had experience in auditioning etc. Most people rated this between 8,9 and 10. But again it would depend on the student so I would need to look deeper into this question.

Question 11
The last two questions were more open and people could write a sentence or two. My first question was asking if teachers that had the experience of performing on stage have a different side of knowledge other teachers do not have even if they are qualified. Everyone agreed having the experience would be an advantage as having more knowledge in anything is always better than none. It can help guide children in the right direction, and being able to admire a teacher who has been out there in the dance industry as such but also people said not every professional performer would be a good teacher it takes a lot more different skills to be a good teacher.

Question 12
My last question was asking people in their own experience how did they prepare for an audition or exam etc. Most of them said researching on the internet, practicing dance moves constantly, but I believe everyone said teachers guidance or friends that had done it before etc.

Although I did learn a lot from my questionnaire, I now think I will choose observing and interviewing as I will get more in-depth answers and be able to have a conversation about why and what if in my interviews instead. I may not be able to have as many participants while interviewing but at least I will be happier with the more in depth answers, I would prefer a few good answers than lots of vague answers. I am glad I had an opportunity  to try out a questionnaire and the research has helped a lot, I now know what I need to look into deeper, from looking at my results I was surprised with a couple but now want to know why.

5b

It is important for dance teachers to understand the code of conduct, this means knowing the true values of dance teaching standards, this is built upon ethical reasons and being responsible for the practice of dance in a professional manner. Being clear on how they go about their classes, for instance most dance schools have a hands on policy as to many teachers would find it impossible to teach a class without touching a student, in our own minds our intention is clear, however, in the mind of a pupil it is less clear and in a certain situation it could be misinterpreted. We use our touch to guide and correct their posture, turning out a leg in ballet, stretching behind the knee etc. Also for the parents to have expectations for the teacher such as professional behaviour, actions and a good work attitude. The code should cover all five areas:

1. Professional competence
2. Responsibility
3. Safety
4. Working with people
5. Commitment to the code of conduct

When I first started assisting at the dance school I teach at now, the first thing I applied for was a chaperone license. This also includes a CRB check which is a now known as a background check that is performed by the Criminal Records Bureau. It is essential and that all people working with children or vulnerable adults can produce a clear and up to date record so all teachers need a CRB check. 

Industry standard for Dance Teachers

• First you need to understand a dancer's body (for example anatomy) and what type of nutrition to apply to dance practice and performing.
• Secondly it is essential you have knowledge on how to prevent injuries, making sure your class cools down to stop lactic acid pooling.
• For you and your students to understand growth spurts, growing pains etc... And for your students to know it is normal.
• For your students safety you all need to understand the requirements for a safe dance practice, is there anything on the floor that is sharp, split liquids, or anything that should not be there? Are there any hazards or risks in the room? Is there too many students for the amount of space you have? Also everyone needs to understand spatial awareness and being aware of each other dancing especially when travelling across or around the room. 
• All teachers need to complete at least a basic first aid course and need to make sure they have a first aid kit with them at all times teaching. I am currently trying to organise a group trip for us teachers to go again just so we can refresh on the course again.
• Continuing Professional Development (CPD) on the above subjects and have practiced OR played a part in a role play in a make believe situation that could happen in real life.
• Being a part of a group or being a member of an organization, so you are always updated on information in the dance field.

Teaching students and helping them obtain a certain level of knowledge or completing a task is an important job. Having the correct requirements to be a teacher is essential, weather you want to be an elementary teacher, secondary school teacher or special education teacher of all levels.
A primary school teacher has to have knowledge and be trained in all subjects but may specialise on one topic more such as physical education which could include dance.
Teaching at a secondary school level you have the option to focus on one subject which could just be dance or you could combined it with drama or musical theatre as they all interlink with the performing arts.
If you wanted to go further and teach at college or a different special education teacher you would need at least a level 3 qualification in that specific subject. You would also need to obtain a teaching qualification to a relevant level depending on the job you are aiming towards.
Most dance teachers in the private sector have been trained in most genres of dance but teach their strongest genre as they have more passion and normally more knowledge on it, for example when I was younger I went to a local dance school that just taught ballet.

5a

Ethics
I have never really used or understood the term ethics until now but I now realise it is surprising as it is apart of all our lives, personal, professional, religion etc... For the decisions we make or our actions in life, ethics is apart of. Before making a decision we systematize, defend and think about the concept of right and wrong. Also understanding our ethics are different compared to other cultures, countries, religion, and we have developed and moulded our ethics to the way we live today but sometimes tension and conflict can occur.

Relevant to Dance
Bringing this into the dance world and personally my professional community at work I have been thinking how ethics comes into my job.
Firstly talking about how tension occurs, I had one example that sprung to mind. The week before Christmas holidays we tend to let the students have a fun lesson if they have worked hard and know their pantomime dance and promise to practice over the holiday. As the teacher I also need to check all of my students in that class celebrate Christmas festivities with their family, certain religions such as Jehovah witnesses do not celebrate this holiday so it would be unkind of me to play Christmas music or play Christmas games etc...
Another example I know is when I was a child dancing, some parents complaining about costumes being too raunchy. Personal ethics on how children should dress and what is acceptable as ones parents' opinion is different to another. We teach Irish at my dance school and the difference between the lengths of their Irish skirts can be very different, I know one parent that makes sure her child's skirt hem is below the knee.
Professional codes of practice are there to make sure we keep the high standard of our profession, the dance world is very competitive and I know other schools from my local area have different ethics compared to the one I teach at. One local dance school around here has a bad reputation for 'stealing' other dance schools choreography, copying designs of costumes etc...Whereas my dance school I teach at and others in the area find this not in our ethics.
At our dance school have a uniform which most dance schools do as well. We try and remain strict on this rule as it keeps the class looking smart, well organised and everyone is the same. You always have one child in the class that has the newest dance wear and other students that do not really own any dance wear.
As most dance schools we always make sure the students warm up and cool down at the beginning and the end of class to prevent injuries. Also knowing if children have allergies or different dietary needs, as a new student joins our dance school we have special membership forms for their parents to fill in, we now have a new app on our phones (for teachers) which we can do the register off of, an emergency contact number and any other special information that we need to know.
When I first started reading reader 5 I thought it was all very deep and meaningful and only happened in big decisions but when you start breaking it down and I linked it to my professional community, ethics is in everything! Ethics keeps the high standard of teaching, morals and what my boss believes her teachers should do obviously keeps her school popular and that's why students go there. The lady I work for also thinks students should be loyal and dedicated to one dance school but we do not restrict or insist students to do so. I understand it is hard when extra rehearsals clash with a different dance schools timetable and choosing between them can often cause tension but I personally believe this is unfair as some dance schools just teach ballet so they need to go elsewhere to be taught other genres of dance. Ethics is something I always knew was there but did not think too deeply about, but now understanding the importance of ethics and the differences between personal, professional and organizational and knowing I always have and always will use it on a daily basis, meaning you always think about what is the 'good' decision to make? Who will benefit from it more? I use it when planning my classes, weather I break down and spend time on one exercises for a new student or if I run through everything quickly as I have students working towards an exam? You do not want to put off the new student by letting her drown in a lot of syllabus work she does not know yet, but at the same time I have students working towards an exam and I need to make sure they know everything in that grade. This is always a hard balance to find and keeping everyone happy and enjoying the class at the same time.

4d

I have recently been reading 'The Concept of Dance Education' by Graham McFee (Published by Routledge 25 November 1993.) At first I found this book very deep in the legal system which did not help me much at first, but I'm so glad I carried on reading as it is completely a different side of teaching I had not thought about before. I want to focus on one part of the book specifically in chapter 14 (p158-165.)

At the beginning of this section it talks about making sure your students enjoyment, interest, confidence and their sense of personal worth is happening in class this all comes down to active learning. If passive learning and inappropriate styles are being 'taught' this will lead to irritation and maybe even failure. Your students need to enjoy their class, if you want to enhance your students learning you need to work together, and having their full attention is crucial! I believe this all comes down to the teachers passion of their subject, they need to make it interesting for their pupils.

Graham McFee believed you had to plan your classes and put them into effect under 8 different headings;

1. the objectives of the style- what are you aiming towards?

2. the anatomy of the style- understanding the body in this specific style of dance.

3. the implementation- to plan your class and to make sure that this happens.

4. the implication of the style- the conclusion that can be drawn from something or an exercise in class.

5. selecting and designing the subject matter- distinguishing this style from others, make sure they completely understand, where did this style come from?

6. style-specific comments- understanding how to correct your students in this style, you need to have a lot of knowledge on the style before you teach a class.

7. the development channels- Being able to develop the steps, breaking it down at first and making it harder each week or each time you have a class. The class needs to feel like they are improving.

8. examples of subject-matter- Make sure your students have seen examples of performances or classes of this style, they can see how the body moves, certain positions or motif that happen regularly in this specific style.

Before teaching a certain element of a style it is important that you have thought about what your students will be learning and have broke down the material before teaching so much so that your students can observe and pick it up with pace. You need to make sure they find it challenging but not so much so they are put off or you spend too much time that they lose their concentration. Another side of teaching that is sometimes forgotten is the ability for students to work on their communication skills, skills of observing, analysing steps or routines; what is good about what they have watched? What can be improved? And the awareness of others. Some of these seem like common sense and can easily be forgotten about but for example when teaching leaps from the corner telling your students to walk around the room to the next corner instead of running across the studio in front of someone else who is attempting leaps, this comes down to being aware of others in the studio.

I found a certain section of this book fascinating it was about free expression and how every child can dance, the sharpness of their senses and the speed their reaction constantly, proves all children can dance. It is just turning their movement into dance which means it becomes clearly defined.

This got me thinking if anyone can dance surely that means anyone can teach? But does it mean everyone could be a good teacher, because I do not think that is the case. Apart of me is still unsure if everyone can dance or at least dance to a high standard. I know grown adults that find it hard to clap in time with music, I have recently started teaching an adult ballet class and yes they move to the music but there is no technique behind it yet, and some even look stiff or awkward, I'm sure they will improve greatly over time but Graham McFee specifically implies only children can dance? Is dancing something you need to start at a young age?

 After reading Graham McFee's book and how he believes all children can dance, I do agree to a certain extent. I think we all have the ability to express our feeling in dance, and most of us have the ability of movement which is an amazing feeling, but when it comes to technique and performing on stage I do not think everyone has what it takes. This has got me thinking a lot about my personal inquiry, I am starting to believe having a professional career before going into teaching does not help as much as I thought it would, I have read many articles, books etc... on teaching and they all have different bullet points to what makes you a good teacher but none have mentioned experience which I find shocking. I think you can be a good teacher if you have not had any professional experience on stage but I think it must still help slightly, even having the knowledge of what happens behind stage, having the chance to perform at different theatres and how each venue is different. Actually knowing how it feels to perform most days and nights, or touring and living out of a suitcase surely you can past that experience on to students.

4d

At the beginning of this module I researched many different ideas to get me started, I found myself researching 'What makes a good teacher?' I then found an article published by The Telegraph (15 January 2015) by Barnaby Lenon apart from the fact this article was very broad, as it was aimed at all teachers of any subject I found it interesting. Although this was one of the first articles I came across I found it most useful, he came to the conclusion there are 4 main points of being a good teacher;

1. Being passionate about their subject! This came down to if you love your subject you will have lots of knowledge about it, if you personally find your subject interesting so will your students. I think this is one thing us dancers are good at, I find dance is like marmite, you either really love it or you hate it. Even if you go out on a Saturday night you have the people who never leave the dance floor (like me) or the people that stand around talking all night. (30% subject knowledge)

2. Having the right personality, to be a good teacher you need to have control over your students, this all comes down to discipline (discipline= achievement.) As a teacher you need to  be respected and even slightly feared sometimes. You need to be well organised and have the ability to manage stress well, also making time for students who need extra time or help. (30% personality)

3. I also found this article interesting as it said not all good teachers are qualified which I found surprising if I'm completely honest. But later on in the article it did say all teachers need some training which I agree with, having experience with classroom or studio skills. You need to be able to teach a class with pace and interest and making sure your students understand tricky concepts, breaking something down so they comprehend. (10% classroom skills)

4. My last bullet point is having high expectations for your students, you need to push them and make them aim for higher goals. The teacher sets the scene in the classroom or studio, if you are determined so will your students hopefully. After all a 'pupils effort + teaching quality = how well a child acheives!' (30% expectations) 

After reading this article I completely agree with all the facts, you need passion, the correct personality, classroom skills and high expectations. I think I knew this before reading this article but it actually made me put it in perspective. If a teacher is relaxed then so will his or hers students, I now teach all my classes as if they have an exam or a performance next week, and it does set the scene for the whole class, I now get so much more done within 45 minutes. I also now spend more time before class on how to break down a certain step so they will understand. For example I still need to find a better way of describing how to do a contraction but it is such a hard concept for children to understand.

I read this article at the beginning of Module 2 and wrote down a few bullet points in my journal, I recently read back in my journal and remembered this article and re read it but this time I connected it to my idea for my personal inquiry. I think it is hard to connect having dance experience or a professional career in dance before teaching to such a broad article like this one, but on the other hand thinking about other teachers if you are good at maths you become an accountant, banker or maths teacher, but being a good accountant does not make you a good math teacher I guess? You still need to have good classroom skills and the right personality which therefore goes for dancing as well. Not all professional dancers would make good teachers necessary. Also another way to look at it is a professional dancer is normally use to being told what to do, where to stand, what steps, and being a teacher you are much more in control, you have to tell your students what to do which is completely different to being a professional dancer. You need to take control of your students and make them respect you and listen to you.

I really enjoyed this article as it is very broad so I could bring my own interpretation into it as well, it also connects all teaching together, apart from the subject it focuses on the main elements you need to be a good teacher. I think it is correct in saying as long as you have passion for your subject and you also have good classroom skills, high expectations and the right personality you will be a good teacher and push your students to their highest ability.  

Literature 4d

Finally my books were sent to my local Library and I picked them up yesterday. Need to start reading!!

The difference between technical and expressive skills in performing

Last week I spent hours in the Library trying to find some more books to help with my research on different ideas I have been looking into. Eventually I found a AQA Dance written by Maggie Cluine, Liz Dale, Lyn Paine, it was not what I had in mind but it had many different sections on technical and expressive skills in performing which I have been comparing, I also researched into choreographing as this is a big section of being a teacher and I remembered a lot from dance A level and college.

But going back to technical and expressive skills in performing, technical skills are very import\ant this is why professional dancers train several hours each day for many years, they need to improve in many different elements such as; good posture, focus, dynamics, flexibility, strength, balance, coordination, stamina and good alignment etc...  All these things helps a dancers technique which makes their dance quality of movement look easy and effortless which is impressive from an audience perspective. Good technique only comes from hard work, training and it is developed through the focus of the mind.

Great technicians are incredible to watch but sometimes when watching a performances we are drawn to one specific dancer that will stand out compared to the rest, we call this expression or artistry. Expression is what gives a certain performance piece its own energy, it is enjoyable to watch and makes you respond to the piece in an emotional manner. Expression performing skills are made up of musicality, communication of choreographic intent, sense of style, relationships, projection and focus. It is very difficult to acquire and improve your expressive skills, but it comes with a lot of practice, maturing, understanding the piece you are performing, and making the audience feel like they are apart of the piece and share your emotions.

I think it is very hard to choose between which is more important, technical or expressive? You need technique to execute the steps involved in the routine you are performing, but to make the audience connect to the piece and feel involved you need artistry. To be the best dancer you can be you need to practice both equally as they both work hand in hand together.

Those who can do, those who can't teach?

Recently I watched a film with a few friends and we decided to watch 'One day' a classic chick flick obviously! But anyway in a certain scene one of the main characters line is 'Those who can do, those who can't teach.' Now he wasn't talking about dance specifically but it definitely made me think about it. I wanted to know if you think this is this true or not?
Do you think there is a higher standard in teaching if you have experience after having a professional career? Can you pass that experience on to other students? And will it help them later in life?
OR not having the experience but being able to interact with students and discussing situations that may or may not happen in a professional career?
 

Is it just English men that don't dance?

I've started to research into one of my ideas from Module 1. I have not researched into each genre yet but so far reading discussions on other peoples blogs and a couple of websites, apparently it is just English men that do not dance. Many cultures really encourage dancing men and actually think that it is a very masculine thing to do for example: Greek festivals, Jewish weddings, African American, African, Aboriginal people and many more.
I then remembered going to my Father's cousins wedding in Italy as my Grandmother is Italian. My Italian side of the family thought it was completely ridiculous that my Father wouldn't dance with them or my Mum, back then I thought it was the amount of alcohol in their system that was making them dance but now actually thinking about it they would dance sober too. Just like Italian men kiss on the cheek twice to say hello or goodbye in public and they don't think twice about it. Maybe it is just us English?

Idea's for my Professional Inquiry

Recently I have been researching into different topics and ideas for find my personal inquiry for Module 2. I had a few ideas from Module 1 that I started to research but I have came up with a couple more the last few days.

My first original idea was why do boys/men dance less than girls? What effects boys not to dance? And how can we do to encourage them to dance more? I could also go into do more boys prefer Musical Theatre to dance?
I researched into this and the first thing I came across was an article, this wasn't the most interesting account that I have read but the comments and discussion people got into about it was very interesting. One women believed that it was English men that had the problem but in other countries and cultures it is counted very masculine for men to dance, and that us English are the issue and needed to get past this phase!
Here is the link to the blog I read:

http://www.vibrantnation.com/our-blog-circle/why-women-dance-more-than-men/

My second idea is 'How children are effected by exams and performing on stage differently?' This gave lots to explore, what do they prefer? How children handle being nervous differently? What they personality perform better in? With lots of people watching, or just one person watching and examining them? But I'm not sure this will effect my workplace it will bring me more knowledge on what effects children and how their emotions are different though.

My favourite idea at the moment is 'Fitting extra exam classes and rehearsals without any clashes to the normal timetable?' This idea leaves me with a lot of doors to open such as hiring an extra hall, extra teacher so more the business side of things? And can go into what children prefer to miss normal classes or rehearsals etc… and are the children effected by it? does it leave the student trying to catch up on things they have missed? But is there a solution?!

I need to dig deeper into each of these idea's to see which best suits my workplace and future career as I want the most rewarding outcome. I have a couple more idea's but I think these three are my favourite so need to play around with the question and how to word it so I come up with the most effective title.

3b Networking

Networking

Professional Network

A process of mutual people exchanging information and ideas with individuals or groups that share a common interest such as a career. Networking may fall into two groups which are social or business. In business networking you need to build a good working relationship with other professional colleagues to increase your future business and succeed within your career. Ivan Misner is an entrepreneur, business man, philanthropist and bestselling author he is also the founder of BNI the world’s largest business networking and referral organisation. "The process of developing and activating your relationships to increase your business, enhance your knowledge, expand your sphere of influence or serve the community." Misner published ‘The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret’ back in 1999. Also I have messaged Ivan Misner online and I am waiting a reply.

Networking is a positive and useful tool for any business or career minded person as long as you use it to your own full advantage. You should always have a goal and objective you are aiming towards and only take from networking what is appropriate for your own gain.

Communicating with work colleagues and especially parents is a subject I never thought too deeply about but it is just as important as the children, I now spend an extra 10-15 minutes each night talking to parents or teachers, weather it is based upon work situations or just socially. Parents like to be updated and hear their child is improving and the little comments you inform parents, guardians or grandparents, makes a big difference.

Cooperation  

Cooperative learning was unknown in the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s but now cooperation learning is one of the great success stories. It is closely linked with Game Theory which shows why two individuals might not cooperate even if it means it is in their best interests to do so.

Game Theory is a study of strategic decision making made by individuals or group and it focuses upon the results of cooperation and the decisions to cooperate or not. This idea was developed by mathematicians to understand problems in economics, political science, and psychology, as well as logic, computer science, and biology. It has three main concepts: 

• An outcome: result of a particular choice.

• A payoff: benefit associated with outcome.

• A player: individual/group that has a set of choices. Depending on which choices are made, two or more outcomes are possible.                                                                        

Whether it is an individual or a group they have to list all possible outcomes and their payoffs for each player. They then have to analyse the impact that each players possible actions will have on each player. Finally taking this analysis decides which choices the players will make so as to get their preferred outcome and best payoff.

The prisoners Dilemma Game is another theory which was invented around 1950 by Merrill M Flood and Melvin Dresher. It is about two prisoners who have both been arrested and all the evidence has been shredded but the prosecutor wants to nail someone so offers the men a deal of a reduction on their sentence to squeal on each other. Realising that they if they both cooperate and keep their mouths shut they will both just do a year. On the other hand it is very tempting to squeal and have 6 months knocked off your sentence but if you both squeal you could both end up doing 4 and a half  years. So the dilemma starts do you cooperate and both do a year but it is so tempting for you squeal (defecting) and end up only doing do 6 months. Who’s to know if the other prisoner was thinking of squealing leaving you to do 5 years so what is the best theory to minimise your incarceration. 

The simple question is to cooperate or not cooperate or trust or not to trust. This is the dilemma across many crucial issues in your social life, business or in any situation when your thoughts about the payoff or outcome start a ‘prisoner’s dilemma’. 

Robert Marshall Axelrod born in 1943 is an American political scientist. He has spent his life work on the evolution of cooperation. In 1984 Robert Axelrod identified the importance of the notion of cooperation and has continued to research the benefits of cooperating fully with others until you reach a point of maximum benefit and then to ‘defect’. Is it best for players to cooperate and make mutual gains or some players would exploit each other or even neither would want to cooperate. This project has had researchers trying to find a strategy to use in situations in economics, psychology, sociology, political science, and mathematics and it seemed that the best they could come up with was ‘TIT FOR TAT.’ ‘TIT FOR TAT’ means using a strategy of starting with cooperation, and from then on doing what the other player did on the previous move. It is believed that Robert Axelrod’s theory on ‘TIT FOR TAT’ was the most successful strategy not only in human environment but in a whole range of life.  

Affiliation

It has been found that teenagers spent 75% of their time in the company of other teenagers and this makes them much happier and content in their lives. Humans have always had the tendency to seek out company from other humans as we need to reproduce and it makes us so much stronger when we have the benefit of the comfort and strength from another human being.

It’s the same when we are all interacting on the web, we find strength and comfort with the thought that we have friends and associates that we can contact at any time. We also have the choice of how much contact we have as we can have many times when we want privacy and need time on our own to think and contemplate our lives.

When it comes to the internet many businesses can enrol as an affiliate or agent to promote or sell the product that they produce. They are given many links and contacts that can lead them to more opportunities which helps expand their business. It will also connect them to all internet marketing methods such as regular advertising, search engines, email marketing and display advertising. You can enrol into some affiliate programs that have been especially built to promote and market their own kind of service which brings together mutual companies that can exchange ideas and information to improve that type of business. This yet again makes us much stronger when we join together and we get the best ideas and help when we can all interact together.

 

Connectivism

I have just watched Networked Student about connectivism which I found on my reading list and I think that connectivism has finally sunk in and I totally understand the power that we have in networking.

A student can search the web for the information on the subject that he is studying and he would then learn to pick out the best sights with the best information. He would post this information and his own ideas on his book marking sight, he would find other students that are studying about the same subject and swop what he has found for what they have found. They can swop ideas and site information which widens the student’s base of knowledge and as he contacts more students his net of information gets wider and wider. Next he starts to search for blogs and although this is more people’s opinions it gives him a the chance to offer his own opinion and that means that this is more information and that makes him so much more knowledgeable on his subject.

The student can connect with anyone that he feels has more information, he can connect with the best professors and business people as you find that people love to share an interest especially with students as they are coming up with fresh ideas. He starts to build a tower of information and can go on to become an expert but knowledge never ends as there is always something new to learn. This is how I feel about teaching and I am constantly learning and the knowledge comes all areas apart from this course I have learnt from other teachers as well as the children I teach.

Connectivism is the learning theory for the digital age. This means that we must acknowledge that we live in a world of multiplicity.  Every community or individual has a font of knowledge which we can bring together in a network of connections, which in turn others can use to uncover patterns, make sense of the connections and then make new connections.

I am very passionate about being a teacher and I believe that I must be totally connected to do my job the best I can. I will need to build up a personal network of friends, colleagues and acquaintances to discuss and contribute ideas and plans so that we can deliver much better lessons. It is still very important for face to face contact but it can be so much more effective and quicker to connect on SNS and bring all the knowledge together to make a much deeper pool. This deep pool of resources can then connect all teachers and make it much easier for them to find and allow this knowledge to reuse and remix therefore coming up with even more ideas and so constantly making this pool deeper and deeper.

Social Constructionism

I found social constructionism hard to get my head around, I understood what I was researching into but understanding the meaning of the world we have formed, named and built is a large topic. Us as human beings have named everything we can see with our eyes, hear with our ears, every emotion etc… We have given it a certain name and made it what it is. But if we weren’t here, and tree wouldn’t be a tree but it would still be here on earth which is a concept hard to imagine.

When it comes to professional networks and networking we obviously use what we feel is the best but they become what they are because we are all interacting. Us as teachers, students or however we are connected in the dance world spread the meanings, methods or information worldwide and that is how the dance world builds stronger and larger. 

To bring this into a dance term, the French created ballet, plie, tendus, par de chat, port de bra, grand battements, petit jete and the list goes on are all French words they have named them and we have kept their names the same worldwide. Plies means to bend (in English) which describes the movement we perform at the beginning of our ballet lessons, but who came up with the word bend? And so on.

Communities of Practice

Humans have always come together with similar interests or occupations as when you do you would normally be of a similar character. When you start training and learning for your occupation you would always start as they say ‘at the bottom’ and work your way up so whoever was there before you would show you the ropes and teach you your job. This is communities of practise because then as you learn you can add your knowledge to the situation and this in turn helps others.

Dance is a very physical hobby or career for some, you wouldn’t become a professional dancer by reading lots of books on dance but watching and taking part is where you learning the feeling and placement of your body. You cannot become an expert by researching into your topic for many things such as dance or midwifery for example, you learn in the experience to completely understand that situation. They job can bring all types of issues or complications and only when you are under pressure in that situation you will react and learn.

Ethical Considerations for Networking

Networking is a new and improved system for social and professional interacting with friends, family and co-workers. It is a much easier way to contact each other and is also instant however with all these new technologies for social networking it is important we keep the professional role or social bond we have with each other, for example parent-to-child, co-worker-to-co-worker, doctor-to-patient, seller-to-buyer etc..

Networking has so many advantages for its users of instant contact to anyone in the world, a feeling of well-being, happiness, feelings of life satisfaction but it also has its drawbacks. There have always been basic concerns on privacy, identity, friendship, as well as copyright and intellectual property but now the wider worries are potential availability of users, data to third parties, facial recognition from uploaded photos and the ability to collect user data from people and businesses without their permission or awareness. We hear of so many people and businesses that have been totally destroyed from what has been put on to the internet. It has caused deaths, family breakups and the collapse of many companies with the outcome on SNS. There are many debates about computers and information privacy but it is all too difficult and it all has to be re-examined again and again. Facebook has taken much criticism of its privacy practices but it is still the most popular member for all to use.

We must all take responsibility for what we put on the social and professional network and accept that it is like a loaded gun in our hands and that anyone can fire it whether it’s at someone else or even at ourselves. As I am teaching various ages it is my duty to protect the children from any danger, which is including networking so I have to be careful with names, photos and anything resembling a danger on line or off.