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.