Saturday 8 February 2014
Motivations...
Today is Saturday and I awoke to a peaceful house and a sunny day. This beginning filled me with positive thoughts. My state of slight panic this week seems to be waning and is replaced by a sense of just get on with it and think, read, watch, listen and all will become clear. It has too! Getting my head deeply into the handbook living and breathing it is a must.
I have been thinking about the relationship between the classroom and the teacher. What the teacher’s motives are? And what are the pupil needs and wants?
I have also been questioning as I read this week a sentence that has really helped on the thinking as I approach my practice and research.
“Discovering the balance between conviction and open-mindeness can be difficult and involves personal honesty” McNiff, Lomax, Whitehead (2003) p21
With this in mind it has been really valuable to me that I commit to a balance between the two. As with lots of reflective, reflexive practice recently my open- mindeness seems to need a bit of conviction and bravery at times. I reflect on this as I approach the opening of my fifth branch of my school and the new relationships that will be built and the new learning I will deliver.
I was in conversation with some grandparents yesterday about dance. They were referring to a past school their granddaughter attended and explaining why they stopped going. The reason to me in words seemed slight, but I do understand that what a parent thinks of the teacher and his or her practice is a key influence to what the child participates in. So basically keep them out! Joking aside, back to my questions.
They chose to take the child (4 years old) out of the class because when they were observing the teacher. The teacher demonstrated one thing and then when she went to dance it with the children she added some arms that the children were unaware of. It seems ridiculous. I myself have also watched a class at this school when I was thinking of changing schools for my daughter. The things that I observed were; they were very big classes, the less confident children were lost at the back and the emphasis was not on correction posture, alignment which I think is crucial. I did however then look at it from practitioner’s point of view and thought. She is working towards a performance the teacher is under pressure, the children are having fun and that the actual artistry and choreography were lovely.
After that observation I didn’t move my daughter. I left her at the ballet school she is in now. The teacher at my daughters school is much older the classes are very small, she is a older, she has a very soft kind voice and she uses a little tape recorder to play her music, her ballet choreography is fine but as for modern, jazz and street it is very simple and dated.
However there is something about her and her teaching that I believe is the key. My daughter is shy and I don’t think could be part of a highly competitive environment at this time and for her those precious Saturday mornings they really inspire her to dance. She is now doing character dance and the whole magic of it has caught her attention the shoes the movements. She even says she likes the little rusty tape recorder it all adds to the atmosphere that something different can happen in this space. Something Theatrical, something expressive, yet disciplined? I also feel happy when I see children trying these styles as myself as a Street dance teacher knows how media and popularity influences the dance styles children choose to participate in and that others might seem dated or old fashion, yet they still have much to give young people. Personally to me dance is dance. No boundaries.
As adults we can be very quick to make judgements and to change things when what you see is not necessarily how what should be perceived. I see many parents that make judgements on their child’s progress when they may not understand the journey. I realise it is like my MA, it is the journey that is the most important thing and the journey will lead me to my answers. Lead me to my research project.
Also this week I watched some footage of Martha Graham teaching, she must have been in her eighties.
She talks about taking a life into your hands and what a responsibility it is as a teacher this hits us in our practice daily. She hardly moves as she is sitting teaching. I can interpret her fountain of knowledge and conviction in what she knows and passing on to her students. I also can see how her techniques have layered the ISTD Modern syllabus… well especially the old one. Also the mother figure she is to the girls as I can say I experienced with my ballet teacher and I try to emulate with my pupils. I am there for them, for support and the journey. It is incredible to watch and makes me want to be in training again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aYwjZxBDg0
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Making observations are so powerful! I have always found observations to be an incredible reflective and learning tool throughout my entire life. They naturally insist that we reflect on what we've seen, witnessed and interpreted etc, I think it also allows us to be more objective on how we see others, the situation and our own practice either as a parent, teacher or both.
ReplyDeleteReally interesting post Mary - I do enjoy my Sunday's reading through everyones blogs, they are always so inspiring to read.
I think you raise two interesting points here:
ReplyDeleteEnvironment: I am interested in the environment of learning (the pedagogy of environment) - what we create as we come together in time, space, reflection and muscle. How we see the environment is dependent on our ontological stance. As someone who sees the lived experience as embodied I do not see the environment as separate from the individuals in it. This way of thinking leads away from the idea that there is a right environment to 'find' and moves toward the idea that we are a part of creating the environment and the environment is part of creating us. (This leads to thinking on subject/object.) In terms of a pedagogy of environment it is interesting to think that rather than creating the teaching environment we, as teachers, are providing some of the ingredient for the students to construct/perceive their own learning time/space.
Second point is about the role of the teacher as a 'mother/father' figure in terms of the above how much it is possible to be the lead (if all are contributing to the existence of the 'situation') and how much we need to construct and maintain power structures in order to obtain the authority to lead. Ballet has distinct power structures that Graham also adopted. I have been working on my feminist informed ballet classes and trying to challenge how I teach: challenge myself to be affective but also not condone power structures that are not a part of my or my students 21st century social or cultural outlook.
Adesola