Task 3D Critical questions and issues that emerge

Bethany Bullman 3B
Bethany Bullman 3A
Emma Price 3C
Laura-May Houghton 3B
Natalie Martin 3A (Beth's question)
Natalie Martin 3A
Carla L Mason 3C
Anna Timms 3C
Melanie Brown 3C
Megan Lewis 3B

Above are all the blogs that have inspired some of my ideas or have made me question my own practice. I have commented on each of these providing my reasons for their inspiration and any critical thinking.
Below is a spider diagram from my journal (of which I got the idea from Natalie Martin's blog above) to help me to reflect and raise any critical questions:

I do apologize for the scribbly-ness and blurry-ness of it, but I was lacking a bit of room, and I couldn't keep my hand steady.
The first question that emerged was about my job sites. Most people have written about 'The stage' and 'agents' etc being some of their important resources. Like I've commented on Natalie Martin's blog, referring to a question by Bethany Bullman, (see above Beth's question) The Stage for me is TES or Indeed.com. But the question that I ask myself is; do I check up on my automated emails that offer new job opportunities from TES and Indeed.com? Well actually I don't. I hardly ever open these emails. Why? Because one, I haven't updated the line of work that I wish to receive opportunities for. Right now, both of these sites are sending me 'Assistant teacher' and 'Retail assistant' positions. Because of this, two, I struggle to find the time to change them. Which raises the next question; are my priorities in the right place? I believe that I do have most of my priorities straight and correct, but one that isn't is within my job. I work as a dance/performing arts teacher at the weekends, but as a retail assistant within the week. I do not wish to work in retail any more, but I am very bad at helping myself. So this is a big realization. I must organize my day and to prioritize my job searching, heading in the direction that I wish to be going.
What is Twinkl? To begin with, I thought this site would be right up my alley, from Bethany Bullman's task 3A. So I went on to google and had a check. It would be a wonderful site if I were focused on teaching in Primary schools. My aim is to teach in Junior and Senior schools. Saying this, I do not know what the future holds. I cannot be small minded and just brush this new resource out of the window. I can either keep it at hand, as if it were part of a network; it could be very valuable some day, or I can sweep it out of the door and forget about it. This is a knowledge that I probably never would have received without participating in the BAPP course. It also proves what sources are out there from just keeping in the know of other people.
My next question is; have I been fully engaged on part 3 in the BAPP course? I have been extremely engaged on this part. I have made extra effort in finding other potentially useful blogs, because I have come to realize how vital this can be, and I have printed out the Reading list extracts and have highlighted what I believe to be the most important. It has been a really intriguing part of Module 1, particularly task 3B which includes cultural differences within the concept of Affiliation. I'm gradually starting to use my professional networks in a more profound way to help myself. Some of this is proven in the comments on blogs, and the ideas that I've gotten from them. My cooperation skills with my teaching colleague has improved greatly, just by being more aware of how we cooperate.
I thought I'd use the question provided in the handbook, outright, for my next part; Are your ideas, position or concerns shared by others within and/or beyond your professional area of work?
As you can just about see in my spider diagram, I asked the question of whether or not I should ask my best friend about her work with younger children. I should, as we share a similar position within my area of work. We both work with children. So, I actually do not know the answer to whether we share the same ideas or concerns, which is something I will work towards, but I know that we share a similar position.
In Bethany Bullman's task 3B, she spoke about status' within a school, and how it depends on that status as to whom you cooperate with. I commented on this as I share similar views on this. I find it a real shame that the system works this way, because everybody can learn a thing or two on anything, of which can be either practical for you or really not that useful at all, but there is always the possibilities. My boss does the same job as everybody else at the centre that I work at, but she obviously has those important things on top of that which makes her job more superior. It's very hard to ask her for advice, especially as she hired me, and I would assume that she would expect me to learn and grow as a teacher by myself from experience. But what I've learned from this course, is that you learn from experience, of course, but we also learn from others' experiences. Some people choose not to, and end up learning from their own experience, but sometimes it's easier to bypass any mistakes that you may make, and learn from others instead. Why don't we? Because we don't believe it would happen to us right? This is something the BAPP course has taught me very efficiently. Learn from others as well as yourself.
Of course my family, (as I've revealed before, are all teachers) is mentioned in the spider diagram. Do they share the same ideas and concerns? Absolutely. I share with my mother all the time about issues and concerns in my teaching. I give her my ideas, and she gives me advice on how to improve them. This then raised the question; should I contact my other family members more? I know that I don't contact my brother and sister enough. Unlike my mother, they both have experience in performing arts as well as music and teaching. Seeing as it's performing arts that I am teaching, why haven't I contacted them more? Affiliating with my family is hard living so far away from each other, but like in the previous tasks, we now have resources and other methods of communication other than just meeting up and sending letters in the post. Referring to Melanie Browns' task 3C (see above), she does share similar views on mobile phones. They are so vital in any career, for keeping up with the times, keeping in touch with important networks and receiving new job positions etc. Mobile phones are a great way to affiliate nowadays, even though I feel it can prevent people from actually affiliating properly by meeting up, which I think being face to face is far more uplifting and beneficial. So, to add to my learning, whenever I feel the need for help within my teaching, I will now make the effort to contact my brother or sister about it, as well as my mother.
Also referring to Melanie Brown's task 3C, it made me bring up the idea about how useful online resources is for the much older generation. Elderly people are so vulnerable and the internet gives the benefits of grocery shopping online. This may have adapted so much by the time we are at that very fragile age, and these sources may be even easier in the future. I have been very negative about technology, especially as I believe it makes people lazy, but this sharing and communicating with others has shifted my thinking which makes me less ignorant and makes me think on a wider scale. Sure it can make the younger generation lazy, but it's less effort for the elderly which I haven't thought into much at all. We see all younger generations on smartphones and tablets etc, everywhere, but what you don't see are the elder generations using their laptops and ipads behind their closed doors. Ipads, tablets and smartphones are pretty useless for the very young generation, and I think it's a real shame that some parents buy them for their three year olds. This also shifts my thinking just by sharing to you now. Experience. Children don't experience things anymore because they are glued to their tablets playing games. Objects and day outs I believe are vital as they offer a better knowledge and gives them experience, as most children learn by doing and seeing.
As I go along with this, and sharing these ideas with you, it also now makes me want to put these ideas in to my professional practice in some way. Seeing as I work with the younger generation, and keeping in mind that they learn from doing and seeing, I need to adapt some sort of learning activities into my dance and music classes with them. I also must exaggerate every dance move and rhythm game. Just from sharing, I have come up with ideas.
Does critical reflection help you decide what really matters and the actions to take? Absolutely! Just from reflecting on my Affiliation in the past, particularly in my working relationships in Israel, I know the reasons why I was so lonely. (See my Task 3B) here I said; "I'm definitely more extrovert on a more personal level, but introvert on a not so personal level". This proves to me why I didn't feel the need to affiliate with my fellow performers, but the downside to this was that I did become lonely and very homesick as my extrovert self missed the people who I felt close to. I also said; "on a professional level, being that bit more extrovert deliberately, would prove to be very useful in any career." I'm now not only thinking how useful it can be on a professional level, like I've mentioned in this post, but also on an emotional level. Hence, from my critical reflection and new knowledge on affiliation I do make more of an effort to be more extrovert even if it doesn't feel comfortable to begin with. 
Another way in which critical reflection helps me to decide what actions to take is from Cooperation. Looking back at particular situations where cooperation was involved and competing when working together and not, competing only seemed to work well in competitions when you were to perform a solo. Pretty obvious really. But, cooperating when competing in a duet, trio or troupe performance was vital. If you constantly competed within a dance troupe against your fellow performers it would look messy. I always use to try and kick my leg the highest in a dance duet, trio or troupe. When I critically reflect on this, I ask myself; why did I do this? Because I wasn't cooperating. I was thinking of myself and was competing. (I'm sure many of us have similar experiences of trying to look better than the other dancers). By doing this, the dance trio, duet or troupe wouldn't look very neat and would never get a gold medal. Saying this, even in a solo performance, I had to cooperate with my teacher. She knows best. (again my Task 3B gives my understanding on cooperation) This doesn't mean to say that cooperation doesn't have competition. You cooperate to be a great competitor. 
Relating to all of the last few paragraphs, affiliation assists my thinking on my professional networks the most. Second to this is cooperation. One thing that I haven't mentioned is Communities of practice. Thinking about Twinkl, of which I mentioned earlier, this is a community, and it can be a source for practice. Wenger identifies a community of practice as a "mutual engagement that bind members together into a social entity." (Reader 3, p9) It's a community to share ideas and debate. Even though I don't feel that Twinkl is for me, this concept has got me thinking and I've asked myself is there a community that I can join that would suit my professional networking? There must be. This is something I can find out through people that I work with or have similar interests with, also, through research on our Web 2.0. With affiliation and cooperation, they have given me a challenge. I am now in the notion of working with the ideas involved in both, such as; affiliating with the use of the Social affiliation model, of which I have mentioned in my task 3B as being believable with the exception of emotions. But, giving this much thought, I think at times we must be able to keep our emotions under control, therefore I will be concentrating on seeing if the social affiliation model can work for me within the workplace and at home when affiliating online or via my phone. With cooperation, I have been very aware of my cooperating skills within my networks. It assists my thinking in a Reflection IN action way. Same goes for the Social affiliation model. I consider these concepts will benefit me somehow, particularly in being more organized and thinking in action within my networks. I believe that they will helpme to grow as a professional.
Are you left thinking differently prior to this part of the module? Everything that I have written above is mostly different to how my mind worked prior to Part 3. There isn't much to say, as I've written it all above. All I can say is that I am definitely thinking in a more professional manner and that I feel more proficient in my knowledge of such things within psychology and why we do things, certain aspects of teamwork and what teamwork actually means, and what profits they have and how I can actually help myself rather than letting people help me. I've also realized what subjects glue me to the screen or paper, and how I can use this in a very beneficial way.

Something that I'd like to add is something Laura-May Houghton wrote in her task 3B [see link at the top]. She said; "how long will it take before we start paying monthly for these valuable resources?" I have commented twice on this blog but for some reason they keep disappearing, so I will write here what I had written;
 Hi Laura
This has been a great read.
The thing that stood out was the question about how long before we start paying for our resources.
It truly is a scary thought. It made me think about how useless I am at using these valuable resources, and how I really don't give them enough thought. I would regret it if they start adding charges. Even though it shouldn't be a reason to neglect these resources, but it shows how much I and many others take these resources for granted. There are a few job sites that I am signed up on but hardly ever look through them, I would be kicking myself if they start charging monthly payments.
It's a great realization and it's something for us all to think about.
Thanks for that.
Kim x 

This has definitely left me thinking differently prior to this part of the module. I am guilty for taking stuff for granted, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
So, use and abuse while you still can.
Good luck to everyone on their Critical Reflection Essay!!

'Keeeeeep blogging'

Task 3C Sources of information

http://melaniebrown10.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/3c-5-most-important-sources-of.html
http://annatimms.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/task-3c-my-5-most-important-sources-of.html

I've decided on my approach to this task by the influence of the two blogs above; Melanie Brown and Anna Timms. They have both put their sources of information into a list of top sources of information.


1. SHAZAM via the internet.
http://teachingcarla.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/my-sources-of-information.html
In Carla Mason's blog [see link] she mentions about the ever changing styles of music and how she has to keep up with the times, especially being a teacher (like myself). The Internet is so very important for this as, like I've mentioned before, unlike Carla's method on just remembering the words and googling them up later, I use the fantastic Shazam application on my smartphone to grasp a song that I've heard in a shop or at work, of which I can then use for my teaching and choreography. I can know the name of the song right there and then.
It's become a very important source of information for me, and naturally my smartphone and the internet are equally as important, as without them, I can't use Shazam. I do think that it's vital to find out different methods to make your life easier in any profession. I only found out about Shazam when I heard a song that I've heard before come on in a shop and I was absolutely kicking myself because nobody I was with knew what it was. Fortunately, one of them knew about Shazam, and TA DAA! Meeting with people has been mentioned in the Module 1 Handbook as a good source of technology to use to get information, and the information I have received from doing this is another source of information. It just proves that if you make that effort to affiliate with others, which in turn can be an information-network, other sources of information can emerge.

2. TEACHERS/EMPLOYERS
I haven't been long in the teaching profession, therefore, I have a lot to learn about the profession. Fellow teachers who are more experienced and well qualified are extremely useful sources of information for me. They are like my support. I am wanting to boost my qualifications to be able to teach in more established environments with a more secure wage, hence I value any information that I receive from them, relating to qualifications that will suit my desired career path. They are also useful in getting a variety of different methods to use in teaching that may be worth my trying, to improve my teaching skills.
I think the more teachers I get to know the more profound the knowledge will be. You can't just trust in one teacher as they may have errors in their knowledge, even if they've been teaching for many years. It is like the Web 2.0 which we've worked on in the beginning. The more research you do, the more specific the outcome will be. I think to help make truth of what other teachers have said, it's best to do a bit of research via the internet for confirmation. Employers and fellow teachers are in my top sources of information also because they keep me in the know and may know of new job opportunities which is always a bonus.

3. FAMILY/FRIENDS/FRIENDS OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS
I am extremely fortunate to have a family of teachers. Like I've mentioned before, my mum, dad, brother sister, auntie, uncle and nan are/were all teachers. It's not even that it's been pushed upon me to do it, it's just something I've always wanted to do ever since I was about ten years old. Runs in the blood. We are all also musical with the exception of my nan. They are my most reliable source of information as we are all very close and will benefit from any information on teaching skills. I must admit that I very rarely ask for their help and advice. Being related, our qualities in teaching are similar and with that in mind, I can feed off their ideas greatly. They each have their strong points. My sister is very organized and knows a lot of useful job websites which is, naturally, very vital. My brother knows his musical tools (Cubase of which I've mentioned before). He was the one who gave me that forever handy information. My mum teaches a variety of age groups, therefore, she is full of convenient knowledge on how she deals with each age group and how she portrays herself. I don't copy every single approach that she advises, but I work with them to suit my ways.
There are of course friends and friends of family and friends. Most of the people my family socializes with have similar interests, or are teachers, and some of my friends are looking into the same profession as me and friends of theirs. Like with my fellow teachers, these people are all great for keeping me in the know, having news of possible job positions and wonderful for support. Giving each other ideas and being sympathetic makes friends a more personal supportive network. They keep me sane.
4. NEWSPAPER/JOB SITES
So, again the internet plays a vital role when it comes to job sites and new information. Indeed.com and TES are great sites with some wonderful dance teaching opportunities. As you can see the internet plays such an important role in most of my information sources, and for most individuals. It is one of my main sources of information. Newspapers also keep me in the know and advertises many teaching jobs. I used to get The Stage for performance opportunities. I always found that it had more adverts that The Stage website, which shows that the internet isn't always the most useful source, but in most cases it's very important.

5. BAPP BLOGS
Blogging has of course been a new and very useful source of information. I have found out about different ways that others communicate, different views and ideas, how they deal with certain things, what things they benefit from etc. But, blogging has been the source of information that helps me adapt my own thinking and ideas. Going through other students' blogs, who are further into the course, is interesting as they communicate in a different way with their fellow students and some of their layouts and ideas are much different. It's given more variety towards my thinking and has given me even more beneficial information.

Conclusion
I honestly wouldn't know what I'd do without my phone, laptop and internet. How did they cope a hundred years ago? Well I guess the answer is; that they would have had to walk or cycle down to the shop to buy the latest newspapers with job opportunities and they would send letters to friends and family via the post to keep in the know when they live so far. They would have to remember the lyrics to the songs to try to find out what it is and who it's by and go to their local record store for information. We still have these options today, but technology has come so far that we don't have to do all of that walking, cycling, posting and noting down.
Meeting with family and friends hasn't changed much. We still find it the most beneficial when we meet up rather than talking over the phone or on the internet. It's a shame how facebook, twitter or texting can take over peoples' lives and they become lazy and don't make the effort to go out and actually physically be amongst their friends and family. Talking of affiliation in the previous task, if there is a lack of close affiliation, you can become lonely or are less able to cope with stress. (Gunnar, 2000) But in the subject of sources of information, I believe that communicating by phone, internet or in person are all just as constructive, depending on the subject

Other source of information.
Carla Mason, [see link in Shazam] spoke about Television being a useful source of information for her. 
I think this is a great source, and I don't know why I don't use this to my advantage enough. I don't watch as much television as whence I used to, which is a very reasonable explanation. She said; 'Films have a lot of great soundtracks'. I agree entirely. I know of the film 'August Rush' having a great soundtrack, also I remember a 1992 movie called 'Wuthering heights' which also has a great theme tune. Very emotional.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srg_R-NoXGg Listen from 1:10.
I disagree that the television only plays popular music. I don't believe this is true at all. There are so many adverts that play music that I've never heard and of course soundtracks in movies that have been composed specifically for that particular movie.
Television will be used as a source of information (music or the news) for me in future. I will start making the effort to doing this as I know it will serve me very well.

'Keeeep blogging'
x

Task 3B Theories relating to networking

For me this task was based on Cooperation and Affiliation. They were the only sections that were highlighted as 'concepts'.

COOPERATION
The Prisoners' Dilemma.
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/playground/pd.html 
As given in Reader 3, I took on the 'perplexing game' of the Prisoner's dilemma.(see link) Robert Axelrod; a political scientist, talks about 'Tit for Tat' which means a "..strategy of starting with cooperation, and thereafter doing what the other player did on the previous move". (Axelrod, The evolution of cooperation, page 8[viii]) This was the strategy used by the Serendip in the game. Here were the strategies I used:

• Continually cooperating the entire time.
• Continually competing the entire time.
• Cooperating until the last move or few moves.
• Competing until the last move or few moves.
• Alternating cooperation and competition on every move.

 As expected; continual use of cooperation gave an equal high mark for both myself and the Serendip. Continual competition gave me a higher number of average coin value than the Serendip, but both at a low number, therefore not that beneficial. When I had ten moves and using cooperation until the last move, I got a higher score than the Serendip and higher than when using cooperation continually. When competing until the last move, I would always get the same score as the Serendip, but a much lower value, and when alternating the different moves, I would always come out on top or equal with a decent amount of coins per move.
It would seem, that cooperation is the best strategy when working in a team or where nobody has to end up on top. This will gain for one another the best results, individually or as a whole. In a selfish way, cooperating until the last move or two seems to be the best strategy. So I agree with Axelrod on; "..the importance of the notion of cooperation, and in particular, the benefits of cooperating fully with others, until you reach a point of maximum benefit, and then to 'defect'." (Axelrod, Reader 3, p5) But only when it means that you want to come out on top. 
Axelrod explains how using the Tit for Tat method was the strategy used that came out on top in his experiment. In the Prisoners Dilemma game that I did, it rings true that it is the strongest method to 'keep up' so to speak, but not as the best method (with the exception of the opposition cooperating the whole time), especially when getting the maximum benefit, for example; the Serendip was always using Tit for Tat, but never actually came out on top. The Serendip was either equal to me or beneath me in the end results. But as I've said the Tit for Tat method does show that you are not so far apart in results by keeping up, but always being second best. In reality, if the opposition using the Tit for Tat method accidently makes one false move, the opposition can take advantage.
It's really hard to truly understand without trying it out in reality, but I will stick to my guns on cooperating fully with others til the end, or cooperating fully until the last minute. Cooperating continually does have that Tit for Tat strategy in there, as both are, of course, Tit for Tat-'ing' one another.
Below is a wonderful way to express the advantage of cooperation:
'..it is easy to imagine that two wolves together would be able to kill an animal that is more than twice as large as the largest one each of them might have killed on his own. Even if an altruistic wolf would kill a rabbit and give it to another wolf, and the other wolf would do nothing in return, the selfish wolf would still have less to eat than if he had helped his companion to kill a deer. Yet we will assume that the synergistic effect is smaller than the gains made by defection (i.e. letting someone help you without doing anything in return).' (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/PRISDIL.html)
It is true that some people are deceived by competition, I think until now, I was a little bit deceived too.
I've always preferred team work, and I'm glad it proves to be a better and more advantageous way for everyone, even if somebody decides to defect last minute, the others will still have achieved more than if they had competed the entire time.

This has truly been an eye opener. I can use this for my teaching skills. My fellow colleague and I can discuss which ways can be a better approach in the lessons, of which can help both of us improve on our teaching skills and build up our qualities. This can also help to achieve a better result of our students' performances and give them a better chance of learning and give them a more favorable experience. I for one want to be noticed for my creativity, consequently receiving other possible opportunities. I can also try and find out what the other teachers do to produce great results, and adapt them into my work somehow. (Tit for Tat)
With my choreography, using the strategy of cooperating til the last minute can serve to be beneficial in any situation where I am indirectly competing against some more established choreographers, with the same or similar approach as me.  
In Megan Lewis' blog, she made me think about how relationships can break down by cooperating until the last move. It truly is something to contemplate as you must keep relationships steady, else you won't actually have a close working network to work with. You will have put peoples' backs up. http://napatnoon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/task-3b.html  She mentions how she believes cooperation leads to a more harmonious life. There is a lot to consider when deciding the right pursuit. I agree with Megan on this. Cooperation described as the 'will and way to win' by Alan Durrant in Reader 3, I now absolutely buy into, thoroughly, on a professional and personal understanding.

AFFILIATION
When and why we affiliate.
From my own understanding, we affiliate due to natural human instinct and intelligence; "our tendency to seek out others and form close relationships is an inherited trait that that helps us to survive and reproduce by providing us with a network of support that will help us when we are in need." (Crisp and Turner, Essential social psychology, p323) I've also come to the understanding that everybody has different levels of social stimulation; 'Introvert and Extrovert' (Reader 3, p6) which means some people who are introvert are more inclined to stay clear of much social interactions and extroverts are inclined to socialize more to keep to their each desired level of social stimulation. 
Talking of desires to affiliate, I have been debating which explanation of determinants of affiliation makes more sense, to me. The Privacy regulation theory brought about by Irwin Altman, (Crisp and Turner, Essential social psychology, p323) which was inspired by the 'dialectic principle' and 'optimization principle,' brings forth that the desire for privacy and affiliation can alternate in the space of a few hours and you can try to even out your desired levels with your actual levels of privacy and affiliation. For me, I think the Privacy regulation theory is more related to how I see myself and how I deal with my desires of affiliation. With the Social affiliation model (O'Connor and Rosenblood, '96) it provides the idea that we can regulate our desired level of affiliation on a daily basis. Like a routine. (homeostasis) I do find this true, but only with the exception of emotions as I think they haven't been taken into account. I really believe that emotions can disorder the routine. This goes especially for females. I believe that emotions can get in the way of a mental routine and particularly affiliation. So I do lean more towards the Privacy regulation theory more. I think that when I was at school, I definitely had a regular pattern and I could easily control my needs to affiliate. But, whenever I had to affiliate at my normal privacy time, for example; sports day or after school rehearsals, it would throw me off guard. With this, I definitely took on the optimization principle by evening out my desired levels to affiliate and not. I'm sure that there are a lot of people who would actually struggle with this principle, but would still try. 
This is quite an fascinating encounter as I'm quite interested in psychology.

When thinking about individual differences in affiliation, (in relation to biological explanations), extroverts and introverts; as mentioned above, has been quite intriguing. (Crisp and Turner, Essential social psychology, p324) I think that I am a bit of both of these. Some days I am very much extrovert and try engaging more with my friends, family and work colleagues to gain some stimulation. Yet other days, I just want to be by myself as I gain enough stimulation with my own mind. But, saying this, I do find myself to be a bit more extrovert, but I don't put enough effort into affiliating with others. I think that I would feel more content if I were to do so. I do live with my other half, and I feel that with that in mind, I am actually more than content. I know that I keep contradicting myself, and it now makes me think that I perhaps don't need to go out to affiliate with others. Maybe this is the reason why I don't? Not because I haven't put in any effort, but because I have affiliation constantly within my own living space on a highly emotional level.
Talking about cultural affiliation differences, (which has also been intriguing), connects greatly to my other half's culture. He is from a country which has a collectivist culture. I researched more into Individualistic and Collectivist countries, and this link proves to be the best for me to gain a true understanding:  http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/orudenstam/2012/10/05/individualism-vs-collectivism/   
My other half is very close to his family and me, and isn't one for socializing at all. I on the other hand, being from an Individualistic culture (Great Britain), do feel the need for some socialization. I am too very close to my family and definitely put them first when it comes to choosing a night out with my best friend or a movie night with my sister. With this in mind, I still have the need to see my best friend and affiliate at another time. My partner doesn't have any close friends, and only seems to socialize, in a very distant manner, at his work place. 
On a more personal level, this subject has been most appealing as it proves to be very true because of my current situation. I have definitely changed over the years to how much I feel the need to affiliate with others. When I was in my teens I would find satisfaction in just being around people, even if they weren't so close to me. Now I haven't got the need to affiliate so much. I seem to have adjusted to being in between individualism and collectivism, and I'm definitely more extrovert on a more personal level but introvert on a not so personal level.
With that in mind, on a professional level, being that bit more extrovert deliberately, would prove to be very useful in any career. I understand now that being slightly introvert isn't right or wrong, but using the Optimization principle can turn out to be very valuable within the workplace. There is always an individual being the 'life of the party' in any job, but it doesn't have to be you or me. As long as you keep a stable relationship with that person and everyone, good things can come out of it such as great opportunities and being able to cooperate without a sour atmosphere.
When I was at college, the phrase; 'seeking affiliation can be fraught by discomfort and anxiety' rings very true to that time in my life and a few other people that I know. (Crisp and Turner, Essential differences in affiliation, p324) There were a lot of people who had already begun friendship ties. Myself and a few others had to make an effort to seek affiliation. Being quite careful about who I socialized with and not having the confidence to bring up conversations (especially in an almost daunting environment), this was incredibly hard, hence, discomfort and anxiety came about quite highly. This was a real learning curve for me, and now this subject on affiliation has made me look at myself. I realize that being careful gives a negative impact and I think people thought that I thought myself as high and mighty, which was the complete opposite. 
Learning from these times has been very convenient and now I am a lot more open with people in the workplace.  To begin with I was very much out of my comfort zone, but now it's become natural and doesn't cause any uneasiness. I think being yourself is extremely important when affiliating with others, even in the beginning stage.
All of the aspects above on affiliation has been incredibly inspiring and I will be applying them into my current and future positions in teaching. Fortunately there is a new music teacher starting next term and I will make the effort to use some of the concepts mentioned above by being myself, leveling out my desires to affiliate and make my extrovert manner more conscious and use it to my best ability. I can give her my email address and phone number whenever she has questions or just wants to build a good working relationship. 
We all need good working relationships.



'Keeeep Blogging'

Task 3A Current Networks

This is the subject in which I initially thought; "Networks!! Arghhh I don't think I have a lot of those" when actually looking up on the different articles from the reading lists and the Reader itself, I began to realise: "Oh, so networks aren't just associated with technology". (I'm sure I wasn't the only one who thought this..) If I was, well, what a 'numpty'.

• What are the current and different ways (tools) that you have, or do, engage your professional network?

 I have my technology tools such as my phone and computer for networks such as; Facebook, Email and WhatsApp. I tend to use WhatsApp mainly with my teaching colleague of whom I work alongside directly, and we discuss our plans for our next class and such. We also, unintentionally, learn about each others' different experiences and use them in some way in our ways of teaching, approaches and ideas. On page 8 of Reader 3, it suggests reading an extract from George Siemens on connectivism. The thing that really stood out to me in this article was a quote by Karen Stephenson. It rings very true to myself and I'm sure to everyone. She said "Since we cannot experience everything, other people's experiences, and hence other people, become the surrogate for knowledge." We can all refer to this with not only our professional networks but our social networks too. I believe that it's more critical in professional networking. Via email I connect with my boss, employer and potential employers, and of course some of my old acquaintances, with whom I have some corresponding work interests. Through all of my colleagues, friends and acquaintances there is potential in finding new contacts and knowledge of which I believe to be very favorable. By facebook I have contacts of all professional and social. I don't contact via facebook so much on the professional side, but I have had a few useful contacts emerge from family, friends and friends-of-friends. Within more face-to-face ways to engage my professional network, I have of course my two jobs and not so common social activities. My job in retail has lead me to a few people, such as customers and work colleagues who are in the performing business in some way, and we often discuss our past experiences and future career plans. Even though I haven't gotten any contacts from these people, or learned anything that constructive tome, it is still good to have people that I can affiliate with on similar career passions. However, there is still potential for these people to be useful on a career basis. Of course, within my teaching position, I have many other teachers around me with the same or similar interests. The students and parents of the students can also be of use for me on a professional level, but for now it's more of a slight social connection with me being the informative one. A lot of the parents drop their children off and when it comes to collecting their child at the end of the day, it's purely a 'question and answer' basis on how their child is doing, with perhaps a few jokes on the side. However, I do have a few parents who tell me in advance how their child has been acting or feeling recently, which in turn, will help me on how I am to deal with that child on that particular day.
Probably my most valuable people within my professional network are my family. Both my Mum and Dad and my two siblings are teachers and have a real passion for performing in some way. There is always face-to-face communication, emailing, texting and talking over the phone with my family when it comes to talking about work and even speaking of it, somehow, indirectly.
I do find that I am very weak at my networking abilities and skills, especially when it comes to the people I know who have more distant, but related interests. This is something I need to work on and understand better for me to benefit from my network communities. I know how important various different skills are of which I've gotten from Siemens 2004 extract. (George Siemens, WBS3730  in Bapp arts, reading lists).

• What are the established (and different) ways that others use their networks, especially if they are more established or experienced practitioners that you admire? 

My sister who is seven years older than me, is a very organized person, and she seems to get different types of opportunities from all sorts of networks. She is a Primary School supply teacher, but also does singing gigs in many different venues via a few different resources (agents, friends, fellow teachers and audience members via email,phone etc). I know for a fact that she uses Facebook, especially to build up her possible convenient contacts for the future. She has kept in contact with so many of her past collage and university friends and associates. She has sparingly referred me to a few people on facebook in the past, but sadly no benefits came from it. Some of the audience members (the guaranteed part of her networking)  have also been beneficial in getting her other gigs and opportunities and giving information that influences her approaches to different aspects of her working life. She makes special efforts to try and talk to as many people as she can, keeping in mind that some people are extroverts and some introverts, so using her ability to sense a shy person from a confident one. In her supply teaching, she uses the benefits of the different school policies and behaviour's to adapt her teaching skills in many ways such as; experimenting. She is always accepting advice and criticism from all of her superiors. Because my sister cares about her job, and really shows it by cooperating and being initiative, the schools recommend her and always want her back. Her husband also works with children, but not as a teacher. So both of them profit off each other to build up there skills and ways to work with certain children. They also know people that are very likely to be useful for each other in some way.
My other half is a manager in retail, and he has many different ways to use his networks. Firstly he speaks to other managers one to one, about how they cope in certain situations and how they've been hitting targets etc. He gains quite a bit of knowledge by doing this and tries it out for himself, almost like a Tit for Tat method, which is mentioned by Axelrod in The Prisoners' Dilemma. (Robert Axelrod, WBS3730 in Bapp arts, reading lists) There is a lot of competition in his work, so it really is like a game. He also has many meetings which he uses to gain understanding on products and it's uses, and therefore debating what he can actually do with this knowledge to better himself and to be top of the region. In the meetings, his superiors will talk about what standards they expect and what approaches they want them to use, and give information on good practice that they have seen from other managers. He speaks with his manager one on one via email and phone quite often to find out more information that can benefit his work, and asks for advice.
The customers also play a big role in his networking as they give feedback about their service that they received etc, hence he learns from anything positive and builds on it, and learns anything negative and corrects it. He keeps in contact with a few of his past colleagues, and use them to get information on other potential job positions going, of which are better paid or closer to home. 

• Are there methods, approaches and technologies that you use socially that might apply and help you develop your professional networking?

Facebook is definitely a technology tool that I can use to help build up my professional networking. I do have plenty of people on there that could be of use in professional ways other than social communicating, such as people who are stage directors, stage technicians, sound and lighting people etc. They may know things that come about that will be useful for my career in performing arts teaching. They may have hearsay or assured knowledge about events of which they are looking for children to perform in a show. Through them, I have one foot in the door so to speak on giving my students an opportunity to perform in front of a possible large audience.
I often speak with my best friend on beauty products and routines. What hair products we use, or what hair dye we use, and make up etc. We always practice with something that the other has used to see for ourselves whether it's right thing to use for us individually. My best friend also works with children but of a very young age, and she has been doing this for many years now. So there is some use of my best friend in a professional manner, as I can learn from her experiences with children. Trial and error, the same as with the beauty products.
When I'm with a bunch of people, I tend to be quite inquisitive about how their lives are going, for example; their love life. I find out all sorts of information on their relationships and how they deal with certain situations and arguments. Some of it is rather typical, but sometimes it's rather unique and it makes me think about my own relationship and how I deal with situations. Sometimes I gather up some of their unintentional advice, and see how it works within my relationship. This is advice on my own reactions to things within the relationships and to perhaps stop and think before I do or say anything. I can use this method in asking about how their working life is going, and seeing where it leads. 

• When you reflect upon current networks, can you think about the motives of others to be in the network and what values and purpose they have in mind? 

I actually have an acquaintance, of whom I met at an audition once, who always contacts me on facebook to find out about closed auditions. She doesn't have an agent and sometimes just sneaks in to a closed audition with me. I'm not close to her really, but we have the connection of dance. Her motive is clear, and her value and purpose is to get noticed and to get a job. There aren't as many people in closed auditions so this is a great, rather sneaky opportunity to her. I'm sure she isn't the only one of course.
I also work side a girl who as not long graduated from stage school. She just wants a job, either teaching or performing. Naturally she always asks me questions and asks for advice, particularly on the performing side. I give her contacts and websites to visit that can give her more of a chance of getting auditions and interviews.
Generally, people are in it for themselves in a professional network, but are also there as a guide to others.
In social networking, it's about sharing experiences and asking advice in more usual everyday things. Affiliation is more for the social in most people's lives. I believe that people who are more introvert benefit from the technology form of networking a lot more than extroverts, purely because extroverts want to get out there and be noticed and want to learn this way.

• What would your ideal network look like and why?

I have the similar views as Laura-May Houghton on this. My ideal network would have people working as a team. Building each other up by the help of advice and constructive criticism. Sharing knowledge that may be very beneficial for other people in the same business or similar. Being competitive, but in a non-conniving way so that you keep shaping and piecing together things that you are learning, 'Tit for Tat' but with an equal amount of selfishness and selflessness. All of this helps each other to grow and also figure out goals that you want to achieve.

• What realistic things could you do to work towards developing your ideal network?

Perhaps I can create a page on Facebook that can bring all sorts of people together with similar interests and careers. In a way this can promote yourself and get noticed and can bring really beneficial contacts together to work together in a non immediate way. Sometimes not meeting people face to face can be an easier way to make a team as you don't have the possible issues of not getting along with people, character wise.
I can also ask around for advice from people who may have done a similar thing or plan to. Maybe I can team up with somebody to create the ideal network.

• What tools and methods do you need to use? What do you know about your current, and intended networks, and importantly, what do you not know?

I could really do with using the Tit for Tat method in a bigger and much broader way. I only tend to take advice from people or take on something they've said in small dosages. Perhaps I have little determination and definitely not a lot of nerve to try new things in full. I really need to.
I need to use my inquisitiveness in my professional networks and ask into peoples careers and people they may know.
There is definitely more that I don't know in my current and intended networks. For example, I don't know how many potential connections are out there for me. I don't believe I have many connections, but it's probably all hidden from me, just because I haven't gotten myself out there to try and find them.
I want to teach. I know that there must be some connections to other teachers or people associated with schools or dance schools.


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