"..an issue, event, theme, dilemma or whatever is an inquiry for me. This is a deliberate means to keep my questioning open and to help it develop.....It gives me a frame for noting my ever-provisional sense-making as I proceed, articulating it - to self and others - as part of the process of inquiry" [Marshall, 2001] This has made me reflect back to my last couple of dance classes. I have a few unruly four year old's, and they seem to think that they can walk all over me. This made me question my approach to difficult behaviour. I want to develop and I want to know how to be a great teacher and gain respect. This brings me to 'sense-making'. I try to look at myself from anothers' perspective. Surely I am seen as a very soft teacher. That would make a lot of sense. I asked my mother if this could be the reason and she said that it could very well be the reason. Therefore, I tried out raising my voice more often. This has really worked a treat. In just a few weeks I have gained a lot more respect from them.This also relates to the professional expertise's three different types of knowledge in the Reader, propositional, personal and process [Eraut]. This involved all the types of knowledge; personal knowledge as I used my initiative and reflected on my self and the class as a whole, propositional knowledge from simply trying out a method of which I've learned about, and process knowledge for the way I chose to discipline.
'For Peter Senge, real learning gets to the heart of what it is to be human. We become able to re-create ourselves. This applies to both individuals and organizations. Thus, for a ‘learning organization it is not enough to survive. ‘”Survival learning” or what is more often termed “adaptive learning” is important – indeed it is necessary. But for a learning organization, “adaptive learning” must be joined by “generative learning”, learning that enhances our capacity to create" [Senge 1990:14 http://infed.org/mobi/peter-senge-and-the-learning-organization/] This is an inspiration for me, as I for one, struggle to accept change in myself and not always accept the changes around me, even if I know deep down that it's for the best in a lot of cases. Being flexible and adaptable is important when learning and making oneself a better professional practitioner. It makes me relate back to trying out the different ideas in 'Journal writing'. I was stubborn at first and was quite sure of myself to not try something new. I learned how most of the time it's a must to try out new things, and now to adapt one's working to hopefully gain a better outcome. This next statement relates to this somehow; "If our actions are driven by moving away from something then our actions are controlled and defined by whatever it is we are moving away from, not by us and what we would like to be moving towards. Therefore our potential for growth and learning is seriously impaired."[Anderson 1997 http://infed.org/mobi/chris-argyris-theories-of-action-double-loop-learning-and-organizational-learning/ ] This is related to double-loop learning and it makes me doubt my actions now and in the past. I believe that a lot of us work by going away from something rather than working towards something. It makes me question my use of Kolb's learning cycle. When I use this as a template, I use it for when ideas don't work as well as when they do work. So when ideas don't work, what do I aim for afterwards? Do I focus on what I actually want to achieve? Or do I focus on staying clear of something that wasn't achieved? Even though this phrase has made me doubt my actions, I do believe that I carry on focusing on what I want to achieve. Naturally I want to continue to grow and learn, so it's something I will be more aware of in the future.
Sector-based knowledge really stood out to me in the Reader. Seeing as one day I would like to have my own dance school, the 'inter-disciplinary' knowledge is incredibly important for me. I do know the discipline of dance, extremely well, but what about management skills? and dance teaching skills? There are other disciplines that I will need to learn about and gain enough knowledge and skills in to have a successful school.
Saying this though, I do believe that transdisciplinary is within any type of job, including teaching, as typical disciplinary actions may not work for some children as they may, for example, have an undiagnosed type of autism. Seeing as there are many types of autism, a regular approach to discipline will be tested, particularly if you don't know that they have the condition. You would have to work around your own approaches to be able to discipline that particular child effectively.
So, what is research? "..a process of determining knowledge that is valuable to individual learners and their networks."[Alan Durrant] This term in itself is valuable to me, as puts it in a very straight forward way.
Reading 'The Good Research Guide' by Martyn Denscombe, has given me a few different types of strategies that can be used for researching:
- Surveys; [Interviews, questionaires, observation]
- Case studies; [Practical considerations, no real choice]
- Experiments (a model of good practice); [Cause and effect, the use of controls, observation and measurement.]
I'm struggling to decide whether or not to inquire about my issues in dance teaching or just general teaching.
I am currently updating my questions, so will put these in another post!
Good Luck everyone!
'Keeeeep blogging'
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