'Give the child a Voice' they aren't our puppets or trophies.
I was very interested to hear George talk about how dancers at HE level seemed reluctant to try anything for themselves as they have become used to this 'spoon fed' culture expecting to be told what to do mainly because the teacher is always telling them what to do! This troubled me as I know we need to find our innovative choreographers for the future so we need to educate our young dancers to think creatively. This put me in mind of my childhood learning to dance when my teacher would stand at the front and we would be expected to watch, listen copy practise and learn. We weren't able to speak at all. Perhaps we got more done. I realise that dance is a discipline and group cohesion is necessary, but don't believe this has to be forced. I think you can engage children by including them and using methods they relate to, to keep them interested. What do you think? How do you teach? 'A teacher needs a wide range of teaching strategies in order to stimulate and engage a young dancer' (Chappell 2007).
Group dynamics interests me, as John Dewey has written much on this subject and how the dynamics in a group can change depending on the individuals in the group and I think the teachers reading of this really matters. Finest performances are from individuals that can think from the inside out.
I think we as teachers need to give children the tools in class to be able to do this. Educating the 'whole person'. Dewey talks of drawing from past experience of our childhood and the world around us - nature. 'Outlining a philosophy of experience'. I think we could tap into this more as dance teachers - to bring some depth and truth to performance. We can only encourage this by connecting with the children, taking a Holistic approach.
Apparently most of us start as teachers practising in the exact same way as our teachers, it is only through experience of trying new methods and finding which work that we evolve as our own kind of teacher. Kurt Lewin has this cycle of learning Freeze, Unfreeze, Freeze and I think we are always doing it mostly without realising. The Reflective Journal has made me realise some of 'how' we do this. My example which wasn't a particularly good one, was that I had entered a ballet class and all the dancers danced in the same way. Facially they expressed in the same way. This suggests to me that the dance was copied from the teacher and not expressed individually or perhaps this was the result that the teacher wanted. The teacher had not asked them how the music had made them feel, or how it had effected them. A true artist is one that really feels the movement from within. But also, some children struggle to do this and need a different approach as they learn differently - Kolbs learning cycle I have found a great example to contemplate how each of us think and learn differently and then how to help children learn through 'active experimentation'. And in Heglian Idealism I believe 'living things are self generating and constantly creating their own being' is a good theory to parallel to this.
Chelsea spoke about Culture and how she includes depth in the learning of different styles of dance from different countries and backgrounds. Encouraging cultural respect, listening to each other, would also manifest itself helping the group to unite. There are ethics with this. But, we did also say how difficult it might be for a Classically trained dancer to adapt later on to learning another style which felt 'Alien' to them. This helped me reflect on the fact that most dancers need more than one go at picking up a new style and as much as we need to bring creative thinkers in class we also still need repetition.
I have found the Reflective Journal amazingly inspiring and this has helped me to critically reflect on myself as a teacher now and look at my practise in a new light. I am remembering past situations and re-evaluating them all the time.
How are you all getting on with this? I haven't managed to read any of your blogs but intend to do that now I can access them. I'm looking forward to reading George and Chelseas!
I was very interested to hear George talk about how dancers at HE level seemed reluctant to try anything for themselves as they have become used to this 'spoon fed' culture expecting to be told what to do mainly because the teacher is always telling them what to do! This troubled me as I know we need to find our innovative choreographers for the future so we need to educate our young dancers to think creatively. This put me in mind of my childhood learning to dance when my teacher would stand at the front and we would be expected to watch, listen copy practise and learn. We weren't able to speak at all. Perhaps we got more done. I realise that dance is a discipline and group cohesion is necessary, but don't believe this has to be forced. I think you can engage children by including them and using methods they relate to, to keep them interested. What do you think? How do you teach? 'A teacher needs a wide range of teaching strategies in order to stimulate and engage a young dancer' (Chappell 2007).
Group dynamics interests me, as John Dewey has written much on this subject and how the dynamics in a group can change depending on the individuals in the group and I think the teachers reading of this really matters. Finest performances are from individuals that can think from the inside out.
I think we as teachers need to give children the tools in class to be able to do this. Educating the 'whole person'. Dewey talks of drawing from past experience of our childhood and the world around us - nature. 'Outlining a philosophy of experience'. I think we could tap into this more as dance teachers - to bring some depth and truth to performance. We can only encourage this by connecting with the children, taking a Holistic approach.
Apparently most of us start as teachers practising in the exact same way as our teachers, it is only through experience of trying new methods and finding which work that we evolve as our own kind of teacher. Kurt Lewin has this cycle of learning Freeze, Unfreeze, Freeze and I think we are always doing it mostly without realising. The Reflective Journal has made me realise some of 'how' we do this. My example which wasn't a particularly good one, was that I had entered a ballet class and all the dancers danced in the same way. Facially they expressed in the same way. This suggests to me that the dance was copied from the teacher and not expressed individually or perhaps this was the result that the teacher wanted. The teacher had not asked them how the music had made them feel, or how it had effected them. A true artist is one that really feels the movement from within. But also, some children struggle to do this and need a different approach as they learn differently - Kolbs learning cycle I have found a great example to contemplate how each of us think and learn differently and then how to help children learn through 'active experimentation'. And in Heglian Idealism I believe 'living things are self generating and constantly creating their own being' is a good theory to parallel to this.
Chelsea spoke about Culture and how she includes depth in the learning of different styles of dance from different countries and backgrounds. Encouraging cultural respect, listening to each other, would also manifest itself helping the group to unite. There are ethics with this. But, we did also say how difficult it might be for a Classically trained dancer to adapt later on to learning another style which felt 'Alien' to them. This helped me reflect on the fact that most dancers need more than one go at picking up a new style and as much as we need to bring creative thinkers in class we also still need repetition.
I have found the Reflective Journal amazingly inspiring and this has helped me to critically reflect on myself as a teacher now and look at my practise in a new light. I am remembering past situations and re-evaluating them all the time.
How are you all getting on with this? I haven't managed to read any of your blogs but intend to do that now I can access them. I'm looking forward to reading George and Chelseas!
great the different ways of reflecting and journaling are getting you thinking.
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