My main 5 sources of information...
1. My smart phone
2. Books
Even though technology has vastly changed over the years I do rely heavily on books for my teaching methods and knowledge. As I am in a practise where I am combining the arts with education I feel it is important to me and my practise that I am up to date and knowledgeable about behaviour management,SEN children, questioning, assessment criteria, P.E curriculum as well as dance, choreography and music. A strong combination of these topics will benefit myself and the children I teach because I have the knowledge to deal with situations that may arise with an SEN child or that I know how to question a child to help them progress, without this source i would be failing myself and my practise.
3. Staff room board
Often when I teach P.E in schools for a full day I check the staff room white board, this board will indicate everything that is going on in the school for the day and will highlight to me of any changes to lessons or rooms that are available. This white board is valuable to me so I am prepared for the school day ahead, if I do not check the board I could miss vital information and mess up the teachers and children day. Also it affects the safety of my students as this is where they often put up about a fire alarm test, it is important I know this information so that I can remove the children from the hall safely and quickly for the practise.4. TES magazine / website
This magazine and website provides me with information about jobs in education, resources for my lessons and keep me up to date with current news in education. I mainly work in Primary schools, even though I come from a arts background I feel it is beneficial to me to be in the know about education. Without keeping myself knowledgeable I am not practising my practise very well. By having this knowledge about the education system jobs and resources I can use I feel a more rounded teacher and a part of the education system.
https://www.tes.com
5. Youtube I use Youtube regularly in my professional practise for a variety of reasons, I use it for research on dancers or dances, inspiration, information about teaching techniques and I find it keep see up to date in the arts industry as so many videos of dances/ performers are shared online. I feel it is very important to keep inspired and up to date wth the latest trends when I was training at college the new styles and music was in front of me, now as a teacher I feel that it is part of my practise to keep up to date and well researched at all times. i feel strongly that if I was not up to date my students would be bored and my work/ dances that I create would be out of date.
Any comments welcome and let me know if you use any of these resources in a similar way or a different way ?
Hi Lois, I never thought of books as one of my sources- but of course they are! I completely overlooked them as I viewed Web 2.0 as a greater source. The staff board is a valuable source as I would not know the days agenda if it was not there - I forgot that one too! I use a great resource website for SEN children called 'Twinkl' it has some amazing ideas about lessons plans and sensory needs. Have you established a 'Community of Practice' within the teaching industry? Do you use Web 2.0 to communicate within teaching?
ReplyDeleteHi Lois,
ReplyDeleteI also use YouTube as a massive source of information. It can be a great visual aid for learning new things. In the past I have used YouTube for uploading videos so that students were able to watch choreography or something we had performed in class, but having recently become more aware of different networks and keeping my online profile private from pupils I wondered if this was an issue you had even come across? Would you ever use YouTube in a way that pupils could access your videos or do you only use it for personal research?
In my own blog post I didn't really touch on YouTube too much so it's interesting to read your section on it. When you wrote "keeping up with the latest trends" it resonated with me. As a classically trained dancer, 'trends' have never really changed in that genre. Of course you have ballets from different eras and centuries which have different techniques and feels but the idea of staying up to date on the current 'trend' of dancing is definitely something that I learnt from and researched into.
ReplyDeleteI think the only thing that tends to change in classical ballet in the trends area are particular preferences from different companies depending on where they are in the world. For example if you were to dance in a Cuban ballet company you would be expected to be able to do tens and tens of pirouettes as it is something unique to their style of company. Even when dancing with a girl, you just have to keep on paddling her around in a supported pirouette for at least 15 turns.
It has been very insightful to read and ponder about 'trends' in dance and they differ from style to style.
Hi Lawrence, it was really interesting to hear you take on classical ballet. You mentioned that trends haven't really changed in that genre. I'm relatively familiar with the work of contemporary choreographer Matthew Bourne who takes classical ballets such as Swan Lake and makes them his own. I did a bit of research into his background as I wondered if some of the reasoning or inspiration behind his initial idea of the company could've been down to trends or presenting these amazing, traditional pieces and making them more relatable and 'trendy' for a more modern, maybe more youthful audience. What are your thoughts on this and his work? I read a great article that he did which I believe links in with this part of the module tremendously. Here's the link if you fancy checking it out:
Deletehttp://www.ideastap.com/IdeasMag/the-knowledge/matthew-bourne-new-adventures
You also mention about the cultural implements on ballet around the world in relation to dance itself and expectations. The reader, and Hofstede (1980) more specifically, mentions cultural differences having impact on affiliation. This in regards to preferred levels of interaction and privacy. Have you noticed any other cultural differences?
Thanks,
Megan
Hi Victoria, I haven't used that resource before so thanks for that I will have a look into in. I communicate with teachers through web2.0 via Facebook groups for teaching ideas however my closer network would be my work colleagues and that is mainly face to face or via telephone. How do you communicate in the teaching industry? Thanks Lois
ReplyDeleteHi Skye, Thats interesting that you use youtube for choreography, is that for academy classes like ISTD and outside of school classes? Do you have to get permission to upload the students or do you dance it ?
ReplyDeleteThe girls I teach outside of school hours have their own wassap group so they film during the lesson then post it in the group to practise and they made a deal it doesn't go on social media as they want to keep it private, the girls are teenagers.
I use youtube for personal research if the students want to have a place to share the choreography and if they are old enough then I leave it up to them but I say it must not go on social media, who ever puts it up there will be a disciplinary for their actions.
I am incredibly careful on social media as I teach in primary schools across north london and private academies, I feel it is so important to keep that teacher student relationship so all of my social media sites are private and no one can access them without my say so.
Hi Laurence, really interesting comment about ballet, I suppose their are no trends its classic and apart from the things you mentioned I don't know any other ways that it changes.
ReplyDeleteI teach children from the age of 5- 18 years old it is a big part of my job to be able to relate to them and to know what music they like and what styles are new out their to keep my lesson fresh and up to date. Thanks Lois
Hi Lois. Your post had a similar affect on me as it did to Victoria. Your mention of 'staff room board' as a main source of information made a penny drop over here. I'd completely forgotten about our company notice board at the theatre which pins up our schedule, venue information etc. I think the reason I forgot about it is because we also get this information submitted via email but I know from older members of the company that it was always essential in earlier years to check the company board on a regular basis - this any changes to call times, additional rehearsals, social events. Do you use a similar source in your lessons? When I've taught in the past I've sometimes used a board to write down the lessons objectives or key points for students to refer back to as a study aid. Do you think this source of information is become less apparent, do you also receive vital information via emails?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Megan.
Hi Lois! It's really interesting reading how the sources of a teacher differ to the sources of a performer in the industry. I think a common source for all of us is definitely the internet and there is such a wide variety of information out there! You said you are very careful with your privacy settings and what you post on social media, do you think being a teacher you have been made more aware of this? Do you think that you would behave differently on social media platforms and the internet if you were not a teacher? Like Victoria I also overlooked books and didn't even think about this when writing about my sources of income. I think this shows me that Web 2.0 if definitely a dominant source of mine!
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