What have you noticed?

So, I've been talking a lot with my BA dance students this week about taking time to look around them and to note in some way, what they notice.  This came up through choreography workshops and my concern that most of my students were desperately searching for inspiration, ideas to choreography 'about' outside of them/their own interests.  The idea of actually noticing what they notice, what's around them, what they feel about it seemed quite novel to them as a starting point, to begin to explore through movement.

It made me think of the way we can distance ourselves not only from our surroundings but from our 'selves' too; missing out on the opportunities that may be right there within/around us through not being open/able to see them.  Why do we see 'things' -  research, choreography, as separate from us, when it is us, our experience of the world around us and our place within it that offers us a route to our understanding of these 'things'.

An embodied approach to learning suggests that we learn through our experiences, that experience is knowledge, so how can we expect to understand things if we hold back from experiencing them, by seeing ourselves as a separate entity?

With appreciation for different learning styles and routes in needed for each of us, it is important within the MAPP DTP to find your way through to an embodied experience, to begin to understand your prior learning from the experiences your different roles have offered you (Module Ones), to begin to recognise and value what interests you, how you feel about it in relation to how you situate yourself within the world around you, your social, cultural, political, philosophical views, and how what interests you may already be spoken about by others from similar/different stances (Module Twos), and Module Three's to really immerse your 'self' in your research project, following your curiosity, noticing what you find and how you feel about it, how your experience of your research offers you understanding and knowledge.

See what you notice, see what you think...

Look forward to catching up with everyone in our group skype chat
next SUNDAY MARCH 2, 11am.

Helen

You don't always need a plan...

A nice quote I came across today...particularly thinking of those of you setting off with Module Two this term : )

You don't always need a plan.

Sometimes you just need to breathe,

trust, let go and see what happens.

(Mandy Hale)

Have a good week...

Helen

Settling in...

A week of adjusting, noticing, reading, thinking as you all begin the first steps of your next MAPP journey

Great to talk with most of you during our Skype group call last weekend, hoping the general fear/excitement is slowly tipping more towards excitement this week!  Thanks for sharing your thoughts through your blogs this week too!  Don't forget to check-in with each others if you haven't done so yet.  All of our blog addresses are listed on the LibGuides page:

http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/content.php?pid=290681&sid=3466977

A brief check-in for the first week's learning:

Module Ones - Making sense of the module handbooks, talking to your advisor if you have any questions.  Starting to look at your CV as your first task.  Try to really begin unpicking what each role has involved in terms of the learning embedded in it.  Begin to get into some sort of study routine, check-in on each others blogs as well as ours and writing your own, weekly if you can.

Module Twos - Try to start embracing research as part of you, something that is all around you, that you do on a regular basis, without necessarily articulating it as such prior to now.  Try not to hold it at arms length as something separate to you.  Maybe look back over your AOLs and start to see what you notice in them, what questions you may have within certain areas, or identifying threads of conversations running through them.  Drawing up a framework for yourselves working back from the assessment submission date for this module (May 13th) was something that was suggested following your apprehensions voiced last weekend.  Join the Linked-In MAPP Dance Pedagogy discussion group, read back through previous discussions see what you notice there, what others have said, what questions you have.

Module Threes - Talking with your advisor.  Looking at your Gantt chart, looking at your research proposal and the feedback you've received on it.  Reviewing what you have proposed to do, and working out how you might begin doing it!  Share your research areas/ideas through your blogs, start talking/writing about what it is that interests you, what you are researching.  See what comments you may get from others.  

Date for your diaries - Sunday March 2, 11am Next Group Skype.

Remember you can arrange a one-to-one with your advisor at any time also

  <aonthephone> - Adesola

  <helen.kindred2> - Helen

All for now...

Helen