Finding Balance...

A note for all this week on finding balance...helpful not just in the dance studio, but in our lives.

As you really get into the flow of your study now, working through the module handbooks, reading, reflecting, thinking about the documents you will write it is important to find your relationship with the MA.  That may sound easy, especially as this MA is centred around you and your professional practice, but being in a relationship with it, one that is harmonious and fruitful may not be so straight forward at times.

Achieving a balance between work, study, home can be tricky and something of a juggling act at times.  Try to breathe (always!) and look at things (tasks, to do lists) in bite-size chunks.  Whilst we have been stressing the importance to the connections through the MA as a whole, these can be the undercurrents rather than the waves you ride each day.  Try to focus on a task each week, rather than overload yourself with too much forward thinking.  Sometimes in a race to get to the finish line (assessment  / graduation) you can miss the beauty of the journey.

As you work through Module One, have in mind the final presentation of your work - a Portfolio of your learning presented via your annotated (extended) CV, current Job Description and your claims for accreditation (Area Of Learning essays) illustrated with supporting materials.  Refer to the images for this and signposting on Adesola's blog as a way to visualise what this might look like, then approach it one task at a time.  Let the AOL titles emerge from the process of annotating your CV (reflecting on your prior learning experiences).  This way one thing speaks to the next and the balance between them comes more naturally than 'plucking' titles to write to that may then become onerous tasks.  At the end of the first module you also submit a Review Of Learning essay, offering you a chance to make explicit the connections for your through this module and reflect on the learning journey of this term.  You cannot do this until the end of the module, so let it sit for now, on your radar, but not something 'to do' yet.

In Module Two balance is largely between extending your understanding of your proposed subject area (for your research inquiry) and deepening your knowledge of research as a whole, of approaches to research and methods of research; both through a process of questioning.  The harmony here is achieved when the research methodologies begin to align with methods and are in balance with your questions - not answering them, but in balance with them.

Module Three's you're eventually trying to find a balance between your written paper, oral presentation and professional artefact in the holistic sharing of your research process with a wider community.  In the process of finding that balance you will be looking at the relationship between 'things'; the data, the literature, your experiences.  Right now you're probably in the depths of data collection, questioning, probing, listening, reflecting, responding to the many different light bulbs turning on for you...

Keep it all in perspective.  What balances for you one day may not the next, what balances for one of you simply may not for the next person.  So 'striking a balance'? I'm not sure we truly do, weaving through relationships, balancing multiple things, thoughts, feelings in a constant, fluid process...yes.

What are your thoughts?


Helen