Great to talk with many of you these past two weeks - if you haven't yet signed up for a first supervision of the term. please email me to book a time for this week!
As
we all get
settled into the new term finding your relationship with your study is important and a way to start doing this is to be aware of your rhythms of energy, commitments, work, home life in relationship with finding a space for study. Figuring out when and where the MA is part of your
life to that your practice and your study becoming intertwined.This is essential in a programme which is about your Professional Practice. As you move through the first couple of weeks, reading
through module handbooks, gathering resources from the reading list
and becoming more conscious perhaps of your own practice as a 'thing', it
is important to remind yourself to take the time to listen to your own
rhythms, observe your own patterns and be aware of your own learning
processes.
The MA programmes are centred around you and your professional practice and
aims through guiding and deepening your reflective practice to develop you
as practitioners in your fields and within the field of
dance pedagogy.
Module Ones, this module is about reflecting on your learning through practice to date. So,
locating yourself where you are today through mapping a landscape of your
past learning experiences. We recognise that you come to the programme with
vast and varied bodies of experience and we are coming from the position
of experience = knowledge, but there needs to be a process in the space
between (reflection) which makes meaningful the learning from
experience. The module handbook gives you dates and deadlines, what needs
to be submitted and when, and talks you through observing and
engaging in reflection on your practice in order that you will be in a place to
first identify and then to articulate in writing what you consider to be your
Areas of Learning (this will form part of your RPL – Recognised Prior Learning
claim). The handbook offers you the skeleton of the module,
your engagement with the learning community, literature, your
openness to engage in the process of learning through reflection offers you the
flesh you'll need to complete the module.
Module Twos and Three's, different journeys for you but still needing
space to breath in order to move. Module Two - a lot to cover, try to look
at all the elements starting by referring back to the AOLs you submitted
for the previous module as a reminder of key areas of
your practice, identify the area of your research rather than
search for the 'perfect question' at this stage. Reading around your area of
interest and being within your practice with those thoughts will help
your questioning develop.
Module Three's start also by reading back over your research proposals. You're
now setting off on doing what you planned in the last module! You've created
your map, it may / should shift and take alternative routes as you progress
along it, learning from doing, being open to change and being responsive
to it along the way.
Start using your blogs to share your thoughts and questions and comment on others also.
