Questions...

Hoping that you've all had good and productive weeks, and schedules that have allowed for some time to think, reflect and assimilate learning also...

Those on Module One - thanks for sharing initial thoughts this week on beginning your MAPP journeys, hopefully you've had a look through your CV and current Job Description this week, please send drafts of these to your advisor via email so that we can feed into your reflections on yourself via your practice past and present and discuss areas that have been significant in your coming to this point in your career.  Please don't forget to attribute value to unpaid as well as paid roles, to experiential as well as accredited learning routes, to question what experiences have shaped and influenced your journeys, to question how you have learnt what you now consider you know, and question what you know you do not know.  To begin to reflect on your learning through different roles, different phases in your career.   Question, how did you get here, and where is here?

Modules Two and Three, it has been great to read and join your discussions on Linked-in this week, keep unpicking the notions of positivist and non-positivist approaches understanding them as they stand in themselves as well as in application to research in dance.  Question where you sit within these proposed systems...Why?

A question raised recently by the Higher Education Academy is that over the use of touch in dance teaching and learning.  I have been approached this week by a student questioning the use of touch within a dance class, describing an incident in which she felt uncomfortable with a teacher using a hands-on approach in giving a correction.  She asked me whether teachers should ask a students permission before making physical contact with them in class.

Quite a difficult issue, whilst physical contact is widely considered part of everyday practice in the field of dance, training, choreography, performance..it is still an issue with carries ethical considerations and needs responses.

I came across a report, written by Fiona Bannon, commissioned by the Higher Education Academy, entitled Relational Ethics, Dance, Touch and Learning, thought I would share it with you and be interested to hear your views on the subject too.

https://drive.google.com/?tab=jo&authuser=0#my-drive

Helen

Reading..(w)Riting...Reflecting..

Nice to catch in on some of your blogs this week and read about the thoughts arising from your initial reading of the module handbooks and from your research specific literature (Module Twos and Threes).  Questions concerning time, process, documentation, sharing of practice, intentions of imagery in teaching all out there..do take a look and respond to each others blogs when you can.  Some great opening discussions around Professionalism on the Linked-in group discussions also this week, take a look and feed in your thoughts if you haven't already, this is going to be a great place for sharing ideas, research, posing questions, maybe finding answers, maybe posing some more questions!    Start to share your experiences of the suggested tasks in your handbook this week also if you haven't and if you can, start forming your opinions based on knowledge, related to philosophy within a particular field of practice.  How do you interpret an historical account, how do you interpret what you see in a body of work?

Module Ones I hope you have had a chance to wade through (without feeling too swamped) your introduction and task handbooks this week, it would be great if you could share your thoughts on what you've read, on embarking on the MA, raise any questions through your blogs this week.  I wonder if any events in your own teaching practice have struck you this week, what have you experienced, what have you thought about it?  Do start keeping your personal Reflective Journals to document all of this as you go through the whole programme, those on Module Two remember to keep these journals going also, but try to share your thoughts on the tasks in the handbooks as you complete them too; whilst they are not for formal assessment, it would be interesting for you (and us) to share your experiences.  What have you learned from theory about reflection, and what are you thinking about how this theory might relate to your own teaching practice?  What questions arise for you?  What is affirmed?  Try to blog on this, this week as it will also help you in preparation for looking at your CV and current Job Description next.

Have a good week, look forward to hearing about some of it!

Helen

New Beginnings

So, we're all getting ready to start term on Monday...A big Welcome to those joining the MAPP journey this term and a warm welcome back to those of you returning this term to embark on the next stage of your journey through the MAPP DTP.

As we're all thinking about new starts and preparation for new experiences and learning I thought I would make a list, as I find lists help me to at least identify things that are happening in my life.  Whether I work through the things on that list methodically or end up adding more to it, as one item, sparks an idea that generates three more, that's another matter!  But here we go..

A weekend 'to do' list:

1.  Make sure you can access all the materials relevant to your module on the libguides page

http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/mappDTP

2. Have a read through your Module Handbook.
For those about to start Module One make sure you read through the Introduction to Module One Handbook FIRST, and for all, note down any thoughts or questions you may have as you go.

3.  For those on Module One, have a go at getting your blogs set up, we recommend using the e-blogger site for this, guidance on 'how to' is in your Introduction to Module One Handbook, or feel free to skype with your advisor for help.  Once set up, why not post your first blog and share your thoughts on starting the programme with the rest of the MAPP community here.
For those on Module Two and Three, get yourselves linked-in on Linked-in!
linkedin.com
and join the discussions, check in with each other there with your thoughts on planning or starting your research for your next modules.

4.  Go through your diaries and make a note to check in with each others and our blogs at some point each week if you can.  Do this at a time that works for you, when you have some time, and don't worry if you have a hectic week and don't manage to blog religiously on the day you'd intended!  I tend to blog on Fridays, Adesola on a Thursday or Friday.  Blog when you want to, when you have something to share, and do leave comments to other blogs that you read also, lots of fruitful discussions about dance, art, teaching, MAPP modules and life in general can grow that way...

5.  Go out for a walk, bake a cake, run yourself a hot bath...have some time to do whatever it is you like to do to relax, rest mind, body and spirit and look forward to the journey that lies ahead...

Helen

New Year...New Info

Hello, welcome (almost) back!

As it's feeling rather a long time since I blogged last on here and just to begin to get your minds and bodies back into gear a little before we re-start MAPPing on Feb 1, I thought I would post this...

Firstly a very Happy New Year to you all, I hope you have all managed to enjoy something of a break and some peaceful time with family and friends and I hope January has begun well for you.

Adesola and I have been reviewing course materials for the MAPP DTP and have had a bit of a re-jig of your LibGuides page too, hopefully making it a little clearer and easier for you to navigate and able to accommodate our growing community with some new folks starting their MAPP journeys with us in Feb.

http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/mappDTP

If you have a chance to take a look and want to get your heads around your next module, you can find your Module Handbooks under module specific pages, (Module One, Module Two, Module Three) under the Modules & Materials tab.  Please refer to these handbooks now, not older versions you may have viewed on LibGuides before the Christmas.  As you begin to plan your research (Module twos) or implement your research plan (Module threes) there are a number of consent forms you will need to complete in order to safe guard your practice and those your research may impact on.  These are all listed under your module pages for you to download.  For Module Two and Module Three we also want to encourage the development of special interest groups (related to your individual areas of research) through Linked-in discussion forums.  If you're not familiar with Linked-in, maybe take a look at it now.

http://www.linkedin.com/

When we meet on Feb 1, I will have hard copies of your handbooks to give to you, if you are unable to make it to the campus coffee afternoon on the 1st, do let me know and we can arrange a time to make our own coffee and enjoy them over a Skype call!  If you would like me to post you a copy of your next handbook, not a problem just let me know.

So...on with the marking here : ) and looking forward to seeing some of you, and talking with others on Feb 1.  Let's meet in the Grove Atrium (Costa) at 4pm?


Helen

Submissions and Coffee : )

So, as you're furiously all wading through your portfolios and your essays in amongst passing thoughts of Dec 25th looming and remembering what you haven't bought yet...just thought I'd add to the brain overload with the nuts and bolts if submitting your assessment materials too!

Jan 7th 2013 Deadline:

You can submit by post:

Helen Kindred, Programme Leader MA Professional Practice, Dance Pedagogy
School of Media and Performing Arts
Middlesex University London
The Burroughs
Hendon
London NW4 4BT

by email:
h.kindred@mdx.ac.uk

or in person
UniHelp desk in the Sheppard Library, Hendon Campus (please note the UniHelp desk is closed Dec 22-Jan 1)

and then...
time for a coffee and a catch up altogether!!

Adesola and I thought it would be really nice to have a couple of points in the year after submission points when (if possible) we can all come together for coffee and a chance to touch base with each other and share experiences (stresses) of the module.

So, we would like to invite you all to a MAPP Coffee Morning (except it's in the afternoon) on
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 4PM, COSTA COFFEE, THE GROVE ATRIUM, HENDON CAMPUS


This is not a requirement, just an informal coffee break that we hope some of you will be able to make. It will be a chance to meet and share your experiences with the new January starter MAPPers too, as this will be their induction day too.

So, wishing you all, all the very best for the holidays and the scurrying together of your assignments,

I am on email/Skype/phone until midday tomorrow (Dec 21) and will be available again from Jan 3, 2013 if you need any help.

Helen

Write and re-write...

Drafting, re-drafting, writing what you know, writing about what you didn't know, grappling with what you still don't know, but know you don't know it...
pausing...breathing...
reading, re-thinking, re-writing, re-considering...
pausing...breathing...
re-writing...
pausing...breathing...
re-writing...
pausing...breathing...
re-reading...
submitting.


YOU WILL GET THERE!
but don't forget the PAUSING AND BREATHING...


module one has been all about reflection, why would the process of writing the assignment be any different?

Supporting Thinking...

How do you know what you know? (yes I come back to it!)

You know something because you have experienced it, felt it, sensed it, touched it, been moved by it, moved in it.  Huge amounts of learning as dancers taking place within and through our bodies.  Though through an understanding of embodiment we know that the body is not (for those that follow this theory) a separate entity from the mind.  How do we know about theories such as embodiment and dualism?  Because we have read about them, understood them through applying them (in practice) and been able to integrate our learning within both body and mind.  

The same process needs to happen in academic writing, integrating theory with practice.  What have you read during this module?  What have you related to in terms of your practice;  doing, teaching, observing?  What/who has influenced you along your journey through this module?  Who/what has inspired, challenged, provoked you?  Students, writers, practitioners, colleagues, philosophers, artists, all sources of research, which from reading your blogs I know you are identifying with and feeding from, so make sure you acknowledge them in your writing.

Adesola has already posted on her MAPP blog offering guidance as to academic writing, citations, references to research for the...use this.  Writing at this level must be supported, ie: backed up by research, underpinned by theory, acknowledged in context.  Whilst the RoL essays are your reflection on your journey through this module, they need to move beyond personal narratives and find greater substance within a pedagogical, artistic, philosophical and academic framework.

Go back to your notes from whatever you have been reading in relation to this module/time, to the tasks suggested in your Introduction to Module One handbook, how did you approach them, what did you take from them, where did they or your reading lead you?  Try to follow this learning journey, which has you very much at the heart of it, but which also contextualises you and your experiential learning within a broader framework of knowledge.

See how you sit there...in the glory of YOUR knowledge of dance pedagogy.