Approach
When criticising your own professional practice, it is very hard to know where to start without critiquing every detail of your work. I see reflective writing as problem solving, so I decided to work through my day noting the problems I came across. At the end of the day there were a few things that either didn't go to plan, need improvement or certain aspects that need more thought and planning. Some issues came hand in hand with a very straight forward solution and some not so much. Reflecting on your own practice almost gives you an overview of your performance but it doesn't always give you straight answers.
We know within our working day when things don't go to plan, we sense that something needs adjusting or more attention, but we don't always know how to correct it and how to better ourselves. The way I decided to tackle problem solving is via approach. How did I approach the situation? What alternative approach could I try next time? There are so many types and method of approach that we use for certain situations, but prior to this period of self reflection I have never thought about using a method that seems to work in a different situation.
At work I have to have two completely different masks, from working at a school for students with specialist needs, to teaching ISTD syllabus work in a private dance school. Have I ever intertwined approaches to see how they work in a different environment? No, and why have I never done this before? Dance classes at school come from inspiration of the day and we use our every day movements to evolve this into a dance. But at dance school in the evenings, I am there to teach syllabus work. I started my day at school by teaching one of my own exercises as a structured building block for the class, I didn't know how the students were going to react as they don not like nor welcome change. However, crisis was not the case. They loved the warm up followed by a set exercise, to start their bodies moving and get their creative brains on and in the mood to dance. I regret not doing this sooner, I guess I was just hesitant to change their routine and got stuck in that same routine my self.
On the other hand, at dance school I changed the routine and started off my classes with 5 minutes of acting out one part of the day and turning it into a dance. My syllabus classes and deadlines, don't really allow for a lot of time for creativity. The students were hesitant at first, but after a few weeks they got used to it and I saw improvements in their improvisation exercises. They were able to settle into the class and became more confident with expression and free movement.
Was I restricting students creativity by drowning them in structure? And elsewhere at school, was I concentrating on letting them feel the movement and draining all of their creativity and not teaching them any new material? This reflection has allowed me to find a different approach to different aspects of my work. The change in approach didn't come to me straight away and I battled with myself to try and find a different pathway, but it definitely paid off.
In the future I am going to note down problems I come across on a regular basis, to keep on evolving upon my classes and make sure that I am giving all of my students better opportunities.
We know within our working day when things don't go to plan, we sense that something needs adjusting or more attention, but we don't always know how to correct it and how to better ourselves. The way I decided to tackle problem solving is via approach. How did I approach the situation? What alternative approach could I try next time? There are so many types and method of approach that we use for certain situations, but prior to this period of self reflection I have never thought about using a method that seems to work in a different situation.
At work I have to have two completely different masks, from working at a school for students with specialist needs, to teaching ISTD syllabus work in a private dance school. Have I ever intertwined approaches to see how they work in a different environment? No, and why have I never done this before? Dance classes at school come from inspiration of the day and we use our every day movements to evolve this into a dance. But at dance school in the evenings, I am there to teach syllabus work. I started my day at school by teaching one of my own exercises as a structured building block for the class, I didn't know how the students were going to react as they don not like nor welcome change. However, crisis was not the case. They loved the warm up followed by a set exercise, to start their bodies moving and get their creative brains on and in the mood to dance. I regret not doing this sooner, I guess I was just hesitant to change their routine and got stuck in that same routine my self.
On the other hand, at dance school I changed the routine and started off my classes with 5 minutes of acting out one part of the day and turning it into a dance. My syllabus classes and deadlines, don't really allow for a lot of time for creativity. The students were hesitant at first, but after a few weeks they got used to it and I saw improvements in their improvisation exercises. They were able to settle into the class and became more confident with expression and free movement.
Was I restricting students creativity by drowning them in structure? And elsewhere at school, was I concentrating on letting them feel the movement and draining all of their creativity and not teaching them any new material? This reflection has allowed me to find a different approach to different aspects of my work. The change in approach didn't come to me straight away and I battled with myself to try and find a different pathway, but it definitely paid off.
In the future I am going to note down problems I come across on a regular basis, to keep on evolving upon my classes and make sure that I am giving all of my students better opportunities.
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