Goodbye, Module 2

And wow, there goes another module! Only one left to go. How did everyone else fare at the end of the semester? I'm feeling good about what I turned in but am definitely ready for summer. Hope everyone has a great summer (and congrats to all the graduates)!

Thoughts Percolating

A few weeks ago I wrote about rest for bodies, but I've noticed that thoughts need rest too. There's a lot of topics I open up for consideration, think through them a little, and then let them sit half open on the computer, as it were, of my mind. After a few months, I suddenly find I have all new thoughts springing up in that area.

There's some learning, I think, that doesn't happen until we're ready. On one hand, that's all learning, and that's an obvious thing to say. But on the other hand, I think sometimes we don't realize just how true it is across the board. Like, it doesn't matter how urgent a matter is that we're thinking through. We might not have found the piece of the puzzle yet from some totally unrelated topic that will help us understand this one. Sometimes things that seem like totally unrelated topics wind up being intertwined and growing up together, each dependent on the other's process.

Has anyone found this to be accurate in their own lives? And if so, any neat examples to share?

When you have a thought but not a name for the thought...

That's been me this module. It's been an odd process realizing that I have pretty developed processes of thinking, but not having names for them. Here's a snippet of my reflection paper draft dealing with it.

When I began this module several months ago, I looked at the module’s research and assignments in two different wings. The first wing was that of philosophical research. What theories underpin my teaching practice? The second wing was that of academic investigation to find and subsequently develop my research topic. Since the whole idea of identifying my methodological outlook intimidated me, I instead eagerly leapt into researching my broad original topic, teaching ballet and modern dancers how to think.

The unfortunate irony was that despite procrastinating thinking about philosophy, my entire topic was philosophically based, in the sense I assumed dancers understanding how to think and create was a skill both important to their careers and valuable in its own right, the latter a potentially debatable topic. I soon found this pedagogical style had a name—feminist pedagogy. Horton Fraleigh writes (1999: 8), ‘Meaning depends on the contextualized whole. Context is the weaving or joining together of elements to produce a whole.’ By giving myself a broader scholarly context for my framework, I was able to make greater meaning of it, not only in the immediate sense of more fully understanding my own thoughts, but also of understanding them in relation to other scholars’ work.

A similar process occurred while reading Suzanne Sullivan’s Living Across and Through Skins, which crafts a concept of feminist pragmatism. Sullivan (2001: 5) elaborates as follows: ‘Pragmatism emphasizes praxis and the value of theory for praxis… It sees knowledge as a tool for enriching experience.’ I have been a pragmatist for some time, but again without realizing its name. Both in my general practice and this project specifically, I do emphasize the pursuit of knowledge as a helpful tool for enhancing dancers’ experiences rather than (usually) a pursuit in and of itself.

Helen recommended the Sullivan book in a skype call a while back, and I immediately ordered it. It's been great. When I was in college, I used to feel really stupid for not wanting to go down all the bunny trails of theory, theory, loads of abstract theory. My question was all, "Sure, but what's the point?" Now I look back and realize I just have a different theoretical framework, is all, and it's a perfectly valid one. Always nice to realize those sorts of things!

Phew! The nail-biting wait for feedback begins...

Well, I just turned in my draft proposal and lit review; it's still a draft of course but I hope I'm on the right track. We'll see. I'm having especial difficulty with the proposal appendices. I don't see anything in the handbook about them other than that they exist. Does anyone see anything I missed? I tried googling the employer support form and ethics rationale and form but I didn't find anything that seemed relevant. There's a ton of sample participant consent forms out there but I'd like to see some university guidelines before I craft it, if there are any.

Despite the whirlwind of the last few days getting this proposal together, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I kept thinking how little research I'd done, but I had way, way more sources than I thought when I finally put together a complete bibliography. It took me an hour and a half just to do the bibliography! So that was really encouraging.

This coming week I've got to get that reflective essay draft nailed down and turned in by Friday's deadline. How are everyone's projects going?

The Brain and Learning

This week in our skype call I brought up how dancers seem to come back from breaks better than before they left, which started all sorts of interesting conversations on the plasticity of the brain, augmented rest, and the importance of rest overall. The general consensus is that rest is crucial for things to gel and for muscles to relax, which helps explain the uptick in coordination after a break.

The brain is really a fascinating thing, and it's something I'd like to investigate at some point, especially as it relates to learning and teaching. I know there's been a ton of research done on how the brain correlates to learning. Right now I need to keep focusing on my research topic, but I'm filing it away mentally for future research. Has anyone found any interesting tidbits or articles about the brain's role in learning or anything related that might be a good entry point for this sort of study?

Coffee Break

Well, not a coffee break exactly, but spring break! This week has been spring break for a few of my normal commitments, including two of my classes, and it's been so nice to have time to breathe (and research, ahem).

I was just talking to someone recently about how breaks seem to allow ideas and technique to "gel" in some odd way. It was really great to talk to someone else who understood that; as a kid I was always so confused when my teachers would talk about how we shouldn't take breaks, ever, because we'd lose our technique. I always felt--and still feel--like I actually get better when I take a break, like I come back stronger and better in different ways. My leg might be a bit lower, if the break is long enough, but coordination gets better.

I might have felt like the lone one out as a kid, but now I think I was right. Not just for myself, but for people in general, because I'm now noticing that my students come back more coordinated after breaks. It's like things seem to click for them technically. For my modern class, we had classes cancelled two weeks in a row (once for snow and once pre-planned), and this past week I noticed some real differences in how they were dancing. Things like parallel position were suddenly more settled and not as much of a struggle.

Has anyone else noticed this in themselves or their students? Do you know what the science is behind it?

Pilots in Musicality

Now that I'm spending time researching musicality, I'm also doing a lot of thinking about how I'm already teaching it. This week I tried some new tactics with my students, some of which seemed to help and some of which flopped. I've noticed with all of my young students thus far (granted, a small sample) that they seem to struggle with simple rhythm and counts the most. Technique they learn, class etiquette they learn, but they really struggle with just something as simple as counting only four tendus and not five or six in each direction. If they were really young, 4 or 5, I could well understand that, but they're 7-10, and I would have thought that counting would be the easy part! So I tried a few clapping exercises and such, and I think if I pursue that vein of exercise, it may help.

On another note, I'm rereading/reskimming through Researching Dance and loving it, especially taking the time to read chapters I hadn't read before. I'd forgotten what a useful book it is. I found chapter 4 especially helpful on the differences between positivist and postpositivist research helpful, since the terms themselves weren't really ones I was familiar with. Hearing the terms elaborated was quite nice and I understood better how they fit into my research framework, which was already quite postpositivist--I just didn't know it was called that! I've struggled with getting all the -ologies and -ists straight in my head, so I'm very much appreciating reading about them in a way that makes sense to me and helps me get them straight.

Questions for the comments--1) have you found that your young students struggle with musicality, and if so, what ages does it start to mesh for them? Have you done any exercises for it, and if so, what? 2) How would you frame your own research thoughts in terms of -ologies and -ists?