Thought Threads

Entering week five of the module and week three of my research. I'm halfway done with both the classroom and the interview portions. As I'm progressing in my research, I'm seeing a wealth of connections between the different areas of inquiry. For example, it's fascinating to analyze the similarities and differences between my interviewee responses, especially in regards to musicality definitions. It's also quite fun to see how the different classes I'm teaching respond to the exercises I'm giving. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, but the classes as wholes have very different personalities, so to speak.

Unsurprisingly my research is taking its own twists and turns, however, and I feel like with the classroom exercises I'm winding around a bit. I figured out after the first class that my original approach was rather too ambitious in terms of *how* it was structured, so I quickly restructured and have been finding the restructuring largely successful. Nevertheless, it's a bit tricky figuring out how to reorder and reorient concepts so they're still introduced in a logical fashion, and in a way that offers the same experience (more or less) to every class--regardless of their technique level, age, time in class, or dance style (ballet vs. modern).

With every class I teach, though, I keep seeing thought threads wind their way through the research. They twist through my own head, through the interviews, out into the classroom, and back in from the classroom. I'm absolutely loving making all these connections and can't wait to sit down at the "end" of the research and analyze them more thoroughly. What's also been encouraging is how supportive those I've interviewed have been. One said how excited they were that I was doing this and they thought it would be a valuable contribution to the field. That's so encouraging to hear!

Fellow module 1s and 2s, how are you getting on? And fellow module 3s, what has surprised you or delighted you about the process thus far?

Week Four Thoughts

Today is week four, day two (not that I'm counting or anything!) and things are progressing. I've completed the first week of my research. Looks like I've got something like 20 students participating, of which 13 completed the pre-test survey. Not too shabby! I also completed my first interview yesterday, and it was a great conversation as well as being very helpful research-wise.

I've done quite a lot of restructuring of my original research schedule for the classroom exercises. Some of my (new to me) classes wound up very much on the beginner end in terms of technique level, and I had planned themes for more of an advanced intermediate level class. So I've restructured pretty heavily, and I think this newest iteration should be a good fit and easily tailored to all my classes.

But that's been making me think about artistry in general. I remember when I was younger (probably 13 or 14) getting really frustrated with teachers who wanted me to incorporate a lot of artistry when I was so overwhelmed technically that I couldn't do both at once. Looking back, I was actually pretty technically advanced, dancing six days a week at a serious pre-pro school. I finally hit the point where I could incorporate both several years later... maybe 16? 17?

I'd love to hear thoughts on if you felt similarly when you were young or notice a similar issue in your students. I do wonder how well some of my students are going to be able to incorporate this musicality training, as when you're struggling with very basic steps it's difficult to think past the immediacy of the exercise and turn it into art, as it were. There's just only so much one can handle at once. Thoughts?

Research Week 1...

And waking up yesterday morning began week 3, day 1 of module three, which means the first week of research! Tonight is my first class of four research classes. All the other research pieces in terms of having enough classes to teach have fallen into place, which is a wonderful thing, so I'm good to go there.

Unfortunately, I'm seeing my survey section fall apart, as I've only gotten one response back with deadlines of tonight and tomorrow night for the students who got it last week. It's a pity, since I was really hoping to hear more of my students' thoughts surrounding musicality. At least the one response I got was very illuminating.

So that's that for research specifics. Yesterday we had our first monthly skype in which we talked a lot about building trust between researcher and student as well as the ins and outs of the assessment process. I think I phrased my original discussion point on trust rather poorly--I got very helpful advice (thank you to all who commented!) on building trust with my students, but I was actually thinking more along the lines of how research requires us, the researcher, to trust others.

Having to find places last minute, waiting for survey results, asking people to interview (who so far all have said yes, but of course they didn't have to), and so on all highlights how much of the process is out of my control. I can do my best on this project, but ultimately, if none of my students consent to being part of the research when I arrive in class tonight and tomorrow, there goes half my project in smoke! So I'm trying not to think about it too much, since I can't do anything about it. It really does require a lot of trust in people's general goodness and willingness to help out. In that sense, research is quite frightening. But it's also quite exciting, since it is a real collaboration with others, which can only enrich the process.

Tell me your stories of trusting other people and the process in the comments!

Hello, Module 3

Today marks the official start of module 3. Really hard to believe I'm on the last module already. Friday we had our welcome back skype, in which we got a tour of myunihub. SO helpful. I WISH I'd had that last year when I came on board... it look me literally months to sort through some of the stuff that Adesola was showing us. Practically speaking, I still find myunihub very confusing for nontraditional international students, but with only one more semester to go I'm not all that motivated to do more than I need to do with it to finish.

Today might be the first week, but it's coming after several weeks worth of prep for me. A week and a half ago I had a major snafu threaten to hijack the ballet part of the research process. My ballet class was cancelled due to lack of enrollment (a common problem in the rural area where I live). Luckily my network of fellow teachers have kindly found offered a few of their own classes to allow me to complete my research... Now I have to hammer out the details and timing, but it looks promising.

I know the writing process will be long, but in some ways I can't wait to "finish" research and get into writing and presenting. I've always found the writing process much easier than the research process, especially since performing my own research with the corresponding ethics and consent paperwork is totally new for me, and thus more stressful.

How are others, especially module 3s, feeling about the coming work?

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!