Critical Reflection Portfolio - Module 2

Critical Reflection Portfolio

Module 2 has been a big stepping stone from the previous module with progression and being able to discover my own professional identity. It has provided me with a connection of great significance towards preparing for the final module.

Developing Lines of Professional Inquiry

Part 4 was a great introduction to creating a structure for my inquiry and begin applying theories to my professional practice. Learning to develop a set of questions (A) that query my practice was insightful and a learning curve. Initially split with which pathway my line of inquiry would be (B), I learnt to explore the environment in which I work and what areas needed improving. Using communication tools introduced to me in Module 1, by blogging my emerging questions i was able to use fellow practitioner comments (B) to regain confidence in my proposal. 

Professional Ethics

Ethics was an unfamiliar topic of interest for me but after finishing Reader 5 I was inspired to reflect on what ethics I have been using in my professional practice (C). Creating a list of my own ethics and comparing them with a school I guest teach at, as well as my business partner’s ethics, was a great introduction to applying any ethical standards that were absent (D).

In preparation for my professional inquiry, I was able to consider that my line of work with children would be a strong area of ethical concern when dealing with research. Oliver (2003) suggests that a “teacher researching students affords their professional status more authority and could influence attitudes to an inquiry.” It has given me a new insight into how much work I should undertake when creating ethical guidelines for my future collation of research.

Tools of Professional Inquiry

The final part of this module taught me the foundations of data collection and the tools I will be using as part of my line of inquiry. Reader 6 presented me with four main research methods, I was able to pilot these and reflect in preparation for my final inquiry. This enabled me to determine which tools I would be using in my eventual plan and the work required for each method. 

A crucial task of Part 6 that was relevant in the development of my inquiry questions, was identifying three pieces of literature (E)(F)(G) that were related to my evolving ideas. After discovering literature that linked to my interests of negative attitudes to males in dance, I reflected on my own professional practice where I found that specifically I was lacking adolescent boys, but not males in general.

Summary

This module has given me new inspiration of ways in which I can not only enhance my own learning but to also improve my business. Initially I was uncertain of my questions and struggling to choose a direction for inquiry plan, but I am now confident that I have chosen the correct topic of interest and I am keen to get started in terms of seeking answers to questions and strengthening my professional practice. 

References

Oliver, P. (2003) The students guide to research ethics. Maidenhead: Open University Press

Task 6d: Delicious Tags

An exceptionally valuable tool for my future research. Check out some of the tags i have already put up that relate to my inquiry.

http://delicious.com/lbohanna

Literature Review 3

On Education - Rhee Gold

Gold, R 2003, 'ON Education', Dance Magazine, 77, 11, p. 59, International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text, EBSCOhost, viewed 5 December 2012.

My 3rd literature review was very similar to the 1st review to the sense that it was an insight to different techniques used to keep boys and young male adults dancing. The difference being this was aimed more at extra curricular activities and independent dance schools rather than every day education. Rhee gold is a former male dancer himself and it’s very interesting to read an article from a male perspective and his techniques on bringing more boys to classes and schools.

A topic that seems to pop up the most is making sure boys are choreographed to dance like boys. Making extra sure that boys are not given feminine movements or costumes. This will only push boys away further and make them lose confidence with dancing.

For me, this doesn’t seem to be an issue that much. As my style of dance i teach is Street/ Hip Hop, the movements and costuming tend to be very masculine anyways and the little female movements that are involved are only given to my female students. 

Rhee explains that being a male teacher/school owner will have it’s advantages towards bringing in more boys, Male teachers motivate younger male dancers. I’ve been lucky to be able to run my business with a female partner which has been extremely beneficial in ensuring that both male and female students are comfortable when signing up to classes. We have managed to ensure a good balance. 

Including photos of boys in advertising is another method suggested by Rhee. Our main advertising and leaflets always feature both myself and my business partner in to show the balance of the male and female gender. As suggested in the first article i read, making sure that there are pictures of male dancers in your dance studio instead of the ballerinas and stereotypical pink walls. This is irrelevant for me at the moment as we only hire premies, however in the future we will plan to own a studio and this will be a priority.

A point that i have to disagree with is the idea of enhancing boys in choreography and not just placing them in a line executing the same movement as the girls. I can see to a degree why this might be beneficial for boys to give them more encouragement to dance, Although this might backfire towards female students who feel like all my energy and choreography is given only to male students. I feel there should be a healthy balance between the male and female dancers.

Taking boys to see a musical or dance company which features male dancers is something that i am putting in to practice at the moment. 

“Boys who see other boys performing gain a confidence they might not have otherwise”

I’m currently teaching street dance to a large group of boys at an independent school. They all seem to be very passionate towards Street Dance and enthusiastic to learn more each week, in spite of that, i would also like to help prepare many of them for the future who have suggested the idea of dancing when they get older. To be able to do this, they will have to be able to learn more styles of dance including ballet and with this in mind i am currently organizing a trip with the head of dance at the school to take the boys to the theatre to watch “Ballet Boyz”

Again this has been another short article but full of interesting points. This has helped me develop new ideas for my research and what topics i need to look further into. One of the last lines of text of the article made me begin to question weather boys are discouraged from dancing because of their parents. 

“Many boys have the desire to dance but are intimidated by negative stereotypes or discouraged by their parents, who can't get past the stereotypes themselves”

This is something that i haven’t seen to much of pop up in research so will be worth looking in to. Are the parents to blame?

Literature Review 2

Challenging The Boy Code in Dance Education - Doug Risner

Doug Risner (2007): Rehearsing masculinity: challenging the ‘boy code’ in dance education, Research in Dance Education, 8:2, 139-153 

This article intends to explore dance education through the experiences of boys and young males. A strong theme that seems to be consistent in this article is male dancers identifying their masculinity and challenging homophobia that seems to be aimed towards males in dance.

“While dance in many cultures has been, and continues to be viewed as an appropriate ‘male’ activity, the Western European cultural paradigm situates dance as primarily a ‘female’ art form, and has done so since the sixteenth century (Hasbrook, 1993)”

Why is western culture so instant of dance being an activity for females and not males? Girls begin classes as young as age 3 when they are taken to their first ballet class. However it seems to be rare for parents to take their young boy along to their first dance class at such a young age. Many boys from my dance school are brought along to classes because they have simply asked their parent if they can be brought along, only occasionally a parent will bring their son to a class at their own will. 

Are parents to blame for boys being so against dance? Is this a social stigma that the parents have grown up with themselves and are passing along to their children? 

A section of the article that stood out for me was a study of 33 boys (Aged 12-18 years) who had enrolled in a summer intensive dance training program. The results of the study showed significant themes between the boys. The following aspects of social isolation among the subjects was something that i myself had experienced growing up.

a lack of same-gender peers/teachers in the dance environment 

I seemed to spend most of my teens growing up in dance classes full of girls and the few boys that were in dance classes with me i seemed to be in competition with. All my teachers for many years were female and i was not given access to male teacher until i was at dance college. 

in some cases, having family members who did not support or discouraged their
desire to dance 

My family were very supportive of my dancing and i was very lucky to attend classes with both my sister and younger brother. My mother was always encouraging me to attend lessons when i was feeling down and would support me with anything i needed. However even though my father didn’t disapprove of my dancing, it was a rare occasion when he actually even saw me dance. Dancing was usually a joke or something that was seen as a ‘hobby.’ Not something that could be taken seriously as a career.

a need to keep their dance life a secret from academic peers; fear of or actual teasing and harassment by peers 

Dancing for me was the biggest secret i could have. Only a few friends at school knew that i actually danced and had a big passion for it. Even though i was attending classes 3/4 times a week and competitions at weekends, i would usually lie and tell my peers different stories to stop them guessing i was dancing. I was mostly afraid of being teased or talked about and was constantly covering my back. Once i reached my final year in school, i began opening up more about my dance. A few people had laughed and called me names, but it was actually a lot simpler than i thought. Maybe i was panicing too much? 

Conclusion

This article was produced in 2007 and i’m wondering weather some of these issues are still present in schools. It would be interesting to do a similar survey to compare weather times have changed and if social stigma towards male dancers is still present. Having access to my own male pupils, i can find out weather they have the same issues i had? Are they hiding a secret like i did?

Literature Review 1

Boys Will Be Boys - Kathryn Holmes

HOLMES, K., 2011. Boys Will Be Boys. Dance Teacher, 33(12), pp. 62-62,64.

An interesting first article for my first of literature reviews. This article was taken from a magazine aimed at Dance Teachers and suggests various different methods in engaging boys in Dance Education. 

There seemed to be an overwhelming amount of points to discuss with this small article but i kept it down to the key points, otherwise i could have spoken about this forever! 

Using A Hook

Lynn Reynolds is a teacher at West Briar Middle School in Houston where male participation in her dance program was non existent. Originally she started with a Tango perform with few boys but realised that Hip Hop and Break-Dancing would be something boys would be more interested in.

“The next year, she decided to try to attract even more boys by launching a hip-hop and break-dancing class. "I started hip hop with the girls and let the word of mouth spread," she says. "Once I had a few boys, I took them into gym class to show off their b-boy moves. This year I have 75 boys enrolled."

The method of showing other boys in the school what they are missing out on is something that can easily be put into use in extra curricular activities. The idea of putting on a performance in a school assembly or something similar might get more boys interested to sign up to class. Especially if they notice that their male peers are taking part.

Role Models

The idea of introducing boys of all ages with pictures and videos of professional male dancers in the hope of inspiring them the various avenues they can pursue. One teacher managed to decorate their classroom with images of male dancers. Although i don’t seem to work out a classroom as such, i could introduce various types of material to my classes. I have in the past used YouTube to inspire students.

'Here is a strong, masculine man who dances for a living; you can dance, too,'"

"Boys are especially impressed with athleticism."

Make Dance Physical

Running a business that mainly focuses on street styles such as breakdance, i have found that boys tend to be more interested if they are given more challenging and physical moves such as b-boy moves which involve complex floor work and strength. 

A teacher explains that when boys are asked to create their own sequences incorporating everyday movements, boys are more likely to use sports moves i.e kicking a ball. Another interesting idea is to challenge boys to attack a move and then suggest ideas of more challenge to improve technique. 

\“Wow, you jumped really high-but can you come down with pointed feet and make no sound?"

Creating a Community

The last section of this article introduces the idea that boys feel like they need to be part of a group or team. Giving them the opportunity to perform infront of each other and present their best moves.

In my classes we use the “Freestyle Circle” at the end of every class. This activity gives the students a chance to impress each other with the moves they have learnt whilst at the same time gaining respect from their peers. Holms suggest not to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself, meaning that i should join in with my students in a freestyle circle as well as observing.

Conclusion

Although this is only a small article, it has opened up an incredible amount of new ideas of how to deal with teaching boy dancers and introducing new methods keep them engaged. A few of the points made were already routine for me but this only made me realise that i was on the right track to ensuring i’m getting the most out of my classes.

Task 5c - Reader

Task 5c

Reader 5 has taken me a while to finish and finally after finishing i feel like i want to read it all over again. For me a few key points stuck out for me.

Theoretical Areas of Ethics was engrossing. 3 different ideas of ethics - Deontologist, Consequensilist & Virtue Ethics which i had to look deeper into. 

Deontology - The principle, doing the right thing. This is a duty based ethic which comes from the greek word ‘deon’ which means ‘duty’. People who are deontologists believe in only doing the right thing, even if it produces more harm than doing the wrong thing. They won’t weigh up the odds and consider acting differently. 

Consequentialism - Choosing an action that provides good consequences. This results-based ethic is something we come across the most in everyday life because it is simple and normally common sense. When i’m teaching this would be an ethic i might use more than others.

Virtue - I was extremely confused by this. Further research suggests this is a character-based ethic which looks at the person rather than the action. A good person is someone that lives virtuously and possesses good virtues, therefore building a good society to help good people. 

Upon researching more on different areas of ethics, i was surprised to see there was so many different areas. This was not something i was aware of in everyday life and didn’t realise that lots of people build their ethics based on a system. 

Looking back at my own ethics, these are something that i’ve grown up with and that i’ve built myself from child to adult. As the reader suggests we gain these ethics from different areas of life.

Personal - Every day values and ethics are something we might acquire from our parents, family and friends. Depending on the society we live in, most people follow the same sort of ethics which are common sense.

Professional - My teaching ethics have formed from years of dance classes and observing how different teachers work, professional training at college for 3 years and working professionally since graduating.

Task 5B: Ethics Continued

After finishing task 5A on my thoughts of Ethics, it was insightful to continue with this task of looking at the codes of practice/regulations at my own places of work and see how they differ. 

My first comparison was my own business. As mentioned previously, we don’t have our own code of practice, so i put some questions to my business partner and asked her what she considered to be her own ethics. 

Responsibility - Having a responsibility towards students to engage them and inspire them for the future. Being a role model that many students look up to.

Fun - Important that students are enjoying themselves in a safe secure environment. Students feel safe when entering class and don’t ever feel embarrassed. They shouldn’t feel scared.

Providing - Catering to all needs and differentiating for individuals.

Predictably, most of ethics matched apart from a few which are mentioned above. These are of course are the same ethics that i would indeed use, however i wasn’t fully aware that i was using them.

My second comparison was a Independent Boarding School that i’ve been teaching at for 2 years. This was interesting to look at as my own business is out of school hours and casual. Below is a list of teaching standards that are expected by the school as a minimum

1. Set high expectations which inspire, motivate and challenge pupils
2. Promote good progress and outcomes by pupils
3. Demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge
4. Plan and teach well structured lessons
5. Adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils
6. Make accurate and productive use of assessment
7. Manage behavior effectively to ensure a good and safe learning environment
8. Fulfill wider professional responsibilities

These seem fairly standard ethics that i would assume to be in place in most areas of education. Although most of these are similar to my own ethics which i follow, these seem to be much more formal.