Inquiry submitted - Oral Presentation now!

I am feeling so relieved now that the inquiry and professional artefact has been submitted.  With two shows a day for 5 weeks I was concerned that I would not be able to finish the inquiry to the best of my ability.  But after a lot of early mornings, I am happy with what I have submitted and am now finished my Panto contract.  Only oral presentation to go!

The Anatomy of Rest - Radio 4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07vq2by

Above is a link to BBC's Radio 4 episode called The Anatomy of Rest - Does the Brain Rest? 

In one of my interviews, I was told to listen to this interview.  I had asked the question 'Do you use directed teaching or a more play based approach? and she had told me that the brain is actually more active when we are daydreaming rather than concentrating on something, suggesting that a play-based approach would be a more useful method of teaching to use in my dance classes.  

The podcast says:

'You have areas of the brain that are consistently more active when you are doing nothing.'

'mind wandering shares the same processes as creative thinking.'

'mind wandering involves a lot of the processes that we use for solving problems and for coming up with creative ideas and planning the future.'

I find this so interesting and can definitely relate to this.  Usually my best/most intense ideas or thoughts come to me when I am lying in bed just before I fall asleep.

I can apply this to my professional practice, knowing that giving the children free play at the end of the session is fostering their creative skills.

Receiving Feeback

I had my last classes this week before I begin Pantomime rehearsals.  I have worked really hard on my lesson plans this term taking in everything I have read in literature and I am so happy the hard work has paid off.  Below is some feedback I received from parents.

Musical babies make social kids

Interview process

I have now completed my interviews and have to say I really enjoyed being able to talk professionally to people in a similar job as me.   In all of my interviews the questions were really just a skeleton of what I wanted to ask and most interviews I asked more questions off what they said.  It was great to hear from people who have more experience than me and can definitely say I will be taking all of their ideas into my classes.  I noticed that there is two types of Early Years Dance Teachers:

1. Teachers that teach creatively and there main aim is to allow self expression and have fun.
2. Teachers that teach exam classes and there main aim is to pass dance exams and pass on technique.

I find that there is benefits to both practices, however, for me I would like to go down the first route of teaching with a more creative approach.

I have now started drafting my inquiry as in two weeks I will be starting Pantomime rehearsals which I know will leave me with limited time up until the New Year.  It is a slight worry but I cannot wait to get into rehearsals again.  I will be playing 'Tommy the Cat' in Dick Whittington and feel it will tie in nicely with my professional inquiry as a lot of my audience is going to be young children.  It will be interesting to see what the children find funny and what they enjoyed the most about the show.

Fostering Pre School Childrens social development - Why I will be adding songs to my classes

One of my inquiry questions asks how I can foster social and creative development in my classes.  I found this study through the Starcatchers blog which has encouraged me to include songs and singing in my dance classes.

The full article can be found here.

Over a month, 39 babies attended 12, 15 minute sessions in a lab with their parents. In groups of 2/3 babies sat with their parents. 20 children were assigned to the 'music group' where childrens tunes were played while they tapped out a waltz rhythm.  19 babies attended a session without music.

Both groups experienced active involvement and included body movements.  The key difference was whether the babies were moving to learn a musical rhythm.

After a week, the babies were placed in a brain scanner and the rhythms were played to them with disruptions in the music.

Results:  The babies in the music group has stronger brain responses to the disruption of the music and speech.

“Schools across our nation are decreasing music experiences for our children, saying they are too expensive,” Kuhl says. “This research reminds us that the effects of engaging in music go beyond music itself. Music experience has the potential to boost broader cognitive skills that enhance children’s abilities to detect, expect and react quickly to patterns in the world, which is highly relevant in today’s complex world.”

This study has encouraged me to use songs and rhythm exercises in my classes.

Laban Movement Theory

Whilst reading for my inquiry I came across this theory from 'Developmental Movement for Children' by Veronica Sherborne and found it may be useful to teachers and in particular will help me with my inquiry question 'How can I foster social and creative skills in my classes.'

Laban characterized movement into four parts

• Direction 
• Weight
• Speed
• Flow

With Direction, Laban describes 6 movements:

• High/Low
• Side to Side
• Backwards/Forwards

As a teacher, you can encourage children to move in ways that are normally neglected and thus enrich their awareness of the space.  I am going to try this in my classes and note down in my journal how the children react.  I already include a lot of High and Low movement in my classes so it will be interesting to see how the children react to more side to side movements and backwards movement and if I will see an improvement in these directions over the term.

The book states:

'If children have not developed awareness of their bodies, movement into space becomes meaningless and empty.  With the development of some body awareness, the spatial directions begin to have greater significance.'

Movement Qualities

There are eight movement qualities:

1. Strong
2. Light
3. Bound Flow
4. Free Flow
5. Direct
6. Flexible 
7. Fast 
8. Slow

When teaching or observing young children, 'we are mainly aware of one or perhaps two of these qualities.  It is rare to see as many as four at once.' 

As an Early Years teacher, this will help me with my classes as I can look for qualities that the children are less familiar with and try and try and develop these qualities with them. It will be hard at first but with the help of my journal I think this will help me to become a better teacher.