Taking the Plunge
I finally
am having the courage to try something new, something that I never a year ago
would have had the guts to try. I am altering the course I teach for student
teachers. Reflection is a powerful tool and through my reflection in the two
previous modules, I have come to realise elements of my practice need to be
changed. Taking the plunge though is easier said than done, and I have been at
a crossroads to how and what I should alter. More importantly though is the
question “why?”. Surely what I teach the students is appropriate for what they
need to start their careers, the answer to that is simply no! How to go about
it is indeed a task. Where should I start? Listening to the students is where I
began. A newish concept for me. I have in the past obviously listened to their
ideas and comments, but I have to admit shamefully that I sort of brushed them
aside. This term I did not. Shapiro (2008, p.160), states that “the content of education
(…) should be based on the things about which the students want to know “. I
listened and digested what they said and started making a new plan of my eight
lessons. It is a challenge not to engage in my normal teaching style and revert
to my old plan and ways, but these are young professionals who already have some
experience of teaching themselves. I have on several occasions wanted to jump
in and “assist”, yet I see they are contented, engaged in the task and are happily
swapping previous experiences.
I do not
know at this time what the outcome will be for me personally or for the student teachers,
but that is the experience of this journey isn’t it? I feel quite naughty trying something new, and not at all
guilty which I thought I may feel (a betrayal to my teachers and education). Instead, I have a feeling of excitiment and I feel liberated to some extent!
“If we teach today’s
students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.”
John Dewey
John Dewey
Shapiro. B (2008), Dance
in a World of Change. Human Kinetics Publishers
Dear Samantha, thank you for sharing this post. And its so inspiring to hear, how you allow your teaching to evolve. This is something, that was on my mind a lot lately as well. I feel that starting this MAPP journey, has already shifted and altered my way of looking at teaching and risen so many questions. I'm constantly asking myself and rethinking, how I approach teaching, why I teach how I teach etc. Its all very exciting, but I'm also a bit lost and feel overwhelmed at times about how to implement it in my practice. But as you have quoted Shapiro, our lives are in a constant flow and always changing, so its great to have the courage to let that happen and let new knowledge reshape the way we are teaching. It is a scary and exciting process to rethink and alter old frameworks and structures, so its great to hear how others go about it.
ReplyDeleteHi Agata, nice to "meet" you! I feel that I'm a it of a late bloomer so to speak. It has take me until the end of module two, for things to come together for me. My relection the past couple of months seems to be on a deeper level to previously (which I'm happy for!). Yes, it is overwhelming and so easy to focus on the negatives but there are always positives too. As dancers, we need to remeber that don't we? Sam
DeleteYes, definately! And luckily the positives usually outweigh the negatives! Im looking forward to reading more about how it all feels over time.
DeleteYes, thank you for sharing indeed! I'm curious to hear how the new things work out, but I bet they will work out well. Every so often I too try what I call experiments in my classes, something unorthodox that I'm just giving a go. I was telling my husband that sometimes they work and sometimes they don't, and he said, "But if they always worked, they wouldn't be very good experiments," or something to that effect. At first I resisted, but he's right, really. I suppose if every single thing we try works perfectly, we're not being very daring in our experiments and may not achieve as much as we could.
ReplyDeleteBut I think the other half of that is that we develop good judgment over the course of our practice, and so generally do have a very good success rate with experiments of this nature simply because we often know what's going to work well and what's going to splat. So I hope everything works well and nothing goes splat for you! :D
Hi Hannah!, yes it's interesting our experiments we do! I have tried different things over the years with the pupils that attend recreational classes, but I was and am a little cautious about the students. Next summer they will have their certification and I am wary about using them as guinea pigs for my practice! However, I am just swapping a few things out (at the monent) and keeping what I think they need (with feedback from them too!) and then trying to incorporate new ideas. Will let you know how it goes! Yes, I hope it doesn't go splat! Sam
ReplyDeleteI am sometimes telling myself that I should stick with my plan or do something the way I am supposed to do, instead of trying something new. I do that mainly because doing something new or as Hannah says "unorthodoxly" is taking time. You feel like you are not progressing with your students because you don't practice e.g. assemblés, so you lose time. But when I asked an interviewee last week if what she is doing is not too much time consuming (she told me that she does sessions with her students where they do massages with warm stones so that they feel the release of tension and their weight), she told me the following: Yes it is time consuming but I'm not losing time because afterwards the students come to understand it faster and progress is made quicker. So I guess Samantha, your students will be ready for their certification and will benefit from your new ideas!
ReplyDeleteI love that way of phrasing it! Time-consuming but not time-wasting.
DeleteHi. I am really excited to hear that you are adding some 'student-centred' work and giving more onus on the students. Look at some drama ideas and warm-ups to include in the lesson plan. These can be most helpful. Good luck.
ReplyDelete