Unfortunately I had to miss this Skype call but thankfully my classmate filled me in on the dicussion and from what it seems there were many conversions between voice and communication. My classmate had said the call was directed to finding your own voice in different mediums and example of this would be ‘your writing voice’.
I wanted to speak more on communication within an inclusive dance class. For me this is something I sometimes find difficult within my own professional practice. Although I have previously wrote a blog on my communication with disabled dancers I feel like my knowledge has developed and my critical thinking and analyses has improved.
Finding my voice to me is challenging when working with all ages and abilities and this is something I have been challenged with on a day to day basis. A teachers voice is so important within a classroom but how is your voice acknowledged to someone who has an hearing impairment ?
Last week Monday, I taught an open dance class at a college I work at and I taught a girl who had an hearing impairment. She was deaf and had very limited vocabulary. I began to ask if she had danced before and she signed no whilst shaking her head to instruct me. I had never taught someone who can not hear before and this was an amazing opportunity for me to challenge my own teaching methods and examine my own perceptions. As she had limited hearing and vocabulary I knew I had to teach her through my own understanding of sign language as well as I could without being confusing and count numbers and timing on my fingers showing clearly 5,6,7,8 to begin.
If I’m completely honest I was worried that my teaching experience and strategy would not work and I was unsure whether this young girl would understand me and my teaching style with hardly any “voice” being used but of course this did not get in the way of her picking up my short 6 count of 8 choreography in under 1 hour.
To me ‘finding your voice’ doesn’t work in all situations but it is important to use communication as a tool in many other ways. The above is just an example of how I was communicating with my student without being vocal but there are still several ways to teach or communicate within inclusive dance settings. Body language is a great communication tool for me as it allows me to express how I’m feeling and also see how much students feel if they have limited vocabulary. I use body language and hand gestures a lot when explaining and communicating my ideas in and outside of my professional practice.
I really wanted to share my thoughts and opinion on Sunday’s Skype class but I am happy I am able to use my blog to update and talk to classmates who were present for the call.
Please leave comments below on commicatinf ideas and different wants you can explore this !
Tara 💕
Hi Tara
ReplyDeleteI have done a lot of work with disabilities predominantly in my past work as a Specialist Learning Disability Physiotherapist and obviously owing to this my dance school has numerous children with 'special needs'. Regardless of what their disability is I find accepting everyone for who they are is a key factor. I've taught numerous children with hearing impairments, autism, dyspraxia, various syndromes etc and as with any child I find that it is always about understanding each individuals needs and ensuring that every child reaches their potential.
Hope that helps
Fiona