Tara-Jane

As I lay here in bed after completing my last bit of draft work I think about the MA course I am currently on but very close to completing. I can not believe I have just one more day until I will be handing my portfolio in and my artefact which has caused me and my partner nothing but stress hahha.  He is great with video editing and I’ve constantly been stressing him out with the whole editing process which I am sure he will be glad once Friday is over.  I can’t believe I have made it this far and actually only a few months off receiving my overall graduate grade. This whole journey has been one huge learning experience for me as I have learnt not only to be myself and consider my own thoughts and feelings but I have also learnt how to acknowledge my own knowledge and experiences. Before this MA I never took time to sit and do any kind of reflective thinking never mind reflective writing but this has been something which has helped me and encouraged me to talk and be critical...

Throughout my professional practice, I have used and explored with props within a community dance session when my students have had limited vocabulary or have been between ages 3-6. “Props can also be great fun and encourage a climate of exploration and playfulness, but always remember that props should enhance movement, not mask it” (Hills, 2003, p.81).  For me ,  I have found that this method encourages students to listen to the  relationship of the music and  the  prop s  to  explore  their own movements .  Hills   (2003)   suggests  ideas of working in a non-verbal way and the method of ‘body talk’  and many  ways to  incorporate  music  as  a way of communication with people with limited movement. Peppy Hills  has helped me improve  my teaching methods and guided me through  alternative ways  of teaching in a non-verbal way. By this ,  I  learnt  that...

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 dan...

Yesterday’s Skype call with my module three class mates and Helen was based on “what we are doing” for our research inquiry. This call was very beneficial for me as we spoke about data collecting and organising along with analysis and the meaning behind the word ‘triangulation”. I wanted to hear some of my class mates advice and thoughts on how to manage and organise data that is collected for their inquiry because at this point in my studies I am too observe workshops and watch performances alongside reading relevant literature and hand out 12 questionnaires. Class mates advised me to keep each material (data) separate from the rest and take control of my strategies for organising. By this they advised ‘catorgrizing’ and using ‘sticky notes’ and ‘highlighting’.  We was asked about the word ‘analysis’ and what we thought it meant to analyse data. To me analysis is a detailed examination, by this I mean it’s looking and experimenting (how, what, why) and looking to see if there is a...

On Sunday 29th September I had my second group Skype meeting with my class friends and lecturers.   This Skype call was focused on learning and knowing.  I believe to learn is to already acknowledge my own prior experience. It was very interesting to hear other people’s thoughts and opinions on the importance of learning and their own learning cycle.  I feel like I learn by doing, to do is to learn (being active in the moment). This is something I have touched on whilst blogging on David Kolbs learning cycle throughout module 1 and 2 which he calls “a concrete experience”. By reflecting on experiences is learning. In my everyday life as a professional and as a student I feel like there are many ways I am learning. I learn a lot about myself by approaching certain experiences in life whether it’s within an educational setting or outside of studies.  We talked a lot of the process of learning and what we think knowing and learning is.  For me, you learn whilst tea...

This is my first blog being a Module three student. I begin to stress on how lost I feel right now in my studies, but with the induction Skype blog last week I felt a lot more at ease. Unfortunately, due to work commitments, I was only on the Skype call for 30 mins which is half of the session but thank you to my class friend Marianella I was able to catch up via the recording I was sent. The induction was very helpful as it allowed the MAPP dance community to come together and share ideas with new students on module 1 up to present students in module 3. Adesola guided us through the importance of communication with our peers and class friends through Skype sessions and blogs and also the importance of UniHub. Adesola  helpfully shared her screen and lead us through UniHub where we could find our module handbooks and other important information regarding the course e.g  library resources and class timetables and calendars. One thi...

I recently read a book by Earl Babbie (2010) called The practice of social research  which touched on qualitative and quantitive reasesrch and ethical issues.  As I work through my module 2 assignment “inquiry project” I start to look at my research methods and approaches and how to be considerate within my research methods. One of the research methods I will be using is observation and questionnaires. As I continue to look at ethics and what it means to me, I think about the words  ‘considerate’ and ‘confidential’. I’m unsure whether I should lower my standards or opinion for working with people with and with out disabilities. I believe I shouldn’t change the way I teach or change my character. I think about interview approaches and questions I can ask with the thought of being ethical. I am ethical within my professional practise everyday but always push my students to the best of there ability with also thinking about ethical approaches and issues.  Should I be lo...

As I’m starting my second module at the Middlesex University I begin to think about my research methods for my inquiry. My inquiry is an investigation into whether dancers with disabilities are able to express themselves through dance and if so are they given equal opportunities within the arts.  This is an inquiry I have briefly touched on within my undergraduate but I feel like my research and inquiry can be investigated a lot deeper. I want to know more and hear your thoughts and opinions.  Why do we dance in the first place ? There are research methods I would like to use which include a Questionnaire method, and the use of interviews and observations. I start to think about my quality of data and reflect on performances and online videos i have recently seen. It is very important that I understand the nature of my inquiry and by  reflecting back on the performance I seen in 2017 with Mark Brew I begin to collect data for my portfolio.  Right or wrong appro...

I feel like it’s been a while since I last wrote on my blog so I begin by mentioning that my second module will start on Monday 28th Jan 2019. This Monday ahhhh!!! I’m still waiting patiently for my feedback and grades from my advisor from my module 1 but I am starting to worry as i haven’t heard anything as of yet. I wonder how I got on and what I need to work on ? I suppose I will recieve some response this weekend or maybe Monday morning..... Our last Skype session Sunday 2nd December 2018 with the MDX dance community was all about communication, how do we communicate within the classroom or with our students or teachers. How do I communicate with my students who have special  needs? How do I alter my communication skills within a classroom with toddlers to adults. What do I say differently how do I act ? Do I change my voice tone or body language. This Skype session really helped me to reflect on my previous teaching experiences and methods as well as acknowledging how I commun...

Tonight’s Skype session 4th November 8pm (London time) with my class mates involved “embodiment” and different ways of learning.  Personally I feel like my writing process so far has been difficult; as discussed I express myself through dance and as a performer and dancer I feel reflective writing is a difficult process. I feel by reading several literatures it helps me discover my own experiences and understand my own knowledge.  ‘Art as Experience’ by John Dewey gives different understandings of having an experience and I feel when I read someone else’s questions and answers I am able to then reflect and write on my own knowledge and experience.  By listening to someone’s point of view it helps me remember and understand my own work. Literature I have read has provided different expects and connections on knowledge and different approaches which also helps with my own reflective writing. David Kolbs learning cycle has helped me understand my own teaching and learning st...

So this week I have been going back and forth with my cv looking in depth at my experience as a choreographer/teacher and student. As the deadline for submitting our AOLs fast approaches I start to panick as I’m overwhelmed with all my achievements and experiences over the past 6 years. Since 2012 I have had a huge interest in community dance and inclusive practise. I’ve always enjoyed community dance and seen and experienced the benefits it has for everybody in the community from young people to adults and non disabled or disabled people. After my experience and knowledge growing within community dance I started to broaden my thoughts and practition into inclusive dance. Inclusive dance has been a huge topic when I critically reflect on my teaching and studying knowledge. As I’m looking through my cv I’m reflecting on my time as a student, remembering the reason I chosen professional dance as a MA and the reason why I love and enjoy my job. I start to reflect and critically think abou...

What excites me in my daily practise ? What do I admire ? What gets me enthusiastic? What makes me angry or sad ? What do I love about teaching ? What don’t I understand ? Like John Dewey I have been thinking about ways to talk about my experience and what having an experience means to me. I have used deweys term of reflective writing to start this essay and throughout will be comparing my reflection on teaching and my reflective thoughts with resources and researchers such as Kurt Lewin, David Kolb,and J Moon to name a few.  Like Dewey I believe reflective thinking is “careful consideration”. “Active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposes form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends” (Dewey, 1993). Like Kolb I believe I learn when involved in having a “concrete experience” Kolb describe this as ‘doing something’ which helps me recognise knowledge and experience more. I’ve always been a very sl...

This blog will be a start to my journal writing experience. I’ve never written any of my experiences down before so this will be amazing to look back over in the next few months. It’s all valuable experience within my professional Practice course. I have choosen to write about an event I worked at over the summer. The event was for Newham council. My role was to promote my dance classes, hand out leaflets, interact with members of the public and get them involved in dance games and different activities. In this blog I would like to reflect on my day beginning with my how I felt about the event and what I was expecting from the event  Key facts to think about: Initial reflection  Mood  Unexpected happenings My thoughts  My feelings Evaluation: What went well What worked  What did I learn What if ? Another view: writing about the event from another perspective 

Knowledge to me is an networked product. Knowledge to me is something you have experienced and learnt along the way of either your professional practises or day to day lifestyle. Like George Siemens I believe knowledge comes from networking and people gain more knowledge and experience through social media.

Here’s some of my ideas from the past few weeks. I have been working on critically reflecting in my professional practise as have been really thinking on these questions to help me start writing my first module. The questions as follows... How have I presented myself to the learning  community ? What are the ethical implications of how I have represented myself ? Ideas having a impact on how I think about myself  What affects my actions have ? I’m finding different methods and ways of teaching everyday 

This Sunday I have had the time to sit and read through my first year module handbook. As I sit reading I come across a philosopher named John Dewey. Dewey is an educationist who was interested in different levels of experience. I find him very interesting and reading Dewey’s work has made me think and reflect on my own teaching and life experiences. Through this I have been able to id entify challenges within inclusive dance teaching and start to write points to start of my first essay on ‘Life learning, professional learner’  I realise that I find it easier to l earn by doing something which David Kolbs describes as a “concrete experience” Kolbs developed the idea of a “learning cycle” which is a way to identify experience and ways to reflect. 

Review of professional practise: life learning, professional learner! So as my first year module approaches I start to look into what my views are as a dance teacher in this industry. I reflect on my teaching style, my experiences, my students and my classes putting myself first as a learner then as a teacher. It’s funny to me because before today I haven’t really had time to reflect to deep into my thoughts as a learner I’ve always kind of “ just done it” and got on with it as I’ve never had lessons on “how to teach”. From 15 years old it’s been something I have experimented independently within community dance without little help . Now as a student and learner myself I realise I have so much more to learn. My students are my teachers, they teach me how to teach they help me experiment and give me ideas of what works and what doesn’t work in a class room. Am I teaching my students things I was never taught or am I teaching my students things that I can not do myself? I am explaining m...

In this blog I will be reflecting on my own teaching methods and experimenting my learning and experiences within my dance teaching career. Since the early age of 15 years old I always knew I wanted to be a dancer or dance teacher. I just never know the hard work behind it all. I started with just a small community dance class working on a voluntary basis at a local community centre every Tuesday where I would rush to a afterschool and meet all my friends there at 5pm.  I never knew how to teach infact you can say for the first year I completely “blagged it”. I had no one to teach me teach or tell me the rights and wrongs. This is the best way to learn and experience. “Just do it” the girls would say to me. I use to cringe at the fact I was trying to express the lyrics through movement. Example would be the word “look” using my hand to hide my eyes every time Beyoncé would say the word.  I used this choreographic method every time I would hear new words I would think of ways t...

Exploring disability and community dance.  What’s people’s opinions on dancers with disabilities do we think the word disabled means that person is un able ?  Peoples mis conception on dancers with disabilities, judgment and how community dance allows equal opportunities for non disabled and disabled dancers 

Hey Guys I'm Tara Warburton. i am studying on the MAPP course this year and so excited to start my studies!! I would love to know more about the other students on this course and what your chosen study is. I am a full time dance teacher with over 7 years teaching experience within community dance and inclusive dance. I wanted to further my education and study a MA in professional dance practise to reflect and gain more knowledge on my teaching experiences and misconceptions within community dance and disability.