I have come across a piece of literature on the internet Teaching-the-Dance-Class-Strategies which I have found to demonstrate some interesting points of view in relation to my thoughts around inquiry questions.
One of my questions was "Do peers affect the level of engagement on students within a lesson ? and would a philosophy of teamwork integrated into lessons provide them with security and promote positive and effective learning ?" Alan made the suggestion through his Blog post "This question enables us to explore in more depth in terms of where or with whom does the insight lay? Know where you might go to answer the question might help to nuance it for greater precision. See this in this revised question:
‘What do students report as being the benefits of a teamwork approach to learning dance?’
Within Teaching the Dance Class Literature it discusses :
Optimising the Self Within Community: Recognise individual differences and optimise individual potential; encourage students to work in collaboration with peers.
I felt these points were really relevant and provided a good insight into theories and practises in line with my own questioning. I find promoting self-esteem in class and believing in one's self worth quite challenging and many lessons that are provided for teenagers lack the tenacity and vibrancy that a younger class of students display. Encouraging students to be both leaders and listeners, embracing the benefits of collaborative work appreciating that not all answers to learning lie with the teacher but are discovered through this process of learning encaptured my attention and whilst I am aware I incorporate this teaching style into my classes feel that more emphasis on it with older groups is an essential tool for productive learning.
Ritualizing Respect: Foster an environment of mutual, reciprocal and self-respect in and out of the classroom.
The points raised within this area of fostering a environment of mutual respect also left me analysing my own classroom environment and feeling assured that whilst I do promote and encourage a quiet atmosphere for listening skills and in turn understanding, I should maybe encourage within my students the understanding of how this has benefits rather than just emphasise class etiquette as a requirement.
Nurturing the Learner: Provide positive reinforcement and constructive criticism in ways the student can develop skill mastery and comprehension of principles .
This topic discussed how positive reinforcement can both inspire and motivate the dancer and that the teacher can provide praise when improvement is demonstrated or when great effort is demonstrated. In younger students this is very straight forward, for example a younger student who attended my class yesterday on a regular basis arrives at class upset as she finds the transistion from school straight to her lesson, however her mum knows that once she has actually arrived at the class she will enjoy it. In yesterdays lesson although arriving upset I tried to engage her in assisting me straight from the start as 'a helper' which she relished the responsibility. From this point onwards she began to take part and at every opportunity I saw fit I gave her praise and encouragement whilst at the same time also paying attention to providing constructive criticism on her exercises. She rose to the challenge and tried her best to achieve and at the end of the lesson the other members of the class chose her as the winner of the'hard work' trophy which left her ending the class on a huge positive, unlike previous weeks when she had not managed to pick herself up from her upset state that she arrived in.
Young children thrive on praise and adhere to encouragement from teachers/adults and they enjoy being the best or the one who can accomplish a movement or exercise before others can. However this trend does not follow through to the older student (mostly those within their teenage years) who most find receiving praise quite difficult to accept especially in the presence of their peers. On knowing your students from an early to get to understand their personality and can hopefully read the situation making the decision whether to highlight their achievement or reflect on it as a whole group referring to many students in feedback rather than making one individual comment.
I could go on and on blogging on various points of this literature but feel I need to invest my time in other points of view that can contribute to my inquiry. So onto the next ....................
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