A problem shared is a problem halved

 

I heard this quote the other day and it is one i've heard many times before however it felt relevant to right now and the way our BAPP community is coming together to help, suggest idea and just be that shoulder we are all needing!

The past week I have been trying to focus my mind to what my AOLs for my essay are going to be, after speaking to other Mod 1s I know it is something that quite a few of us are struggling with. 

I feel like there is so much whizzing round in my head every-time I try to solidify my thoughts, they just end up running away again. So I thought that I would use this blog to allow myself to keep track of my thoughts as of right now. 

After constantly just feeling like 5 steps forwards is leaving me 10 steps back I tried to make a note of the most important parts of my practice currently and see what would come of them - 

 A big part of my practice currently is teaching and it is something that through the BAPP course I have been able to start reflecting on myself as a teacher and how my experiences as a student have/are shaping me in to the teacher I am becoming. One main point I have come across after reading some blogs is the importance of communication, but not just being able to communicate, looking at how words by teachers can negatively impact of the students well being. I know this is something after reading blogs, speaking to friends and reflecting on my own time at college, how the way a comment is communicated can have a detrimental affect on someone, and it is something which I am interested in to looking in to and using as an AOL. Even though I think this is where I would like to take the focus of my first AOL, I feel I am still struggling to articulate it in to one sentence rather than in being generalised. 

The second point that has taken my interest is Tacit Knowledge/Muscle memory and how we use this is ur everyday life and practice. I am again still trying to pin point what my exact AOL will be regarding this topic and I am hoping that it will become a little clearer after my one-to-one with Helen. I have tried to reflect on experiences that will influence my AOL is that since teaching I have encountered Tacit Knowledge, I have found myself knowing in my head and body the material that I am going to teach inside out and back to front, however when I then go to try and speak out what the moves are and what I want the students to do because the combination is broken down it seems to almost disappear from me and even though I could do the steps over and over again, trying to relay the steps to the students can become challenging, especially over zoom where students haven't always got the best view, talking through the steps is so important.  Also what interests me is when taking known movement away from the music it has been learnt to sometimes the routine can feel disjointed. I liken this to the fact that people can so easily learn lyrics to songs from repetitive listening, without actually taking the time to learn them. This is something for me over the years I have found incredibly frustrating especially in school when I would take a huge amount of time trying to learn material for exams and it just wouldn't stick, yet after a few times listening to a new song or learning a new dance after half an hour I would have already picked up more than I thought I could. 

I am yet to decided on an area for my third AOL and is what I intend to spend today looking into.

My POA

- Find 3rd AOL topic 

- Make 1st and 2nd AOL much more specific and keep researching

- Go back through the handbook to find links to deepen my knowledge

-Read, Read and Read again  

I understand this blog is probably not the best to read, however it has helped me to make my brain feel a little less full and know that I now have my thoughts logged and can come back when I need. 

H x