Books!

Hello to all and thank you to everyone on Skype yesterday, especially all the Module Three students who were so encouraging and took time to answer our questions! It was so interesting to hear all your perspectives on the course and and also to really feel a sense of community even though we are all so spread out across our many locations.

Over the past week since our Module One Skype I have really enjoyed looking through the course material and getting my mindset prepared to begin study again. It does all seem more than a little overwhelming, however, I am trying my best to take the advise of Helen, Adesola and all the experienced MAPPers and NOT PANIC! I always find that for me the best way to engage with a subject is to read around it, as this not only gives me focus but also gets my brain to work and constantly think about relevant topics and ideas. I therefore asked the module three students what they began reading when they started out and which books they found to be the most helpful and informative. There were two clear winners (each on the Core Texts reading list in the student handbook,) I ordered both of these from Amazon last week and they arrived in just a couple of days:

Alan Durrant, Garth Rhodes, David Young (2009) Getting started with University-Level Work Bsed Learning. Middlesex University Press

Ruth Helyer (2010) The Work-Based Learning Student Handbook. Palgrave Macmillan

Everyone agreed that these were both great introductions to work based learning. The opinion was shared by all that they were informative and helpful as first texts before getting stuck into heavier reading, particularly if you did not come from a higher education background or had been away from education for some time. It was also mentioned that the Durrant, Rhodes, Young is a really short book (less than 100 pages) that is by far the least daunting and a great place to begin.

I'm off to start reading, I'll let you all know how it goes!

Putting myself on the MAPP

Hello everyone! Firstly I feel I should begin by saying I do realise I may come across rather keen getting this post up so early, I assure you it’s mostly fear that got it here so soon and not the eagerness and confidence I wish it was. With my almost non existent blogging, link-ing and twitting abilities, I figured I might as well bite the techno bullet and get on with it, just incase it took me a month to work out how! 

I haven’t yet had the chance to get stuck into the reading material, so instead of pondering I thought why not introduce myself by simply sharing a recent experience. 

At the end of last week I returned from participating in a four day workshop in Normandie, France. This was instructed by Amélie Bénard, a current member of the Martha Graham School Faculty and one of my lovely and hugely talented friends from my time studying in NYC. ‘Stage de Danse’ is an annual workshop for dancers and teachers of all ages and abilities to get a taste of the Martha Graham technique and to learn and explore some of the key principals of the movement vocabulary. I was instantly struck not just by the enjoyment and enthusiasm shared by all those attending but also by the amount that Amélie achieved throughout the course of the week. Considering that for the large majority of the students this is the only Graham technique they do each year I was amazed. The 8-10 year olds for whom some of it was their first time came in every day already rehearsing what they had learnt the day before culminating in them performing a 3 minute fully staged combination at the end of the week and the older teenagers and adults who had been coming for several years began to show a much deeper understanding of the movement and exude a real sense of eloquence and drama in their execution of some of the material. Most prominent of all was the drive and determination shared by all those taking part.

So, where am I going with this…Well the whole experience really supported my belief in the validity of teaching pioneering contemporary techniques and surmounted everything I know to be true about teaching Graham to the next generation when done the correct way. It also demonstrated how the technique could be kept true to form yet also cultivate excitement and creativity in a wide range of dance practitioners. So much of this positive experience is undisputedly down to Amelie and her natural ability to engage with the students across all age ranges and also the safe and positive environment she creates, not always synonymous with what is perceived to be a  ‘typical’ Graham class. I left on such a high and the experience instilled in me a new confidence with regards to many areas of my teaching practice whilst also giving me so much food for thought.

Thank you so much for reading my first blog post ever! Just in case you’re in the same position as I was and are a little terrified by the whole prospect of this I say Just go for it, You’ll find something to say :) Over and out, speak soon!