The Professional Artefact - an explanation

During the planning of my artecaft, I needed to take into consideration my audience. I had established that I was going to create a newspaper article due to the nature of my workplace. As a member of staff in a secondary school, there are often  newspapers found in the staff room. I grew up in a household of teachers and from my own experinece, I believe this to be an adequate means of communication to an academic body of workers.

My Critical Review contains the findings of my inquiry and I have been conscious to refrain from adding my own views, as best as possible. According to the WBS 3760 handbook, the Professional Artefact is the opportunity for you to 'defend your point of view'. With this in mind, I decided to create a newspaper secifically aimed at those who would choose to read a newspaper about Dance and Drama in education and named the paper ' The Creative Education'. All newspapers have a target audience in mind and one can expect to be 'swayed' towards the points of view of that paper, and mine is no different.

I found this process very enjoyable. As any newspaper reader would expect, I included headlines, images, text and graphs/tables. The text was much academic than the Critical Review and I included quotes from celebrities, which would entice the audience. (Even teachers read up on celebrity gossip!)

I took this opportunity to elaborate on an area that I could only touch on in the Critical Review due to the limitations of the word count. This was about lack of teacher training placements on the Schools Direct (Salaried) programme in Dance. This topic has had a direct effect on me and with the increased tuition fees, it is impossible for me to obtain a non-salaried placement. I was troubled to discover that there aren't any places in Britain on the Schools Direct (Salaried) programme in Dance. I created an article on this topic in my artefact, about  'Andrew Parsons', a made up character, who represented me. So as to keep all of my interviewees anonymous, I gave them all fake names, which was also fun.


I'm looking forward to being able to post my Professional Artefact once I have completed the course and been given permission.

In spite of the challenges ahead of me in terms of obtaining a placement for teacher training, I hope to be able to show my artefact to future employers to demonstrate my passion in Dance and Drama as subjects in their own right and be able to advise schools on the benefits they can give children to their overall education.

Artefact has arrived!

My Professional Artefact arrived this morning, printed and ready to hand in! It was very exciting seeing my work in a professional form.
Today is all about cleaning up my second draft of work. I've just completed my introduction so only the evaluation, analysis of findings and critical reflection to go...a few late nights ahead of me I think.

Artefact fun

I have thoroughly enjoyed piecing my artefact together today. It has definitely re-established in me how much I enjoy anything creative!
I'm hoping that once the degree and my wedding are over, I will be able to dedicate more time to being creative once more. I really should as my whole inquiry is based on the importance of creativity!

Process = journey

Oh my goodness, what a whirlwind the last few weeks have been!!!
To say I felt stressed is an understatement. Two full time jobs, my wedding in two weeks and my final module of uni!
I have been piecing everything together and my first draft of the Critcial Review is, at last done! This has not been easy. I have had such alot of trouble simply understanding the term 'inquiry'. I have my workin title, my questions, interviews etc, but something was not 'clicking' in my head.
I called upon Corinda Hall, who had originally been in the same module as myself, however after my deferral at Christmas, Corinda had finished before me. Like me, Corinda had had to take a step back and really analyse some very 'normal' words. For example, we discussed the word 'process'. This is mentioned in the criteria in the module 3 handbook.

'Evaluation of the Inquiry Process'

I had skimmed past this very important word, as had Corinda, but she highlighted to me its importance. Corinda explained that the word 'process' is asking us to explain the journey of our inquiry and not give the answers. This is where I had been going wrong. And slightly insane...trying to come up with all the answers was proving impossible! I simply didn't have them. Suddenly, things seemed so much clearer. Corinda went on to explain that:

 'you're not proving a theory. Its the journey of what you have learnt...the mechanics, not the answer'.

These few words have been invaluable to me and have lead me to understand what has been asked of me Using your SIGs is essential throughout Module 3, as I have discovered.

Is it adequate to teach drama, through English?

Today I had a conversation with an ex colleague (and friend), who is a dramatist and Teaching Assistant. She also begins her teacher training this year, in order to become a Drama teacher.
I recently conducted one of my interviews for my inquiry and spoke to the Vice Principle of a secondary school in London. I explained to my friend that the vice principle had justified the school not providing Drama to Year 7 and 8s, as they 'do drama in English'.
This comment interested me and I wanted her (expert) knowledge as to whether this was adequate. Her response was

            " An English teacher is not a Drama teacher. They do not possess the same skills or subject              knowledge. Knowing Shakespeare plays doesn't make you a Drama teacher. Pupils need specific time dedicated to each subject and drama is being degraded by putting it into the same category as English. An English teacher has chosen to teach English and therefore does not have the passion needed to teach Drama. How can they inspire pupils when it is not even the subject they have been inspired to teach?"

She continued to explain that Drama lessons start with the basics, such as teaching pupils not to perform with their backs to the audience and  what 'centre stage' means. These are not areas that are covered in 'English' drama classes, which in turn does not give pupils the background knowledge they need, should they choose to continue pursuing drama training. Drama teachers are then faced with a group of Year 9s and 10s who have no concept of the basics. My favourite comment that she made was

                      " It's like teaching trigonometry to pupils who can't do adding or taking away"

I would be interested in finding out what your thoughts on this matter are. Is it adequate to teach drama as part of the English curriculum?

Loose Women!

Loose women are having a conversation about 'bounderies in educatoin' and I was excited to watch them mention the TED conversation I will be using as part of my literature! I was pleased to see that they noticed that league tables have a negative knock on affect.



League         Exam/grade                                    Lack of interest in
 Tables  =  obsessed schools  = SEN pupils / non compulsorary subjects
                                                                         (inc. Drama/dance)


I would be very interested to receive comments and your thoughts on this topic

Artefact

At last I am on Easter holidays which means I have a full two weeks to dedicate to uni work. I find it very difficult to do uni work during term time as I work full time in a secondary school, with GCSE exams taking place this term and I also have a second job in the evenings. Holidays are really the only time I can properly dedicate myself to uni.
I will be starting off with my artefact. I will be creating my own Newspaper article which targets the world of education. Teachers tend to be academics and regularly enjoy picking up a newspaper.
I have discovered a website www.makemyownnewspaper.com, where I can create four of my own newspaper articles. I intend to include one of my interviews, images and text, all centred around my topic which looks into the importance of dance and drama in secondary education.

Where I am up to (Round 2)

Today I have re-read my feedback from module WBS 3630 in order to clarify in my mind where I am and which areas need to be focussed on.
The working title of my inquiry is 'An exploration into the importance of Dance and Drama within education'. The overall intention of my inquiry was to evaluate whether subjects such as Dance and Drama have a place in today's educational system. I initially had grand ideas of putting my arguement across to the Principal of the secondary school I work in as a Teaching Assistant, and somehow re-molding the curriculum to incorporate more time to the creative subjects. Although I whole heartedly believe that this would be a massive leap in the right direction for the British education system, Paula's feedback made me realise that with the time frame I have and to be quite honest, the lack of authority I posses, it would be too difficult to 'prove' that a creative curriculum should be adopted in my school. This could be regarded with certain despondency, but what Paula also highlighted to me was that although I can not necessarily change the teaching methods that the government have set in place, I can certainly use the valuable, creative teaching methods I have explored to improve my own teaching performance.
The literature I had read during Module WBS 3630 was appropriate to my inquiry and I have continued to gather further sources of literature and create a ‘literature folder’, in which I keep all relevant sources. I still intend to include educational policies and curriculum information.
Having realised that the initial question to my inquiry is too wide a topic area, I will now concentrate on the sub-questions I had proposed in my Inquiry Plan.

1. Are creative subjects considered as important as academic subjects and why?

2. Should Dance and Drama only be taught independently of government run schools?

Choosing just one of these avenues will allow my inquiry to be more specific and ultimately executed with more precision.
My feedback also encouraged me to take on some voluntary activities that could aid my inquiry. I recently directed the Shakespeare's school festival production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', which has enabled me to witness first hand, the growth in terms of confidence and ability that pupils' learn when taking part in creative projects. This has been as invaluable addition to my inquiry.

Since deferring, there has been a significant change to my previous research due to the decision by Michael Gove, Education Secretary, to abandon the proposed English Baccalaureate. My immediate response was somewhat fearful due to the new direction that my inquiry would possibly have to take. I have decided to use this new turnabout to my advantage, questioning and researching the reasons behind Gove’s decision whilst exploring the public’s reaction. Recently I remember watching a programme in which Julian Lloyd Webber conveyed his immense relief. This will now require further investigation into more up to date literature.
Having attended all three Module 3 campus sessions, my overall realisation is that I need to really look at all aspects and opinions throughout my inquiry. My personal view is actually not important whilst conducting an inquiry and I don’t, as yet, know the out-come. With this in mind, I will strive to be unbias and let the research, literature and my findings, ultimately produce the outcome.

The downside to deferring

Today I started the rather large task of reading up on my fellow module 3 BAPP-mate's blogs. I have realised that as I now have a new group of people to work beside, I don't know anything about them or what it is they are conducting their inquiry on. This is something I had not previously thought about but I now feel it is a real disadvantage. I don't have any current SIGs, for example.

For those of you who do not know me, I'm Sarah and my inquiry's working title is 'an exploration into the importance of Dance and Drama in secondary education'.

I would be interested in connecting with anyone (especially the new module 3) who are also basing their inquiry on a subject in conjunction with education. Indeed, I am interested in all of you...it's just quite a challenge reading through everyone's blogs!

Looking forward to getting to know you,
Sarah

Inspirational Talk

Yesterday, as part of our inset teacher training day, we were introduced to Sir John Jones, an inspirational speaker who was knighted for his services to education. I thoroughly enjoyed his talk and I left, feeling really inspired and excited about both my professional future and the future for children as they work through their education.
Jones questioned us as to whether we are personally, 'water thinkers' (ever changing, moving and ready for development, or 'rock thinkers' (stuck in our own ways and refusing to 'go with the flow').
I actually felt that I could honestly call myself a 'water thinker', especially having been on this course. I have learnt so much and tackled obstacles that I was literally fearful of prior to starting on BAPP eg. technology!
The talk has spurred me on to put more energy into the last module. It is true that you only get out, what you put in.
For anyone feeling a little sluggish, as I admit I was, I thoroughly recommend watching, reading or attending an inspirational talk to remind you what it is you want to achieve.
Many of these can be found on youtube, such as the TED talks.

Goodbye to the English Baccalaureate

So the EBac is being scrapped. This is music to my ears, however, in a purely  selfish way, I was slightly concerned as to how this leaves my inquiry. A large portion of my inquiry looked into the Ebacc and how it affected the education sytsem. I was worried that now that it is going, would I have to rethink my inquiry?

What I have come to realise however, is that the world is continuously progressing and I must embrace this change. I do not have to 'scrap' the inquiries I have already done on the Ebac, but I can in fact use the previous information and comment on how the country's views, mine included, subsequently put an end to a system that was doomed to fail.

I remember Paula talking about the speed in which findings change, during the first module. I feel that I now fully understand what she was explaining.This is why it is important to obtain current, relevent sources of literature, as something as recent as one month old, can actually be 'old news'.