Reflective practices ; my initial thoughts.

Going through the reader on Reflective Practice it occurred to me how Ive never really stopped and thought about how I reflect on my work or realised that I was even doing that.

I defiantly believe I have learnt from my experiences on a regular basis, I find I talk a lot when something has happened I like to explain my emotions and feelings I never tend to write anything down.
Being a dancer I do have to reflect on events in the moment and correct my work there and then, as this maybe creates little need to reflect after the event I still do reflect on everything for days to come, I almost over think and analyse everything.

'Dewey 1934' said that an interaction with the arts leads to a unique and valuable experience. If people had full experience with their lives they would be better able to be part of society. I do agree with this I feel this shows in children from an early age. I have been working with primary school children for some time and an impact the arts has on them reflects in there general studies and life skills. I opens them to fully engage with their lives and widens their experience.

I found 'kolbs learning cycle' very interesting. It gives you the tools to reflect on your experience and identify that you have in fact had one. Thinking about where I enter the cycle was difficult as we do all of the things. So I thought about when starting my blog, and I looked through other blogs firstly to get an idea and see how it was done, so this would start me in the cycle at Reflective observation. Which I think is true for work such as this where I had little previous experience on the task. However I don't feel I always enter the cycle at this stage I would normally enter at active experimentation, I like to be in the moment hands on learning almost trial and error. Maybe when i am uncertain of a situation, IE: starting a blog for the first time I lack confidence therefore entering at Reflective Observation so it gives me the opportunity to gain confidence by reviewing first.  This is something I am going to watch and see if other experiences make me enter at a different point of the cycle.

I agree with 'garders 1983' view on multiple intelligence, I don't feel you can only learn in one way or a particular method, many factors influence the way I learn and I feel it all depends on the situation at hand. Many variants can spark my thoughts, light, sound, music, text, pictures,influences,peoples opinions,emotions. This makes me aware of the different ways I can turn my experience into learning.
I use interpersonal intelligence when in an interview or meeting with a new person, it makes me aware of what they are thinking and feeling in the situation it allows you to make judgement on how to react yourself, sensing emotions and understanding.

I would initially feel I learn best kinaesthetically being a dancer this is where i feel most comfortable therefore open to learning. However thinking into this I learn a lot visually again this comes from being a dancer from watching people move and express themselves, I love learning from seeing something it sparks my thoughts and I find this an easier way for things to be explained to me.

'Peter Honey 1982 and Alan Mumford's 1983' model is a very simple straight forward way of thinking about the cycle and your process I am going to keep this in mind when writing my journal.

I reflect in action being a performer and teacher, I have to solve problems improve and reflect there and then on the spot you couldn't carry on if you didn't do that. However do we still need to reflect on action, to make sure we have not missed anything and also giving us the chance to discuss with others and gain views and opinions, surely this would only enhance the reflection?

Stephanie Thomas  made some great points on tacit knowledge on her blog, this really got me thinking and made me understand tacit knowledge as I was unaware it existed. I feel as a dancer I do use this without even realising. 'Twyla Tharps' quote on muscle memory explains tacit knowledge for dancers perfectly. After creating a dance piece yes I can explain my ideas and thoughts but at some point tacit knowledge really does take over and I cannot put into words everything, maybe it was the music, steps, images all things you cannot simply just explain in black and white. I feel a lot of experience you cannot explain, how could you that is what it was an experience, something that happened there in the moment sometimes for a straight forward reason that you can pass on and reflect in words, other times it is the feelings,emotions,senses,what you feel in your body that you cannot possible relive and put into text. So i feel tacit knowledge is vital in performers and probably takes over more than we can even realise.

I am now going to go on and explore ways I can reflect and try new things to see what effect they have on my reflective practice.

1.c starting out on bapp

Here is my clip on starting out on Bapp, I enjoyed exploring ways of creating this and improving on my skills using different tools, I think this is something I definatly need to develop and improve. I would like to improve on my own showreel, So please do tell me if you have any tips or great tools to use.

1b: My initial thoughts on professional communication technologies.

When I first read through the course reader I realised this is a topic I know little about. Although I use web 2.0 in my everyday life socially and professionally I did not realise I was doing so, I did not even realise the definition of web 2.0. This is something I am facinated about although I am part of various networking sites I havnt even began to take full advantage of what web 2.0 has to offer. I am not saying I fully agree to living my life through social networking I am still very much on the fence about the effects it has on my life, but I am intriged to explore this and discuss other peoples views.

There is an interesting point that we are indeed taking part and creating these networks, by meerly having a facebook profile you are a part in creating that network and database whether you post and blog or not.
We believe that social networking and facebook in particular are allowing us to keep in touch and communicate with more people that we maybe would have lost touch with in the past. Is this true? Do we use such sites to meerly drop the odd email and look at friends profiles thinking that is enough rather than actually taking the time to meet up with friends and share your lives personally. Of course we couldn't possibly find the time to do this with everyone so facebook does allow us to have an insight into peoples lives, but I do worry that we are hiding behind computers too much and not creating enough personal experiences.

I feel like social networking has sped up my life it enables me to connect with such a wide community in the space of seconds, this course is going to give me a good chance to sit back and reflect on the choices I make in reflection to web 2.0.

1d: flikr images.

I have just added some photos from a recent show I did onboard a cruise ship. I found it simple to create a flikr account I have never posted any images to such sites before, i found this fun looking through all my photos. I am definatly going to use this site and search for images that may be of use and interest to me. I feel the more I do such tasks the more confident I am getting with finding my way around the web. Here is the link below for my images.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leannewatson07/?saved=1

Do web technologies enhance professional practice?

This was the topic we discussed at the session on the 8th Feb. After the session I left feeling positive and ready to start this course.

First of all we discussed the pros and cons of social networking in our profession. Naturally we found lots to discuss as we all use networking sites in our everyday lives.
The pros we discussed were:

• Access to a database of millions.
• More opportunities, access to casting directors/ agents.
• Receive emails/info instantly.
• Find more confidence in approaching people by hiding behind emails.
• Access info on any job/show/techniques.
• Post your profile for millions to see and cast through.

The cons were:

• Not speaking to people face to face and creating a bond.
• There are still people in the industry from the generation before social networking.
• Not everything is true that you read online.
• Miss communication technology can fail at any time.
• Cannot fully portray yourself through text and images.
• Your information could fall into the wrong hands.

These are all ideas I am now going to explore further and develop my thoughts on.
One thing I realised was something that could be a positive for one person may not be for me so I need to reflect on what is positive and negative with using  social networking  for my own personal situation. I need to remind myself why I use these sites and focus on that. Verity made a good point that we seem to get distracted and end up following other peoples lives instead of maybe focusing on own. I think this is true for a lot of people it is easy to forget why we are using the web, sometimes following other people is of great benefit but I think there is a fine line between professional and social when it comes to these sites and that is something that can easily get blured into one. This is a topic I will personally be focusing on and try to really create that separation.

I personally don't normally following trends or what the majority of people are doing, for example i won't buy the new style of trousers just because that's what everyone is wearing I will buy it if it suits me. I found I was the same with social networking I never wanted a facebook account as much as everyone persuaded me I didn't want one. Then realising it could benefit my career I gave in and got one and it really has benefited me in that way, however being on such sites has distracted me from the real reason I went on in the first place and I feel my views and opinions are getting influenced by other people more easily than they would do in life already. For example: If making an important decision I would have consulted my close family and friends who would have influenced my decision now I am more likely to share this with my online network, some may think this is a benefit, you are getting a much wider range of opinions and views this is something I would like to explore and get your opinions on.

From these discussions on the 8th I really believe we should reflect day to day why we are social networking and make sure we are using it positively. I realise that it is ok to not come to a conclusion straight away my thoughts are going to change on this subject and that is something I'm going to enjoy exploring.

Personal profile

My name is Leanne watson I am a professioanl dancer. Originally from Blackpool I now live in weston Super mare. With my mum being a Dance teacher I have danced since the age of three.

I trained at laine Theatre Arts in all styles of dance and theatre I graduated with a three year musical theatre diploma and I.S.T.D  F.D.I.

Since graduating I have performed in three pantomimes as Dance captain, various cruise ships, Disney tour and various gigs throughout the country. I am due to work out in Greece this year as a dancer.

I am a Passionate and reliable dancer, my job has allowed me to travel the world and experience various cultures of dance.

I am a qualified dance teacher and found myself getting more involved in teaching these last couple of years, this is something i would like to pursue further in my career.

Please comment on this profile I would love to hear any suggestions.

c.v

                     LEANNE WATSON

                        Date of Birth               ¨                     1^st August 1986

                        Nationality                  ¨                     British

                        Height                         ¨                     5’4

                        Eye Colour                  ¨                     Brown

                        Hair Colour                 ¨                     Brown

            Complexion                 ¨                     Olive

            Vocal Range                ¨                     Bottom F# to Top F (Belt toBb                                       

                   

                      PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

                                  LAINE THEATRE ARTS

Musical Theatre Course encompassing Singing, Drama, Performance, Contemporary, Jazz,                                                    

Modern, Classical Ballet, Pas De Deux, Tap

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Aladdin  2010/11                                         Bruce James Productions.

Dance Captian

Ocean Village  2010                             Micha Bergese- Final Cast.

Dancer

Camp Rock 2-  UK Tour 2010                Disney- choreographer Beth Honan

Dancer

MJ History 2010                                          Rick Bhullar/ OV Cruises.       

Dancer

Ocean Village Cruise  09/10                   Micha Bergese Productions

Dancer

SNOW WHITE & THE 7 DWARFS

08/09                                                              Bruce James Productions

Dancer/ Dance captain

BOWOOD HOUSE CONCERT 

Backing dancer to Liberty X                            Bowood House

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK  07/08

Dancer                                                             Bruce James Productions

CHEEKY GIRLS –                                       

Dancer                                                            CHEEKY FLAMENCO VIDEO AND PA GIGS

BOWOOD HOUSE CONCERT 06

Supporting Act to Chico & Journey South        Bowood House

                                   QUALIFICATIONS

            Ballet                                      ¨                    Advanced 1 ISTD & Inter RAD

            Modern Dance                       ¨                     Advanced 2 ISTD & FDI

            Tap                                          ¨                     Advanced 2 ISTD

            Acting                                      ¨                  Gold Medal Lamda                                                          

                                                SPECIAL SKILLS

Roller Skating - Full Clean Driving Licence - Pas de deux - Accents , Qualified deep water diver.

leanne watson c.v

I am starting to read through all the materials and tasks. So to start off with I am going to post up my c.v as it currently is then i will rewite it as a profile. I would love any comments and suggestions.

First Blog!

So i have never had a blog before so I am taking it step by step and hopefully will all become clear! I am very excited about starting this course and will hopefully be communicting with you all soon.