http://www.flickr.com/photos/61857946@N08/with/5662236751/
The use of Flickr images when promoting yourself across online networks can be useful. Putting a face to a name is useful and a good tool to remember.
Monday 2 May 2011
The Networked Professional (B)
From reading through the given reader and researching the various concepts, this has been the most difficult to grasp. However I have been able link these to my profession, working and cooperating with your colleages and pupils helps me to have a happy and professional workplace. It is easy when you have the passion to share your expertise with you rstudents to say 'YES' to anything your boss may throw your way. You have to be careful that you don't start to be taken for granted and the cooperation is one sided. I could go out of my way to make a lesson, where as the student or boss can very easily let your hard work pass by without any recognition.
Affiliation is important within teaching as I affliate myself within different groups to network myself and classes. I have formed many close relationships with colleages from the past who I keep in close conact with now, as thse people can lead you to future job opportunities. Being a sociable person myself I completely agree with Crisp, J & Turners theory that everyone has a tendency to affiliate weather it be at a weekly meeting or social networking such as facebook. An example of where I affiliate is at my monthly SEYDN hub meeting where I network with other working professionals sharing ideas and experiences, without this I wouldn't be able to improve my knowledge in the field of teaching as I find it useful going on others experiences and how they dealt with them.
Affiliation is important within teaching as I affliate myself within different groups to network myself and classes. I have formed many close relationships with colleages from the past who I keep in close conact with now, as thse people can lead you to future job opportunities. Being a sociable person myself I completely agree with Crisp, J & Turners theory that everyone has a tendency to affiliate weather it be at a weekly meeting or social networking such as facebook. An example of where I affiliate is at my monthly SEYDN hub meeting where I network with other working professionals sharing ideas and experiences, without this I wouldn't be able to improve my knowledge in the field of teaching as I find it useful going on others experiences and how they dealt with them.
Current Networks
My first experience of networking via the web was Myspace. I used this when I was in a band and it was useful for sharing our music, photos and gig information. We gained many followers using this site but it slowly took a back seat when Facebook became apparant. I am now not a user of Myspace, but a everyday user of Facebook as I'm sure many of us can put our hands up to! I find Facebook more of a personal social networking site. When looking for teachers to cover sessions on last minute or to share important information, Facebook can be really handy as you know the necessary people will see it usually that day.
When looking for more long term teachers for my company I like to use Star Now a networking site used for Auditions, Jobs and Classes. I post the job title and relevant information and any teachers who wish to apply can post their CV to the blog and I then get the choice of who I would like to meet. It is important that I keep up to date with what is going on in my local area, I find a good way of doing this is through the South East Youth Dance Network they have a local Hub for each county where you work. I receive monthly bulletins with info of jobs, training courses, funding and opportunities for the Gifted and Talented. Through this hub I have made contacts with other dance artists and teachers who I can share ideas with.
I am currenty in the process of having a website designed for my company Funky Munkeys this is a big decision and one that has taken a year to finalise, but after looking into this option I realised it will be a great way to advertise my classes. Up to this time I have found word of mouth the best way. I believe if you run a good class that children and parents are happy with you will get your custom week after week.
From reading Sonals blog I agree with her when she says ''from my experience many of the dancers that are professional working constantly get work by mutual friends or contacts. This comes from experience in the industry as building contacts takes time. I try to keep in touch with all of my friends and contacts but it does become difficult with hectic lives.'' Colleages I have worked with in the past do tend to become friends as I like to work on a friendly basis staying professional at all times, a good way of staying in touch is by text or email another everyday networking tool.
When looking for more long term teachers for my company I like to use Star Now a networking site used for Auditions, Jobs and Classes. I post the job title and relevant information and any teachers who wish to apply can post their CV to the blog and I then get the choice of who I would like to meet. It is important that I keep up to date with what is going on in my local area, I find a good way of doing this is through the South East Youth Dance Network they have a local Hub for each county where you work. I receive monthly bulletins with info of jobs, training courses, funding and opportunities for the Gifted and Talented. Through this hub I have made contacts with other dance artists and teachers who I can share ideas with.
I am currenty in the process of having a website designed for my company Funky Munkeys this is a big decision and one that has taken a year to finalise, but after looking into this option I realised it will be a great way to advertise my classes. Up to this time I have found word of mouth the best way. I believe if you run a good class that children and parents are happy with you will get your custom week after week.
From reading Sonals blog I agree with her when she says ''from my experience many of the dancers that are professional working constantly get work by mutual friends or contacts. This comes from experience in the industry as building contacts takes time. I try to keep in touch with all of my friends and contacts but it does become difficult with hectic lives.'' Colleages I have worked with in the past do tend to become friends as I like to work on a friendly basis staying professional at all times, a good way of staying in touch is by text or email another everyday networking tool.
Inquiry
I am really enthusiastic when it comes to sharing my passion for performance. I believe performance is such a major part of my career whether it be my performance as a teacher or a students performance when on stage. I am currently in the middle of directing a show and I am working on the expressive performance for each character, when one of my students portrays great performance skills I get a buzz of excitement and I want them to share their talent. Remembering this enthusiasm and passion has has helped me recover my ambition for teaching, this week I have mixed emotions and found myself feeling very negative about my career. Being a dance teacher is a full time job especially working freelance aswell, you find yourself wearing my hats. I came away from teaching on Wednesday evening feeling totally deflated. After locking up a dark empty studio at nine o'clock at night I felt lonely, tired and un-motivated, I have shared my feelings with my boss and this was a weight off my shoulders as she confirmed with me that she has days like this and most people do and that I'm not alone. I have overcome this feeling and have put it down to a 'bad day'. My experience with working in mainstream schools and teaching curriculum dance I have learnt that this is where I feel complete. This feeling and experience pushed me into finding out how I could come a qualified teacher leading me to gaing a degree and hence completeing this course. Without all these experiences I wouldn't be the person I am now and wouldn't know what I actually do and don't enjoy.
Reflective Readers
After reading about reflection and the readers views on different learning perspectives. I have found it useful following Kolbs 'Reflection After Events' and his quote “Much important reflection can occur once the immediate pressure of acting in real time has passed.” I took this and it encouraged me to keep a reflective journal, which made me think about my weekly events and learn from my experiences.
I found it clear that my learning technique is one used by David Kolb Reflective Observation. An example of where I have used this is with this course, I gained tutoring from reading others blogs, this gave me the knowledge and confidence to start blogging myself. Having worked within schools for two years I have gained valuable experience to take away with me for my own teaching career. I find watching someone else and seeing how they use a particular syllabus i.e GCSE/dance/warm up, I can take away their ideas and use them as a guide for my own classes. Looking at Howard Gardners theories I use Interpersonal intelligence alot when teaching teenagers, this can be a hard time for many of the girls I teach and they come to dancing wanting to have fun and use their talent. I have one particular student who has an important audition coming up we have been working on preparing her dance and monologue for this and so far it has been going well. On this one evening she just wasn't engaged and her temper kept getting the better of her. I asked her to sit down and take five and asked her if she wanted to talk about anything, she started to reel off a number of things that had been getting to her over the week and I was able to relate to this. By using Interpersonal Intelligence I was able to help her release some of the tension she was feeling and settle her mind, by doing this we were able to carry on with the lesson and the student came away feeling more confident with the work and happier in herself. When thinking about VAK, I put this best into practise when learning syllabus work. With any grade or work you are able to purchase booklets with all steps and timings, I find these difficult to work from, I would much prefer to use the kinaesthetical way. Being able to work alongside someone teaching you the steps gives me more confidence when taking it away and using it in my classes. By learning my preferred VAK I have made it clear to myself to try and go on as many training days as possible where you learn the set routines and valuable experience without this my teaching level wouldn't be to a standard I would be proud or happy with.
I found it clear that my learning technique is one used by David Kolb Reflective Observation. An example of where I have used this is with this course, I gained tutoring from reading others blogs, this gave me the knowledge and confidence to start blogging myself. Having worked within schools for two years I have gained valuable experience to take away with me for my own teaching career. I find watching someone else and seeing how they use a particular syllabus i.e GCSE/dance/warm up, I can take away their ideas and use them as a guide for my own classes. Looking at Howard Gardners theories I use Interpersonal intelligence alot when teaching teenagers, this can be a hard time for many of the girls I teach and they come to dancing wanting to have fun and use their talent. I have one particular student who has an important audition coming up we have been working on preparing her dance and monologue for this and so far it has been going well. On this one evening she just wasn't engaged and her temper kept getting the better of her. I asked her to sit down and take five and asked her if she wanted to talk about anything, she started to reel off a number of things that had been getting to her over the week and I was able to relate to this. By using Interpersonal Intelligence I was able to help her release some of the tension she was feeling and settle her mind, by doing this we were able to carry on with the lesson and the student came away feeling more confident with the work and happier in herself. When thinking about VAK, I put this best into practise when learning syllabus work. With any grade or work you are able to purchase booklets with all steps and timings, I find these difficult to work from, I would much prefer to use the kinaesthetical way. Being able to work alongside someone teaching you the steps gives me more confidence when taking it away and using it in my classes. By learning my preferred VAK I have made it clear to myself to try and go on as many training days as possible where you learn the set routines and valuable experience without this my teaching level wouldn't be to a standard I would be proud or happy with.
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