Beginning Task 4a - Developing lines of inquiry

Starting the task of developing my lines of inquiry and asking myself what I am particularly passionate about is daunting. When thinking about coming to my final inquiry idea I feel pressure to find something to investigate that will be original and interesting. However, I also have to be realistic with myself about what I can achieve and what I can research. I remember Adesola saying to other students in Skype calls previously something along those lines. That we have to really think about the questions we are asking as we can't expect to prove/disprove something that maybe other larger studies have been working on for years.

My ultimate goal after completing the BAPP is to move forward in my career in education. Writing regularly in my journal and being more aware of my practise has already had a positive impact on my work. I want my inquiry to continue with this and the topic to be something that will help me with my future goals.

I had some original questions that came out of task 2 last module.

1. How do you think imaginative techniques can help or hinder young peoples education?

    2.  Do you find you are willing to bend your curriculum/set teaching ideas to cater to   the children you have in your class?

3. Do you see your classes having any positive/negative outcomes for children who are not native English speakers?

4. How much do you think you are influenced by what parents say? How can the demands of customers – the parents – affect your business? How much do you think parents understand what we do? How much do they care?

5. How personal should your relationships be with children/young people you are teaching?  How much of yourself do you reveal to them if they ask questions about you?

6. Do you think enough money is spent on arts in education?

7. How does the emphasis on the arts compare in the different schools you work in?

 I put these questions to a colleague of mine from work. She is a singing teacher who works for the same children's theatre school that I do, she also has some schools contracts that she has secured herself. I asked her permission to share her responses on my blog. You can find them below.

1. I think imaginative techniques offer children who are all different another way of learning. This may not work for every individual but coming from a creative background I am always looking at new and imaginative ways of learning to enhance creativity and explore new part of their abilities 

2. I think it is important to be able to adapt to different situations including children who learn differently. I find that I am always having to change and add different options for individuals and feel this is a chance to enable better support.

3. Having children of a different language in a class has positives and can be seen a negative as it can be seen as slowing the class down if someone isn't able to understand things very quickly while working. ( if someone was there to support with language it wouldn't be seen as a problem that the class teacher needs to deal with so would have the time to teach the class without slowing down to make sure everyone understood) Having different languages is advantageous as it exposes children to different languages and culture and is another form of learning and understanding.

4. Dealing with parents can be challenging as they know their children very well and think they know best which isn't always the case for their education. As a teacher I know my subject very well and in turn get to know my students and their learning patterns and behaviours very well. In different teaching settings what parents say does effect me but I don't think it influences the way I teach. The parents need to be kept happy but so do the children and I think by creating a great teaching environment in turn effects the children positively which then settles and eases parents and leads to a thriving business. Not all parents can be kept happy but different solutions can be found on a case by case basis.

5. This is a hard question as its different for students of different ages. I think it's important for a teacher to have a private life but still reveal enough relevant information to still seem human and accessible to a child if they need confide or need feel safe with the teacher. In my line of work (singing) I do reveal a lot about my singing in order to inspire and teach children they an do whatever they set their minds to. 

6. I think people of the arts are resourceful so make use of the funding we have. I think we need more funding but it will never stop the arts which can be seen as a problem if they need to cut funding they will hit the arts because we are fortunate enough to have passionate people who get.

With more funding teachers would be able to be paid for all the out of hours work the arts education needs. We would be able to do better shows and offer opportunities with relevant people.

7. I am pleased that I only work in schools who put a major emphasis on the arts and think this should be something that is taken seriously in all schools as this allows students an outlet. 

It felt great to make a start sharing ideas with someone. Through discussions with my colleague and whilst making notes on Reader 4 some other question have come up. I will put together a blog with my thoughts on Reader 4 and share those questions. For now it would be great to get some other peoples responses to my original questions to see how things develop.  Thanks!