Task 4C Developing Questions with your own professional community

After I had asked the questions outlined in the task 4a, the  head of dance at the school gave me detailed answers which I appreciated would help me continue a further understanding about Dance in education.

In my previous blog, you can see the answers and a small conclusion that I wrote on reflection to these answers http://stephanieswann02.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/questions-relevant-to-my-practise.html#comment-form
As I entered the school the following day, I noticed that I had a slightly different outlook to the classes that I was observing. The students who stood out to me practically and those who stood out to me on more of the theory based work.
In the class we also had a PCGE student who was observing as she was planning a class to teach the following day and it was really interesting to chat to her about my ideas and questions that I had asked the previous day.  Her perspective on student/teacher will be closer to mine as a student herself as apposed to that of our teacher. This was valuable to me and as I looked into the task set through the module 2 handbook, I began to explore more areas within my interests to focus on.

For example, during one class I managed to observe closely how engagement in one class can vary to another. A class of year 7's with a mixture of boys and girls compared to a GCSE all girls class shows the clear example of how a certain teaching quality needs to be maintained at a high level in order for students engagement, no matter the age or gender. Watching boys in a year 7 class proved to become challenging for the teacher to handle.
We discussed the possible research that will have gone into children's cognitive and motor development skills and how it shows the differences which can be an advantage aswel as a disadvantage to learning. As an inspired teacher to be, I now see how this understanding is necessary especially teaching a mixed school environment.
I found an article online which explored a lot of avenues regarding a child's development. The study taken out by Pica 2003, explains the differences between young boys and young girls in the middle childhood, for example this would be around the start of secondary school ages 11-12. He's details that; Boys motor development exceeds that of girls at this stage, however girls are better than boys at fine motor skills. Boys greater gross motor development may partially explain why they are more interested in physical activity than girls (Pica, 2003)  
This can explain why boys want to runs round on a football pitch more than girls. Having brought this research to the head of dance, she laughed and simply said ' well that makes sense!'
We focused on then how much the importance of achieving the right balance between boys and girls learning is, not just only in Dance, but that of all subjects. Age groups can change a class plan, you cannot go into one day at school having the same class plan for all age groups that you will teach, it would be near to impossible to capture the engagement on the students.

At the end of the class we discussed the values of dance to students and how even though it may become a future career prospect to some, to others it is another grade added to the results at the end of the school life. We came up with a few ideas which can develop my questions which I originally proposed to her. She kindly suggested that I take a specific observation over the course of a few weeks, with the consent of her and other teachers that may be involved and look at the aspects of the student rather than the subject. Referring back to my questions, I am going to make a note of my own answers to these as I observe;

•  Do you find it difficult to engage enthusiasm from particular students who have picked dance as an 'easy subject' - does this cause frustration as a teacher?

•  In comparison to other subjects, how do you think students engage in dance as apposed to maths or science? Is there a strategy to help them express themselves into the art?

These two specifically are relating to engagement of the students and by observing them I hope to capture the enthusiasm, or lack of, and question is this consistent? By watching practical and theory based classes I will be able to monitor the differences and also I hope to speak to the students and find out their views in comparison to the teachers. This I hope will allow me to expand my thoughts on questioning engagement.




References;

 http://stephanieswann02.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/questions-relevant-to-my-practise.html#comment-form

Pica, 2003 - https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=R8-HitN5Jp0C&pg=PA358&lpg=PA358&dq=can+boys+attention+span+be+less+than+girls&source=bl&ots=0KA-i4I_XE&sig=XwGLqtx5bpHMN01u6AMFCJM1IkA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEAQ6AEwBWoVChMI6-P0gdPVyAIVyrQaCh209gM7#v=onepage&q=can%20boys%20attention%20span%20be%20less%20than%20girls&f=false