Task 3A - Current Networks

Networking is crucial within the performing industry. Never is the old saying ‘it’s not what you know but who you know’ more applicable. In my third year at college we had several classes about the importance of self-promotion and networking. The industry is extremely difficult to break into but sometimes all you need is for someone to help you to get your foot in the door.

According to dictionary.com, networking means, a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest.  Networking, therefore, is talking to other professionals and sharing information, regarding upcoming auditions, castings or classes.

With the introduction of Web 2.0, social media and email, networking has never been easier or more accessible. One site that I subscribed to was ‘Casting Weekly.’ They emailed a list of auditions on a weekly basis – most of them open calls; this ensured that you were always ‘in the loop’. A few years ago, it used to be almost impossible to hear about auditions without the assistance of an agent but nowadays you can self-promote and land big roles without that aid.

Something I noticed in my time at theatre school and in the industry is that people are quite reluctant to share any information with you, whether that’s a new song, sheet music, acting tips, auditions, even contacts they already have. It is a cut throat industry and no one wants to help the competition. That is something, unfortunately, that I have just had to accept.

Networking was always a huge tool within the performing industry but recently I have noticed it has been creeping into other professions, such as teaching, sites such as TES. This site has resources, jobs, news which are all accessible to download and help you see what others have come up with for that particular lesson. A lot of the course we are currently studying involves networking as the blogs that we write are available for other students to read and benefit from.

Task 2D - Inquiry

What in your daily practice gets you really enthusiastic to find out more about? Who do you admire who also works with what makes you enthusiastic?

I have danced and acted since I was tiny, so being able to go to college and train was a dream come true! During my time at college, I covered a few classes at my previous dance school and fell in love with teaching. I thoroughly enjoy working with children, inspiring them to pursue their dreams and unlock any talents that they may possess. The joy on their faces when they nail a routine for the first time is so rewarding and I don’t believe that you can experience that feeling of satisfaction with other jobs.  I work in both an academic school and a dance school, which allows me to work with children with a wide variety of skills and monitor the progress they make. It also gives me the chance to inspire them and show them that you can be talented or intelligent in other ways.

I admire my old dance teacher, the way she choreographs, the visions she comes up with.

What gets you angry or makes you sad? Who do you admire who shares your feelings or has found a way to work around the sadness or anger?

What makes me both angry and sad is that dance or the arts in general can be considered “second rate” subjects and not taken seriously. I studied Drama, Photography and Maths for A-level and people are always shocked when I tell them. I feel there is too much emphasis placed on subjects such as maths and science and they are always referred to as “academic”. The arts are usually considered ‘doss’ subjects because “all you do is dance around or play games”. In reality the physical demands that you have to put your body through to achieve ‘good technique’ or get into character can be extraordinary. Anne Hathaway virtually starved for 13 days and lost 25lbs before filming her role in Les Miserables. I have discussed this point of view with a lot of other professionals within the industry. They all feel the same way and have overcome this by suggesting they come to a dance class with them to show how physically demanding it is.

I read an article the other night stating “are pupils ‘held back’ by overemphasis on arts”. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11221081/Nicky-Morgan-pupils-held-back-by-overemphasis-on-arts.html

I believe that if we took away the arts then the world would be a very boring place, no musicals, dance shows, TV presenters, actors, artists or musicians. There would be nowhere, in fact, for the supposed academics to unwind or enjoy some culture.  Children that aren’t academically minded would have no way of expressing themselves and hidden talents could remain unearthed.

What do you love about what you do? Who do you admire who also seems to love this or is an example of what you love?

I love performing. There is no feeling in the world that compares to being on a stage. I love that performing makes people happy and can provide an escape from their everyday life and worries. I also adore teaching, I love making a difference in children’s lives, providing them with the tools to decide upon a career. I am a member of an amateur dramatic society where many participants are also teachers. We were discussing how important it is to bring the arts world into schools as children learn in such different ways. I admire that they are still doing something they love and incorporating that into their chosen careers and in turn benefiting the children’s learning.

What do you feel you don’t understand? Who do you admire who does not seem to understand it or who has found a way of making not understanding beautiful or has asked the same question as you?

What I find difficult to understand is how teachers cope with their emotions and how they deal with the frustration of a student not achieving their full potential. I enjoy watching programmes such as Educating Essex, Cardiff, East End. The teachers in those shows never give up and are constantly trying new techniques to try to motivate them and help them reach their potential. I am always trying to find new ways to inspire the children. The most important point is to always be as enthusiastic as possible as this is likely to transmit itself to the children. Having worked in both a dance school and a primary school, I feel that children are put under a tremendous amount of pressure to succeed both in the arts and academically. Parents can sometimes expect too much from their children, spreading them too thinly and preventing them from concentrating on one area and excelling at that. I also feel that the government, schools and parents can get too focused on exam results and league tables at far too young an age rather than allowing them to develop a love for learning.

This all led me to think about the question – How much should teachers be influenced by what parents say?

How do you decide the appropriate ethical response in a given situation? To what extent are disciplinary responses different to that you might expect more generally in society?

Discipline is something I have had to work on throughout my teaching career. When teaching dancing or drama, you want to have control of the class but still want it to be fun and not feel like school. You want the children to enjoy the class and be keen to return week after week. At school, however, it is much more structured and we have clear rules and boundaries.

Having a relationship with your colleagues and the parents is also extremely important as it means if an uncomfortable situation arises it can be dealt with quickly and efficiently.

The rules surrounding working with children are very clear and specific and you need vigorous checks. Different situations will require different courses of action. When babysitting or with your family members then it is slightly more relaxed as you know them on a personal level but when teaching, you must adhere to all the schools rules and regulations and maintain a professional relationship.  

Task 2C - Reflective Theory

Until reading Reader 2, ‘Reflective Practice’ was a term I was unfamiliar with and I did not appreciate that, sometimes without even knowing it, I had already incorporated into my day to day routine. After further research, I recognised that it is a key component in my profession and serves as a huge learning tool. Now I am consciously aware of this tool and understand it better, I believe I can begin to analyse my thought process and learning technique to use it even more effectively.

Reflection is defined by dictionary.com as, ‘a careful or long consideration or thought.’ It is also defined as day to day activities we engage in that gives us information we can draw and gain experience from. It can be used as a tool that helps us to see where things are missing and enables us to find them. Reflective Practice is basically all about learning from your experiences.

Dewey (1933) was an educationist and philosopher. He emphasised the importance of integrating reflective thinking into your own practice. I work in education so the use of reflective practice is extremely useful! After each activity, I can assess whether it was successful or whether changes need to be made. I teach a dance club within the school so need to reflect on what they have learnt. I always look to try out different techniques or styles and note down whether they worked or not.

Dewey was interested in experience, experiential learning and believed there were many different levels of experience. He states that, ‘we do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience.’ He also said, ‘If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.’ I completely agree with this statement having had teachers in the past who just delivered the same lecture every year (obviously without any reflection!).  It is so important, especially in education, to review each activity and if it doesn’t achieve the desired results then you need to reflect and change the way in which you approach it.

Kurt Lewin, a Polish born seminal theorist, was also interested in social change with an interest in experiential learning. Lewin separated ‘experience’ into sections – Spiral of steps.  Each box represents the next step to take – ‘circle of planning, action and fact-finding about the result of action.’

Lewin had many theories that can be applied to different practices. Another which I consider to be extremely important in education, one I may adopt into my career, is his, ‘Change Theory.’

This would benefit me in my professional practice as it would enable me to realise what isn’t working, discard any old behaviours or processes, introduce new methods, processes and behaviours. And finally, establish them, see the progress and achieve the desired results.

Change is a scary thought and one that many people shy away from, possibly are even frightened of. However, in this day and age, change is inevitable and happens on a daily basis. I believe that change helps us to grow as professionals, it allows us to prepare and transition smoothly. I’m not suggesting changing everything – the old saying ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’ jumps to mind – but take a close look and understand what needs changing and start the process. Lewin once said, ‘Motivation for change must be generated before change can occur. One must be helped to re-examine many cherished assumptions about one’s relations to others.’  

David Kolb is an American educational theorist who focused on experiential learning. Throughout his career, he developed many theories or cycles perhaps the most notable of which was the ‘Learning cycle’.  It is most commonly used for reflection within many professions including mine, teaching, it helps us to see how we learn and creates a tool for approaching experience.

‘Concrete Experience’ is doing or having an experience, ‘Reflective Observation’ is reviewing/reflecting on the experience, ‘Abstract Conceptualisation’ is concluding/learning from the experience and ‘Active Experimentation’ is planning/trying out what you have learnt. We all do a lot of these steps but where you start learning and find meaning will be where you enter the cycle at different points and that can link to your learning style.

Multiple intelligences was first introduced by Howard Gardner (1983). He said that people are intelligent in a number of ways and had different ways to engage with understanding and learning. Multiple intelligences is becoming more recognised in today’s society and breaks the traditional model of what intelligence is. 

Task 2B - Reflective Writing

The handbook suggests many ways to record the events of your day; I thought I would attempt them all, to discover the ones that best suited my writing style.

Description

This style of writing came most naturally to me. It enables you to clearly see your day, the events, time and what occurred. I could describe each detail thoroughly and remember how I felt at the time. This is the style I enjoyed using most and will continue to practice it as I believe it gave me a true representation of my day. It also gave me more of a chance to reflect on my behaviours.

Initial reflection

I find reflective writing difficult so I struggled using this method of writing. I felt that I spent more time thinking, what does that mean? Am I doing this right? as opposed to just writing about what my day entailed. However, when I discussed this method with the tutor, I realised I practiced this technique every day at work when evaluating a lesson. It is definitely a useful tool in my professional practice but I didn’t enjoy using daily, I think this would be more beneficial over a longer timescale e.g. a week.

Lists

I am a HUGE fan of lists; I make packing lists, to do lists, shopping lists. I am quite an organised person so I find that a list helps me prioritise and ensure that tasks are completed. However, when it came to writing about my day in list form, I did not find it sufficiently focused enough as it kept merging into mind maps/spider diagrams. It was challenging to write one word to describe what happened or how I felt and consequently I don’t think that this particular technique worked for me.

Evaluation

I didn’t really understand the purpose of evaluating your journal. Before putting pen to paper I feel I had already conducted an evaluation so this technique added no value.  However, for some people evaluating their journal would give them a clear understanding of how they felt during the day and helped them to focus their ideas.

Graphs, Charts and diagrams

Having a love for maths and numbers, I thought that I would really enjoy putting the data into a graph or a chart but it was completely the opposite, I didn’t enjoy it in the least. I felt it didn’t give me a clear reflection on my feelings during the day, the events that happened and what the reasons could have been for this. It gave me an overview but didn’t allow for any explanation of why I was feeling that way.  I thought that it was more time consuming and less effective for me than writing it down.

What if?

Now this a tricky one, I personally feel I am a huge ‘What If’ person and continually ask myself, ‘what if I had done this, said this, would it have turned out differently?’ This then conflicts with my, ‘everything happens for a reason’ mind set. The handbook says to think about what you would LOVE /HATE to happen and says to use your imagination. This led me to consider how powerful your imagination can be and how it can take you anywhere you want to go sometimes consciously but sometimes subconsciously.

By adopting this form of writing, I stopped thinking about using the ‘What If’ for the past and instead focused on what could happen if I applied it to the future. What if, next time I did that task I used this instead of that, would the results be any different? There is little point in dwelling on the past which you cannot change and focus on improving your future. I really enjoyed writing in this style because it came naturally as I already use ‘What If’ in my daily life.

Stream of Consciousness

This was something that was mentioned in a Skype call with Paula. I mentioned I found it hard to express my ideas, thoughts and feelings on paper. I think, maybe, I worry about other people’s opinions or spend too much time on wording. She suggested that I try using ‘Stream of Consciousness’. This is a popular technique to break down that barrier against writing; you have to write for a continuous five minutes without allowing your pen to leave the paper.

This I LOVED!! I highly recommend this technique to anyone that struggles to get ideas onto paper. It is a great way to get everything out and then pick out the key points of that day. I also feel this would be something I will take on board when writing an essay to find an idea or if I get sad or angry, a kind of way to de stress.

Images

I love looking through Instagram and Pinterest, I could do it all day. I am constantly finding pictures to describe my mood or a situation I find myself in. I am quite a visual person and forever doodling so I thought I would include some images or quotes that may have resonated with me that day. I feel like this really helped me when I looked over my journal as it reiterated how I was feeling at that moment.

    

Helpful Hint

I have never kept a diary or a journal before, not even as a child, so the idea of coming home to write about my day was a daunting experience. The only occasion where I have ever recorded the day’s events was when I went travelling around America and wrote an email to my parents informing them of my daily activities and even that only lasted one week.

After reading a post on Sophie Donald’s blog in which she talked about how a series of questions can help you to write about important events in the day. This gave me a structure to work within and helped me reflect more effectively upon what I have achieved and learnt.

Hope she doesn’t mind if I post a link to it here -http://sophiedonald.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/questions-to-ask-yourself-when-writing.html

Task 1D - Images

I loved this task!!! I love nothing more than looking through old photos and reliving all those wonderful memories.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/136289978@N04/

I have also added a link to my third year Musical Theatre piece  -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNWBjT6_APo

All credits go to Richard Peakman for fantastic Choreography and Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.


You really need to consider, "what is that particular image saying about me?" Images and audio visual clips are incredibly powerful especially in this day and age, the digital age. They can help you to obtain an audition  or lead to a performing job or just help to create a professional impression e.g. by using a show reel, a headshot or a portfolio of dance shots. 

Both Justin Bieber and 5 Seconds of Summer were discovered on YouTube when their uploaded covers went viral. Both are now huge artists within the music industry but without the use of audio visual websites like YouTube, they may never have become household names. 

Social media is now used in every industry and can be used to, spread important messages, to promote products and even to assist in identifying and catching criminals. 

I recently took part in an E-safety training course at my work. We discussed the dangers of checking in at places or uploading an image with your location settings  switched on. Many sites including Facebook and Instagram can allow you to post a photo alongside the location. This can be helpful to others who may decide to visit that site or attraction themselves in the future. However there is a potential downside as it allows strangers to become aware of  your whereabouts and could open yourself up to potential danger and, in the event of posting abroad, a burglary at home. 

It's interesting to see how much the performing industry has changed in such a short period of time. I am currently involved in an amateur production of 'Singing in the Rain' and the bulk of our promotion work is being conducted through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Only a few years ago the promotion would have relied upon the sending out of flyers, putting up posters or placing an advert in the local paper.

In 2013, a law was passed in the UK meaning that any images appearing on Facebook, Instagram and Flickr without any Megadata (a unique form of identification) will be considered to be 'Orphan works' . As a result, the ownership of this image is then lost to you and it can be reproduced and potentially sold without having to pay you any money. So it seems to me that, you should try and ensure that you have something added to enable you to keep the digital ownership of the photo or music clip. 

Task 1C - YouTube Clip

This task was a lot harder than I anticipated!

Being a performer ,I should be used to working in front of a camera. However, when you are performing on stage or on camera you aren't you, you're acting as someone else and reading lines that have been printed in script.
So, to sit in front of a camera and talk about yourself and your feelings is quite difficult.

https://youtu.be/w3RKaAL6n0c

However, here is my first ever vlog...Enjoy :)

Task 1B - Professional communication technologies

This task scared me the first time I read the brief, what is Web 2.0? I hoped that it wasn’t something highly technical because I’m not great with technology.

My first point source of information was Google; Google always has the answer. However, if I’m completely honest, it only served to confuse me further. It said:

Web 2.0

ˌwɛb tuː pɔɪnt ˈəʊ/

noun

          The second stage of development of the Internet, characterized especially by the change from static web pages to dynamic or user-generated content and the growth of social media.

I can’t say that definition enlightened me much further so I turned to trusty YouTube; I usually resort to YouTube to learn how to do new things and it has helped in the past in such diverse areas as make-up to knitting to baking tutorials.  After scrolling through numerous videos and listening to a lot of technical mumbo jumbo, I stumbled upon this video made by a group of teenagers;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxID2GQWaqI

It is a great, low tech, insight to what web 2.0 actually is and it has a wonderful stick man animation.

In short, web 2.0 is a term defining changes to how people use the web now, comparing to how they used it back then!!

For our generation who have grown up with the internet it has become a vital part of our daily lives with an ever growing list of applications for communication, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube; it’s a brilliant creation to keep us all connected?

This made me think about the age old argument, are these technological advances a good or bad thing?

I personally am a fan of Web 2.0, I believe that it is a positive asset in today’s society but shouldn’t be overused or relied upon as a sole source of information. I think it has helped broaden our minds and stay in contact with people however, I also feel that it can create a lot of unnecessary drama.

There are a many positives and negatives surrounding Web 2.0.  Here is an article discussing a few of the points; 

http://www.acs.com/web-2-0-%E2%80%93-positive-vs-negative-effects/

I come from a large family and have cousins scattered all over the world, New York, Australia and Canada. When I was younger you had to wait for a postcard or letter to find out how they were or what was happening in their lives and by the time you received the news it was already out of date! Now, with social media sites like Facebook, I can look on their timelines, see pictures, comment on their posts or instant message them and have a full blown conversation at the touch of a button.  Facebook is great for those reasons, it allows you to maintain a connection with friends you make on holiday or family that live far away. It can have its downside however. Facebook used to be a medium in which you could express yourself or somewhere to upload your silly holiday snaps but nowadays you must be conscious of what you are posting and who exactly can see it? I had a clause in my contract that stated I wouldn’t post anything about my job or company on any social media site. As I work in education and want to be a teacher, it is important for me to come across as professionally as possible. I have been through my privacy settings and made adjustments to my name to ensure that students current or previous cannot find me.

It is important to remember that employers and companies are not trying to control your life. No one is going to stop you going out and having fun but at the end of the day  they are just trying to protect their reputation and do not want their company, school, business to be reflected in a bad light. All they would ask is that you think of any implications before posting a potentially embarrassing photo onto the web.

Having a CV has always been important and how you present yourself at interviews or auditions is crucial; however your online presence is becoming increasingly more important. Employers will check your social media account to see if you are the kind of employee they want to represent their company. Once information is on social media or the internet is it very hard for it to be taken down. Many professionals maintain two separate accounts. One for their personal life and the other for work.

Another downside to Web 2.0, perhaps one of the biggest and most common is "trolling". Trolling is when a person deliberately posts outrageous or off-topic messages in group chat rooms with the intent to upset and provoke an emotional response at their own amusement. Trolling is completely anonymous and in extreme examples it can have fatal consequences. 

Is the art of conversation a dying form? I often sit on a train and watch groups of friends all glued to their phones rather than talking to one another. Are they actually communicating amongst themselves via social media? Sometimes I too am a culprit of this absurdity. I will check my phone when out to dinner with my friends or in the cinema. If I have left my phone at home or run out of data it feels like I have lost a limb… I use my phone to find out information instantly or show my friends a video on Facebook or YouTube. I do believe we need to make more of an effort to interact in person rather than being so focused on the cyber world.

I wake up in the morning and I check Facebook and Instagram; I personally check them at least 10 times a day, sometimes I’ll scroll through then check it again to see if any new stories have appeared. The cyber world has such a strong hold over us and it is scary how much information we can find out about an individual at the click of a mouse.

Albert Einstein once said, “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.”

Is Web 2.0 hypnotising us?  Opinions? 

 

Task 1A - Professional Profile

CVs are vital when it comes to applying for a new job. They are essentially your potential employer’s first impression of you and, we all know, you don’t get a second chance at a first impression. You may have the most incredible inter-personal skills but unless you are called for an interview you will not get the chance to show them off. Your CV helps you get your foot in the door and secure that all important interview; I have seen my previous employer discard CVs for poor grammar, spelling mistakes, looking cluttered or even because they are too long.

 I have two CVs; one that I submit for performing jobs and the other for what I would call ‘regular’ jobs. Regular jobs are what performers do in-between professional work – bar work, retail etc – a job is a job and beggars can’t be choosers, it helps to pay the bills.

My ‘regular’ CV incorporates my personal qualities, skills and achievements as well as the previous experience which would make me an ideal candidate for that job. On the other hand, my performing CV includes the genres of dance I trained in, my vocal range and performance experience that I gained whilst training.

Like many people I have had to amend my CV countless times; to keep it up to date as a result of learning a new skill or to make it more specific for a certain role, for example, changing my headshot for a pantomime audition.

Putting together a successful CV is difficult but ultimately it’s about taking all your skills and tailoring them to the job you’re applying for. These are some of the questions that come into my mind when re drafting my CV:

There is no set or correct way to write a CV and I feel your CV will never be perfect as it is constantly changing, you learn new skills and you need to remove non relevant entries to ensure that you don’t lose the reader’s attention.

Having looked at other CVs, I have noticed how each one reflects the individual and how different they all are. I liked the way in which Laura Gregory used a pop of colour on her dance CV to make it slightly more unusual and highlight key areas. I never considered using colour but have now added it into my own performing CV.

I also realised that my previous CV was cluttered and very busy looking and, after reading blogs and articles, I realised the importance of a clear and concise CV.  Having now rearranged my CV, I feel that it is easier to read and highlights the key points.

My regular CV: 

My performing CV:

Next big step

So here goes nothing. Time to embark on a new and exciting journey, finally gonna get my degree…. 

I am enrolled on the BAPP Arts course.

Having thoroughly enjoyed my time at school, I left with my A level certificates and moved on to Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts to pursue my love of musical theatre. During my three years  there I was fortunate enough to have performed at Wimbledon New Theatre and the Bloomsbury as well as witnessing first hand the filming of the "School for Stars" a series shown on CBBC about life in the college. I graduated and attended a few auditions but, unfortunately, nothing came of them.

 Like most struggling actors and actresses, I worked in a pub and taught the occasional dance class at my school and soon decided that teaching was something I had a real passion for and wanted to pursue further. I researched the best ways to become a teacher, go back to university? B.Ed? PGCE? That then led to more questions, Primary? Secondary? Drama? Dance? I remembered college mentioned the BAPP Course run at Middlesex University and it’s perfect! The course is part time spread over two academic years, it's a work based learning course which allows you to continue with your job whilst studying, which fits into my life!!

The notion of going back to university is a daunting prospect if anything. Will I fit in? Will I cope with the work load? Am I smart enough? Having spoken to other students, I realized I wasn’t alone in having these concerns and everyone was in the same boat which set my mind at ease.

I am excited to see what I can achieve, I know the next 2 years will be a hard slog but I am prepared for this and determined to enjoy every second and looking forward to receiving my degree.