Task 2D - Inquiry

1) 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?

Being an inquisitive person I'm always wanting to know more. In my daily practice I get really enthusiastic about is seeing other people enjoy themselves. Some of the things I do are aimed mainly at children but when adults get involved and have a great time it's fantastic to see. I love to see every type of child get involved regardless of their ability, it is something I try to do when my practice involves kids. Performing and playing games is fun and the all inclusive nature of theatre is something I have come to be interested in the older I have become. I really admire the work of Blue Apple http://blueappletheatre.com/ . A theatre company whose mission is to 'seek to change the way people see and understand learning disability'.  I first encountered this company when they appeared on the BBC News program. The all inclusive nature of theatre is something that is inspiring to all. So many different religions, societies, cultures and personalities can be show through the arts.

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

'Oh so you studied drama? That must have been easy.' Umm no. This is what angers me. So many people see drama, theatre, dance, singing, as 'soft' subjects. What people don't seem to understand is that although audiences and lets say students at school who don't study drama, get to see the finished, polished and preened product, there is a whole mountain of work that goes into a role or a whole piece.

Don't judge a book by its cover (pardon the cliché) but it's true. So many people work so hard to put on a performance. From the performers to the runners and stage hands/crew. I have been in both of these positions and that was a fantastic experience because its broadened my knowledge of the true craft that is, a show. In recent years there have been so many debates over whether or not the arts is a subject worth teaching, but I believe it is. The arts can bring people who wouldn't normally be confident, out of their shell and it gives them a chance to explore.

https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2012/oct/30/defence-school-drama-arts-curriculum-ebacc

Julie Walters (https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/jan/23/julie-walters-lack-working-class-actors-sad) is probably one of the more famous voices that has voiced her opinion on the 'lack of working class actors'. University and Drama School fees are rocketing up towards the sky and it can eliminate those with true and raw talent from ever getting the chance to be seen. The acting world can sometimes come with a bit of an elitist label. Only the shows with the big names get the most bums on seats. Is this the right way to do things? For ethical reasons I won't mention names but in some productions of big musicals or plays they'll get in a pop star to play a lead, which wipes out the chance for those who trained for years to get that opportunity. Is this fair? I don't think so, but I would be interested to hear other people's opinions.

3) 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?

How to put this 'eloquently' without feeling the need to run around flailing my arms in the air shouting 'everything!!'? I love that acting is playing. I love that we can pretty much pretend to be anyone we want. People often ask me what I wanted to do before I went to drama school. My response is always that I got my place at university to study Criminology, Psychology and Forensic Science but instead I went to drama school where I can pretend to be a scientist and whatever else I like (it's often met with 'have you been a tree?') and they laugh, but it's true. As much as I loved working in an office in my gap year, it didn't satisfy my thirst for creativity. Having the ability to play and discover is such a fantastic thing to have. I love that you can always learn when it comes to performing, if the role demands you must tap dance, then one must learn.

As I'm sure most of you are now aware, I trained with Amanda. She was never phased at the thought of getting up and giving something a go, I admired that and still do. I'm sure she won't mind me saying that some of the things that we had to do at drama school would probably look a bit silly if someone walked in on our classes but she always embraced it with open arms.

4) What do you feel you don't understand? Who do you admire who does seem to understand it or who has found a way of making not understand it interesting or beautiful, or has asked the same questions as you?

This question raises the same issues that I mentioned in the second question. I just don't understand how some people cannot see the benefits of the arts. Someone once said to me that 'it's ridiculous that as a society we have decided the best way to test someone's intelligence is to feed them information and make the regurgitate it in the form of an exam, which takes place in complete silence. If we took a fish out of water it would be useless but when in the water it is in its prime environment in which in can strive' (this quote is paraphrased). You never know who will benefit from learning through other means that just writing. Drama as a subject can introduce other ways of learning that may not have been previously thought of. I understand the importance of the core subjects but they can be a lot of pressure on some people. I always loved my drama lessons and couldn't wait until the next one. Why take the opportunity for someone else to feel like that, away?

5) 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 in generally in society?

There are so many professions that can come from being in the performing industry. So to answer this question I have drawn a mind map to show each ethical consideration (written in red so that it is clear) for each tangent. I have also done another mind map to show the ethical considerations of other professions to show contrast and to see what similarities occur. The green writing is some questions that I think one should ask themselves before taking action.

Task 2C - Reflective Theory

As Work Based Learning Students within the arts industry we have to constantly reflect on our work and performance. How do we learn to reflect on ourselves? As I progressed through Reader 2 it became clear there are many different ways we can use reflection within our every day practice.
Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory (Kolb, 1984) defines experiential learning as "the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combination of grasping and transforming experience."

I am going to look at the different reflective theories that both relate to my practice and the ones that don't and try to look into as to why some of them work and others do not.

Donald Schön

Donald Schön (1987) introduced the idea of reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. As a performer I believe that I already use this theory in one of two ways. Firstly I use reflection-in-action during rehearsals, every day life and work. By adopting the in-action option it has allowed me to become versatile and a more capable performer, in some circumstances I have had to think quickly and change what was I doing. Without using reflection-in-action this may not have worked as well. For example, if I were to go away and think about what my character in a play may do, it may become a forced action as opposed to an instinctual movement or decision that is true to the character. Secondly, the reflection-on-action can be used is useful when you don't have the time to sit and reflect in-action you can do it later on. This is useful within  my practice because as one of my jobs is hosting children's parties (which are all go at all times, 100% enthusiasm and energy) there isn't a spare minute to stop and think - and the children won't wait for you to think about what worked and what didn't. Therefore in circumstances like that, reflection-on-action is more useful.

Kolb

Kolb developed a learning cycle in which different people enter it at different points. It is based on the idea that learning is a constant cycle that never stops - we are always learning and developing. This process is very important within my own reflective practice, it made me realise that we learn from every experience we have. Not only that but we are also influenced from previous experience, we only know something once we have learnt it. This then links to Graham Mcfee's bachelor example in Reader 2. We do not truly know something unless we learn it for ourselves.
'One must understand what is being defined in order that one judge for oneself the accuracy' (McFee, 1992). Kolb's learning cycle is useful within my profession because it allows every individual to see where they enter within the cycle and showing them the next logical step to take. Realising that learning is an ongoing process that never concludes is invaluable in the performing industry because no two jobs will ever be the same and using the learning cycle to collect information and reflect on that experience will only enhance your future practice.  Pedler, Burgoyne and Boydell thought that Kolb’s learning cycle was focused too much towards the perspective of the educator. However I disagree, I think that it is accessible for anyone to use in a wide variety of circumstances and that is why it is so widely used.

I have also found some useful tables to help explain further what each element of Kolb's learning cycle includes. For those who teach, the second one is particularly interesting.

Dewey

Dewey believed in experiences and called it 'reflective thought'. His idea that was to feel the full experience of something we must be completely engaged and conscious. He outlined different types of experience and how valuable they would be  'Some experiences are merely passive affairs, pleasant or painful but not educative. An educative experience, according to Dewey, is an experience in which we make a connection between what we do to things and what happens to them or us in consequence; the value of an experience lies in the perception of relationships or continuities among events'.

Jennifer Moon

I found this theory particularly interesting because I related to it the most. When I looked into this further I recognised elements that were already in my day to day practice. She developed the idea of 5 stages of learning.

Jenny Moon (1999) outlines five stages of learning:

Stage 1: Noticing	The student has to register the topic, event or incident as being interesting or important in some way.
Stage 2: Making sense	The student thinks more about what they have noticed and tries to understand it better.
Stage 3: Making meaning	The student starts to ask questions and to connect ideas together.
Stage 4: Working with meaning	The student makes links with other ideas and events. They would probably refer to literature and other research. At this point, reflection on the learning is likely to be taking place.
Stage 5: Transformative learning	The student has reached the point where they can formulate new ideas of their own. They know what they would do if a similar situation arose in the future.

Moon (1999) said 'Reflection is a form of mental processing - like a form of thinking - that we  may use to fulfil a purpose or to achieve some anticipated outcome .   Alternatively we may simply ‘be reflective’, and then an outcome can be unexpected.'

I really liked the idea that even if we are actively reflecting we may be surprised by the outcome. I feel her theory is centred around the question Why? I ask myself why I like something, why have I made that choice quite a lot within my own practice so I found this theory very interesting in relation to my own reflective journey.

References

http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/openminded/?p=318

http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/gradschool/training/eresources/teaching/theories/kolb

John Dewey (1859–1952) - Experience and Reflective Thinking, Learning, School and Life, Democracy and Education - Experiences, Philosophy, Society, and Educational - StateUniversity.com http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1914/Dewey-John-1859-1952.html#ixzz4cXIeKFV7

http://skillsforlearning.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/preview/content/models/06.shtml

'Defining and improving the quality of reflective learning' Jenny Moon, Centre for Excellence in Media Practice, Bournemouth University Document

Journal Writing Experience

As I began to write my journal I just wrote about what happened very blatantly and didn't give it much thought. However, as I read through the Handbook and Reader 2, I realised that I needed to use it as more of a mode of reflection on my day rather than just quickly jotting down what happened when I had the chance. I'll openly admit I forgot to write anything some days but this made me realise that by looking back on the days previous it allowed me to reflect more and stopped me from being vague. Therefore I made the choice to write in the mornings.

I chose to use one specific day to write about using the Reid and Moon framework because it allowed me to see which I found most useful.

Description

Initially, this was very useful, getting the basics down on paper and out of my mind felt like a kind of relief. It is a good starting point where moments of the day you had previously forgotten come back to the front of your mind. I think I got stuck in just describing for a while and not going into enough detail. However, the fundamental questions of what happened? What were the main events? Where and when? all get the ball rolling.

Initial Reflection

I found this more useful. To be able to write about our feelings and thoughts was interesting. In my journal I write a lot of questions after using initial reflection thus getting me to think deeper and more academically perhaps as to why I feel a certain way, what has caused those feelings and thoughts? Somethings did happen that I didn't expect in the day in question and looking at how I dealt with it and how that influenced me was interesting. It brought be back to thinking about the different types of ways people learn. Did I just do my best with what I had or did I think, ponder and consider the outcome?

List

I'm not ordinarily a lover of lists (which is strange because I love organisation) but here it was incredibly useful. I just let my mind write without bounds. I allowed myself to just write what my thoughts, feelings and the events of the days were. By doing this I was able to identify that I write in a very logical style. I write in a chronological order. While some have said a list eliminated the possibility of rambling, I don't think that was the case for me due to allowing myself to write everything that came to mind. I have been told before that I can ramble when I write but in this instance it was useful, it allowed me to get all my ideas on a page without self-censoring. In turn this allowed me to then look at the words and phrases I had written and reflect on specific ones. If I am ever struggling to write a journal entry, creating a list is a form of reflection I will use to get ideas flowing.

Here's an example of a list I wrote yesterday:

Evaluation

Evaluating is useful for identify what went well and didn't within your own practice. Being self aware is something we as performers do on a daily basis without probably knowing it. In a dance we know if a step isn't correct, in a play we will know if a line isn't right (hopefully!). Using evaluation in my journal already seemed to be there without me noticing for a while. I often comment on how that day has gone, what was good and what wasn't so good. However, I feel it is perhaps a bit basic when I look back on other extracts from my journal. This is evaluation in itself I suppose, identifying what I need to do, how I do that and what I notice. I found this technique useful up to a point because I believe you can over evaluate things, think too much into them. I will continue to use evaluation as a tool to help me understand certain elements with my day.

Graphs, Diagrams and Charts

I was unsure how to approach this one. If I have jotted down an idea about something or something I need to remember in previous circumstances I have drawn a little image to visually show what I mean. I enjoy learning from images so it was a bit of a surprise that I struggled with this. I decided to do some research - mainly consisting of other student blogs - and found that the idea of a mind map was a great one! It allowed me to show my thoughts on the day and link thoughts to each other which was nice to look at once finished. I found this very similar to how I used the list. Getting everything on a page to sort of see the working of my brain. Using a graph or a diagram is something I will try to use more often because it keeps me inspired to write through other forms that words alone.

What if?

What if I didn't like this style of writing? I'm not a fan of the unknown so trying to guess what could of happened didn't work very well for my journal writing experience. Although I'm sure it is useful in a creative process of developing something I'm not sure it 100% works for me in this circumstance. Saying that, I did find that the question 'what would you like to happen?' brought up positive ideas around what I had been practising on that day and drove me to think about how to achieve that idea born from that question. What if I give this style of writing another go? Something for me to consider in future journal entries.

Another View

On this particular day, I did some training for my new job and I sat there thinking, oh what do they think of me? I hope they know I'm listening and eager to learn. So I tried it from the leader's point of view. I wrote it in the form of an internal monologue because that just felt like the right style to do:

'She's sat upright in her chair, wide eyed and ready to listen, good. Oh she yawned, in fairness it is quite late in the evening and none of these people have probably had their dinner. Okay lets get started, making lots of notes that's a good sign but most of them are on the sheet of paper anyway like I mentioned. It's good that she asked questions and listened to others answers. So that wasn't too bad, everyone seemed involved and ready to go! Handed her the equipment. Drive safely home everyone.'

You can never truly tell what someone is thinking but I gave it a go. I feel that by doing this I reflected what I wanted to see into another persons thoughts, so have I really looked at it from the other person's perspective? I'm not entirely sure, this was a difficult one.

What Did I Learn?

I found that initial reflection was incredibly useful and so was listing the days events. By combining the two I think it will make for interesting journal writing. I am also going to try and incorporate more diagrams so that when I look back on different entries it is easy with a quick glance as to what that day entailed. Something I would like to do the further into this course we go, is look back at old journal entries and see how I reflect on them now, reflecting on reflection from the past. I always think it's interesting to see how you develop and change within time.

A Quick Thought

We have discussed the use of the internet and communication within our practices a lot over the last few weeks. Last night, I was just idly watching the tele when my ears pricked up as this advert came on. Some food for thought perhaps. Let me know what you think.

First Campus Session

Yesterday a small group of us ventured to the University Camps to have our first ever session with Adesola. A mixture of module 1 and module 3 students was interesting because we could see what the course had in store for us module 1 students later on.

We began by introducing ourselves, saying what module we were on and where in that module we were currently at. As this discussion developed it became clear that this course isn't about just simply doing the tasks as a box ticking exercise but rather a journey of continuing exploration - everything is connected together.

Rhizome Learning

From the idea that the course is continuous Adesola discussed with us rhizome learning. Our main three theories that we learn in the first module (communication, reflection and network) are blades of grass and the roots that run underneath them are our exploration of each. Each blade of grass represents a part in our course and the roots underneath them all are all connected thus showing that everything we do in our course is connected and not individual aspects. By nourishing (the water droplets in the diagram) one part of the grass it will also do the same for the others. Adesola also mentioned that some thing will 'click' for different people at different times. Here is a copy of the diagram that we had drawn to help visualise the idea:

Theories

Instead of using a theory to justify why we do something, a theory should be at the core of what we do. Think of theories as the driving force behind what we do. This was one of the most important things that came from the campus session. The theories will be present in your practice right now and although you may not be able to recognise what you're doing or why (I believe this is what reflection is for) you want to be able to eventually notice what the theories in you and your practice are. Then you have to be able to explain how you've noticed these theories in your practice.

By having a theory at your core it should direct you in what to do. For example, in Ballet the theory at the core is that everything has to be turned out so when stood in first position you do so with your legs turned out. This in turn forces your tend to be turned out as well. However, this direction may not always be the correct path to take due to ethical considerations.

Ethical Considerations

Ethical considerations are asking yourself questions about your theory that involve other people, for example. A good example of ethical considerations was on that Adesola gave us. During an experiment normal everyday students were divided into 'prisoners' and guards'. Eventually the experiment showed that the 'guards' were using and perhaps even abusing the power to mistreat the 'prisoner' but when the experiment ended and those students went back to their normal lives who considered the impact that experiment would have had on them? That would be the ethical considerations.

All in all it was a really helpful session and it has helped me to realise that in Module 1 we need to notice what out theory is in our practice, what makes us notice it and how we use it. The first three aspects of this course as I mentioned earlier are all probably already in my practice and I hope that my reflective journal will help me to identify these and how I use them.

Task 1D

The world around us is constantly changing and we are more frequently using the web as a resource. This is particularly prevalent in the performing industry right now. Casting directors and agents immediately look at who you are and what you look like to see if you will fit into their books or desired role. Websites such as Spotlight allow you to have several pictures to represent yourself immediately. This reminded me of when we were having CV talks during my time at drama school. They kept re-iterating that you must have headshot on your CV and some agencies wont even look at you application - never mind consider you - if you don't have a show reel. This just shows that we are in a digital world where the book of equity members is no longer looked at, but instead their online database. With the development of apps, the use of images is growing world wide. Apps such as the Daily Mail have pictures which show what the article entails without you even reading it. What ever happened to 'don't judge a book by its cover'?

Something Amanda recently mentioned in a blog rings true for this task as well 'an actor/performer is a person who can be anything or anybody regardless of sex or age or another perceived boundaries'. Without a set of images to showcase how we can mould ourselves as performers (before auditions) how are people to believe that we can live up to their expectations?

An interesting quote from an article I recently read:
Ajay Jhaveri, owner of Argentum Photo, states, “In an age of HD quality, homemade auditions and low quality have simply become unacceptable . Yes, you can shoot your audition with an iPhone, but casting directors don’t want to see that. My biggest thing has always been, what’s the purpose of the product?  The purpose of the headshot is to sell the actor, nothing else. The only thing you should see is the actor. I’m taking the same approach with online casting.”

( http://www.dailyactor.com/acting-advice-columns/online-casting-actors-putting-themselves-on-tape/ )

As the digital world and technology changes so must we. This has to include some ethical considerations however, we must be careful how we portray ourselves online (in some cases try not to type-cast ourselves) anything written, posted or shared online should be done with the knowledge that anyone can find it, read it and perhaps even take it as their own. An article from Spotlight does also mention to remember the world outside of the web and mentions being able to juggle your online and offline presence together as one. Very similar to this course - being able to keep up to date with blogging but also taking the time to look at the world around you and how the things we write about affect us here and now.

http://www.dailyactor.com/acting-advice-columns/online-casting-actors-putting-themselves-on-tape/

So, a link to my set of 2D images on Flickr, I like to think of it as a digital portfolio
https://www.flickr.com/gp/146660310@N04/2vEEo8

Of course there are other ways of sharing images such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, but as I have previously mentioned I try to keep things of similar genre in one place, therefore I use Flickr as a platform on which to present myself as a performer. Instagram is something outside of that world (that doesn't mean I don't use it occasionally when I've been in a show) it's just not directly linked to my practise...or is it as everything online comes back to you as a person?

Stuck in a Blogging Bog

What to write? What to write? So far I've found the idea of blogging quite a challenge. Whilst we have set tasks which I've really enjoyed writing about (I enjoy having specific things to write about) I find it difficult to post a stream of thought style blog. I think the key may lie in not having long breaks between posts? Keeping ideas fresh and flowing can often lead to exciting discussions and discoveries.

I ask myself a set of questions whenever I sit down to write:
Am I waffling? (A habit I am aware I have)
Is this relevant?
Have I got enough sources to support and argue against what I'm saying?
Have I read enough on this topic?

It's all a bit of a minefield I suppose. I'm interested to know what inspires others to write. Perhaps this all stems from being a performer (I certainly can't gestate with my hands as if I were to 'saw the air too much') I love to read and perform words but to write them myself? Many people do say that writing is a form of performance.

A picture can be worth a thousand words - throughout my blog I've purposely tried to use images to show a clear explanation of what I'm trying to say - tie up the loose ends if you will. Presenting information in this way doesn't work for everyone, but Web 2.0 allows all types of learners to discover what is best for them. This brings me gleefully into Task 1D. A set of images which clearly shows who I am and what I do - brilliant!

I'd love to hear about what gets you inspired to blog and how you approach blogging.

Task 1C: Audio-Visual

In a recent Skype session we discussed this task and Paula mentioned some people had approached this differently, rather than just filming themselves. Seeing as I am no stranger to self taping, sitting in front of a camera and talking to the lens, I decided to try something a little different. In this short video I explain why I decided to take this course and my aspirations for what it could bring in the future and what experiences I have had so far.

I really enjoyed this task, being able to use the skills I have developed through previous education such as a Media A Level and all the lessons I was taught at drama school was important. It has showed me that although technology and times are changing somethings are fundamental to being successful at whatever you choose. Whether this be creating a video or building your own business. Your knowledge is the foundation on which it rests. I decided to use Vimeo instead of YouTube because I have found that it plays the videos in a slightly better quality.

Task 1C: Audio-Visual Jessica Dinmore BAPP Arts from Jessica Dinmore on Vimeo.

PS. Feel free to take a look at the other videos I have on there! Also, I'll admit it took a few attempts and a bit of an unusual set up! Here's a picture so you can see what I mean: