Carys Dickens

I can't believe how quickly the last few weeks have gone! My main focus has been on the draft over the last few weeks. This is what I've been up to.... Week 5- following a 1-1 at the end of Week 4 everything felt much clearer. In Week 5 I wrote my literature review which was focussed on differentiation in inclusive teaching in a broader context and then in dance education. I also wrote my draft analysis section and focussed on 4 themes: differentiation and adaptation, nonverbal communication, resources (incl. assistants) and lesson structure/ routine. Week 6- this was our last week before draft submission day. In this time I wrote my draft overview and tried to refine my draft as a whole, I was already over the 5500 word count +10% just on these sections. So I'm going to have my work cut out for me in the editing process, siftng through all the waffle I've written haha! Week 7- the draft submission was on Monday. I am now writing this on Saturday. It's been a more c...

I am stuck! Even after the lecture last night, I don't know where to begin with the literature review or how to structure it at all! I have tonnes of relevant sources and lots of notes on common themes that I have prepared for triangulation, but I am not sure how to order the literature review without repeating myself during the analysis section. Confused.com. Hopefully, a 1-1 session this week and a re-watch of the lecture last night, will help everything become a lot clearer. It just doesn't seem like a lot of time until the draft submission date then!  Fingers crossed Week 5 blog will be more positive 😬

I've had a great response to my survey, so I'm going to try and get ahead of the analysis and triangulation a little earlier than anticipated or make a start anyways. I'm getting familiarised with my primary data and starting to get some initial ideas of themes to triangulate,  I have a few ideas: Props/ Resources Assistants Classroom rituals Differentiation Makaton The majority of which came up during my Module 2 literature review. However, one that emerged through primary research was Makaton. I had been aware of Makaton as I do know some basic signs, however, the idea of Makaton as a positive approach for my research must have slipped my mind as it didn't feature much in the literature I reviewed previously. So I look forward to exploring that further.

So far so good...  My research is going well. For the data collection part of my research I am observing practitioners leading inclusive dance classes and I am also conducting a survey involving dance teachers with all varied experiences of teaching SEND students asking them about the positive approaches they implement. I have observed two very wonderful practititoners teaching inclusive dance classes, it was wonderful to see their work. I left feeling very inspired, My survey is also going very well, I have already well exceeded the amount of participants I had hoped to gain and the responses have been very helpful. I am now starting to make notes as I familiarise with the primary data I am collecting and secondary data from literary sources, I can already see some initial thoughts on data I can triangulate. I have also noticed some possible theories that have emerged solely from my primary data collection, which is very interesting. I feel positive moving forwards with lots of gr...

I am trying to get back into reflecting on my professional practice. I had learnt about Gibb's reflective cycle in Module 1 and we discussed this again during Monday's lecture, so I thought I'd go through the cycle reflecting on something that often occurs in my practice and came up for me this week. Description- 3 year old, new student getting upset about entering a ballet class without an adult. Feelings- It can often feel stressful trying to cater for the needs of the new student and not exacerbate their distress but also not disturb the learning of the rest of the current students who happily enter the class independently.  Evaluation- Good and bad. It was good to see the progress of the new student when she was taking steps to try things independantly towards the end of the class. Bad because another student then started to mirror the new students' behaviour and wanted to be with her parent, after previously being settled happily in the class for a while. Analysis-...

Lord of the rings seems to have been on my mind lately. Last night when trying to describe an 'ethereal' quality to 12/13 year olds. I tried to reference the elves in Lord of the Rings, to which most of them looked at me blankly and said they had never heard of it. At that point I realised I am old.  Anyways 'so it begins' as King Theoden says..... Module 3. On Monday we had our welcome back lecture. It was lovely to see some faces again and new faces too. Daunted was a word used to describe feelings towards this module.... I couldnt agree more. It seems like a lot of work to do in 12 weeks. But doesnt every project when you look at the bigger picture. However I know when you start chipping away and breaking things down, it all becomes manageable. Just have to remain organised! Some exciting stuff ahead though too, I have some observations of teachers taking inclusive dance classes booked in, which I'm really excited about watching and I also have an interview for a...