The qualities of a successful dance teacher

Last module I wrote a blog called 'Educating the creative heart', where I asked everyone what they thought made a good dance teacher. I was so interested in everyone's opinions and decided to incorporate this within my questionnaires as a 'wrap it up' question. 

This has left me with so many describing words. When I spoke to Sam about this in my tutorial, he advised me to create a word cloud, which I thought might be nice to share...

To create this, I used an online programme that changes the size of words depending on the emphasis. Every time a description was repeated in my data, I enhanced the size by one. This has helped me visually see what qualities were mentioned more frequently.

I have learnt that everyone has their own opinion of the ideal dance teacher based on their own experiences. There are so many different words because no two experiences are the same. There is no textbook definition of the ideal dance teacher, however, a successful teacher could have any of the qualities listed above. I am now looking for a way of turning this data into something meaningful. 

The qualities that were repeated more frequently (as you can see) were encouraging, positive, caring, kind, and fun. I am wondering why more participants have described the ideal teacher to have such qualities of emotional intelligence over technical teaching qualities such as being knowledgeable, adaptable, and firm. Is there an external factor that has hindered people's opinions of teachers in dance education? This has really interested me and I will be looking for literature to explore this more. 

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. 

Where am I?

A few weeks ago, I watched the zoom session where everyone shared their research journeys, their aims, and their reflections on this whole process so far. It was great to hear how everyone was getting on. Regrettably, I haven't blogged in a while, so I thought I would share where I am in relation to my inquiry and Module 3...

Within my inquiry, I am exploring the relationship between the teacher and the student in dance education. I proposed to interview 3 dance teachers, as well as receive questionnaires from 4 dance teachers, and 4 dancers that trained professionally. I struggled to recruit participants at first. I had luckily conducted 2 interviews early in September, but couldn't quite secure a 3rd interviewee. This also happened with my questionnaires. So I cast the net wider (maybe a bit too wide in the end) and managed to receive 13 questionnaires back, which was amazing, but this large amount of data may prove challenging during the next stages.

In the end, I managed to conduct 3 interviews with dance teachers who all had very different backgrounds. My first was particularly challenging, possibly because I lacked experience as an interviewer. When I read the transcripts back, I am frustrated that I didn't ask them to expand on certain topics. However, this reflection helped with my 2nd interview, and even more so with my 3rd.

The thought of having to collect data was hanging over me since Module 1, but it has actually been rather enjoyable. I have loved hearing people's stories and opinions on my research topic. My thoughts have been challenged, and I have learned a lot about assumptions. Rule No.1 of interviewing was not to communicate my thoughts, opinions, and assumptions to the participants. This can be done verbally, through the use of questions, and even physically (facial expressions, nodding of head, etc). This was tricky but so effective, and I believe it has made me a more active listener.

I have also found it has made me ask more questions in my workplace. From experience (and a theme that has appeared from my research), children want to be heard. They appreciate the friendly encounter but don't always know how to express themselves. When I am on the playground and a student comes to me to tell another student has been mean to them, before I speak to the other student, I ask what happened, and how it made them feel. I think it's important for them to fully express this, and I hope this little reflection can help them move on and not make the same mistakes as their peers. 

The data from my questionnaires is really helping me sculpt my themes, and I am fortunate that most participants expanded on their thoughts, however, I am sometimes left wishing I could speak to my participants in person and ask further questions on certain things. But I suppose this is where the data from my interviews, literature, and myself come into this.

So where am I now? Currently staring at this...

This is my bedroom wall (I have recently moved and have put the decorating on hold just for this haha). I am trying to define my final themes, make sense of everything, and figure out where I fit into all this. Triangulation is constantly on the front of my mind. Sometimes I feel lost in all this data. I can spend a couple of hours at a time looking at it, taking notes, reading literature, but feel like I've got nowhere. Does anyone else feel the same? 

I am looking forward to catching up on everyone's blogs and finding out about how you're all getting on. x

Small reflection as a distance learner

This week has challenged me as a distance learner. I feel like I have been juggling work, study, and personal life for the past few weeks, but this week I dropped the study ball... oops! 

Although I am very near to collecting all the data I need for my research project, I am feeling on edge that I have lost motivation. I am not sure whether training as a dancer has made me a perfectionist, or whether it is just me, but it can be frustrating sometimes. 

It's now Saturday evening, and any normal person in their mid-twenties may be out having some fun, but I have begun reading a new piece of literature called 'Traning Tomorrow's Professional Dancers', has anyone read this before? 

I have also been looking at all the data I have collected so far. It has revealed so many different opinions and stories, which all vary from each other. I think it's fascinating, and I will hopefully share some of these through a blog soon. 

Finally, I just wanted to share something my friend sent to me the other day...

As I see people starting dance jobs again after Covid, there is a part of me that wishes I was returning to the stage too. To be able to dance in a full theatre is the best feeling in the world, but those memories will never fade and they will forever be a part of me. 

I'll stop being cheesy now.

I hope you're all having a great weekend x