I read an interesting article today titled Considering motivation, goals, and mastery orientation in dance technique
Carey E. Andrzejewski, Adrienne M. Wilson, Daniel J. Henry
Research in Dance Education
Vol. 14, Iss. 2, 2013
I had come across it as I browsed for inspiration through the journal online, looking for something that would shed more light on the thoughts I was left with following teaching this week. These were centred around the goals of students in class, how I motivate everybody through my teaching but also enable students to motivate themselves and finally, how I help such a diverse group of students to improve. I still consider myself very new to teaching in HE with a lot to learn. A key tool for learning that I would love more access to is class observation and reflection from colleagues but the timetable doesn't allow. So for me one of the ways I feel I can develop my pedagogy is through reading as much dance literature as possible as well as discussing my teaching experiences with anyone who will listen!
I suppose I was looking for research that discussed the issues that are concerning me, to know that others are interested in exploring the same things and for something that perhaps provided some validation of my current teaching strategies with students.
The article addresses many important ideas that I would like to test and research with my students but it also led me to reflect on my own first experiences as a dance student at HE level.
The article left me with a sense of sadness (maybe the pregnancy hormones are running riot!) that many of my teachers hadn't engaged with the kind of pedagogical approach used by Adrienne Wilson in this research.
Having more self knowledge now, I wonder if I might have thrived more in an environment that focused on mastery orientated goals and personal growth; where reflective progress is discussed through a dialogue with the teacher and where the student-teacher relationship quality is of high importance.
As the article points out though, students can be resistant to certain teaching approaches and styles for many reasons and there is also the possibility that my memory doesn't serve me correctly as I think back! I have many students who have indicated in discussions that they prefer other methods of learning and organisation to some of the ideas outlined in this article. However, at 18 I certainly arrived in an environment that seemed to favour the more successful few while others were left to feelings of frustration and failure. I feel that aspects of teaching that are important to me now and are an essential part of many HE courses, were not a part of the conservatoire training I experienced but would have been extremely valuable skills for my younger self as I started out.
As a teacher, I don't want my students to feel as I often did at their age, slightly lost and invisible, but to end on a positive note, the article predominantly serves to highlight how much impact on the motivational climate of the dance student a teacher has. I can't turn back the clock but I can work to give my students a positive experience as they learn and progress.
This sounds really interesting Rose, I must read the article myself. I'm sure there are many similarities and ideas for sharing good practice. Motivation is such a wonderful thing and yet sometimes so hard to achieve.
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