Skype with Helen, Adesola and course members

Today we had a Skype conversation about where we were all at in the course.

I wanted to talk about the way in which people were going about their investigation including how they were going about creating the documents for observations and how they were going about the methods of collecting and analysing their data. 

I spoke to Jen about how she was going about her interviews and observations and she told me that her 'web-based interviews' were also on Survey Hero, which is the survey I had used. 

Jen reiterated the use she had from making a triangle considering three important aspects of analysing elements of her practice.

Experience

Literature

Data

Matt spoke about the views of Michael Gove and Nikki Morgan within our current government with some articles in the Independent that would highlight their views on the Arts within our mainstream schools, as determining current attitudes within Education can inform me even more about my current educational practice within a UK mainstream school.

Matt also mentioned looking into Steiner Schools and how they provide a very specialist Education. Helen then mentioned Finland and the holistic learning that Finnish schools provide. These educational opportunities are aspects that I believe would help inform me of the other opportunities out there, other than mainstream schools.

Jen mentioned the Human element and told us that when undertaking our inquiry, we should remember that elements can affect the data that we have ie. people not being in the best of moods when undertaking an interview.

The question we asked was 'is it about the method of learning rather than having subjects of dance and drama? Is it more about learning through dance and drama?'

This is something I have been analysing recently too and asking constantly since looking at different literature and what teachers use within their lessons already. 

This Skype was more food for thought.

Saturday Skype with Jennifer and Lauren

Last Saturday I had a Skype with Jen and Lauren who are also undertaking Module Three.

We had a really honest, in-depth discussion about our findings so far and what stages we were at. 

We discussed literature that had really helped us look deeper into the analysis of our practice and seeing as we were all teaching in a creative field, it was useful for us to share our findings in a truly 'Special Interest Group.'

We also ended up discussing teaching the Creative Arts, as Lauren wanted to run a few questions past us about the importance of the arts, something that I had included within my own survey questions.

This led us to talk about performing and how the Creative Arts can be an escape for someone and an outlet for somebody to learn. We discussed a video that I had shared to the group before on the Facebook group, where Irish actor, John Connors, had been saved literally by acting and performing (below.) 

However, Jen also shared a story about a performer she knew of who became someone completely different when they appeared on stage, but who would rush to escape being greeted by people at the stage door, because in the real world they would shy away. It made us questions whether the Arts is always beneficial, or whether it sometimes helps people to not confront how they really feel.

This was a great chat encouraging us to look at both sides of the Arts, which is what we should be doing with our literature. Weighing up the pros and cons with each other enables us all to have a deeper understanding of what our practice entails. I think it was beneficial that we were considering both points of view, despite us all naturally being biased because we are all from a creative background. These are skills that I am developing throughout this process, seeing all different viewpoints and weighing up everything.

Data Collection Methods - What am I using and what am I planning to use?

Questionnaires

I have already sent out my survey to teachers within my practice in order to establish their views on Creativity and what it means to them. When undertaking the formation process of my survey, I decided to use both open and closed questions to do this. From my research, it appeared that a balance of these types of questions was a much more productive way of approaching the survey, mainly due to the fact that if every answer is closed, the answers may not mean as much as a teacher's opinion and if all the questions are open there may be a point where teachers feel slightly intimidates by blank boxes and my research will then not be very specific.

There was also a lot of thought that I had to put into creating the questions, because the whole way through I was thinking 'am I putting my bias into the questions?' 'Does this sound neutral?' Just like we mentioned in the Skype chat, you have to be creative and open even in a data collection process!

Observations

At this moment, I am planning to research and then collate an observation sheet so I can note down specifically what I see within lessons that I observe. I have realised that one of my main points of interest is the creative methods that teachers use within their lessons and I want to find this out through surveys, noting down on my observation sheet each time I observe a creative element and also use teacher's lesson plans to analyse so I can highlight the times in which they have scheduled in a creative task. 

Interviews and Focus Groups 

I also want to interview particular teachers that have a Creative Arts background or specialism (eg. Drama Club Assistant, Art Teacher etc) compared to teachers that may not have have a Creative or Theatre Arts specialism (Eg. Geography Teacher) and see what their views are on creativity within the classroom and their creative teaching methods. I am still deciding whether to do this all through individual interviews or whether to look at using a focus group to gather viewpoints so that I gather a variety of viewpoints through discussion rather than just simply one viewpoint from one person at a time. 

Reflective Journal and Blogging

I always write in my reflective journal whenever I can to write down things that I haven't before realised and to reflect on what skills I am developing. This is a great way to track progress. I will continue to write in this throughout the process. 

"Don't Look for the Answers, look for the Meaning."

Write as you see it...

On this Snowy day, I decided to look back through my Literature Review and start researching books to note down interesting quotes and ideas that might shed some more light on my inquiry. 

I really enjoyed this quoting exercise, because it consolidated all other people's thoughts about teaching in a broken-down and selective manner, which meant I could then reflect on the main points of a particular book.

This helped me edit my Literature Review so that I could really pinpoint the points of interest within my practice.

My Pen and Notebook. Highlighting the word 'connection.'

I then decided to look back at Sir Ken Robinson's definition of Creativity so I could compare it to what other literary scholars have been saying, as well as the definitions that teachers have been giving me within their surveys. 

 

As a result of this, I came up with a quote to summarise my inquiry process so far:

"Don't look for the answers, look for the meaning."