Knowledge and Learning
Today I participated in a skype meeting that was very interesting. The theme was "knoweldge and learning". We talked about our experiences as former-students and now as teachers. Firstly, the conversation was based on knowledge and learning concerning this MA program. However, later I said that learning is the result of self-reflection and knowledge is certainly a result of this process. The induction of "self-reflection" changed the flow of the conversation. Do we reflect as teachers? Do we help/ give the stimulus our students to reflect during the lesson or afterwards? Do they learn through reflection?
Maria mentioned that there is a difference between reflection and achieving critical thinking.
I was really intrigued by all these questions and this conversation. I truly believe that even though we teach something practical (like ballet or contemporary dance)- something that involves movement, reflection plays a great role in the learning process. Through the reflection of prior experiences and even the reflection of each lesson, we understand and learn things about ourselves, our students and the whole pedagogical process. The reflection shapes our view on how we will teach each thing. And this is where Katia's opinion comes into. She mentioned that the experience we have from our teachers shape our learning as teachers. It is a circle, if we really think about it. A continuous circle of learning and knowing.
Moreover, we can observe a student's learning. As Katia mentioned again, she can understand the learning process of her students. She had trained some students and then they changed and started to train with different teachers. When they came back to her class, after years as they are older, she understood how they learned what they learned. That's pretty amazing if you think about it. The way we learn and know as dance teachers.
P.S.: I had to repost this text because the first time it was not posted as it should. This text refers to the skype meeting on Sunday Sept 30th.
Today I participated in a skype meeting that was very interesting. The theme was "knoweldge and learning". We talked about our experiences as former-students and now as teachers. Firstly, the conversation was based on knowledge and learning concerning this MA program. However, later I said that learning is the result of self-reflection and knowledge is certainly a result of this process. The induction of "self-reflection" changed the flow of the conversation. Do we reflect as teachers? Do we help/ give the stimulus our students to reflect during the lesson or afterwards? Do they learn through reflection?
Maria mentioned that there is a difference between reflection and achieving critical thinking.
I was really intrigued by all these questions and this conversation. I truly believe that even though we teach something practical (like ballet or contemporary dance)- something that involves movement, reflection plays a great role in the learning process. Through the reflection of prior experiences and even the reflection of each lesson, we understand and learn things about ourselves, our students and the whole pedagogical process. The reflection shapes our view on how we will teach each thing. And this is where Katia's opinion comes into. She mentioned that the experience we have from our teachers shape our learning as teachers. It is a circle, if we really think about it. A continuous circle of learning and knowing.
Moreover, we can observe a student's learning. As Katia mentioned again, she can understand the learning process of her students. She had trained some students and then they changed and started to train with different teachers. When they came back to her class, after years as they are older, she understood how they learned what they learned. That's pretty amazing if you think about it. The way we learn and know as dance teachers.
P.S.: I had to repost this text because the first time it was not posted as it should. This text refers to the skype meeting on Sunday Sept 30th.
Hi Elizabeth, reading your blog made me want to modify my post on Kandyan Dancing - Traditional Sri Lankan dancing that I practise and teach. I was writing about how there is a universal language in which Kandyan is understood and predominantly this is in Sinhalese - the national language of Sri Lanka. My post was about how this is translated in to english during the learning and understanding process.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever experienced anything similar when teaching or learning? What kind of barriers did you have to overcome?