First Draft...

I have finally fully completed my first draft and sent it to Paula to have a look at. 

The whole inquiry really has been insightful and what has surprised and impressed me most is my place of work are so supportive of the Arts in education! They completely agree that the arts should be used more to improve children's learning. However, the issues surrounding why there is a lack of performing arts within the curriculum come from much higher up in the education system. 

These issues that have arisen from my inquiry have helped me to think about how I should present my artefact. During an online session, Paula asked us why our inquiries were important. One of my reasons was that this inquiry would (hopefully) give me a leg to stand on in the ongoing debate of the importance of Performing Arts in education. Therefore, I am thinking of doing my artefact not too dissimilar to a political manifesto. 

My inquiry explored growth mindset and how it is being used within my school and the affects it is having. I spoke to my boyfriend's Mum (who is a primary school teacher) and she said that her school have just recently began implementing a growth mindset also (bare in mind her school is in a different part of the country). It is clearly something that is taking off and having the desired benefits. During my inquiry, I discovered that performing arts have a very similar use in education. They encourage, motivate, build resilience and enstill a positive attitude to learning. That being said, I hope to use growth mindset to support my argument for advocacy in performing arts. If so many schools can implement Growth Mindset, why are performing arts not being given the same chance? 

Using the research and evidence I have gathered from my inquiry, I would like to create a short video where I discuss and debate my reasons for supporting arts in education; much like a politician would pose their policies. I am still developing this idea so any feedback is greatly welcomed! 

General Tips and Advice On Planning/Writing Critical Review

I am now over half way through my first draft of my Critical Review. Therefore, I thought it might be useful to share some advice with you all on things that I have found helpful.

Firstly, due to the nature of my job as a Teaching Assistant in a school I have been extremely fortunate to have had two weeks off. This time I have completely dedicated (almost) to the collaboration and analysis of all my data as well as beginning to write up my Critical Review. I would highly recommend that if you can get some time off then go for it. I've found it more beneficial to have the day to focus my brain solely on my inquiry, rather than when I get home from work when my brain is in other places.

I've tried to structure my days like any other working day, by starting and finishing at a similar time to when I'm at work and also taking breaks of similar time frames. This method has really worked for me and has helped me focus for long periods of time. I have forced myself to work at the table rather than on the sofa to help my brain and body differentiate between 'work' time and 'relaxation' time. I often find that when I try to do work on the sofa it is much less productive.

My next tip would to be to organise all your references first. It took me about three days but it's been so much easier to write up with them all in order. I had already made pages and pages of written notes and page numbers, so I chose to type all of these out into a document. I  organised the different sources into the themes within my inquiry and then typed out the quotes that I had picked out initially. I then highlighted them different colours depending on what section of my review I planned to use them in. Like I said, it took me a good few hours but it made better sense in my head when it came to using them and writing. It will also be much more time efficient when it comes to my bibliography and I already have the information of each source already typed up and properly referenced.

I made an initial plan using the Module 3 Handbook to help with my subheadings and what information was needed where. I typed notes into these categories to remind me what points I wanted to cover in each segment. I then began to write my first draft! When it came to my literature review, I sectioned it into the topics of literature I would be discussing. I then copied the references I wanted to quote or paraphrase into each section. This really helped me structure the debates within each topic and helped me remember to use everything relevant that I had found.

With my interview analysis, I had already transcribed my interviews into documents. As I'm using thematic coding, I used different colours for different themes/sub-themes to highlight relevant quotes. I then put these into a table that made it easier to get a collective thought for each theme/question.

Due to this planning and preparation, I am happy to say I am 4500 words through my critical review and confident that I will have finished this draft by the end of the week. This will allow a fair amount of time to check it over, receive feedback and tweak as well as allowing for more time to plan my artefact and presentation.

I hope this has helped anyone who's struggling and not sure where to go next with the progression in their inquiry.

Coming Together...

So, the Easter Holidays have begun and I now have all my data ready to analyse!

It's amazing how much has emerged from my interviews and I'm now really looking forward to bringing all my research together to analyse. I'm hoping to use my time off to make a really good start on writing everything up so I can begin focusing on my Professional Artefact (this will also allow time for feedback and tweeking). I have an idea that I need to get onto paper and mindmap to get it all out of my head. Once I have done this, I hope to share it on my blog and with my SIGs to get more thoughts and ideas how my initial idea could be developed. 

I'm feeling very organised currently and have been really pleased with my planning and time management so far. I hope I can continue this through the more difficult areas of the inquiry.

Where is everyone else at with the stages of their inquiry? How has everyone managed fitting in their interviews?

New Year, New Module

Christmas was a really wonderful break with lots of time to spend reflecting on the past year and looking forward to the next.

Although I'm nervous about the work load and managing my time around a full time job, I'm really excited to get going with my Professional Inquiry. The inquiry will be really interesting and is extremely relevant to my practice right now. 

I am also very excited to announce that I have been given a conditional offer to complete my PGCE: Dance Teacher Training with QTS at The Royal Academy of Dance. This has been such a great way to kickstart the year and given me even more of an insensitive to work really hard. 

I've already had some more books delivered from Middlesex University Library this morning and can't wait to get my teeth into them. It is an excellent system being able to browse and request books online and have them delivered straight to you. 

On a more negative note, I've been off work for a week and a half now with a very nasty lung infection. I was rushed into hospital last Thursday with what doctors thought could be a blood clot! After lots of needles, scans and waiting around feeling unwell, the results came back to reveal no blood clot but an infection on the lungs. Bittersweet results! But I am starting to feel much better and plan on returning to work and normality on Monday. 

Since starting the Outline Plan of the Inquiry, I have found myself reflecting much more on my practice which has been really eye opening. My journal is going to be so interesting to read and analyse for my final write up. Alongside all this, I will be revising to pass my QTS skills tests in English and Maths in preparation for my PGCE. This is really nerve wracking! 

Looking forward to hearing about everyone else's progress in their Professional Inquiries when we start back in the next week.