Task 2d Inquiry - part two

In the second blog on the task, I am only looking at one question as I felt that yesterday's blog was a little too long to read in one go!
This question, I found, was the easiest to write about so far. It makes me realise that, although I get bogged down with the nitty-gritty and day-to-day of my practice, I still love what I do!


What do you love about what you do? Who do you admire who also seems to love this or is an example of what you love?

• I love the fact that, although I've been at the same schools now for over ten years, every day brings variety, with new challenges and rewards.
• I love the fact that I have the opportunity to share my love of dancing with others and, if it all goes well, hopefully find and explore their love of dance too.
• I love it when I can come up with a way to make a child's confusion disappear or to have created an atmosphere so that a shy or nervous child can find their voice or come out of their shell.
• I love how I can experiment with new ideas and change/ adapt the way that I teach so as to give myself more skills/ knowledge to pass on to the next group of students.

The schools at which I work give me the ability to do all of the examples above because of the nature of the type of educational environment they provide. There are so many things in them that I admire, and every day I see examples of:

1. Time and effort put into how things are run
2. Care and responsibility taken by both employers and staff to provide a safe and nurturing environment for the students in their care
3. Quality of teaching
4. Sharing of ideas and the discussion of problems without ego or attitude
5. Staff and employers going above and beyond what is required of them
6. Everyone working together for the benefit of all

Being part of a team, even though I spend most of my time working alone, gives me a feeling of support, encouragement and belonging. Most of my jobs don't feel like jobs but like being part of a family!

• Attending courses makes me realise how much I still love to dance and gives me the opportunity to gain insight from other peoples perspectives and learn from lecturers and choreographers that I would not otherwise get the chance to dance with.

I admire Diana Malin, who currently runs the Imperial Tap and Modern Group that I am a member of. She provides courses for teachers in many different areas of our professional practice and does her best to keep the subs at an affordable rate so that we, as teachers, are able to attend more lectures and therefore widen our professional knowledge. For example, this Sunday (11th Nov) is a Street/ Rhythm Tap class, and the last lecture was on how to approach the teaching of turns.
Diana always asks for our feedback on classes and for ideas for future courses, ensuring that she keeps in touch with what her teachers want, and she always books high quality lecturers.
The opportunity to regularly connect with other professionals is both inspirational and invaluable, and the opportunity to dance keeps up my enthusiasm for what I do. I always learn something from taking part.

Last, but by no means least,

• I love the fact that, although I can moan and complain with the best of 'em, I never wake up in the morning with fear or dread about the day ahead.

In a world where so many people are doing jobs that bring them no satisfaction at all, are unable to find employment, or are having to work every hour of the day or night to make ends meet, I feel humbled to be doing the work that I do and getting more enjoyment than I do heartache.
I admire anyone, and everyone, who is committed to their work, who seeks to do the best that they can in whatever field of work they inhabit, and who contributes something to the bigger picture rather than just taking as much as they can for themselves.


Reflecting back through my journal entries I can see that one big topic that keeps recurring (up to this point) is: how better to reach my children and inspire or motivate them into achieving their full potential.
I wonder whether there is something there to make an inquiry out of...?


To finish this blog I wanted to end with a story that really touched my heart earlier this year, and reminded me of just how awesome human beings can be, and that it's the little gestures in life that mean so much...

Shoep's story

The next chapter