The basic diagram looks like this;
Apologies for the diagram, this is one I created in 'paint' because I don't have a scanner to add the official one!
First we were asked to look at 'Practice' and place the words or ideas that relate practice to all 3 domains on the diagram, for example;
Practice
My inner world - My day to day activities
Tools technologies and methods - Study
The outside world - Performance
This shows how my day to day work or practice relates to the outside world. My day to day practice is working as a dancer, the tools technologies and methods I use is study (rehearsals/university work), how does this relate to the outside world? watching shows, reading my blogs etc.
Secondly we looked at 'Values';
Values
My inner world - Morals
Tools technologies and methods - Social Skills
The outside World - Understanding
Values to me mean my personal morals, this has lead me to develop social skills and in the outside world I am able to be more understanding of the world around me and of other people's beliefs and ideas.
Finally we looked at Questions/Inquiry;
Questions/Inquiry
My inner world - Relevance
Tools, technologies and methods - Research
The outside world - Understanding
My Inquiry is driven by my personal need to understand the questions I have asked, this started by asking questions that are relevant to me and my day to day practice. The tools, technologies and methods I use during the Inquiry process is research. To the outside world I gain understanding and so will my research participants and anyone who reads my inquiry.
Alan said there isn't really a right or wrong to this process. I found it useful because it made me look at how the work I am doing relates to the outside world. I don't know if mine are right or wrong but I know that this method has helped me. It is easy to get bogged down with the work we are all doing, but using this method has helped me get some perspective on my studies.
Great blog, thanks Mimi :)
ReplyDeleteI was literally thinking the same sort of thing as I was sitting in traffic this evening!
My inquiry is basically the personal quest to improve my practice through understanding and, by understanding, improving the experiences of my students through motivation.
N.B. The reason I was thinking about this was as part of my development of the Critical Review.
So, if I follow along with the circular model you have posted, my tools, technologies and methods would be my students voices, my literature and my application in practice. My third circle - the outside world - would be that my inquiry might help my participants, my students, then perhaps other teachers and, therefore, by extension, their students.
I totally agree with your comment about getting 'bogged down' by the sheer size of things, if we let it. I think taking time out to keep looking backwards as well as forwards will be the best way to stay true to the quest for greater understanding.
S
(I'm sorry, I know someone talked, or wrote, about the importance of looking backwards, and somewhere in my mind I have a feeling it was Adesola, so my apologies for not attributing that last sentence properly - I'll add as a reply to this comment if anyone knows who it was.)
Thanks for your comments Sarah, I'm glad that my blog has been useful to you. I know when you can't attend a campus session you can feel 'outside of the loop'. I think for me I need to relate my studies to the bigger picture and this is why I found it so helpful. I will post another blog asap about the rest of the session, Mimi x
DeleteHi Mimi,
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this. I'm glad it helped. I do think some models work better than others, or at different toimes, or for different situations. I did wnat everyone yo see that the value of the model (in this instance the map) is that it gets us to think differently from the ususal, 'common sense' way. If we want to understdn a sitation differently, then 'ommon snese does not suffice, we need 'specail' ways of thinking.
Logical I guess.
Great post.
Exactly, I really feel like this helped me relate my work to the 'bigger picture' and that was just what I needed at this point!
Deletegood exercise especially to 'see' your work
Delete