I want to hold your hand.....

By simply get more involved in our BAPP community I feel I am developing my SIG and my practice!! In finding people who are interested in similar subjects I do not feel so alone and I am starting to feel more engaged within a support system.

I had previous created a linkedin account that I have failed to really use - here is the link to my profile please add me to your network:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/hollie-anne-cartwright/49/973/9ba

I have also created a group for those interested in similar subjects to myself, just a reminder they are:

Children's Theatre
Youth Theatre
Community Theatre
Inclusive Theatre
Outreach Theatre

Here is the link to my group entitled:

Making theatre more accessible to young people!

I am finding twitter a great source for networking and finding new companies and people that I am interested in.

Follow me @hannecartwright

By the way my linkedin and twitter are under my stage name: Hollie Anne Cartwright

Would love to know what forms of SIG are working best for everyone!

Hollie x

SIG help!!

Looking for some advice on creating my SIG and calling all people who would like to join me!

I am interested in:

Children's theatre
Inclusive theatre
Community theatre
Outreach theatre
Performing arts teaching
Theatre workshop facilitating

So quite a few things!  I have began to follow a lot more blogs on the BAPP course than I was previously but have people created SIG's within this or is it just in your head that you know the people interested in similar things as you?  It seems that a lot of people have created a linkedin account for their SIG's - I have an account that I honestly do not often use so I will get on this.

I have also finally joined twitter which I am really seeing the benefits of! I am following all the theatre companies I would like to work for hopefully one of them will follow me back one day.

Follow me @hannecartwright if you would like to!

Any advice on creating SIG's will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Hollie x

Don't let fear paralyse you!

I have been concentrating my career search and therefore my inquiry on working within the field of teaching and facilitating workshops within the performing arts field.  I have been very focused on how I can progress into working within inclusive theatre as it is something I am very passionate about.

However because of recent insight and experience I have got back to thinking about where this all originally came from - my dream to be a professional performer and love of live theatre.  I often feel I have to push this aside as it does not feel like a practical career option - a huge part of me wants security and that does not come with being an actor.  Because of past experience I see this is a struggle that I do not want to put myself through again. But deep down this is still what I would love to do and why can I not do it - really I am doing it, I will be playing the good fairy in pantomime this season and I really looking forward to it! I am quick to put this down in front of other actors as pantomime can have a negative stigma attached to it when really it is everything I want to do -  this was highlighted this week when I went for a costume fitting and got very excited.  It is primarily children's theatre, it reaches out to audiences that do not usually visit the theatre, we do shows where the whole audience is from local schools so they get to see a full scale live theatre production every year and I get to perform in a beautiful theatre!  Also being reunited with London as a proud resident I am getting to go to a lot more theatre which has reignited my love for it in it's puriest form - I am not as jealous of the performers as I used to be (still a little bit)!

So these thoughts alongside reading others blogs and comments have made me realise that I do not need to block out what I trained hard to do and have a true passion for beacuse of fear, I need to embrace it!

By starting to create my SIG and explaining my interests to others I got a better understanding of what I wanted to explore:

How can live theatre and workshops be made more accessible to a wider audience of young people?

What can I offer and how can I market this in pursuing a career in young people's theatre?

How can I get involved in inclusive theatre on a practical and theoretical level?

I am a little worried by questions are a bit self indulgent and would not benefit others? What do you think?

Hollie x

It feels good to talk!

 

 

So last term one of the main things that I needed to improve on was commenting and interacting more within our BAPP community.  I have yet to do this...........until today!! By putting the time aside to look at others blogs and comment it makes me feel better about the whole process and I am hoping to get some comments in return to develop my work further.

 

As I tried to give others advice or more food for thought I found myself posing questions and view points I needed to ask myself.  This has taught me that sometimes it is best just to write rather that think about it too much before you do especially in the space of our blogs where the whole point is to have the ability to share.

 

So.....let's get talking!!

Pyschology lesson in campus session

In the recent campus session as we began to discuss this module it was a good lesson in how situation and scenario can affect our reactions.

I also shared my original question idea with the group so was lucky enough to get some help from the group on that too!

The question of mine that we discussed was:

How can I combine theatre and working with disadvantaged and disabled children/young people?

It was interesting to sit back and listen to the group (of people I had never really met) work out where I was coming from in asking this question and mainly get it right.  These are a few things that were said:

• Want to make a difference.
• From my values and ethics.
• Want to use my theatre skills in my current role (teaching assistant).
• A desire to do more with my skills.
• Social values - desire for equality/fairness.
• Want to make theatre more accessible.

I moved on to say that I know that there are lots of people out there who have answered the question that I am proposing but I want to find out what I can do, how I can get involved and the group highlighted the fact that maybe my question needed to reflect that?  I need to find answers that are there and add to them:

• What can I bring?
• What is my perspective and what can that add?
• What are companies currently doing? Anything I feel being missed?
• How, when and where was research done?

As I develop my question these points will really help thanks guys!

Alan Durrant then made up another question for us to look at and see where that person might have been coming from - forgive me if this was not exactly what it was but it was along the lines of:

How can I create a dance school for the best young ballerinas?

The initial reaction of the group was highly reflective of what discussion had been had just before and it was a great lesson to learn before posing our question ideas to employers and associates.

Because we had just been discussing my question is was assumed that I am a good person - which I hope I am but I may not be! The nature of my question compared to that of the imaginary person posing this question meant the reaction towards it was negative.  As soon as this was mentioned we all realised what had happened and if the previous discussion had not happened the reaction would have been different.  This highlights how scenario is important to consider when asking a question.

It was also apparent that within a group situation where most of us didn't know each other we answer questions completely differently to when in a one-to-one scenario.  When in a group the fear of judgement and getting it wrong stops us from answering a question openly and honestly - in a one-to-one situation the fear is taken away. Another important thing to consider.

Hollie x

????????

So here goes a few question ideas:

1. How can I combine theatre and working with disadvantaged and disabled children/young people?
2. What is inclusive theatre?
3. What inclusive theatre companies are out there?
4. How can I get involved in inclusive theatre?
5. What is out there in regards to community theatre and outreach projects?
6. How can I get involved in community theatre and outreach projects?
7. What can I bring to inclusive/community/outreach theatre and how?
8. How does theatre benefit disadvantaged and disabled children/young people?
9. How can theatre be made be made more accessible for children/young people?
10. How can I get involved with children/young peoples theatre?
11. How does theatre benefit children/young people?

Any advice or comments you have on any of my questions would be greatly appreciated!

Hollie x

Before you raise your hand.....think!

                                           

Before I raise my hand I need to stop and think about important things to consider.  Having worked as a teaching assistant recently I have been reminded that a young child's questions are endless and usually asked without thought but as we progress through our education our teachers remind us to stop and think before we ask.  When raising my hand I clearly remember being asked "Hollie is your question relevant right now?" "Hollie is your question important?" The voices of my secondary school teachers need to resound right now as I formulate my line of inquiry.

Alan Durrant reiterated this at the campus session and we discussed important things to consider:

• Do research on the person you are asking the questions to and word them accordingly.
• Find clarity in the question.
• Consider the environment and scenario you are asking the questions in - one-to-one or group, what has happened previously.
• What is my intent behind the question?
• Ethically who should I ask?
• Who has the competency to answer the question?
• What do I want to get from this question?
• Is my line of questioning influenced by social questioning?
• Am I asking the right questions in the right context?
• How many questions do you have to ask to get the right answer?
• Validity of the question.
• Can I expand out of my comfort zone? Am I always asking the same questions?
• Who has the insight and experience I need to draw from?
• What are the motives behind my question?
• Unpack assumptions and expectations.
• Survey widely - not just where you know you will get the answers you want!
• Interview technique - turn it into a conversation this is where you get the best answers.
• Think about type of questions - instant and crafted.

BIAS!!

This is really important to consider! We came to the conclusion that we are all going to be a little biased regarding our inquirys because we think these subjects are important enough to research and discover more about but as long as we admit that and we are honest about it there is no problem.  It is our opinion and we are entitled to that as long as we are open to the opinion of others too.  If we are clear about where are questions are coming from and conduct authentic research then the issue of bias will dissipate.  An important thing for me to remember is to expose my question ideas to a variety of people not just those I know will tell me what I want to hear!

I found this video song about bias that a teacher made for his physcology students - have a listen it's quite catchy - also great to see a teacher using creative tool to aid learning!

So there is lots to consider before I raise my hand I guess!

Hollie x

 

What is a question? Why do we ask certain questions?

 

Sooo new module, new look blog!  I am hoping this fresh start will help me with my new approach to my learning and career search - a little more laid back without the fear of just being me!

One of the main things I learnt about my approach is that I need to focus on quality not quantity so here I go........

Moving on with my new skill set acquired it is time to start asking questions about my own personal practice in my work.  But what does that really mean? Are we not constantly asking questions about our practice? Just like I am asking questions now ahhhh!  After the campus session with Alan Durrant and fellow students the importance of working out WHAT a question is and WHY we are asking it became a key concept to grasp. Once this is gained a QUESTION can be formulated. I put question in capitals because I feel there are different types - ones we ask in the moment without much thought and ones like that we a trying to formulate, well thought out and researched.

So what is a question? Here are a few thoughts:

A question is something that needs or wants to be answered.

A question is a someone trying to acquire knowledge about something.

To find truth.

To problem solve.

To debate.

To interrogate.

Why do we ask certain questions?

They are driven by interest but located in experience.

Your background influences how you see things - values.

We live in a specialised society where we train and invest in a discipline so have underlying preconceptions and assumptions.

Ontology - where I am coming from in asking my question - unpack experience.

Serendipity - the act of making a discovery by accident.  What accidents got us to where we are.

This video highlights our instinctual curiosity and want to ask questions - it is a cute video and a taster of a child's why? why? why?

 

 

It ends with a quite an apt question for a lot of us on BAPP - WHERE WILL YOU LEAD ME NEXT??

 

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
Albert Einstein

Hollie x