Critical Reflection on the developing ideas of ‘Structured Improvisation’

MAINLY FOR MODULE 1 STUDENTS but of interest to others perhaps ...

This is my account of the campus session today, 28th February 2012. Please look at student Blogs for other takes on what happened.


At the campus session we explored the topic of critical reflection. We decided to raise and discuss an issue … in effect to practice the process of critical reflection. The topic that quickly emerged was the issue of reconciling the necessary structure (of curriculum, learning outcomes, learning objectives, lesson plans) with the need to react in the moment to the needs of students. (while this was an issue about teaching, the group thought it also applied to Choreographer-dancer and director-actor realtionships).

We coined the phrase ‘Structured Improvisation’. 

“Structure’ was seen as curriculum, learning outcomes, learning objectives, lesson plans and representative of standards and the manifestation of control. 'Improvisation' was seen as adaptive in the moment, drawing upon your own ‘memory bank’, reactive to students’ needs, a spontaneity, instinctive, and perhaps non-verbal or text based approach or practice. On reflection, this seems unecessarilly ‘opposed’ as an idea, but that is how it emerged in the session. Both aspects were seen as important, and toward the end of the session it was suggested that Structured Improvisation represented an attempt to create different balances between controlling and instinctive teaching practices depending on the needs of learners.

We also discussed some of the underlying reasons for the state of national curriculum and the diverse range of learners in a school setting and how the teacher can respond to both ‘delivering’ national curriculum while responding with more versatility and adaptability to the needs of students.

The most important outcome for me was to be a participant in a session where everyone was contributing to the process of critically reflection. The key points that came out of the session for me were:

a.    critical reflection is a process to be engaged and can be honed as a skill (likened by one participant to ;’muscle memory’);
b.    the reflection element is natural to us humans – we all do it – but to be ‘critical’ is to not accept the obvious or easy first thoughts, but to stay with the questioning, asking better and deeper questions;
c.    I thought that critical reflection is best structured around honing better questions.

When thinking about the initial proposition of ‘Structured Improvisation’ in teaching, I had the following questions:

1.    What is it?
2.    How did it come about?
3.    What is its purpose?
4.    Who does it?
5.    Are there different approaches?
6.    Who has previously commented on it – what did they say?
7.    What other ideas are associated with it?
8.    What relevance does it have to me?
9.    When does it occur?
10.    How is it engaged?
11.    What does it look or feel like?
12.    What does it mean?
13.    What value do I attribute to it?
14.    What values do other attribute to it?

Finally, it should be borne in mind that the idea of Structured Improvisation is a bit of theory making, but the session was really about the act of critical reflection in action. Structured Improvisation was simply the idea we were reflecting upon. Nevertheless I think all participants went away thinking about teaching in a slightly different way?  It would be interesting to know if they do and in what ways?

I will post some podcasts to BAPP YouTube made at the session.

Independence, Critical Thinking and ‘Self Discovery’

There is a great deal written about higher education and its purpose. There are many different perspectives and explanations of what higher education is, and its underlying purpose. Whether you are just starting out on BAPP Arts on the first module, or engrossed in planning or conducting your Professional Inquiry, I though it might be worth giving you three ideas about the attributes that Higher Education might be seeking to foster in students:

1.    Independence – I think of this as a ‘stance’ where we (students and teachers) each establish our own voice. This is not simply about opinions, but rather recognises the stances of others and our own responses to those positions. Success in higher education is partly about accessing information and views of others to help form our own understanding especially recognising where others are coming from.

2.    Critical Thinking – I think of this as a ‘practice’ where we do not accept any explanations on face value, but explore through questioning the value and meaning of the world around us. This is the practice of keeping an open mind, of questioning what others do and say, and most importantly, challenge our own ideas and views.

3.    Self-Discovery – I think of this as a ‘goal’ where we are trying to use our independence and critical skills to educate ourselves. Higher education of course includes aspects of training (being shown how to do things) and has elements of socialisation (fostering particular behaviours) but for me it is more important that we use the opportunity to find out new and deeper things about ourselves, the world, and our place in it.

As you move through your current studies, it might be worth asking:

Am I simply regurgitating existing views on my topic, interest or task, or am I bringing a worthwhile and personally relevant perspective that adds to my understanding?

To what extent am I happy to accept the ideas of others or my own without critically challenging them?

Am I really trying to improve myself and find out new things?

I would really like to hear your views on this … especially if you have other ways of thinking about this. If you are interested, this came out of a Blog response I posted to a Student Blog.