Being cooperative within my field of work is the way I know I have achieved success within my school and business to date. I strongly believe that by listening to your customers/clients; taking on board their comments and utilising them effectively can produce a satisfactory outcome for all those involved and as a result allows my business to continue to grow and succeed. It is interesting to me that cooperation is highly regarded and related to game theory as until reading these articles I would not have brought these thoughts into my mind when I think of cooperation. More that I would consider it to be the application of consideration and thought for for others opinions and how they matter to them. But then when I consider Axelrods theory and read his article the reference to Tit for Tat ,this is a saying I use on a daily basis when having discussions with my children whose attitude towards one another is based around this. Every aspect of their daily routine gravitates towards who got the most; who had the most; or if he or she had that, then I need it too and the list goes on. A tedious daily routine which I'm sure with maturity will become less selfish and move in the direction of cooperation and consideration for each
other.
I actively promote cooperation within my classes as I try to emphasise that working as a team can achieve a better outcome and can also add value to their learning. We encourage group work when choreographing in lessons and when producing our annual shows emphasise to the students that for them to provide their best performance to the audience they most work as a group and consider each other at all times whether it be on stage or in the dressing room. The younger students can find this skill very difficult as all they can understand are their own feelings and not really that of others. So we come across many situations where we have to provide explanation and reasoning to the upset child and try and encourage the one who has caused the upset how they can make better of the situation and learn from their experience for the future.
Cooperation also plays an important role amongst my staff and myself, as I feel I can always learn from them and they from me so we need to find the time to discuss and evaluate how we can continue to be successful and learn from our experiences.
Affiliation
The tendency to affiliate is something people have from early on in their lives. Larson, Csikszentmihalyi and Graef (1982)
Affiliation is an important aspect of everyones life and particularly within my own, whether it be personal or business. I have to affiliate in order to stay successful within my school whether it be with the teaching associations I am registered to or my customers. I therefore agree that 'a successful career requires effective professional networking' (Reader 3, BAPP Arts MDX).
As an individual I understand the privacy regulation theory (Altman, 1975) and appreciate the concept of affiliation, and its importance, however I also consider myself to be a private person and therefore not someone who wishes to affiliate themselves with everyone around me but more with those who are close to me and I can trust their judgement and opinions. I like my own space and therefore do not feel it is necessary within my personal life to feel part of a group or the need to be socially accepted. Maybe this is because I work in a busy environment where I teach classes of 15-20 students at one time on a daily basis and therefore this allows me to feel socially inclusive and therefore it is not a necessity in my personal time ?
I am currently experiencing a scenrario with my daughter who has just started high school and is struggling with friendships and where she socially fits in within her year group and peers.
Therefore on reading Crisp and Turners extract and their reference to Problems with Affiliation and Affiliating, I can totally appreciate and agree with their suggestions that negative emotions that come from experiences of affiliation can lead to negative behaviours and negative reactions from others. I feel we are currently on a roundabaout with her, not knowing when she will get off and enter a positive road ahead. To a teenager or young adult knowing where they fit in the world and where they belong is a very difficult situation to deal with and whilst we call on our life expereinces as adults to offer advice and guidance it can sometimes be very difficult as to know what we say or do as we direct them, knowing they are being brought up in a very challenging world.
Therefore if exploring affiliation within this blog has taught me anything is that negative expereinces can lead to negative attitudes which is not always the outcome of ones own actions but of that of those around you.
Social Constructionism
So this theory of connectivity to me is the art of common sense and the fact that it has a name and terminology quite frankly blows my mind. After having read the suggested extract by Crotty, M (2005) it left me with a mind full of questions and no answers ! Lots of words to describe the way in which humans live their lives.
Therefore I feel I can write little on this subject other than say I understand that we create explanation and meaning from our social interations and learn from our expereinces. Being a mum I can relate to and understand that children grow and learn from what they encounter in their daily lives whether it be not to touch a fire as its hot or dont cross the road without checking first thats its safe to do so. As a business owner I appreciate that certain decisions are not always the right ones and from information gathered from my customers it will help me to find the right option for the future.
Connectivism
This theory is a huge reflection on the way we have move forwards in society and technology. In the past the idea that information was gained from teacher to student was a very valuable and respected theory, however in todays climate with the web being a prolific part of our daily lives we have a much smaller need for communication within a classroom setting as it is always appeared backed up by the use of a network. My own children produce most of their homework requirements via the web and online resources. They are connected to their friends via means of technology and will rarely pick up the telephone or write a letter. My son connects with his friends via games technology and has conversations whilst being miles apart, whereas in the past this would of meant being within the same building and playing a game that came from a box !
I use this process within my own life through social network sites to connect with friends and have this facility attached to my business and linked to my school website for those to connect to who may not have instant access to social media. Connectivism is part of todays society and in the future will continue to grow and flourish offering further opportunities for businesses and people to connect across the world.
Communities of Practice
A community of practice (CoP) is, according to cognitive anthropologists Jean Lave & Etienne Wenger, a group of people who share a craft and/or a profession. I consider my staff and myself to foster this theory as we all share the same passion and enjoyment for dance and have therefore chosen to pursue this to the level of teaching. I can also relate this to my dance school as being a CoP as all my students like my teachers also share the enjoyment of dance and have therefore chosen to spend an element of their personal time perfecting this craft by attending lessons. It is a chosen activity and therefore not compulsory or something they have to partake in. I like to think that my dance school is seen as a small section of the local community and in turn is a place of good practise where those who attend have a positive learning experience not just only of dance but of the areas of connectivity we have discussed in previous sections like that that of cooperation and affiliation.
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