However I'm struggling to come up with the 'right one' if there even is such a thing?
For those who don't know what my intended Inquiry is about I will enlighten you by giving you a brief summary. Maybe then you will be able to point me in the right direction for my title.
My inquiry is based on a combination of literature. Books by Malcolm Gladwell and David Epstein brought to me views based upon psychologist Anders Ericsson. Malcolm Gladwell based upon Ericssons theory's and others experiments believes that the only way to become accomplished in your chosen profession is to practice for 10,000 hours or more! David Epstein argues that other factors come into play, such as genes, talent, ethnicity etc. Finding the core of both these men's views brought me to Ericsson who looks at the whole picture. In his journals he looks at what produces the elite performer. Hard work, talent, genes, circumstance, parental support, motivation, commitment amongst other aspects. A lot of these I can personally apply to myself and my journey into becoming a professional dancer, however I wanted to know what other factors dancers apply to themselfs in order to be the best that they can be. How do they continue their professional development in order to become an elite athlete? Do they apply specific techniques inspired by world renowned choreographers? Or do they just go with the flow and hope for the best? Moreover why do we even want to be elite? And at the top of our game? What benefits does that create for us?
There are a lot of questions to be explored and answered.
I feel this inquiry has validity and my findings will be there to help not only myself and the rest of my professional practice but also the next generation of dancers. My inquiry won't produce a magic cocktail to transform you overnight into being the best, however it will provide guidance and help to push many of us in the right direction.
I would really appreciate your comments below.
Here are a few sample titles, let me know what you think!
1. How do we as dancers become elite? And why does that matter?
2. How does continual professional development effect us as dancers, and why we should be the best that we can be?
3. Elite performers, how do we become one?
Hi Hannah, I think what you are asking is interesting, but a difficult subject. How do you define elite? For an athlete it is obviously winning Gold Medals in as many competitions as possible, but for a dancer I would guess that the measure of your success is whether you keep working?? There are obviously elite artistes in the ballet world who become principals and soloists, but are there "elite" show dancers? I think your second question about continual professional development and being the best that we can be is better terminology. Hoep that helps! I am sure others will disagree but that is what this is all about!!
ReplyDeleteHi Kym,
DeleteThank you for your comment, sorry with the delayed response had afew days at sea with out wifi! Within the context of my Inquiry I have decided to define the vocabulary I use with in it at the beginning so that anyone who reads it understands the context and definition the words give.
‘Accomplished’ - An activity that a person can do very well.
‘Elite’ - A group of people considered to be the best in a particular society or group.
‘Expertise” - Expert skill or knowledge in a particular field
‘Expert’ - A person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area.
‘Successful’ - Accomplishing an aim or purpose.
‘Deliberate Practice’ - Practice in which the participant is fully engaged to get the most out of the activity.
I realised after posting this blog the definitions and understandings were not very clear for readers, also one of Paula's blog posts highlighted to me the importance of your audience understanding what you mean when using specific vocabulary?
If reading the blog again would you understand it better applying the above meanings to the words?
Hannah it is good to try out these explanations on others.
ReplyDeleteFor example, what does the following mean in more detail - again often complex ideas need to be broken down and explained?
Finding the core of both these men's views brought me to Ericsson who looks at the whole picture. In his journals he looks at what produces the elite performer. Hard work, talent, genes, circumstance, parental support, motivation, commitment amongst other aspects.
It might be more in keeping to express your inquiry - and findings - in terms of what your participants had to say? You might compare personal expertise to professional standing/reputation? How will other professionals in your field understand these ideas?
I thought that Ericsson was talking about expertise - like in The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance - but Gladwell defines it as elite - maybe his purpose was in making some of these theories easy to digest - it sounds like it might still hard for others to follow the context without reading Gladwell's books so more explanation is needed.
The title might be clearer when you analyse your findings - what did you find out about these issues and people's perception of acquiring expertise?
I just googled to search for key words from other comments about Gladwell's ideas.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140310-gladwell-expertise-practice-debate-intelligence/
http://solutionfocusedchange.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/malcolm-gladwells-response-10000-hours.html
http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/20/10000-hours-may-not-make-a-master-after-all/
Hi Paula
DeleteThank you for your comment. I have now gone back to all my literature and re read it all, plus the new articles which you posted my way. I think I have managed to better explain the work of all of the practitioners. I have started a new draft on a google doc which I will email you the link to.
I feel the more research i do the more options title wise appear so like you suggest i think i will wait until i have a inished article to decided on a title.
Thanks again
Hannah