NDEO Culture of Power Presentation: Outline

Opening: 7 minutes JESSICA Welcome We are all graduating seniors in the Dance Education program at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah going into our student teaching experiences next Winter. Introduce selves name and hometown CHELSEA Why do we care about this? So here we are as a group of undergrads facing our student teaching experience and truly beginning to define ourselves as teachers. We are at a place where were asking ourselves questions like, Who am I as a teacher? What kind of teacher voice do I want to develop? We had taken classes like Multicultural Education that brought our attention to ideas of a power and authority in teachers, and we began to examine the idea that there may be a culture of power in the dance field and from there we just took off. Many more questions came up and we decided this would be an important topic for us to consciously look at, to learn about and to make decisions about how to apply it to our personal pedagogy philosophies. We hope that in having done this, we will be better prepared as teachers in our understanding of our teaching styles and identities. We have encountered a lot of the literature and some power theories and these raised other questions for us. So a lot of what we have to present today is coming out of primary reserach, out of us analyzing our backgrounds and the culture of power we are coming out of. We know were not experts but we feel we have some very essential questions that we care about deeply since we are about to launch our career, so were excited to hear from all of your expertise as well. CHELSEY We asked the following questions to ballet, ballroom, folk, and contemporary dance faculty at BYU as well as public school and studio instructors locally: 1. 2. 3. 4.
What is power? How do we establish it and how do our students perceive and respond to it? Do we blindly perpetuate what we saw our teachers doing, and is this a problem? What are the results of different power techniques (effects on students performance, emotional well-being, motivation)? 5. Are there ethical issues that arise in certain displays of authority? 6. What is the responsibility of the students in responding to authority and power? 7. How is power inherent in our pedagogy?

RACHELLE What is power?

Before we go any further, we need to define what kind of power were talking about. We noticed that as we interviewed dance teachers and students, some of their first responses to power was

that it was a kinesthetic termdancers should move powerfully and move through the space with power. But were not talking about that kind of power. And were also not talking about the type of power that is dominating and authoritarian. We are talking about the power that we have as teachers to influence our students and take control of a classroom. The ability to motivate students and facilitate their learning and growth.

JESSICA Disclosure We truly believe that an individuals perspective on power informs his or her pedagogy. We feel that if we can bring this conversation to the front and consciously think about the way we approach use of power in our classrooms and the tradition and culture of power in the field of dance, we can become better teachers who understand and effectively utilize the power we have. Throughout this discussion, we will offer several ideas we have begun to crystallize in the attempt to answer these questions for ourselves. In the end, we hope they will engender deeper thought and personal reflection about power in a way that will truly influence teaching philosophies for dance educators . . .

Discussion: 8 minutes each JESSICA Disconnect As we were started interviewing we started to notice something very interesting in most of the responses of the teachers. We wanted to know exactly how they establish power in their classroom and what specific strategies they use. This seemed to us to be a very straight forward question, however, there seemed to be a disconnect between the teachers responses and the question. Most teachers seemed reluctant to talk about themselves being in a position at all. They skitted around the idea and seemed to feel uncomfortable about referring to their own power. Here are some examples. Why is this? Why is it that teachers now feel uncomfortable about discussing or acknowledging their own power strategies? Are they afraid they will be taken the wrong way and seen negatively? As we looked closer we noticed another commonality. All of the male professors that we interviewed would direct their response away from the idea of their power and towards empowering their students. Whereas women in general seemed to feel a little more comfortable in addressing the power that they have as a teacher. Is this disconnect gender related? Is there a negative connotation in males having power? Or is it possible that they innately have an air of power and authority and they dont acknowledge intentional strategies to develop it? Do women need to work harder to establish their power? Our purpose in addressing this disconnect is to acknowledge it and reflect upon whether addressing it could strengthen our teaching. If this disconnect is in your teaching, could acknowledging it empower your pedagogy and make you more able to respond to diverse situations, understand the teacher student interaction better, and influence the classroom atmosphere? So, we are going to ask you the same exact question we asked them (next slide), and we are going to ask you to avoid that disconnect. Really address the question and think about your teaching style.

CHELSEA -

Power personalities In talking specifically to the Chair of our Department of Dance at BYU, the amazing Marilyn Berrett, I was exposed to some ideas about power that others have proposed in the past. Marilyn outlined the work of Annette Evans and cited these ideas as having informed Marilyns philosophy and perspective on power. This framework of power falls under four categories. Ill outline them quickly and then we can go from there. Teacher Power; this is how she labeled the four different power types 1: Referent Power you have power and influence with the students because they like you as a person and know that you like them as well. Its about relationships. 2: Expert Power you have influence because the students respect your expertise, your qualifications, your experience, your knowledge and wisdom. 3: Legitimate Power you have power and authority because legally, you are in charge and you look and behave the part. 4: Coercive Power you influence people by plugging into what they like and dont like and using desire for reward and fear of punishment as a motivator. In hearing about these four power personalities, which do you desire most to use in teaching and which do you feel like you rely on most often? Are there certain situations where one may be more effective than another in the environment, and for the purpose or the students? CHELSEY - Sharing Power All of the people that we interviewed said that in order for a classroom to be successful, the power can not all be in the teacher or the students. Power must be in both. Of the interviews that were discussed, power in the classroom became negative when there was a taking of power, rather than a giving. If the students have strong personalities and are somewhat rebellious or arent interested in their teacher or learning, they sway the balance of power to their sideand when that happens nothing constructive can happen. The same happens with a teacher who chooses to limit the amount of power the students have in their studio. Teachers talked about how they set up this balance of power in their classrooms to balance the power, and initially I thought that meant a balance between teacher and student, but it is more of sharing than a balance. There were a few people that we interviewed that said they wanted to EMPOWER students, which literally means to give someone the power or authority to do something, You bring them to a point where they can own who they are, what they know and understand, and then take that information into the world. Thats what I feel like my responsibility as a teacher is. That it is my opportunity to be able to empower them to then take the information into their personal lives and out into the world to make a difference. There must be that active exchange, building a sense of community and facilitating that power within themselves. There is an intentional exchange and interaction that can build and mature, not a passive loss and gain of power. I am thinking that teachers need to be the ones that facilitate that interaction, and in order to receive power, one must give some first. What are some specific strategies that can give students power so they in turn will acknowledge your authority? Challenge them but allowing them to succeed, being respectful, allowing choices, having them be responsible for their own choices, acknowledging their strengths, etc. RACHELLE Students response From our student survey, these are things that students see as the responsibility of the teacher in exhibiting power in the classroom: control the safety and learning of students use power wisely

 be encouraging and demanding lead the class teach, critique, help students learn, prepare, better their students pass on knowledge earn respect create productive learning atmosphere discipline foster discovery Also from our student survey these are some responses about how students SEE power being used in the classroom: setting up expectations discipline breaking down movement expecting practice grading yelling not allowing excuses keeping students later to practice if not working telling students how and when to move teacher skill and presence giving compliments and positive reinforcement invoking fear empowering students After looking at this list, we need to evaluate how individual students respond to our preferred power strategies. We think it is important to note that there are different power personalities, and there are also different personality preferences in how each of us perceive and respond to power. Some may respond to criticism and challenge, while another needs only positive reinforcement. One teacher noted, I believe that [teachers] should consciously consider what type of power they exert, and how various students respond to that. What Im suggesting is that good pedagogy would be knowing your students well enough to choose for each one a slightly different approach without making your class policy too inconsistent that students dont feel safe. Prompt: What kind of power is most effective for you as a student? How does that inform your teaching? Wrap-up: 7 minutes CHELSEA Conclusion with changing trends We believe that the culture of power in dance is individually applicable for each of us, and yet we dont examine it often. However, we think that examining power is especially pertinent in light of the fact that there has been an undeniable shift in the past century or so in the perception and overall philosophy of power. It has happened all over the world in general and in the dance field specifically. Having come from the strict discipline of ballet and into the early modern dance pioneers, we are now seeing a change in the idea of how power can and should be used in the classroom. This may be due to the birth of dance education out of dance performance and the developing theories that revolve around this field. We also recognize that there is a difference of priority and objective among the many genres of dance which affects how power is perceived and portrayed. Were simply here to recognize the fact that we have certain traditions

of power - whatever they may be - and that it is necessary for us as dance educators to assess our philosophies and choices in regard to power in the classroom. JESSICA Personal philosophies Closing