Firstly i apologise for the lack of blogs in the past few months - no good excuse really but i resolve to do better from now on!
a while ago a young adult with whom i work wrote a speech for a fundraising event and i absolutely loved his speech so feel that i'd like to share it with you.
From the horses mouth as it were....
"If Tesco sold bottles of Conductive Education I would be having them as part of my weekly shop as it provides a lifeline for anybody that has a physical or learning disability. Why? I will tell you why. My experiences of conductive education at Rainbow House has taught me and others like me, how to use our bodies and minds to overcome and conquer certain fears and challenges that have been previously huge barriers to us living our lives.
For example, when I started Conductive Education, my body felt useless, my confidence was at rock bottom and my mind was plauged with negative thoughts on how i would live my life independently. Conductive Education has helped me to control my body in times of stress and has boosted my life skills as well as my confidence in myself and in my abilities to overcome the negative thoughts created by how some people in this world see me. In my view, it is the most common sense, theraputic approach that i have come across.
I believe because of the hard work and training the Rainbow House team have done with me over the past three and a half years, my life has changed so much for the better as I am able to achieve so much more than I or others previously thought possible......without Rainbow House's support I would not have the confidence to live independently and of course would not be sitting here in front of you delivering this speech tonight...."
Thanks Jonathan!
Showing posts with label conductors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conductors. Show all posts
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
A funny time of year....
Finally, i have the chance to write something new on here. It has been a strange term so far. We've been unbelievably busy which has been exacerbated by the fact that most of the staff have been off sick at some point when we are short staffed as it is.
We've got into the swing of things now with or new conductor who came to us in October. We tried to create a complicated timetable to rotate leading that would let all 3 of us conductors lead each group at some point - mainly since we wanted to ease the new conductor into things, but also (dare i admit it) because we remain quite protective of the children we have in all our sessions, many of whom we've been working with for nearly 6 years.
Having tried and failed to make this timetable work i am pleased to have admitted defeat and having now assigned conductors to lead specific groups permanently (for now anyway!), i feel massively more motivated to start the 2nd half of the spring term. In particular i think all the moving around between groups has simply confused both the kids and the assistants, and whilst all three of us conductors have similar styles of leading and similar 'conductive perspective' if you like, even with a task series in hand the inconsistencies were making it difficult for the children to learn.
I suppose this is not such a problem when you have only conductors in the group, but since this luxury is not one we can afford we have had to sacrifice a bit of control in order to make sure the kids move forward.
I think this time of year is a funny one... lots of people seem a bit down, maybe its the weather, the dark days, i don't know but it seems to have impacted the kids a bit too. Hopefully a half term break will refresh everyone and we can go into the next half of term with more motivation - staff and kids alike.
I myself, somewhat the eternal optimist, remain motivated and am glad to continue to have a job that i adore. I just wish i had a bit less nonsense to deal with and had a bit more time to concentrate on the real 'conducting'!
Since spring is on its way lets hope a spring-like attitude begins to emerge with the new growth!
We've got into the swing of things now with or new conductor who came to us in October. We tried to create a complicated timetable to rotate leading that would let all 3 of us conductors lead each group at some point - mainly since we wanted to ease the new conductor into things, but also (dare i admit it) because we remain quite protective of the children we have in all our sessions, many of whom we've been working with for nearly 6 years.
Having tried and failed to make this timetable work i am pleased to have admitted defeat and having now assigned conductors to lead specific groups permanently (for now anyway!), i feel massively more motivated to start the 2nd half of the spring term. In particular i think all the moving around between groups has simply confused both the kids and the assistants, and whilst all three of us conductors have similar styles of leading and similar 'conductive perspective' if you like, even with a task series in hand the inconsistencies were making it difficult for the children to learn.
I suppose this is not such a problem when you have only conductors in the group, but since this luxury is not one we can afford we have had to sacrifice a bit of control in order to make sure the kids move forward.
I think this time of year is a funny one... lots of people seem a bit down, maybe its the weather, the dark days, i don't know but it seems to have impacted the kids a bit too. Hopefully a half term break will refresh everyone and we can go into the next half of term with more motivation - staff and kids alike.
I myself, somewhat the eternal optimist, remain motivated and am glad to continue to have a job that i adore. I just wish i had a bit less nonsense to deal with and had a bit more time to concentrate on the real 'conducting'!
Since spring is on its way lets hope a spring-like attitude begins to emerge with the new growth!
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Just Do it - NICE Graduate Book
Happy New Year Bloggers!
One of the new arrivals this year was my copy of the new publication 'Just Do it' about NICE conductors' experiences since graduating. I have co-authored a chapter which i hope is not as painful for others to read as it was for me! Aside from that i feel compelled to comment on the publication as i thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Firstly i thought that all the chapters (except my own - its never nice reading your own stuff) were well written and engaging. It was interesting to see the differences and similarities between different graduates and the massive variety of experience for those more, or less, recently graduated.
I wanted to reassure some of the conductors who commented that they were not sure if the opinions and experiences they had were 'proper' CE, or if they had done things correctly. For example the conductor who had tried to run CE services in Vietnam was unsure that she had still provided 'proper' CE as she had to make huge changes in how she delivered the programme in such a different culture - but from what she had written i felt she was doing very 'proper' CE as the children should not be made to fit the system but the system must create a learning environment for the child. It sounded excellent although extremely challnenging.
There seemed to be some common themes in people's experiences; group sizes, conductors working on their own, language barriers, working within limited organisations (financial, space, resources etc...) and these similar issues seem to run through many conductors experiences across the world. I could certainly relate to this as i work for a charity and for a long time, worked most of the time on my own as a conductor.
I would be interested if anyone who has read the book has any feedback on my own chapter. Myself and Becky discussed all the things we wished we had known more about before starting work as conductors (not that we can know everything but we can try!). Also, since it has been a while between writing and publication of the book i feel i would have written different things about my experiences since we wrote the chapter.
I recommend anyone working as a conductor, or employing a conductor should read the book as it is an insight into the workings of CE; its challenges and achievements - and brilliantly the thread that runs through all the chapters is the continuing love and passion for the participants and the system that all the authors feel!
One of the new arrivals this year was my copy of the new publication 'Just Do it' about NICE conductors' experiences since graduating. I have co-authored a chapter which i hope is not as painful for others to read as it was for me! Aside from that i feel compelled to comment on the publication as i thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Firstly i thought that all the chapters (except my own - its never nice reading your own stuff) were well written and engaging. It was interesting to see the differences and similarities between different graduates and the massive variety of experience for those more, or less, recently graduated.
I wanted to reassure some of the conductors who commented that they were not sure if the opinions and experiences they had were 'proper' CE, or if they had done things correctly. For example the conductor who had tried to run CE services in Vietnam was unsure that she had still provided 'proper' CE as she had to make huge changes in how she delivered the programme in such a different culture - but from what she had written i felt she was doing very 'proper' CE as the children should not be made to fit the system but the system must create a learning environment for the child. It sounded excellent although extremely challnenging.
There seemed to be some common themes in people's experiences; group sizes, conductors working on their own, language barriers, working within limited organisations (financial, space, resources etc...) and these similar issues seem to run through many conductors experiences across the world. I could certainly relate to this as i work for a charity and for a long time, worked most of the time on my own as a conductor.
I would be interested if anyone who has read the book has any feedback on my own chapter. Myself and Becky discussed all the things we wished we had known more about before starting work as conductors (not that we can know everything but we can try!). Also, since it has been a while between writing and publication of the book i feel i would have written different things about my experiences since we wrote the chapter.
I recommend anyone working as a conductor, or employing a conductor should read the book as it is an insight into the workings of CE; its challenges and achievements - and brilliantly the thread that runs through all the chapters is the continuing love and passion for the participants and the system that all the authors feel!
Monday, 24 August 2009
Big groups or small groups?
Okay, next point for discussion.
The centre i work at has grown gradually. When i first began working there the rooms were small and consequently so were the groups. Usually 3-4 children in a group with a conductor and 1/2 assistant (depending on children of course). At this point the grouping was not under my control and of course, neither was the size of the rooms. Gradually over the past few years we have created larger groups - and have now got the space to do so.
There have been many reasons for the way in which groups have been set up - the main reasons are as follows;
1. The restrains of building/room size
2. The management's (not a conductor) desire to have only one conductor in a group and then to have assistants with them
3. Other conductor's views that small groups are suitable or visa versa that large groups are desirable
So my question is to you reading this blog. What do you prefer? or think is best?
The circumstances in our organisation have altered this Septmeber and we are working with one less conductor (hopefully temporarily - anyone looking for a job?). In order to manage (and i mean manage) in the short term we have had to rearrange the groups by putting more children together in larger groups (usually of between 8-10 children) with 2 conductors where possible and additional assistants .
As i said, the management in my organisation struggle to understand that having more than one conductor in a room is NOT a waste of resources. They find it hard to see that since one of us knows all we need to know (!) then we simply need 'pairs of hands' to provide our CE. We have very gradually tried to show that this is not the case and that often one conductor may be able to faciltiate as well as two unqualified assistants. I have not, since qualifying as a conductor had the opportunity to work within a large group of conductors as we did when training and expect i am not alone in this situation.
Also, i have worked with conductors who prefer to work as single conductor with assistants in small groups - however i personally do not think this is how we should be working.
We were often told when we were training about the big groups of children at Peto and saw large groups at NICE also. Do these groups still work in the same way? are they still the best way of doing things? And what do parents think? i suppose it is difficult for them to see some CE in small groups and others in large groups. Maybe they will feel short changed if they move from a small to a larger group - although it is the conductor's responsibility to make sure they understand why the group is the most suitable for the child. Any thoughts?
I do of course know that the answer is that it depends on the child/ren in the group and how best their learning must be encouraged but i am interested to know other peoples thoughts on this matter and if people think there are better or worse reasons for doing one over the other.
Well... these are my thoughts for today. What do you think?
Jules
The centre i work at has grown gradually. When i first began working there the rooms were small and consequently so were the groups. Usually 3-4 children in a group with a conductor and 1/2 assistant (depending on children of course). At this point the grouping was not under my control and of course, neither was the size of the rooms. Gradually over the past few years we have created larger groups - and have now got the space to do so.
There have been many reasons for the way in which groups have been set up - the main reasons are as follows;
1. The restrains of building/room size
2. The management's (not a conductor) desire to have only one conductor in a group and then to have assistants with them
3. Other conductor's views that small groups are suitable or visa versa that large groups are desirable
So my question is to you reading this blog. What do you prefer? or think is best?
The circumstances in our organisation have altered this Septmeber and we are working with one less conductor (hopefully temporarily - anyone looking for a job?). In order to manage (and i mean manage) in the short term we have had to rearrange the groups by putting more children together in larger groups (usually of between 8-10 children) with 2 conductors where possible and additional assistants .
As i said, the management in my organisation struggle to understand that having more than one conductor in a room is NOT a waste of resources. They find it hard to see that since one of us knows all we need to know (!) then we simply need 'pairs of hands' to provide our CE. We have very gradually tried to show that this is not the case and that often one conductor may be able to faciltiate as well as two unqualified assistants. I have not, since qualifying as a conductor had the opportunity to work within a large group of conductors as we did when training and expect i am not alone in this situation.
Also, i have worked with conductors who prefer to work as single conductor with assistants in small groups - however i personally do not think this is how we should be working.
We were often told when we were training about the big groups of children at Peto and saw large groups at NICE also. Do these groups still work in the same way? are they still the best way of doing things? And what do parents think? i suppose it is difficult for them to see some CE in small groups and others in large groups. Maybe they will feel short changed if they move from a small to a larger group - although it is the conductor's responsibility to make sure they understand why the group is the most suitable for the child. Any thoughts?
I do of course know that the answer is that it depends on the child/ren in the group and how best their learning must be encouraged but i am interested to know other peoples thoughts on this matter and if people think there are better or worse reasons for doing one over the other.
Well... these are my thoughts for today. What do you think?
Jules
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