Have you checked out the Lily's Cakes Blog?

If you haven't, you can view it here:

http://lilyscakeslondon.blogspot.co.uk/

Hope all is well

Lily X

My Oral Presentation

Hi All, Congrats on completing our degree!! Here is my presentation for you all to see.


Lily xx





My Oral Presentation

We're done!

Dissertations are handed in, lives are slowly getting back to normal. I know we've still got our Oral Presentation's to give but trust me when we nail it, it will feel Razztastic, Electrifying even!!

Have a good rest before June comes.

Lily

Arghhhhh!!

Arghh I'm panicking!!!

Are you thinking like this?

Stop Stressing!!

If your stuck on words to write don't sit there and think about that for an hour or two, go for a run, have a cup of tea, take a shower/bath, or have a nap. Then when you wake up or come back from either of these options you'll feel more refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to work again.

Remember to take rests also. This is key so your body can re-charge itself.

Best of luck guys! And see you soon!

Lily 

TOP NEWS!!!

I found an essay example which is exactly how our critical review should be. I'm not trying to take our advisor's jobs away, but this essay has been a great comfort to me after working hours (I make it my business not to disturb my advisor after 6pm).

I thought I would share it with you just in case you need/want a read.

Example Essay from the Open University


Hope everyone is doing well, we are almost done. Let's finish with a good bang hey?

Lily

Wrote 3,000 words then had to start over!! :)

So here is an update.....


I wrote 3,000 words of my critical review. I then sent it to my brother who then helped me construct a plan of what needs to be written and where it needs to be written. He didn't help me with the content as I class that as cheating. But the plan is in place and I am back on track.


How are you all getting on??


Lily

This is where you all come in

Hello everyone, I know you are all busy with work and your Uni work, but I need to ask a favour. To help with my Analysis I wondered if we can have an open discussion on the literature I found and whether you think the literature is worthy of it's title.

My literature is research on the Arts Award (which is run by Trinity College in partnership with Arts Council England) and is run in most Razzamataz's across the country.

Below is a few links to What the Arts Award is, What grades it is equivalent to, How it's run and more.

I would appreciate your views and a general discussion on this subject.


What is Arts Award?

Bronze Level

Silver Level Pt 1

Silver Level Pt 2

Gold Level Pt 1

Gold Level Pt 2

Qualification Comparison

Thanks in Advance

Lily

Hi all! Just wondering if anyone who is in the teaching world who is submitting in May has done their Analysis of the Findings in their Critical Review? I would love to have an SIG/Blog chat on it if that's ok. 

Have a good Easter all! 

Lily

x

So I write here late as it is. I know I don't write on here often enough and I am sorry for that. You may find I will keep apologising as I tend to forget about my blog.

But here is an update of where I am at the moment writing my critical review. I am halfway through the word count for the Evaluation of the Inquiry Process and about to start my Analysis as well.

Just also wanted to say Congratulations to all those who recently got their results. You are a shining example of this course and an inspiration (I'm sure) to all of us still doing the course. I wish you all the success and best for your futures.


Sarah P can we catch up this week and have a discussion on our work as we are in similar work places?

Till next time.....

Busy, Poorly, Lily

Hi all,

I am the worst person to blog ever. I haven't blogged because I've been knuckling down with work for uni and for Razz (which has been manic). All is going well and I will be trying to post at least twice a week from now on just so my blog doesn't appear dry.

I'm almost half way through my critical review and it gets regular checks on grammar from Duncan (my partner) and some friends who have been really supportive through the process. I'm not saying Paula and you all haven't been supportive you have been.

I'm going to catch up with what happened at the last campus session on the 22nd feb, and I shall hopefully see you at the next session.


Lily

Razzamataz

And I forgot to mention that I am still working for Razzamataz and we are going to have a ROCKIN' year ahead!!!!!!!!!!!

There is so much for me to look forward to and I cannot wait to post all the things we are going to be doing.


This year will be better than last year I can assure you.

GO RAZZAMATAZ!!!!

Deferring........

Hi everyone, I hope you've all had a good Christmas and New Year and are very well rested. I have decided to defer till May just because things are very manic at the moment and have been manic over December.

I wish you all the best of luck if you are doing your Oral Presentations this month, and I love being kept in the know of how things are going for you all. It puts a smile on my face.

I cannot wait till the summer when we all celebrate finishing University!!!!! We haven't got long to go!!!!


All the best


Lily

:)

Happy Holidays to all!!!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas/Hannukah etc.. & Many Blessings for 2013. Best of Luck to those who are doing their Critical Review and Oral Presentations in the New Year.

Lots of Love xxxxx

Hello there all!

Here is a quick update on where I am at.

I have sent of my interviews to be answered. I have completed my observation and almost half of my Critical Review. Earlier this week I thought I would have to defer but it looks like I am right on track. I will post more when I have collected my interviews.

How is everyone getting along??

Lily

Razzamataz's Christmas Spectacular!

So the last day of term was the 30th November which gives me the whole of December to complete uni work. I did do an observation of the Inters & Seniors presentation then but because of the rules I can only put this in the final product to be marked not on here. All I can say is they worked really hard to come this far and we hope they continue working hard next term.

I have done some case studies as well which looks at some issues that have come up at work (again I cannot disclose this as I have to protect the rights of the teachers & students.) But they too will be in the final product.

However I am still questioning how writing a possible artefact has a link in with what I do at Razzamataz. As a teaching assistant I have no control over what is taught and I am not allowed to teach there until I have finished my degree. If any of you out there on the course have some advice for me I would be really grateful.

Hope you all have a wonderful week

Lily

Help!!!

I am very confused about the artefacts we have to gain for our inquiry. I would be able to gain them if I were a teacher but I am a teaching assistant so I have no rights to teach until after Jan when I finish my degree.


Any advice?

Sorry for not blogging enough

To be honest work does take over a little bit. However my faith is number 1 at the moment. So I am focussing on that and Razzamataz (but I am speaking to my boss this Friday in regards to my inquiry.) I have all the data on Razzamataz in my head but have no clue how to put it on paper. On Monday I am going to visit my chosen college to gain some course information in regards to A-Levels, and I have a friend who is the Vice Principal of a school in Friern Barnet and I am going to ask him if he can get me some information on the 3 core subjects I am looking at. I shall keep you all updated further, with another update on Friday evening. Until then I am commenting on other's blogs to keep in the know and to advise if necessary.

Good Luck with your inquiries everyone!

Campus Session 2- Module 3

In this campus session we talked about where we were at with our inquiry's and what our next steps are. Paula had made a power-point presentation to help us understand  the stages of our inquiry.

These stages are:

Thanks Paula Nottingham for writing this for us.


We then did a pair exercise in which we described our introductions in our inquiry to each other and write each other's down. I worked with Sarah P.

My introduction in my inquiry is:

"What Razzamataz offers to 12-18 year olds as opposed to GCSE/A-Levels/International Baccalaureate? Is Razzamataz's Arts Award better than the above? We want to succeed in training young people- I want to know what the company's competition is. With the International Baccalaureate being brought in was it right to start this company? Was the company worth creating?"

We then spoke about the final stages of module 3. The critical review, professional artefact, and the oral presentation. Paula said that she knew that we would be worried about the critical review (6,000 words) but personally I am worried about the oral presentation. I am terrified of public speaking.


Paula also told us some Key Things  that will help us along the way with our inquiries.

- Make time/save digital materials
- Keep in touch with advisers
- Blog and share practice as a way of feedback from peers and advisers

We found that it's also good to blog about conversations with work colleagues (obviously using fake names to protect both parties).

Previously to this session, those who came in the morning saw that Adesola had an idea of how you can identify what is still required in your inquiry.

                                                                      Data (findings)

< Literature            Experience >

But Adesola said that we shouldn't try to gain findings from our experiences, that all research has to connect, has to have meaning, a point of view. 

We should have support in our workplace and we should use that support in a good way and not take advantage of our colleagues. 

I hope the above is useful to all. Best of luck with everyone's inquiry.

Lily

New found hope to start working again on my inquiry!

Thanks very much to Sarah Pearson & Liam Conman for their interesting insights into yesterday's campus session and giving very detailed explanations into the work we need to do for our inquiry's. I am truly grateful.

I have realised that I can now answer my questions from my previous blog post. I will be posting shortly a review of the notes Paula gave me in my inquiry submission. If however you don't see another post from me today it's not because I can't be asked, it's because work is crazy. However I will be "Pumping Iron"- Starlight Express

Hope everyone is having a stress-free working environment.

Best of Luck to all!

L

Module 3

Hi all,

I hate to be behind but things have been really crazy lately. I still work for Razzamataz and I am still basing my inquiry on Razzamataz. I spoke with Paula a few weeks back and she suggested that because Razzamataz offer an Arts Award at Bronze, Silver, & Gold level that I should look at other forms of this type of education for my literature review. The Bronze award is equivalent to a E & above at GCSE Level, the Silver award is equivalent to a C & above at GCSE Level, and the Gold level is equivalent to 2 A-Levels. I then thought where should I start? Do I look at Colleges? National Curriculum Schools? But I have now begun to realise that I don't really understand what it means to review the literature. Is it like a report? Or how it links into what we offer at Razzamataz? I have researched Colleges but haven't really concluded this task. It seems that the websites of the Colleges and the course information centres can't give me the knowledge or literature I want to gain.

So I walked one step forward to go two steps back...... It's just confusing.

For my friends who work in Theatre/Performing Arts schools How did you conduct your literature reviews?

Any help is much appreciated. I do wish to catch up on work asap.

I won't be at the campus session tomorrow unfortunately, but I know that we all take notes and post them to our blogs. So thanks in advance.