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Student work placement is a period of supervised work where students have and gain the experience in working in a work environment for a limited amount of time. 

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Student work placement is a period of supervised work where students have and gain the experience in working in a work environment for a limited amount of time. 

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Founder of ‘Urban Steppers’ Kimberly Warren has been running dance classes for nearly, almost a decade. Urban Steppers is a dance class in which is located in South West of London, that teaches street dance (an umbrella term for a variety of dance styles; break dancing, locking, house dance etc) to children, between the ages of 4 to 16 years old. Urban Steppers aims for children and participants to be creative,  build confidence and express themselves through dance. Urban Steppers not only provides street dance classes but they also offer young children amazing and wonderful  opportunities such as participating and competing in many competitions and dance events. In my three month placement journey with Urban Steppers I played an active roll as a dance teaching assistant which consisted in me to shadow and assist in two different classes, one class aimed at 4 to 7 year olds and another class primarily directed at 10 to 11 year olds (primary school) which both dance classes approximately lasting between 40 minutes to an hour. As previously stated, my role entailed supporting founder Kimberly during classes, as well as supporting and encouraging children in classes, demonstrating dance choreography/hip-hop grooves, and occasionally doing warm-ups and cool-downs.

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During my first meeting, I had a brief conversation with the host during which she informed me and talked me through about her dance company, responsibilities and duties, and the times and days that would work best for myself. We came with a mutual agreement that I would attend one class hosted at a primary school on Thursdays and another after school class on Fridays an hour each.

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• Be organised

• Being positive (especially in a setting involved with kids)

• Helping hosts with planning and coming up with choreography – coming up with plans to hold a successful dance class.

• Managing behaviour - Having knowledge on how to deal with pupils/children during times where they are disruptive, building bonds and relationships with children, demonstrating good behaviour and good communication. (managing behaviour will enable a healthy and an appropriate environment for learning to take place).

• Supervision – supporting  and being aware of the environment and following safeguard guidelines, providing emotional support and as well as support the development of children not only as a dancer but generally

• Leading classes - Opportunities in starting off classes with warms ups and closing classes with cool downs and also as teaching choreographies

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Code of conduct is a set of rules placed for employees and workers to follow within an organisation and a work environment. Workplace etiquette alludes to proper workplace behaviour in order to make the workplace a safe, respectful, and pleasant place to work.

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Thursdays – 3:30-4:30pm
Fridays – 4:15-5:00pm (Come in 10-15mins early)

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WORK PLACE ETiQUETTE/ WAYS YOU CAN DEVELOP & PRACTiCE PROFESSiONALiSM:


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WORK PLACE ETiQUETTE/ WAYS YOU CAN DEVELOP & PRACTiCE PROFESSiONALiSM:


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• Professionalism
• Treating people with respect
• Always being attentive
• Not being afraid about asking questions
• Punctuality and attendance
• Being flexible
• Good listener
• Being open minded to things
• Good communication
• Showing and demonstrating integrity
• Being able to work under pressure
• Always follow company policy and report anything that doesn’t follow policy
• Keeping conversations appropriate
• No profanity languages
• Wearing appropriate clothing
• Being proactive

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The first day of participation and assistance in placement, I was able to observe and assist the class in developing choreography for a dance performance that they will be performing and competing in May.

I began the lesson with some brief stretches to build and promote warmth and energy for 5 minutes after which the class leader, Kimberly took over and continued the dance from where it had been left off and adding on from there.
Throughout the lesson, I went around studying and learning the already made choreography so that it would be possible for me to assist any children who were having difficulty and struggling with specific movements. In doing, once I was familiar with the choreography, I would go out of my way to stand next to children and go through movements step by step making it clear for them.

REFLECTION:

I believe that taking over and leading the class in warm-ups was my strong point for the day because I felt confident and comfortable taking over a class that I had never taken over before and was able to offer clear instructions throughout.
Another quality is the ability to aid and assist children who require more one-on-one attention, as well as the ability to interact with children clearly.
I strongly believe that the next time I should be more confident in myself, although I had the ability to lead the class for a few minutes, I still feel as though I could have done better and far more to take me out of my comfort zone, as coming out of my comfort zone will enable me to recognise my strengths and weaknesses and further better myself

Friday 21st January 2022 @4:15pm – 5:00pm

On my first day working with the Friday class, Kimberly, the host, began the class with warm-ups, and I stood by her and assisted in the warm-up.
Kimberly continued the class by introducing the various street dance and hip hop grooves as I stood next to the children on stand by so I would be ready to assist children who needed assistance with their movements. As because Kimberly taught the kids from beginning to end, today's lesson was less of me teaching and less ‘practical’ (hands on)  than Thursday's lesson.

REFLECTION:

My strengths were definitely being able to assist and help children in need of assistance and guidance, as well as being able to be patient with the children, having the time for the children to express how they are feeling and what they want to express that was on their mind, as well as their opinions.
As previously stated, today's session was a relaxed and chill class, so I wouldn't say I had a particular weakness during today's lesson, but I would say that for next lesson I should definitely put myself out to the front where I can lead and be more present in the class

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Kimberly (host) quickly began the lesson with a quick warm up.
This day was the day the first half of the choreography (they had been taught) needed to be perfected, as the routing was being filmed to be submitted in for dance competition.
It was important that I helped with how transitions would take place in between choreography and (if) as well as whether children were positioned and placed in the correct position

REFLECTION:

Today, my strength was definitely being able to instruct the children on where they needed to be (leadership skills), as well as being proactive and attentive to details and any assistance Kimberly required along the way. It felt great to feel like I was a part of the team and to have developed a bond and trust with the children in such a short period of time.

Friday: 28th January 2022 @4:15pm – 5:00pm

This session was solely focused on hip hop grooves and creating a quick short dance routine combining those grooves together.
In doing so, Kimberly and I quickly came up with choreography and spent the whole of the lesson teaching the kids.

REFLECTION:

A strength was definitely communication with host, being able to always have a crucial mutual understanding and agreement to what and how we can make a routine feel and make it as easy as possible for this specific age group.
I feel like I'm gaining and building confidence little by little within each lesson, but I'm not pushing myself as hard to get to the levels of confidence I want to be at. This is because every time I gain a little confidence one day, it vanishes the next, and I'm definitely willing to talk to Kimberly about it so she can push me further so it will help me towards my end goal.

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WEEK 3 THURSDAY 3rd FEBRUARY 2022 @3:30PM – 4:30PM 

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WEEK 3 THURSDAY 3rd FEBRUARY 2022 @3:30PM – 4:30PM 

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Todays lesson Kimberly continued to perfect and add on to the choreography as I was by her in assisting and providing any sort of help and guidance children needed

REFLECTION:

My strengths during this session was my ability to be attentive and also having the capability of feeling assured on my ability to help children who needed more of a one on one guidance.
I would say for this lesson I was unable to acknowledge and witness any weaknesses, as I was more so just on stand by and helped out children whenever they needed extra help. What I can take away from this lesson and do differently for the next class is definitely taking the lead at some point and taking in turns between myself and Kimberly

Friday: 4th February 2022 @4:15pm – 5:00pm

Was given the chance to start the class off with a quick warm up, bringing on the energy, once done with the brief warm up quickly went into continuing from where we had left off from the week before and recapping the short routing and adding on new hip hop grooves.

REFLECTION:
Strength of the day was having the opportunity to kick start the class with a quick warm up, ( which shows leadership skills). Being able to lead a class for a few minutes enables me to acknowledge that I indeed have a good skills and great capabilities in taking the lead and being comfortable and confident in doing so.

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I had a second meeting which was solely focused on my progress, on what I felt, thought and my opinions on my current journey in my work experience and working with the company.
It was very important and imperative that I was honest and spoke my mind, as when you have an open communication it allows for need and expectations  to be met and having an overall better experience for yourself and everyone in future situations and experiences.
I discussed on what I hope to accomplish as a dance teaching assistant and my ultimate goal.
I had stated that I would like to have better and more confidence in both my teaching abilities as well as my ability to speak, as of course speaking is an essential part and component of teaching.
A plan was devised to put myself out in the open a lot more during classes with taking over warm ups or cool downs (as planned in the initial meeting). Host Kimberly had given me the task to come up with a short choreography to add on.

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TASKS SET TO PREPARE FOR AFTER HALF-TERM LESSON:

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TASKS SET TO PREPARE FOR AFTER HALF-TERM LESSON:

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• Given the task to come up with a short 1-2 minutes choreography piece as primary school children (10-11 year olds) will be working towards competing in 'The Great Big Dance Off' National Schools Competition.

• Taking over warm ups or cool downs

• My aim will be in making sure that when teaching I speak clearly and slowly ( as I tend to speak quite fast when I am nervous) so will need to practice my speech and the pace

• Second is to come up with a plan on how I can make the class and my teaching effective to the point where my instructions are understood and simple to follow through

• And last but not least is just to do my best and give it my all

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In today's lesson, we continued from where we had left off, perfecting and going through my choreography step by step, as well as teaching the children the final few counts that was left.
I had my first experience with a student who felt neglected and emotional, and I made it my responsibility to stand by her side and have a one-on-one conversation with her to figure out why she felt the way she did. When I discovered her reasoning behind her feeling the way she did, I made sure to inform her and asked for her permission to inform Kimberly of what she had told me. This experience had given me the opportunity to exercise my empathic abilities. I made sure if she needed anyone to speak to she should not be afraid to let any adult know the problem.

REFLECTION:

I believe that my greatest strength in today's lesson was detecting a child who felt excluded towards the end of class as well as comforting her at a time where she felt most vulnerable.
This incident has made me feel good in the sense of how I handled it and having her trust and feel comfortable in informing me what she was going through, although it took a bit of time for her to explain, I was very patient with her and handled it with care

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For my last placement class, I made it my mission to perfect the choreography by going over everything step by step, perfecting movements, counts, and transitions to ensure everything was clear to all children.
In doing so, I made an effort to speak clearly and answer as many questions as possible.

Aim: to complete choreography and polished

REFLECTION

I believe that my strengths in my previous lesson were definitely leadership, leading the room, or in general just leading people because I have never have/had the confidence to do so, but this lesson really showed my growth in my teaching abilities as well as their respect for me in their ability to take instructions and directions from me.
Another strength was discipline; I was able to keep the class under control when children misbehaved or were not actively listening by establishing a set of rules and adhering to the class code of conduct, as well as making sure not to give too much attention to disruptive children as this wastes time, so I would deal with the issue and quickly bounce back to teaching again.
My ability to communicate was another one of my strong points. There is a significant difference between where I started and where I am now. I'm able to speak more clearly and at a more appropriate speed, while also making sense of what I'm saying. Normally, I would avoid speaking to or in front of others, but I have made tremendous progress in terms of my voice and speech confidence.
Although I have gained a tremendous amount of confidence, every now and again before lesson starts I do tend to still have that nervous phase (fear of things not going well) for a short period of time but once everything has settled and relaxed I get back into my teaching zone.

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I began today's class with a quick 2-5 minute warm up, after which we continued perfecting the routine and adding on from where we had left off.
Today's session was crucial for me to go over my choreography a good amount of times, especially since I only have a lesson left before my placement journey is over.
I made a point of going through each step and movement thoroughly and carefully to perfect any steps the children were unsure of or something as simple as correcting arm and leg positioning.

REFLECTION:

My strength for today's lesson was taking the lead for the entire hour of the session. The fact that I was able to teach a class and take over for an 40 minutes to an hour allows me to recognise and acknowledge how much confidence I have gained over the recent  weeks.
Although this is not much of a  weakness, my thought and plans are how am I going to maintain the confidence I have gained within this journey for the long term

Friday 25th March 2022 @4:15pm – 5:00pm

Today was my last lesson with the 4 – 7 years olds, nothing much had a occurred as we started off with warm ups for 2-3 minutes and proceeded with polishing the short routine.
There were a few disruptive behaviours throughout the class but I was able to directly instruct and discipline the kids

REFLECTION:

Strength:
As the time has gone on, I have certainly been very secure with my teaching abilities and leading skills, looking back I’m surprised of how far I have come, as because in the past I did not ever see myself getting involved or be in an environment where I would have to teach a class and lead. .
I’m entirely proud of how straight forward I am while teaching and setting instructions

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URBAN STEPPERS - RESPONSiBiLiTiES & DUTiES!

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URBAN STEPPERS - RESPONSiBiLiTiES & DUTiES!

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(WE WENT THROUGH THE RESPONSiBiLiTiES & DUTiES DURiNG MEETiNG)

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(WE WENT THROUGH THE RESPONSiBiLiTiES & DUTiES DURiNG MEETiNG)

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Urban Steppers - Responsibilities and Duties
Work as part of a team to deliver a range of engaging warm up activities and dances.
• Assist and ensure all dances are delivered to the highest standard using appropriate moves to each age group.
• Support children who may need assistance and treat every child equally.
• Use appropriate, clean/edited music for each class.
• Arrive 10-15 minutes prior the class to prepare.
• If unable to attend class, please give at least 24 hours notice.
• If unwell on the day, please communicate that morning of illness.
• Follow sign in and sign out procedures by taking register and
dismissing children accordingly at end of class.
• Make sure studio/hall is clean and tidy before and after classes.
• Communicate effectively and appropriately with the team and
parent/carers of the children.
• Use appropriate behaviour management skills to maintain control
of the class.
• Assist in planning and developing dances for classes and projects.
• Attend staff meetings, trainings, performances and competitions.
• Dress appropriately for class for that age group.
• Communicate any concerns with class teacher.
• Be prepared to take lead of the class if the class teacher is unable
to teach or running late.
• Use positive attitude within the space.
• Ensure every child feels safe within the space.
• Assist in marketing and promoting classes or upcoming events

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For the past two weeks Kimberly and I perfected the transitions between the two current choreographies, we ran over the choreography multiple times so that children would feel comfortable and become familiar with the transitions and formations

REFLECTION:

Being able to work as a team with Kimberly is always great as this enables problem so solving and coming with a better outcome.
I feel as though, I felt more confident and comfortable with the Year 6’s and have confidence within myself to give good instructions and critique a few things that may not work.
Still need to get myself out of my comfort zone
as I feel as though I am still holding back a little bit

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Todays lesson we recapped on the various new hip hop grooves and continued to add along to the short choreography.
My role was to mainly assist and guide while Kimberly taught the children
I began with the warm ups warm ups as it was one of the conversations I had with Kimberly.

Aim: Lead the warm up and being clear with instructions and communicating at all times so everyone’s on the same page as you and vice versa

REFLECTION:

Todays session felt really great as I led the warm up and cool down and the children did amazing on taking instructions.
Taking the lead enables a level of understanding on how effective your leading and teaching skills are but also how you can further improve and progress, as well as what best works for myself and my strengths and weaknesses.

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Todays lesson went well, nothing different happened this week as we went through the choreography from the beginning to the end. This was definitely needed as children were still struggling on where and how to which side to place their arms and also which leg goes first on certain parts

REFLECTION:

Although every week the lessons feel and are repetitive as nothing new occurs, this allows me to also better myself each time and rethink back to what I could’ve done better and what I can do to out do myself each week. I feel as though even if things feel repeated I am still gaining confidence as the time goes by every week which makes me proud of the progress and at the stage that I am at right as of now.
Also, always having the thought of how can I make sure to make things clearer for the children; better communication or having more one to one with children. Some children do tend to get bored very easily once they’ve gone through choreography one too many times, which my aim for next week will be to challenge kids and maybe come up with a different teaching style leasing the class becoming more interactive

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During my placement teaching experience, I will be teaching two different dance classes, Thursdays and Fridays.

•Thursday lessons (Year 6's) will be the main class, not only where I will assist and guide, but also where I will put my teaching and leading skills to use, as the end goal will be for me to come up with choreography and teach the class in which they will compete against various other schools.

• Friday classes will consist of me shadowing and assisting Kimberly, these Friday lessons will prep me as well as help me in analysing Kimberly’s teaching styles and taking those styles and making it into my own incorporating those ideas and knowledge into my teaching with Thursday classes.

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As I only have two more sessions left with the year 6’s I made it my duty to make sure that these lessons will be crucially be focused on my choreography as I have limited amount of time left with them.
It was imperative that I went over the dance piece from beginning to end repeatedly as Kimberly was by my side assisting and helping.

Aim: To go through choreography from top to bottom, polishing transitions and formations and clear any unanswered questions.
Try change the dynamics and teaching style

REFLECTION:

As previously stated the classes to tend to become repetitive when doing the same things over and over again every week, my aim from last lesson was to change up teaching style, in which I changed the dynamics by splitting the class into groups of 3-4 and have them go through the routine with each other as this will have them be more interactive with each other as opposed to them just having to listen to Kimberly or myself.
I feel as though it was definitely a success as children would come up with their own ideas on what they felt would be best fit for the routine as well as having the time amongst themselves to lead each other.
This experience also enable me to acknowledge that

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The lesson began with a quick warm-up.
We then continued the lesson by picking up where we left off from last week, perfecting the dance routing and formation.
Today was the day I finally taught half of the choreography I had devised over the half term to the class.

REFLECTION:

I am immensely proud for the fact that I was able to come ready and prepared to attend class with material to add on to the rest of the choreography. This allows me to acknowledge my preparation skills.
Although I built the courage to teach my choreography to the Year 6’s, I still found myself to feel very nervous and a bit shaky due to the fact that I wanted things to be perfect but as well as it was my very first time in a long time having to lead a class by myself.
Regardless of my nervousness, I understand and know with time confidence will be apparent through my teaching.

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This week hip hop grooves was still the main focus of todays session as we came up with a whole new choreography, changing it up for the kids.

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How do they align to the arts council?

Not supported by the Arts Council.

How are they funded?

Everything is funded by Kimberly.

Past projects?

Urban Steppers have performed at/for several community and charity events including Guy's Urban Challenge at Guy's Hospital, Turning Tide's Festival at the O2, Tootopia Festival and Thornton Heath Flash Mob. Kimberly organises and produces the Urban Steppers showcases where children perform on stage as well as external artists. She also organises dance and creative arts camps for all children.

Who they work with?

Leader, Kimberly currently leads the company herself

Target audience and audience reach?

Currently classes are for children aged between 4-16 years old.

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• Fanthome, C 2004, Work Placements - a Survival Guide for Students, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [4 May 2022].

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Overall, my journey with Urban Steppers has been nothing but excellent.
Over the last 2 months working with Urban Steppers, it has definitely enabled me to learn a lot about myself and growing my confidence as well as my teaching abilities.
Although, first few weeks were quite intimidating and daunting, I progressively felt comfortable within myself and felt myself grow more and more each week.
This journey has allowed me to also push myself and get myself out of my comfort zone

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Fanthome (2004, p. 50) states,
“If you are well-prepared for what you will encounter, you are likely to be more confident
and comfortable in the workplace”.

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Peggy worked excellent with the children and used her own initiative within the class environment. When helping assist the class, Peggy moved around the room and got involved in the warm ups and main activity. She was very aware of the space and spotted children independently who needed help or re-focusing. Peggy was good with behaviour management within the class and was a great team player and communicated well.
Peggy had a positive attitude throughout the whole placement and took feedback very well. She was keen to learn and expand her knowledge by helping where she can by helping with extra rehearsals and our Easter Camp.
Peggy was given the task to create a short choreography for the children’s competition routine and teach it to the children. She independently created a routine that was suitable for the children’s ability. When teaching to the children, Peggy lacked confidence in giving instructions at first but during the placement her confidence gained and was able to break down moves better. She also took lead in some of the warm ups and was always ready to go.
The things Peggy could improve on is time management and being more confident within herself. After feedback, Peggy greatly improved with her time management and during the placement her confidence grew. When taking lead in a classroom environment; be confident in breaking down movements and levelling them (e.g. teaching a bobby brown, break it down to the basic jump first, then do the arms separately and then add them together).