At Least My Legs Are Happy!

[shanmonster]

Today was my first intermediate class. Aside from three students developing leg cramps simultaneously during a leg exercise (I won't be using that one with 'em again. Yikes!), it went well. I have a little girl in my class who took classes from me about eighteen months ago. In the meantime, she was taking classes with another instructor. Well, I think she'd be much better suited in my beginner class, but she can't make it on that day. So I guess she'll be coming to the intermediate class. Ah well. It's a small class, so she can just do simplified versions of what the others are doing.

I'm trying something new with my two most advanced students: snowy_kathryn and random_echoes. I'm getting them to do a bit of a teaching apprenticeship. Under my direction, they will be helping out with the beginner class, doing things like checking students' posture, leading the warm-ups, and teaching some basic moves. In explaining movements to novices and answering their questions, they'll have to put a whole lot more thought into what their bodies are now doing naturally. This will give them a much greater understanding of the dance. I wish I'd had something like this before I'd started teaching.

Comments

[threemilechild.livejournal.com]

In square dancing, that's called being an angel, and it is indeed really helpful in cementing knowledge.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Angels, huh? Well, it almost makes me wish my name were Charlie!

[uber-wench.livejournal.com]

I kind of apprenticed like that to learn how to teach, and just this January I had a friend be my apprentice/helper because I was recovering from a broken leg and still needed to teach class and make money. It's fun for everyone involved, and it's good to have a second person to explain things, too. Sometimes she would come up with and image that would work for somebody that I would never have thought of. It's really cool.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

How I started teaching was like this:

Teacher: I think you should start teaching beginner classes next week.
Me: Ok.

She didn't stick around to see how I was doing, and neither did I get any practice by helping students in her classes, beforehand. It was definitely a trial by fire, and when I look back to those early days, I feel very sorry for my students. They weren't getting very good instruction at all.