As a dance teacher I always wonder If I can ever be sure that students have completely understood an exercise or syllabus when being explained, and truly recognize the meaning behind them if they haven't familiarized themselves through continual practice.
Starting to study and getting deeper into the meaning of embodied experiences , and also by watching myself and reflecting to my teaching methods, I have found out that every student has their own way of absorbing knowledge and gaining education through different patterns and routes in a class.A group always consist of students coming from different backgrounds, some come and you can have a brand new start with them and try to pass on your knowledge to them, and others are shaped and formed differently if they already have a dance background.I found myself being prepared for a class several times and while I am there I start trying to find different tools to approach them because of the different ways each one should follow as a way to try to make their experiences embodied and actually understand what they are being taught.
While education can be described as the process of gaining knowledge, I believe that its really important to try to make the journey of learning interesting and fun for kids and try to always find new ways of making them familiarize with dance, as a result this will lead to making every experience embodied.
Witnessing myself as a teacher after actually finding some ways to pass on knowledge and information differently to each one, resulted to make a better and more solid dance base for them and also more and more are in a better path of developing more confidence about their own way of reacting and responding during a dance class.
But then again, always trying to find new ways to get close to students and approaching them will always be a little overwhelming.
I am interested in the practice you note here of witnessing yourself as a dance teacher, this feels very important to engage with as a key process in the relfection on the MA.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that you discuss familiarisation within your students. I always tend to create new ways of thinking to tailor to a range of learning styles and to help them with the ever growing ways of the industry. But sometimes, revisiting an exercise in lots of different ways can help them see ideas and personal practice from a range of perspectives. Great thoughts, what methods do you use to witness yourself and your practice? I am interested in finding out how I witness my own practice when in the classroom.
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