Let's Talk Dance - A Teacher's Perspective
"To teach is to touch a life forever."
Wow! Powerful words. I look at those words every day now because they sit right on top of my computer desk. It is a simple, but excruciatingly powerful motivation for walking into that studio each day; a gift from a young student's grandmother. As teachers, we feel powerful in our role, but sometimes we forget the power of our role and the responsibility we bear as a result of our choice to teach. I should say, to be teachers of a particular subject matter. Theoretically, we are all teachers of life and our every action teaches something to someone...if we were born with that awareness and the self-discipline to control our actions, we might have a greater, more positive affect on the world.
How do we get that feeling of responsibility across to young teachers? It is one of the most crucial elements to becoming a good teacher and yet, it really can not be taught so much as demonstrated from one teacher to the next and defined in the experiences of the young teacher herself (or himself). In dance, we revere our teachers! We look to them in awe of their abilities (or past abilities) and as storehouses of knowledge and experience. Knowledge and experience we are eager to have so that we can share, on the same level, with our teachers; become their peers. If this is how we feel about our teachers, then as teachers we must embrace that sensation and know that our students feel that way about us.
I am an advocate of student teacher programs in studios and of training young dancers to teach. I realize this is not the general consensus of most educators and that quite often these types of programs are misused. One example would be a studio having a 14 year old dancer to teach an "mid-level" ballet class (I use parentheses because I want to note that levels are relative) as an assigned class with little or no supervision. That is not acceptable. But I do believe that if we want to help build good teaching skills for the future of dance, then we need to entrust and empower our young dancers with opportunities to learn about teaching others and the roles and responsibilities that go with being a strong leader. When this is done with an active mentor/director guiding the level of responsibility and controlling the preparation, then utilizing student teachers can be mutually beneficial for all involved.
By the age of 12 or 13, most dance students have put in 6 to 9 years of class study and are competent with vocabulary. At this age, they are able to develop positive relationships with young children and can comprehend class structure. This is an excellent time to solicit this age student into the role of a class aide; meaning that while in the class they will take direction from the teacher, assist with music, take role, tie shoes, handle props, etc. It is with this experience that they begin to get a feel for the class structure and progression of material that is being taught.
After their first year (or two if younger) in this capacity, I feel (in most cases) the student is ready to serve as an assistant to the class. This does not give them too much more responsibility, but it gives the student a more active role in the class. They can serve as demonstrators and can work with students one on one who might not be picking up as quickly as others. Assistants also serve as a familiar face to young students when a teacher is absent and a substitute teacher has been called in. The assistant can also help the substitute with names and faces and repetitive class material, such ongoing class combinations and recital choreography. This is one way the role of an assistant becomes mutually beneficial to the teacher and studio at large.
After apprenticing for 3 to 4 years in the role of an assistant teacher, it is quite feasible to give student teachers the opportunity to lead one class of their own for a full year. By this time those that are not really strong leaders or are uneasy or nervous around parents, have weeded themselves out of this particular role. In that respect, it has been a great way for a young dancer to find out that perhaps they are NOT suited to a career as a teacher.
Many times, I try a new student teacher out in the summer session when I can more actively observe classes. At first this can be very nerve-racking to the student teacher and as a director you must be prepared to give the reins to the student teacher and not interject your own ideas or tactics while observing. Just observe--and not ALL THE TIME. Remember that they have been entrusted with a responsibility, but they are still learning and you must allow for that learning curve. Be firm about your expectations and gentle with your corrections. Make suggestions for greater success and keep the door open for communication and questions. As a director, try to schedule times when you teach the student teacher's class to assess the progress of the students in the class. This gives the student teacher a refresher as to your expectations and a booster shot of ideas and studio philosophy.
By the time your budding teachers have reached their senior year in high school and freshman college years, they are ready to embrace the learning opportunity that teaching provides. In fact, you will notice that teaching generally makes for better dancing. It forces the breakdown of movements to their most basic tenants when that type of analysis is generally lost at upper levels of training. By having faith and entrusting your knowledge to these young dancers, you have aided the development of good teachers in the future and instilled as sense of confidence into a young person who will draw on that confidence a hundred times over in the future. By developing a teacher-training program in your school environment, you have engaged your students of dance in another aspect of dance and therefore enhanced their experience two-fold.
It's not always easy and relationships can be strained. Your relationship with a student begins to change when you begin mentoring them into a teaching capacity. Young teachers are often crossovers; those who are still dancing/performing and also beginning their teaching journey. For this reason, it is difficult to define professional boundaries and difficult for them to fully realize the significance of the "teacher" label vs. the "dancer" label. It really is not so dissimilar from the "in-betweens" and limbo feeling of a teenager. They will not immediately be successful in this new role and it will mean that you have to continually guide them as they ultimately seek to be "like you," and also find their own way. They will still make you proud and they will still disappoint you. They will want to do it on their way but they will still seek your advice and your approval. And no matter how long they teach...they will have never taught as long as you until years after your death when they realize what a fantastic gift you gave them.
Always remember that teaching, for all of the books and classes that may be offered in the private sector of education, is really a hands-on learning experience. Even if you are terribly gifted, have a wonderful rapport with students, and have read all the books you can find on "how to teach;" until you have many on-the-job experiences under your belt, you are still just a "student" of teaching. An important thing to remember, too, is that we learn MORE from having difficult, heartbreaking experiences than we do from routine successes. When we encounter conflict and work through it to find resolution, we are more apt to remember and prevent a similar occurrence in the future. When things are good, we enjoy them, but we also expect them and we take them for granted instead of applying what we are learning. So, as we weather the bad storms, we are learning about how to prepare for best and worst in our future. So really, it's all good!
Happy teaching!