Teacher problems!

[Iloveballet2804]

Wow! Thanks for all the replies on this I agree with everyone really here - there is a point where you are giving everything and you have no more to give physically or emotionally. When you reach this point and get told you are not trying you begin to break and crumble inside.

[Thecatsmother]

I have been at the receiving end of both schools of thought. I thank the teachers who got to know me and treated me as a human as well as a dancer. I also thank the ones that did not as they have taught me so much about how not to teach.

[Anjuli_Bai]

We can learn from every teacher.  From some we learn what to and how to - and from some we learn how not to.

 

When I was teaching, I tried to remember to listen to myself - what I was saying - the words I used and the tone.  It is possible, even with the best intentions, to say things we know better than to say.  And woosh - the words are out there.  I found that upon occasion I would record my class and play it back and hear myself saying things of which I was unaware in the "heat" of the class.

 

I also occasionally videoed the class and we all watched.  The students learned from watching themselves and I learned from watching - and listening -- as I was teaching.   One of the things we all noticed on watching the video was how much laughter there was in class.  That in no way implies it was not a hard working serious class.  But humor also has an important place.

 

Another component of the problem is - well, I hesitate, but - the parents who put up with teachers who say negative - even demeaning - things.  How many times on this board have we seen a parent who is afraid to speak to the teacher?  Yes, I know part of it is  fear that the child will suffer.  And, thus, the abuse goes on.  I think it is going to have to be the parent - who holds the power of the purse - who is going to have to insist on positive teaching.

 

In almost every class there are several social groups.  As a teacher, I tried looking for the little mouse who liked to hide in the back row.  She seldom smiled, seemed to make herself invisible.  It gave me a lot of joy to connect to that little mouse and gently bring her into the sunshine.

 

I also think that the students should see themselves as individuals who are part of a whole.  They are not dancing against one another - but with another  - each bringing her gifts to the whole.  Someone turns better but someone else jumps better.  And rather than a negative competition - it is  a supporting environment.  That kind of respect for the efforts and gifts of others is the result of the atmosphere of which the teacher is the author.  I've seen too much of the reverse - a teacher who wrongly thinks that setting the students into a negative competition with one another will foster a higher standard.  It's not only too high a price to pay - it doesn't work and I want no part of it either as a teacher or when i was a student.

 

Watching a classmate cry did NOT make my day. 

[drdance]

Anjuli I totally agree with you - Students can learn so much from each other, a 'good' turner can inspire a struggling turner, and can give tips that the teacher may not have thought of or shared with the class, and teaching others is the most effective way of learning; so in giving each other tips and advice, the students will be more able to analyse and try things to self-correct their own work.