2163  A question for teachers

Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 16:11:03 -0600
From: Lois Donnay <donnay@DONNAY.NET>
Subject: A question for teachers

If you had total control over your student, how and what would you teach
them?

I have done a lot of training and teaching: corporate training,
(dealers, salespeople, customers, etc) school-based (high school,
college, etc) and now tango teaching. I've spent a lot of time trying
to get students from point A to point B as quickly as possible.

The best example I have seen of this is dance studios who take people in
off of the street, and teach them to be teachers.

The first thing the studio owner does is look for aptitude, of course.
But people who dance well already are often not interested in a $9/hour
job with no benefits or security and that requires heavy lifting :). So
the owner opts for the attractive person who is somewhat graceful, and
in the shortest time possible, teach them to dance.

Now in this circumstance, the student has little say in how his training
goes. He is motivated to learn quickly so that he can get more students.
But the studio owner requires him to look polished and also get students
to want to dance with him. No mistakes or junky ego-enhancing moves!
Just good solid dancing. And fast - the student has to start earning his
keep within 2-3 weeks. So the student is taught one "move" - but he does
it perfectly! The core elements - posture, frame, balance, footwork -
are so solid he is a joy to dance with.

In my own training I have used these principles to move along the
fastest, but rarely have I had the pleasure of a student who wants to
learn this way.

I feel pressure from students constantly to give them more moves before
they are ready. If I don't they move to another teacher, then become
hazards on the dancefloor. What do you do?


Lois
Minneapolis, MN