Thread: Do you use an assessment?

Who uses an assessment for private students and how is it organized? I'm trying to put together a template for private lessons. Is it necessary to have one? How long does yours take?

Thanks

Eden

I do very few private lessons and mostly at quite a low level. My assessment tends to be informal - I ask who they have worked with in the past and how long (New Zealand is a small country and I have met or know of maybe 50% of the teachers - and all the experienced ones). For beginners I get them to show me some basic isolations, a couple of travelling steps, shimmy and layering. For more experienced dancers I might do something similiar but abbreviated -but it really depends on what they want to work on. For instance if they are wanting help with a dance I ask them to show me what they have so far.

Originally Posted by eden_eyes

Who uses an assessment for private students and how is it organized? I'm trying to put together a template for private lessons. Is it necessary to have one? How long does yours take?

Thanks

Eden

you are over thinking about the wrong stuff, IMO.i teach many private's at many levels..and no one is the same..you really can't do a template for soul, awareness, skill, passion. IMO

I'm a student who has taken many private lessons and I love them. I think an assessment can be helpful as a start off point. As a new student I wasn't sure what I needed. After 2 privates tho, I began developing an agenda for everything I wanted to cover. As my teacher is brilliant, I have tried to get as much info as possible. An agenda works great and helps to keep me on track. HTH...

When I take private lessons, I like to send a video ahead of time which I think represents my current level of dancing- usually from the last show which actually got taped! I have always had good lessons based on this. The one time I couldn't send a tape ahead, I simply improvised to a familiar piece for the first few minutes, until the instructor felt comfortable with where she thought I was at (we talked about my goals before hand, and I had managed to get into town early enough to do a drop in class the day before.)

When I teach private lessons, it has always been to existing students, so I knew them and what they needed to work on fairly well before they started.

I've just started using an assessment system for private lessons. It's very much a work in progress, but already it has been very helpful. I send out a questionnaire to students ahead of the first lesson, to get a bit of background on their experience and what they'd like to get out of a class. If it's a series of classes I spend a little bit of time in the first class doing a technique assessment just so I can get an idea of where they're at. I've found that even with students that attend my regular classes I might have missed the odd technical point that needs working on. I also keep a record of what we've worked on in each class so that I can refer back to it at a later date if necessary.

So far I've found the questionnaire very helpful and the technique assessment a little bit, but less so: it's a bit too 'tick-boxy' and I need to refine it. Having said that, in a recent semi-private, working through the tick list helped the students identify the area they *really* wanted to work on, rather than what we'd agreed ahead of time. I'm really happy to email a copy of the questionnaire to anyone that would like to see it - PM me with your email address.

I like what others have said. At the same time, the students I usually have for private lessons, I also have in class every week so I'm aware of their current level, areas in need of improvement, and what they want to focus on. I would argue its hard to solely teach private lessons and not teach at a studio weekly. If you just have private lessons with students you have no background with, I agree with Lara L, I would almost require them send me a video of what represents their current level. Without weekly/monthly contact with students, you have no idea where their current level is. Even with an assessment, you're really going to need to see their dancing. Otherwise I feel like you'll be walking into a lesson partially 'blind'. Hope this helps, good luck!

Most of my private lessons are not with my own already existing students but other intermediate/ advanced-intermediate level dancers.. and usually from out of state. I've never had a cookie-cutter private, so it's hard to say.. they usually let me know ahead of time specific things they want to work on or have me check out videos. Most I've seen perform in shows before too on occasion.

I take LOTS of private lessons myself and like the video idea, I get the BEST private lessons from video ....my teacher Latifa of MD is AMAZING!! by the way.. ;)
Or we work out what to work on ahead of time.

I know video can be really hard... I think I'm usually cringing when my teacher watches mine hehe.. but it really is amazingly valuable.