Thread: A teacher should - teaching "spinoff"

A teacher should be able to plan for whatever abilities she has. if she teaches through choreography she should be able to plan something simple and effective for beginners and ensure that they nail the technique necessary.

A teacher should never take that attitude that beginners don't need technique - they are just there to have fujn. Some of those beginners will be around for many years - with bad habits.

A teacher should revisit the basics from time to time to sharpen technique.

A teacher should be able to identify those students who are a little more capable, or serious and ensure that the are told when they do things well, or give them extra challenge as appropriate. And she should praise and encourage everyone.

A teacher should always know a choreography before teaching it to students, or at the very least have it completely planned. Idon't learning the first 30 seconds perfectly and then standing round while the teacher fluffs about with concepts for the rest of the dance for several weeks.

A teacher should prepare students for performance with tips on presentation, individual feedback etc even if it is only the funday in the park. We don't want to make fools of ourselves after all.

Any more

Originally Posted by jencUK

A teacher should never take that attitude that beginners don't need technique - they are just there to have fujn. Some of those beginners will be around for many years - with bad habits.

I agree, but I also concede that this is going to be a hard sell. Not every teacher has the personality that is able to inspire students who don't care about the details to change their minds and want to start geeking on technique, music, and culture. A lot of teachers have student populations where the majority don't want to practice, and withholding promotions or performance opportunities just results in flouncing. Students who persist in the idea of wanting to dance and perform, but not wanting to practice or improve, are often easy prey for the teachers who shouldn't be teaching. Sometimes teachers console themselves with the idea that it's better to round up a balky herd in their own pen than let them roam free.

A teacher should be able to identify those students who are a little more capable, or serious and ensure that the are told when they do things well, or give them extra challenge as appropriate.

But she shouldn't have "pets." Students should be treated fairly and judged on their abilities, not how well you like them as individuals or how pretty a feather it will be in your cap to see them doing bellygrams. If a student is paying tuition, showing up, working hard, and doing what's asked, she deserves the same treatment as anyone else in the class. Students shouldn't feel they're reducing the cost of Pet's private lessons with their attendance, or indulging your cronies' incompetence under duress.

If a student is too old, fat, ugly, etc. for you to promote for your paid gigs, that's fine and it's the nature of the business, but balance the reality of commercial work with a quality academic experience anyway. If you want to have appearance-based discrimination for your non-class performances, have a consistent policy (not some byzantine set of random rules and exceptions for friends), and state your position up front. Don't confuse "lacks commercial viability" with "doesn't deserve to learn." Unglamorous as it may be, it's also your job to help LCV students set sensible expectations and find the proper venues to practice their stagecraft.

If your troupe and your class are separate entities, keep it that way. Don't let your troupe members turn the classroom into a middle school cafeteria, where the students not in the troupe don't get to "sit at the cool table." Don't gossip. Don't let a clique of students intimidate others or make newcomers feel excluded.

And she should praise and encourage everyone.

And she should offer tactful, regular assessments of what is wrong or needs work. Just offering only positive feedback is meaningless unless a student is perfect.

[One more thing...]

A teacher shouldn't be afraid to admit she doesn't know everything. If you can't answer a question, set an example and learn together. Tell them you never get to a point where you've learned all there is. Don't panic and get defensive if a student knows something you don't. If you don't know what you're doing (especially with folkloric dance), don't fake it. Don't be embarrassed to refer your students to a better source.

I agree with all the above riders - they only underline twhat I was trying to say. I know that many beginner students aren't serious but that doesn't let you off from ever mentioning posture.

so to continue

A teacher should be able to provide thev details and a source for the choreo music and/or choreo notes. most students need more time than once a week to familiarise themselves with music and routine.

Originally Posted by jencUK

A teacher should be able to provide thev details and a source for the choreo music and/or choreo notes.

YES! Unless you have a valid academic purpose for using a rare recording in class, pick music you can identify and your students can buy! Don't teach choreographies to music called, "Somebody gave me this tape years ago, and I don't know what it is" or its cousin, "It's the fourth track on the CD, and I can't read Arabic."

If you don't want to write up choreography notes (and not all dancers use them), at least take the time to research a lyrics translation if your song needs it. You shouldn't be teaching a choreography to a song if you don't know what they're singing anyway. You can't teach students how to find their own song lyrics online if you don't or can't do it yourself.

Don't let your music library turn into a stagnant little puddle. You don't have to chase after every new record that comes out, but try to keep a vague sense of what the current trends are. Everybody loves Eddie Kochak, but don't let "Strictly Belly Dancing" be the only records you've used for the last twenty years. Buy something that doesn't line MC's pockets once in a while. Students need to understand that not all ME music is suitable for dancing, but don't set an example of fear by making only the most timid, obvious choices. You are their tour guide to a world of music they may not have heard before. Help them experience the breadth of what's out there.

All good stuff.

I'd add a teacher should be aware of safety issues and variation in physical ability and capability. For example, many teachers are very flexible and can do stuff that many/most people cannot and are totally unaware of this - or worse tell students they "need to try harder" or "can do anything".

I made some notes of some of the things I learnt for teaching from Momo on my blog

A teacher should...cut herself some slack. Because no matter how much she knows, it'll never be everything; because no matter how hard she tries, she will never please everyone (and will probably piss a few off without even trying); and despite her very best efforts, like every other human who ever ran a business or just lived, she will make mistakes.

Originally Posted by jewelbellydance

A teacher should...cut herself some slack. Because no matter how much she knows, it'll never be everything; because no matter how hard she tries, she will never please everyone (and will probably piss a few off without even trying); and despite her very best efforts, like every other human who ever ran a business or just lived, she will make mistakes.

YES! Thankyou for saying this.

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

YES! Unless you have a valid academic purpose for using a rare recording in class, pick music you can identify and your students can buy!

I dont know about a valid academic purpose... I guess it's not, but I often use music not readily available. I had some recordings done for me from live events in Egypt. This sort of music from weddings and moulids is not always available. I know it is not the best option if people cannot get hold of it, but it suits the movements in workshops so well and it's not the stuff you can perform to anyway.. nothing provides the vibe and energy quite like it.

In my opinion, most of the belly dance CD's I have heard (sold in shops) over the years have not been worth the plastic cover. I hate choosing music for a dance because I feel there is so little out there. I of course narrow my own options by only choosing to dance to certain types of Egyptian and ME music and usually with a great vocal.

Originally Posted by caroline_afifi

I dont know about a valid academic purpose... I guess it's not, but I often use music not readily available. I had some recordings done for me from live events in Egypt. This sort of music from weddings and moulids is not always available. I know it is not the best option if people cannot get hold of it, but it suits the movements in workshops so well and it's not the stuff you can perform to anyway.. nothing provides the vibe and energy quite like it.

You're essentially talking about a private library of fieldwork recordings. The music you're using isn't readily available and it illustrates things that you don't find on slickly produced records by Hakim and Saad. That's a valid academic purpose--a bit maddening perhaps, if you're wanting to use that music for a performance, but how else would the average student even have access to it? By ripping the audio off videos in moorganahmedmoorgan's YouTube channel?

I'm mostly criticizing teachers who don't bother to know what music they're using in class (seriously, pay a translator if you can't read the label!), with the occasional oldster who teaches to something out of print because she (a) doesn't realize students can't legally buy that music anymore, and (b) has been stuck in same teaching rut since vinyl LPs went out of fashion. It's one thing to make an informed decision to share something commercially unavailable with your students for its educational value. It's another to be clueless and out of touch.

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

I'm mostly criticizing teachers who don't bother to know what music they're using in class (seriously, pay a translator if you can't read the label!), with the occasional oldster who teaches to something out of print because she (a) doesn't realize students can't legally buy that music anymore, and (b) has been stuck in same teaching rut since vinyl LPs went out of fashion. It's one thing to make an informed decision to share something commercially unavailable with your students for its educational value. It's another to be clueless and out of touch.

I assume you're also criticizing the teachers who don't match the above descriptions, but are selfish: "I just LOVE this music on this old Jallaleddin vinyl LP. I realize it's been out of print for 20 years, but I love it so much that I just really, really want to teach a choreography to it, and I don't give a damn that the people who take my workshop will find it impossible to acquire this music for themselves. Because really, it's all about me and what I WANT to do."

It always comes down to asking, "Do the pros of using this music or teaching this topic outweigh the cons of students not being able to make realistic use of it? Are these students mature enough and dedicated enough to see the inherent value in this anyway, or do they just want turnkey material?" When you're talking about a large event (like teaching a mixed-level workshop with drop-in registration), most of the time, students are looking for something conveniently useful. They want value for their money and they don't have any use for stuff they can't actually perform, regardless of whether it's choreographies to out-of-print albums or some esoteric folkdance variation that you're the only person in the world teaching, because you're also the only working dancer with the music/costuming/prop for it. Teachers shouldn't play "Keep Away" with students who have no chance of getting what they need to replicate the material by teaching as if this weren't the case.

OTOH, if we're talking about a different situation, Sahra's JTE series or an ongoing training relationship between a teacher and an advanced class, using rarities might make wonderful sense--but those aren't thoughtless choices for the gimme-something-I-can-put-on-stage-as-is crowd. Students investing in a high level of training usually don't want to buy a canned set of steps that only work with one song.

I think it's very important to save these fading treasures (old ways being lost to globalization, out-of-print media) before they disappear forever, and the more interest we can drum up for them, the better their chances for survival, but I also realize that expending the effort on students who would be equally, if not more, satisfied with a mundane choice may not always be the best use of our resources. Right now I have five other tabs open because I'm multitasking my bhuzzing and trying to research Sabah al-Sahil, whom I bumbled across while looking up Hussein Neama. (Talk about retro-1970s, off-the-radar, Iraqi music much?) I'd start a thread on these guys, but I know what would happen if I did, and that's in a forum where people are already going out of their way to learn. I'd be lucky to break triple-digit views, and the members who would engage in the discussion...well, let's just say that if we were in a restaurant, we wouldn't need that automatic 15% gratuity added to our bill because of the size of our party.

At the risk of getting ranty, how often is it worth a teacher's effort to bother to do anything but the easy and obvious in class? Where is the balance point?