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 Words
Of Wisdom
by Jarrod Harden
From
A Young-At-Heart Teacher
I was a
20-year-old pharmaceutical company employee teaching 5 hours
of dance per week on the side (keeping the artist in me alive)
when I suddenly became a school owner. My employer asked me if
I would take over her studio because she was moving out of the
area. The school had a small enrollment, largely comprised of
students ages 3 to 6 in the Kinder Program.
Feeling
overwhelmed because I had never worked with students younger
than 7, I devoured books, watched other preschool dance
classes, and asked other dance teachers about their preschool
programs. I found that most fell into two extremes. One was so
strict that the little dancers were forced to stand in
straight lines and remain quiet while they were learning.
Forget about dance being fun! The other extreme consisted of
creative movement classes in which the kids had a blast
running back and forth, jumping, and laughing, but did not
learn anything dance related. I wanted to create a program
somewhere in the middle, in which students would learn about
dance and have a great time doing so.
Seven years
later, as my program continues to grow, I’ve realized that
success comes from some basic principles I followed when
creating it.
Decide
what you want students to get out of your program.
I knew that
I was not going to try to craft gorgeous extensions, nor did I
intend to babysit. I set some goals: The children would learn
to skip and understand turning motions across the floor. I
would teach them some basic positions and vocabulary. But what
I wanted my students to get out of the experience was not
limited to dance steps. I wanted them (especially the shy
ones) to move freely across the class, alone and in a group,
and to understand authority in a classroom situation—things
like taking turns and being patient while waiting. A preschool
dance program is much more attractive to parents when you tell
them, “We are learning these basic dance steps, and we also
focus on building the children’s confidence.”
Accept
the reality of who your students are.
Yes, there
are 3-year-olds who have a spark and make us think they will
be amazing dancers when they grow up, but those children are
not the norm in preschool classes. I never come to class with
the assumption that I will have perfect listeners who will
follow all directions and hang on my every word (no matter how
fun I make class). If I walk into a class of 10 students
between the ages of 3 and 4, I expect there to be two or three
bathroom breaks (on a good day), sometimes more. I am ready to
watch Amanda, who wants to show me the dance move she created
while the rest of the class is performing the one I am
teaching. I know that in order to teach these young ones
successfully, especially in their parent’s eyes, I need to be
flexible and patient.
Repetition
is one of a preschool dance teacher’s best tools. Whether it’s
giving the same direction for the second, third, or fifteenth
time or repeating class steps and protocol from week to week,
we are teaching a group that learns best by repetition. Our
challenge then becomes to make learning fun and exciting.
Be
creative.
Teachers of
preschoolers have so much flexibility and freedom. Have fun
with the fact that your students love to lea rn
a new step with a song. (Try this once in a while with your
older students too!) It’s not what you say but how you say it
that can get your point across to these little dancers. For
example, when teaching my preschool students a plié, rather
than saying, “Knees over your toes, head up, back straight,” I
start with “Heels Kissin’ First Position” and we make a
smooching noise. Then our legs make a hole for a squirrel to
jump through. Then we have a rule. We stick one finger in the
air to acknowledge the rule and say together, “No chicken tush!”
(Chicken tush is when you stick out your rump during a plié
and look more like a chicken than a dancer.) It’s a funny
little rule that the children love saying. And we only say it
when I put my finger in the air. Mastering all this sometimes
takes a few weeks, but it’s a fun journey.
You can run
yourself ragged trying to keep kids in a straight line.
Instead, teach to them in a circle, with everyone lying on
their bellies, and use learning aids like beanbags and hula
hoops. I constantly change the games we play and the structure
of the class to keep it interesting. In a lot of ways, I think
about what I would enjoy in class and then tailor it to the
needs of a small child. I know that when I receive too much
information at once I tend to shut down. With that in mind, I
alternate a new step or vocabulary with an old favorite or a
non-dance element. (Pretending to be a princess works great!)
So many options are available —you could even research which
activities preschools do and find a way to relate them to
dance or your curriculum. You would not believe how surprised
the children and parents are when they discover a correlation
between their school and dance studio.
Remember
the parents.
Relating to
your students’ parents is a special part of your job that
offers many benefits. Parents are great at generating
word-of-mouth advertising. Casual schoolyard talks with other
parents can become five-minute commercials for your school
when your clients are pleased. I have had students lose
interest in dance, then find their siblings enrolled in my
classes because the parent was so happy with the program.
I keep the
parents happy by behaving professionally. I am always on time,
and I resolve most problems in the classroom myself, following
up with a full report to the parents about what happened and
how I handled it. My waiting room is set up with a VCR,
building blocks, coloring books, and a train table for
siblings and visitors. I make sure to have enough stickers (or
whatever the surprise of the day is) for brothers or sisters—I
have been told that this eases the car ride home. I do these
things because I want the parents to enjoy coming to my studio
as much as their children do.
Much is
involved in teaching dance to young children. Often you are
shaping much more than a dancer. Don’t be afraid to experiment
with what works best for you, your school, and your situation.
Teaching preschool dance can be just as challenging as
training advanced dancers and it can also be as rewarding.
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