Session Two Day Five (TR)

Class One Jazz (Younger):
We still only had one student today, but she is doing really well! We began the hip hop routine with her today, and she had a hard time with which had went where, but she's doing pretty good. She is a hard worker and pays attention, so I think she'll do fine.

Class Two Jazz (Older):
We had another student join today! She was suppose to be in the younger class, but she showed up at 5 pm instead of 4 pm, and her parents said they would rather do this time. She is does not pick up too quickly on dance concepts, so it was a little hard to make sure she didn't feel too behind but still challenge the other students. It was fun, and it will definitely make things more exciting! I continued to try and test their memories and have them try things without my help. I tried to go a little slower for the new student's turn, and helped her along, especially with the harder concepts. She didn't seem to get frustrated or discouraged though, so that is really good!

I'm starting to struggle with remembering what things I've done with which class, but the kids help remind me.

Session Two Day Four (MW)

Class One General Dance ages 5-8:
This class went pretty well. I kept it fast paced enough to keep everyone entertained. It was still a struggle (five and six year-olds struggle with paying attention) but it went well. We worked on plies, tendus, rond de jambs, kicks, stretching, leaps, chines, and sautes.
I think this class is going well, but I need to start getting their ballet dance ready for them to learn so they can be ready before we need to move on to the next style.

Class Two Ballet ages 5-8:
This class got a little out of hand today. The one boy is not very interested in ballet. He doesn't have the attention span for the barre, and distracts the other students and by the time we leave, he is done. I'm going to need to come up with ways to keep his attention.
I think I need to work on controlling a classroom and having a more "teacher" presence. I want the kids to be comfortable and feel safe, but I also need them to listen and learn to pay attention and follow dance etiquette.
Today we worked on plies, tenus, rond de jambs, pirouettes, kicks, leaps, sautes, chaines, and began pas de chats. It was kind of a mess, but I think they are learning, even if it is a struggle to get them to pay attention. I hope I can hire an assistant soon. ballet is very specific, and it is hard to manage five students and give them all the feed back and help that they need.

Class Three Ballet ages 9-12:
Today there was still only one student, but she has a friend that will hopefully be coming next time so we can continue the class.
We worked on plies, tendus, rond de jambs, and did some releves to prepare for pirouettes. We then did stretching, kicks on the ground, leaps, chaines, pas de chats and learned pas de bourrees. It was a good class, and I enjoy teaching an older class, especially a ballet class.

Session Two Day Three (TR)

Class One Jazz (Younger):
None of the students showed up today (one informed us that they would be absent when she registered, and I don't know where the other one was,) so I used the time to lesson plan and prepare.

Class Two Jazz (Older):
We were missing one student today (the boy who came last time; I am hoping that I didn't scare him off with the hip hop we did at the end of the class) but everyone else was there. We worked on pirouettes, leaps, kicks, chaines, chasses and continued our hip hop routine. It was a very fun class and the students are a fun group! I had them do most of the exercises without me a couple times which went really well. I'm hoping to help develop their memories as I teach them and it's going pretty well!

Session Two Day Two (MW)

Class One General Dance:
This class was quite fun. There were four students, and I had decided to start with the ballet style since it is the most structured. We learned the positions and leaps and it was a fun class. Only three students, but it will be fun.

Class Two Ballet (Younger):
We have five students in this class, and it's a little difficult. One of the students is a 5 year old boy who likes to do "ballet turns" he is very cute, but has a lot of energy and a small attention span, which sums up most of the class. It will definitely be a challenge, and I don't know that the structured style of ballet will be as fun for these dancers, but I think

Class Three Ballet (Older):

There was only one girl in this class, and she is about nine. It was pretty fun to have an older class, and I think it will be fun to have have an older ballet class and get to do more advanced moves. 

Session Two Day One (TR)

Class One Jazz (Younger):
This class only had two people sign up, and one of then won't be able to come for the first week, and the other one can only come for the first half an hour (because she has tumbling as well). It's going to make for an interesting class!

Class Two Jazz (Older):
We have a good group signed up for this class! We had three girls signed up and one boy who signed up today! We started learning the basics of Jazz (pirouettes, chaines, and leaps) and I started teaching them a hip hop combination. They are a fun group, and the boy had a lot of talent! I'm very excited to work with this group!

Class Three General Dance:
The third class only had one student sign up and she arrived about 20 minutes late. After talking to her mother, she was unable to come to another class and decided to just try again another session. I was a little bummed, but I think it will be more fun for the student to be able to be with other dancers.

New Plans

While this last session went well, I am planning on making some revisions.

I hope to have a more set and planned warm up routine. I think it was good to allow them to free dance and learn about rhythms, but I would also like to do some conditioning and things that will help strengthen them to prevent injury. I think a semi-set warm up could be useful.

I also want to include new steps (especially if there are returning students). I am considering adding side leaps, connecting the chasses and the leaps, giving more combinations and adding some hip hop into the jazz curriculum.

In some of my classes we are discussing the effects of movement and technique on the body. I have also been learning about injury prevention, and want to include some of the strengthening and preventative exercises that I have been learning into my lesson plans. I hope that by providing a sound foundation the dancers I teach will continue to be healthy and avoid injury.

I also plan to build upon the technique. I want to be adding "challenges" each time we practice basic technique so that they can always be learning and it will be less stale and boring.

Day Twelve - Showcase!

I arrived late (due to car trouble) but the girls were there and so excited to go!

We began by doing a simple warm up (some free dance and the rhythm song) and then did some quick stretching. We then practiced our "explode" combination, and ran through the dance a few times. We had to practice not talking and narrating through the dance (which I realized we shoul've practiced a lot sooner). I then sent the girls to grab a drink and bring in their families. We were waiting for one parent so I had the girls show their chaines (since they are the main thing we didn't do in our dance) which was very fun. We then did the dance, and besides some giggling it went off without a hitch! They all did so well, and I was so proud of them for remembering and picking up so much! It was really exciting and fun to see them so happy and excited and to see how far they'd come!

With my plans to get a teaching job out of state after I graduate I was a little sad to have this session be over. I'll miss these girls, and I hope they sign up next session as well! But I am also excited to get an opportunity to try some of the new ideas that I've had with this next group of dancers.

Day Eleven

Today was one of the late comer's last day. (The other student hasn't shown up for about a week and a half, and I realized that I don't have any contact information for her because she signed up late.) We had her mom come and watch which was really sweet. It is so cute to see how much these girls love and are excited to show their parents all they've learned. I was also impressed with how well she focused and paid attention even though she had an audience.

We continued in much the same pattern as last time; we went around the circle picking one stretch to do, practiced our technique and then ran our dance. Today I did better with time management and didn't stay on one thing too long. We made it through everything fairly quickly and got right down to the dance. The girls were very concerned about how things would work with one of them missing, but I told them we would practice on Thursday before their parents came.

I handed out fliers with the details of the performance and what each dancer was to wear and expect. I'm having the students come in to warm up and practice and then the audience members enter after that. Hopefully it will go well!

All in all, even with the late start, I think we are ready to perform!

Fliers and Posters

I finally completed the posters and fliers for the next session!
I'm quite excited about them and really hope they get our numbers up. I plan to take them to different businesses around town this afternoon.

Day Ten

Today the main focus was completing the dance.

Things went a lot better today. We began by all picking a favorite stretch (to test their memories and condense the preparation before we began the technique). It was quite fun to see what they remembered and which stretches were their favorites. We then practiced most of our usual technique. I did not keep good track of time, and we ended up spending more time on technique than I had intended. Next time I'll have to pay better attention and try to go faster.

Next we worked on their dance. They remembered it fairly well! All of the dancers participated in learning and doing the rest of the dance, and everything went pretty smoothly. At the end I planned to have each student do a "trick" or favorite move and then come together for an ending pose, but it turned out to be a bit of a mess. They all picked poses instead of movements, and then I let them arrange the ending pose to allow them creativity. While we made the pose symmetrical, it was a little strange. I think I'll have to change the ending so there's only one thing instead of two that blend together and seem messy.

Hopefully we'll be able to practice enough to be ready to perform!