Working with beginners

Like I said a few days ago, my first job was teaching ballet to beginners. I was good at it.  I liked it and I was young enough to find it exciting.  But I don't have the patience for it now and that's one of the reasons I stopped teaching.  When it stopped being fun for me, it wasn't fair to the students.

The teachers at the Martial Arts studio that I attend ARE great with beginners.  I stunk at capoeira in the beginning, and the two classes of Thai boxing were great fun and wildly exhausting, but incredibly challenging.  There are a couple of students in my classes that are having a hard time getting the (really difficult) steps down.  I have been extremely impressed with the fact that the instructors never ever EVER lose patience - in fact, the opposite is true.  They are patience personified, and that's tough.  They are a credit to the owner.  I've seen them with teeny tinies, with recalcitrant teens and pouting five year olds, grumpy housewives and staunchy old men - everyone is treated the same.  With respect and a healthy dose of "What a great job!"  It's awe inspiring and affirming and what learning a new skill should be like.

Mother's Day, my husband surprised me with a private ballroom dancing lesson for the two of us.  With my ballet background, it was pretty easy to pick up, but he struggled a little.  The female instructor that we had was awesome as well. When we mastered the waltz, she clapped giddly and cheered.  It was corny, sure, but it felt good.

I've also seen some teachers who have no business teaching beginners.  Learning new skills requires rewiring parts of the brain, unlearning some actions and replacing them with others.  Some people have the patience for it and some people don't.  It isn't awful if you don't have the talent, but it is if you don't have it and you force yourself to teach regardless. 

Comments

[Tammy/Photography for Fun]

You are so right! As an adult I took beginning dance lessons (an all adult class) for excercise but quit after being made fun of by the instructor. How humiliating.

[Jennifer]

Teaching is a skill and it is also talent. Not everyone has the inclination to be a good teacher. I've found it very frustrating in my parish that they have "volunteers" teach CCD, many of whom have no experience in classroom management techniques, albeit they have the faith and desire to help. After one disastrous year as a CCD teacher, I've come to the conclusion that I don't have it. It was humbling and frustrating, but it took that experience for me to come to the conclusion that to be a good teacher, one has to have both the desire to teach and the skills to do so. I'm so impressed with good teachers and make a point to let them know because they are many who don't have it in them to be one.