When are you ready to teach?

[Shanazel]

Ooo, that word arrogant again, twice in one night. Khanjar, dear, you and I are destined to disagree about things, aren't we? I hope you enjoy the encounters as much as I do.

I don't advocate teaching subjects in which one has little experience, but for the sake of argument, consider the two following examples:

1) Many years ago I found myself in a position where I had to teach basic field statistics to a college class of two dozen agronomy students. Statistics was not then and is not now my forte. In fact I studied for hours at night so I could go to class the next day to teach others what I had just learned myself. I did not have bags of confidence, I was scared blue, and I sure as hell was not arrogant, at least by Webster's definition ('arrogance: an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions.' ) However, it was an extremely successful class; all my students passed the standardized statistics exam with flying colors.

2) For several months I traveled for a couple of hours each way to teach a dance class in a remote town that had no other teacher. The woman who sponsored the classes was not able to gather enough students to meet expenses but she and few BD lovers did not want to give up learning all together. So she visits me once a month, I teach her privately (and pro bono), and she returns home to teach her friends. She is only a year and a few classes ahead of her students, but she is doing a fine josb teaching them the basics.

Is she arrogant? Was I arrogant? Or is/was it simply a matter of doing what needed to be done in the best way available?

 

[Farasha Hanem]

I'm sorry for breaking your line of questioning for just a moment, Shanazel, but something has been bothering me since my last class.

Safety is high priority when teaching bellydance, and the warm-up and cool-down are of utmost importance. My question is, at the end of class, during the cool-down (well, as well as the warm-up), should the teacher face her students, so as to keep an eye on them to make sure they're cooling down safely? Or is it okay for the teacher to face away from the students doing yoga stretches that most of the class can't do, and weren't taught?

 

[Shanazel]

The teacher ought to be watching you in the mirror at all times.

 

[Kashmir]

Or is it okay for the teacher to face away from the students doing yoga stretches that most of the class can't do, and weren't taught?

This worries me too. Either teach the stretch explicitly and watch the students doing them - and correct - or keep it really simple. In workshops I have often seen teachers totally ignore very bad and dangerous technique in the cool down. Doesn't have to be yoga either - students rounding their backs and not hinging from the hips is common.

 

[Aniseteph]

Is she arrogant? Was I arrogant? Or is/was it simply a matter of doing what needed to be done in the best way available?

I don't think arrogance comes into it when you are putting in all that work to do the best you can by your students. People get arrogant when they lose their humility and don't have a handle on their own limitations.

Is it do we think regards dance teachers, people are more confident these days, and with that to a certain extent; arrogant ?

Self confidence is a valued and praised thing, isn't it? It's encouraged by society and the media, having a bit of get up and go. It gets problematic when it's all front and not enough backing it up in the knowledge and skills department. And it's still possible to live in a very small belly dance bubble and not have a clue about your own knowledge and skills.