A little sometimes means a lot
I have been thinking a lot about the little things and how much they contribute towards my student's learning process. If you haven't read any of my blogs before, I have recently started a new journey as a dance teacher at Birtenshaw school and college, teaching children and adults with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND).
In some of my classes, I feel that I am not doing a lot with the students and not making a huge difference or progress. Lately, I have realised that this is a very egotistical way of thinking. The journey is not about me, it's about the young person. Their journey and their progression. At the beginning of each class I read up on their flight paths and what they did last week, what worked and what didn't. This helps me structure my classes and helps to build on areas they show improvement. These areas range from catching a ball to remembering a certain step or routine I taught them last week. After realising that coordination was something that the majority of the students struggled with, I took away catching the ball and replaced it with nothing. We imagined the ball and used our imaginations. Catching a leaf falling from the tree, a butterfly, pixie or a huge beach ball. When catching a physical object they were concentrating on everything else going on around them and not focusing on the objective at hand. But when they were using their imagination they were in the zone and could imagine that objecting coming towards them. We slowly introduced a physical object and sometimes it worked, and sometimes it did not. This is a story that had some great progress, but there are other stories that do not....
The smallest thing, like catching a ball was a struggle for the majority of the group, so how was I meant to hold a dance class?
With dance classes we started small. They didn't want to learn long routines or steps, they just wanted a creative out let and time to express. This was great, but the dance teacher in me was crying out for structure and progression. Looking back this was selfish of me because I was focusing on what I wanted to get out of the class instead of looking at how far we have come and what they want out of me. When I first started my classes, some students wouldn't even get up on their feet, never mind twirling around. One of my students parent came to watch the short routine that he had learnt, she was amazed, bewildered and cried. This was something I was not expecting at all. She said he really struggles to concentrate and has never showed any interest at all in retaining anything like that, he never wants to show his work from school and he really struggles with retention. This is when I realised that a little sometimes means a lot. For me, this was a great mile stone that we hit but I didn't realise on what calibre it was. The routine was very simple choreographically as this was a tester dance to see where we can progress to. We haven't progressed a lot further than this original routine but it took showcasing what we had done to his parent, teacher and peers for me to realise how amazing this was.
When we are thinking about lesson plans and progression it is something that is sometimes over shot. We want to see progression and shoot for the stars and all is in the interest of the student. But by recognising and acknowledging what I saw as a small thing boosted his confidence.
This is my small thing that I try and do all the time. I spoke to another colleague and their small thing is to always recap something they did 4 weeks ago to show the student how much they have improved. I have learnt to not overlook what we see to be a simple compliment or correction as the students see this as something completely different. This is my small thing, what is yours?
In some of my classes, I feel that I am not doing a lot with the students and not making a huge difference or progress. Lately, I have realised that this is a very egotistical way of thinking. The journey is not about me, it's about the young person. Their journey and their progression. At the beginning of each class I read up on their flight paths and what they did last week, what worked and what didn't. This helps me structure my classes and helps to build on areas they show improvement. These areas range from catching a ball to remembering a certain step or routine I taught them last week. After realising that coordination was something that the majority of the students struggled with, I took away catching the ball and replaced it with nothing. We imagined the ball and used our imaginations. Catching a leaf falling from the tree, a butterfly, pixie or a huge beach ball. When catching a physical object they were concentrating on everything else going on around them and not focusing on the objective at hand. But when they were using their imagination they were in the zone and could imagine that objecting coming towards them. We slowly introduced a physical object and sometimes it worked, and sometimes it did not. This is a story that had some great progress, but there are other stories that do not....
The smallest thing, like catching a ball was a struggle for the majority of the group, so how was I meant to hold a dance class?
With dance classes we started small. They didn't want to learn long routines or steps, they just wanted a creative out let and time to express. This was great, but the dance teacher in me was crying out for structure and progression. Looking back this was selfish of me because I was focusing on what I wanted to get out of the class instead of looking at how far we have come and what they want out of me. When I first started my classes, some students wouldn't even get up on their feet, never mind twirling around. One of my students parent came to watch the short routine that he had learnt, she was amazed, bewildered and cried. This was something I was not expecting at all. She said he really struggles to concentrate and has never showed any interest at all in retaining anything like that, he never wants to show his work from school and he really struggles with retention. This is when I realised that a little sometimes means a lot. For me, this was a great mile stone that we hit but I didn't realise on what calibre it was. The routine was very simple choreographically as this was a tester dance to see where we can progress to. We haven't progressed a lot further than this original routine but it took showcasing what we had done to his parent, teacher and peers for me to realise how amazing this was.
When we are thinking about lesson plans and progression it is something that is sometimes over shot. We want to see progression and shoot for the stars and all is in the interest of the student. But by recognising and acknowledging what I saw as a small thing boosted his confidence.
This is my small thing that I try and do all the time. I spoke to another colleague and their small thing is to always recap something they did 4 weeks ago to show the student how much they have improved. I have learnt to not overlook what we see to be a simple compliment or correction as the students see this as something completely different. This is my small thing, what is yours?
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