Teaching post analysis: Researcher diary entry 7th December

My first class teaching after doing the anaylsis for my inquiry was really interesting as I felt I held in my head a lot of new knowledge and power for teaching. Whilst a lot of the anaylsis interpretation showed me I understood the answers to the questions I asked and would have answered them similarly, I got a really good insight into other practitioner's thoughts on teaching and some insight into what they thought of dance and fitness as an industry.

When I entered my class to teach today I felt like I was in my own little world for a short while - trying to process all the things I wanted to try and all the things I'd learnt. After processing this I decided to implement two important elements that teachers believed to be really important to successful classes in the way of enjoyment; create a welcoming atmosphere for my clients and to treat everyone as an individual (make each client feel important).

As people started entering the room I said hello to them all individually as I normally do, when they came to get their cards signed however I spent a little time with each of them catching up on how they were getting on with the programme and what other activities they were doing. The clients responded positively to this and were excited to tell me about what they had been doing outside of class.

As everyone filtered in there seemed to be a good level of constant chatter between regulars which allowed me to attend to newcomers. After asking about their medical history I asked them about why they chose to do this class, the clients then went on to explain it sounded fun however they were all quite nervous. Which gave me a good opportunity to attend to any worries and explain that the main aim of the class is to have fun. This appeared to relax the newcomers. I then went on to introduce them to the regular class members nearest to me and asked them to 'look after' the newcomer that class. This also seemed to give the regular attendee a real sense of empowerment and they looked proud that I had asked them to do this.

During the class, it was clear a member was struggling with some of movements whilst the others were all seemingly fine with the level. I tried to remember what my sample teachers had said about inclusiveity and how important it was everyone felt included. I didn't want ability to get in the way of this. So I signalled to the class to carry on with the routine the majority of them knew, and went to stand inbetween the struggling member and another. I tried to make it appear I wanted to dance next to them because I was enjoying the routine which made the client smile, I emphasied my movements to try and help the client understand the movement. When this didn't work I persisted with 3 other ways of explaining the step whilst still teaching the routine; using words, counts and then finally an exegerrated change of weight which was the teaching style that clicked. The client seemed much happier after this and rest of the group had done really well to continue dancing. 

During another routine, a client was really struggling a movement, for which I had given three levels. When it became clear the client would probably need a few classes to understand the step, I went back down to the first level of the step and told people they could do the harder step if they wished. I felt like this was more inclusive to the participant who couldn't do the step yet and the rest of the class felt good that they could do the harder step so continued without myself doing the step.

When the class was finished I asked the newcomers if they had enjoyed themselves and they said they really had and were looking forward to next week.

Whilst I didn't change my teaching style that much, I really exaggerated certain elements to see how they would affect the atmosphere. I feel like there is always a positive atmosphere in class due to the music and dancing however I really think these small things affected the class in a positive way and I want to continue implement new things each week.