Keeping Students Engaged While Introducing New Steps
As a ballet teacher, it's important to find ways to keep your young students engaged during class time - particularly when you're breaking down technique.
If you've ever taught a beginner ballet class, you know that keeping your young students engaged can be a challenge. They're often eager to learn, but they also have short attention spans and tend to get antsy when they're not moving around. One way to keep your young students engaged is to break down the technique you're teaching into smaller, more manageable chunks.
Here are a few tips to help you keep your young ballet students engaged when you're teaching them beginner ballet techniques. With these tips, you'll be able to keep your young ballet students engaged and interested in learning even when you're breaking down the most complex ballet technique.
Breaking Down Technique
Breaking down technique can seem daunting for ballet teachers, but it doesn't have to be. Start by giving your students a quick overview of the step, in terms of its name and any other terms they should be familiar with in order to understand the step. Review the terminology of the step - talk through the names of the individual steps that make up the new step.
Then, have them practice the individual steps that make up the move. For instance, if you're teaching them an assemblé, start by teaching them the individual steps needed to execute it.
Work on the dégagé in plié
Work on the sauté on one leg
Try practicing pulling the dégagé leg into a sous-sus in 5th and plie to finish
Then, once they've mastered or nearly mastered those individual components, put them all together and have them practice the move as a whole. For assemblés in particular, I like to try them at the barre first before bringing them to the center.
Try having them practice the step
in pairs
in small groups
Watching each other can be an amazing learning tool. You can have them offer up corrections to each other, it helps reinforce their own knowledge.
Blend the Old with the New
Another way to keep your young students engaged is to make sure your ballet lesson plans are well-rounded. When incorporating new steps always have plenty of old steps mixed into the lesson so that they continue to feel confident in their abilities. When all else fails chasses in wide circle is always a way to burn off some excess energy.😉
Mix Things Up
Another great way to keep younger students engaged when teaching a new step is to not be afraid to mix things up. Here are some ways to do that:
Focus on just the arms or head
Change up the music by using a pop song
Show & Tell - find a video of a professional dancer doing that step in a performance
Video them doing the steps so they can see themselves. Many times it has a different impact than what they see in the mirror
Turn them away from the mirror so they are using their brains differently
If you have older students around, have them come in and show the younger students how they do the step
As a teacher, offering different ways of learning something new ensures that all of your students are able to learn in whatever way works best for them. Patience is key. They likely need to hear and see a new concept multiple times before it sinks in. Be prepared to repeat yourself in many different ways.
You are building a solid foundation upon which they can build their technique and progress as they get older and move onto higher-level classes. With a little patience and recognizing the little wins of each student will have you and your students enjoy the process and they will always be eager to learn more.
