Does your teacher always have a lesson plan?

open_mind

open_mind

Active Member
I feel that my pro has a lesson plan for me about 50% of the time. I can't tell for sure, but sometimes I feel like he is not totally prepared and I need to remind him what we were working on last week. We focus exclusively on technique, not choreography or steps, and I admit it takes time for me to gain correct muscle memory, so maybe it's not important and he has a plan only when he tries to introduce something new or push me to the next level.
I don't feel comfortable asking him to come always 'prepared', as I want to trust him in his teaching approach, but sometimes I wonder about that.
What is your experience?
 
That sounds like most teachers from my school. Be proactive yourself is the only way I guess.

But hey, focus exclusively on technique is good, at least that's what I am missing now.
 
My pro tends to pick up where we left off at the last lesson, "most" of the time. There is one consistency though, he starts every lesson session with "shall we work on...,.?" And unless I say well, I would like to do or work on "xyz" then we do what I want and yet throw in some other things that may or may not be in his thought process. It is very fluid, unless there is a competition or showcase event coming up, with that, he is very specific at the lesson and I am all ears.
 
There's always a plan, but how detailed it is before the lesson starts varies. Sometimes I have questions or something I want to work on, sometimes the lesson is completely teacher directed. Sometimes my teacher has something very specific he wants to work on, other times it's more "let's see how she's doing in dance x--what most needs improvement there". There's a very specific thoughtful expression that I have seen on a teacher's face while he processing what he's feeling and trying to decide the best way to address it.

For me, and I think for most people, there need to be goals and some kind of general plan about how to reach those goals. In my case, there's the dance better goals and the feel prepared so that I don't freak out over a competition or whatever goals. (They are strongly entertained, but not quite identical.) However, a competition or performance is not necessary to having dance better goals.

@open_mind, I'm guessing that you dance other than during the lessons? If so, how does the other dancing relate to your lessons?
 
If Teach has a plan, you could have fooled me -- unless, as others have said, it's just before competition. I usually go in with a question, or two or more, and we take off from there. In this case, I lead; he follows ;-)
 
Usually, at the start of the lesson, partner and I decide what we want to work on, and our instructor goes from there. Unless we're working choreography, or have something specific we want to do, it's usually pick a dance and do a round while instructor watches.
 
@open_mind, I'm guessing that you dance other than during the lessons? If so, how does the other dancing relate to your lessons?[/QUOTE]

Unfortunately, dancing with my pro is my only ballroom dancing right now. I don't dance socially (not my thing). In the past, when I had a competitive partner, we always had something to bring up as problem areas to work on during lessons, but it's different now when I dance exclusively with the pro.
I am still deciding whether I want to compete pro-am with him (he wants to, but money is deciding factor for me). I suppose if I say yes, he might be a more proactive. You are right, having a concrete goal is so helpful. I do enjoy our lessons together and feel that I am progressing steadily, it's just his lessons seem to be structured so randomly at times. Oh well, that's ok.
I am wondering if teachers reading this have anything to say. Do you spend any time planning your lessons or just go with the flow?
 
Well open_mind, I am just going to throw this out there.
Have you taken a look at any dance clips on you tube, say for example, of any competitors in pro-am that are dancing choreography or figures your interested in learning. Something must spark your mind's eye, even if you believe your a slow learner. Try going in with "your plan" string together some figures and have a good time. Then your Pro will absolutely know, what road to take. It almost sounds like you might be getting bored working on technique and it is ok to say "I would like to learn....this..." Your the customer, I am not dissing your PRO, my experience early on was nearly the same as yours until I started showing pro what sparked me in my lessons, then he came up with a great plan and it didn't involve competing as my $$$ were going towards college.
 
My instructors usually have a plan, but they generally check with me upfront to confirm that is what I want to work on. Sometimes it is phrased as "which one do you want to work on, X or Y?" They are very flexible if I indicate something else.
 
Yes. But then, I'm a planner, and pro knows by now that I do not like the 'fly by the seat of your pants' approach. Because of that, I generally know the plan - both the focus for the next few weeks, and sometimes for individual lessons.

I can also hijack if needed - but it's rare, because the first of my two weekly lessons usually starts with pro asking how weekend practice went. I have the opportunity to clarify points that were confusing or ask to work on stuff that didn't work quite right. If I don't ask or flag anything, pro will proceed with his plan... and the second weekly lesson is generally on his plan. Because I take notes, he will occasionally ask what dances we worked last time... but I think that's more because he plans in chunks of things to do, rather than by specific lesson, so he's just trying to situate himself in that plan.

My practices are the opposite. Pro may tell me one or two things he'd like to me to cover (like a specific technique point, or spot in a dance), but generally, they are mine to plan.
 
I'm with the others that say that about 50% the time they have a plan. I almost always have a competition coming up in the next couple months, so...we usually have something to work on. i take very good notes about what i have done and what i want to work on, and bring those to the table about 50% of the time. the rest of the time, i wait for his direction. so between us, we are 100% covered, lol. there are those rare days when we're both like "um...so what should we do today?" but that is very very rare.
 
I generally create the routines in advance, and then this plan can last for quite some time. Since there is much to cover in five different dances, and much to improve upon, I mainly tried to make sure that enough attention is given to all of the sequences within the routines.

Once the students are familiar with the routines such that they can complete them from memory, I've been give them specific techniques that they should employ throughout the routine.

in my own lessons I have found that the best lessons were the ones where I walked away with some very usable information about the technique. There was not always a plan. But as we worked during the lesson, we arrived at a technique or idea that was very useful.
 
I actually just discussed this with my coach! She rarely comes with something prepared for us to work on. We actually really like our current arrangement.

I compete am-am, so my partner and I often show up to lessons with a question or a section we want to work on. Our coach told us that she loves that we always have something for her to look at. If we don't spend the entire time on we brought, she'll video and critique one or more of our dances. After that we'll work on whatever appeared as the most fundamental flaw in our dancing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Dance Ads

Advertise on Dance Forums Reach dancers, teachers, studios, event organizers, and dance-friendly brands. View ad options
Back
Top