How A Global Pandemic Made Me A Better Teacher
Let’s be honest. You probably weren’t expecting that title, and you’re probably thinking that this is gonna be some sappy post about how I had to take a step back and look at things from a different perspective. And you would be mostly right…
Back when this whole thing started, everyone was thinking that this would be two weeks of restrictions, and then the cases would die down. Oh, how naive we were!
Then, two weeks turned into a month, and everyone started to realize that this probably wasn’t going to blow over. I saw that some line dance instructors were moving to online classes, so I jumped on that bandwagon. I did 3 classes per week: one on Social Dis-Dancing, one on StreamLine, and one on my own (and, for a brief time, on VTV). This was a whole new ballgame. I was teaching a class of people I couldn’t see or hear. At first, it was incredibly difficult for me to tell if the class was going well or not. Thankfully, after some technical difficulties were sorted out, it seemed to mostly go well.
One of the things my classes have become well known for is adding in some technique tips to help the dance flow better and to help dancers improve. The only problem was that, because I couldn’t see the dancers, I didn’t know what things needed some extra help. This was the first big thing that made me a better teacher. Not being able to see the dancers forced me to think about the kinds of things dancers usually need to hear and the kinds of things with which dancers usually have trouble. I learned to draw on my own experience as a dancer learning to to dance, the things I’m still working on, and the things I wish someone had said to me.
Once the studio was able to reopen, we had another problem… WE COULDN’T DANCE WITH ANYBODY! While the studio was able to allow dancers into the building, social distancing was still required by state law. As one might imagine, this poses significant challenges for ballroom dancing. I had to develop my visual assessment skills, learn to imagine what a movement would feel like, and explain a concept without being able to dance with someone or manually adjust their body position. If you’ve ever taken a ballroom dance lesson, your instructor probably spent about half the class readjusting your body in space. Now that I have learned to better visually identify issues, I am now quicker at diagnosing problems that come up. This is a skill I never knew I needed to refine, but, looking back, I don’t know how I was able to identify problems or explain anything!
A global pandemic is definitely not what I was hoping for, but I am glad that I was able to take away something positive from a terrible situation. On that note, I will leave you with this:
“If life gives you lemons, make apple juice and make people wonder how the hell you did it.” – Gurbaksh Chahal