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Instructor Related: Teaching Plans
I’m putting together my teaching plan for my class I’ll be teaching next month. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif I’m really excited. I wanted to get some input from everyone else. When teaching an intermediate level pole class, in your curriculum do you have a set number of moves you teach? I was thinking of 3 or 4 moves each class- all of which build upon each other. This will be the first time many of my students have inverted so I was wondering if having 3 or 4 moves preset for class might be too much to start? I was thinking a lot of safety and getting comfortable with being upside down like simple walk into handstands and watching themselves in the mirror with leg control in handstands. Simple inverting that will help get them to build up their strength and get the feel for bodily control.
For current instructors, once your students are comfortable, do you then incorporate 3-4 moves into one class or is that still too much to grasp in an hour class? Thanks for all your feedback. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_thumleft.gif
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7 Replies
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I forgot to take into account the number of students: max 8. Number of poles 5: 1 for instructor, 4 poles for students. Since my class will max out at 8 that could mean a full class will equal 2 students per pole- which will limit the time and amount of criteria to cover per class.
So class #1 may consist of: warm up stretching, handstand variations away from pole, basic invert, supervised free pole, cool down stretches. -
Have they had a lot of pre-inversion training? I.E., leg positioning from floor, getting feel of locked in position (again from floor), pull-ups on pole, exit strategies, etc.? If so then they’re probably conditioned enough to do a reasonable amount of work with feet over head, whether that’s handstands or actual inversions. I’d do limited invert work plus some dance/transitional moves for each class. They’ll feel like they’re learning something and won’t get overly tired or frustrated.
IMO, learning three moves per class isn’t too much if they use differing muscle groups and aren’t super complex.
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It depends on their experience and comfort level.
Have they ever been inverted before? How long have the been pole dancing?
I don’t start with handstands because I think they are too tricky. My intermediates start with climbing and upright poses – once they are solid with a few upright poses we move to basic lay backs.
Most of my students are pretty good at climbing, pole sitting and performing basic poses like the plank (hand on top) wrist seat, pole sit variations before we go into inverting. Unless there is a specific reason a student cannot perform a basic x knee that is their first invert. From that point we start talking about tucking the chin into the breast bone for safety and exiting slowly sliding down on to shoulders. From there I like to get them to work on stamina and being comfortable combining the moves they are taught.
When we do finally move to the invert, they work from the floor for a few weeks before we work from standing. We also do some conditioning exercises and lifts too. But basically none of my students get to their invert until at minimum 16 weeks. Some don’t start for 6 months.
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Koba keep in mind the reverse handstand (Chest facing pole) is more reasonable for most students to learn than the handstand (with the back against the pole). So yes, I think the reverse handstand and elbowstands are a good way for students to acclimate to being upside down and work on balance.
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I’m putting together my teaching plan for my class I’ll be teaching next month. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif I’m really excited. I wanted to get some input from everyone else. When teaching an intermediate level pole class, in your curriculum do you have a set number of moves you teach? I was thinking of 3 or 4 moves each class- all of which build upon each other. This will be the first time many of my students have inverted so I was wondering if having 3 or 4 moves preset for class might be too much to start? I was thinking a lot of safety and getting comfortable with being upside down like simple walk into handstands and watching themselves in the mirror with leg control in handstands. Simple inverting that will help get them to build up their strength and get the feel for bodily control.
For current instructors, once your students are comfortable, do you then incorporate 3-4 moves into one class or is that still too much to grasp in an hour class? Thanks for all your feedback. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_thumleft.gif
hey kobajo! awesome re: teaching intermediates. sooo much fun! and a whole new set of teaching challenges.
it’s tough to say without seeing your lesson plan, but off the top of my head i would say that "intermediate" and "moves" are completely subjective…. tough to know what you mean! also, what i PLAN on teaching and what i actually get around to teaching are very differnet things…. a lot of times we’ll take a tangent, or i’ll see that one class is doing better with one kind of spin or movemetn and need a lot more work on another. for that reason, i don’t plan out what i’m teaching until the week of class.
generally, i don’t teach more than 2 or 3 moves in a 1 hr class. here is an example of what i actually taught this past week. each of my students (class of 8 ) has their own pole.
beginner intermediate: we spent literally 20 mins of the entire class working on the cradle, on both sides. for the girls who were really getting it, i showed them three different ways to add more momentum and spin. then we worked on a footwork sequence from a dipspin (halfspin) to backwards step, to spinning climb, to sit, to basic plank (both hands on top), to prance down. the only thing new in that sequence was the plank, but they spent a lot of time working on getting the sequence fluid on both sides without extra steps in between. most of the girls in this class have been with me for 12+ weeks, but there are three that have only been in class for 9 weeks. the new girls are all dancers or very, very coordinated and already able to hold their own body weight for 15 seconds at a time.
intermediate: we worked on a step-thru chair spin transition (like a chair spin but you don’t hold it for as long, and it looks more like a prancey push-pull momentary hold then a real spin) into a spin climb into a CAR to wrist seat. we also worked on doing the press dismount from an invert on both sides (looks like lowering yourself down from a pushup) and the corkscrew/body spiral. this was their first time doing the CAR, press dismount, and body spiral. however, i would say that only 1/2 the class actually worked on all of those things. others did variations: practicing their CKR instead of CAR, and working on a baby body spiral/corkscrew instead of the full spin. girls in this class have been with me for about 18 weeks give or take.
i hope that helps…. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cat.gif
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I agree with the above that first handstands are generally more difficult for most people to learn than the basic invert is. The shoulder strength and overall stablity needed is more than most women can manage until they are further along.
Once students start learning to invert we seldom work on more than one invert per class. If I add other moves they are either similar variations of the same advanced move or something very simple. I don’t like to teach a different move every week either. THey stay on the same move until they can do it safely and securely – repeatedly. Otherwise they aren’t ready to move on to the next level.
I’ve seen too many students become trick junkies and want to "try" move after move and they believe because they sort of get it once that they are ready to move on to something else. They now have to nail a move perfectly before they can try something new.
Then, like Amy, we work on sequences so they are learning and practicing transitions and flow.
I also want to emphasize that if students are learning a new invert (even handstands) they need to be spotted one on one and therefore you don’t have a lot of time to work on several moves as they all have to wait their turn to try a new invert.
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Thanks for all your input https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif …I was reviewing my notes of everything I came up with and I’ll actually be working on the pole sits and pole climbs first to get their skin accustomed to the pole. I don’t plan on working on inverts until week 3 or 4. I agree, with a full class of 8 the majority of my time will be spent spotting so I will have to stick to one move at a time so I can get to everyone. I think I will have them work on their beginner level stuff that they learned until their turn for the new move. Thanks again everyone, this has been really helpful in getting my brain working in teaching mode. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_sunny.gif
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