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teaching….. teething problems??
Hi guys, just wanted some advice… or maybe just to rant a bit…..!
I have recently started teaching the odd class at a local pole studio, covering for absent teachers. I feel like the beginner classes I have taught went really well, it was easy to follow the set class plan and I like to think the students enjoyed it, we had a lot of fun in class and I came out with a really great buzz from it.
However I have also covered a few mixed ability classes, and they felt like car crashes in comparison…!! That is a drop in lesson with no class structure & the students range from beginner to advanced, so for starters it is really hard to know what to plan for it.. So I tried to think of some things which had loads of progressions so something for everyone (like a variety of climbs for example). In the first class I stuck to mainly ‘upright’ stuff, but in the second class someone asked to work on inverted crucifix, everyone said they were happy inverting so we did some handstandy stuff against the pole. After that lesson I was told someone complained that they did not feel I supported/spotted them in class and they felt vulnerable and almost fell at one point… I felt like absolute shit hearing that, because I had no idea =/
So then i thought riiiight shit, dial it right back for the time being, and next lesson I planned to work on flow & transitions; i figured i would stick to simple moves at first and get everyone to really focus on lines & polish. Class started off really busy, then at one point I was helping someone with a move and turned around to find half of my class had disappeared….. apparently they weren’t enjoying what i was teaching so went off to another room to do their own thing. But nobody said anything to me, they just upped & left when my back was turned. I do appreciate that maybe people don’t want to speak up at the time if they are not enjoying a class, but I have never walked out of a lesson before even if i was finding the stuff really easy… =/ Does that seem a bit rude to you guys?? When other staff asked them for feedback on me afterwards and what I could improve they couldn’t pinpoint anything specific.
I’m finding it really hard not to be really hurt & disheartened by this! I know that it is probably the hardest class to teach due to the wide range of ability, and you will never please everybody anyway, but it would be nice to feel like at least am pleasing some??!! And i just can’t figure out the balance between challenging the more experienced people & not terrorising the beginners… . I left each of those classes feeling really down, and like I had done a shit job. The total opposite to how I felt after the beginner classes! And it is sooo early days for me, I know that teaching is a learning curve all of its own, i never even really wanted to teach, not for a few years anyway, this has just sort of happened, and i was surprised how much i buzzed off the first few classes… but the other classes have been really tough & left me feeling really blue. Don’t think it helped that I’ve had a really shitty week all round, so that mass exodus from my last class really hit me when I was already down. Don’t think I will be asked to teach that class again anytime soon…. and I don’t quite know whether to be glad or disappointed… bit of both really.
Hmm wow that was a bit of a essay … Not really any questions in there I think I just needed to vent haaahah. But always grateful for advice, thank you for listening guys love you pole fam =) xoxox -
8 Replies
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Ugh!!!! That’s so horrible! I can’t state that enough… Hugs.
Ok so I usually go to a mixed level class…. And my teacher always says something quick about “call me if you need a spot” and often times I do. I’ll wait for her if she is with someone else rather than do something I’m not comfortable doing on my own. It kind of seems like common sense that someone would call you over and actually ask for a spot if they needed one, but sometimes people need you to say it. 🙂
I also think no one should think that they are “above” the basics. And it’s crazy rude to leave.
Usually my mixed level classes do some kind of progressions or level differences. Like superman from the ground, superman from just hooking your knee at hip height and dropping into jasmine, then doing the hip flip, or for the inverters…. Gemini to superman… And for those well above that working on a new transition in or out of it.
I’m sorry again. It’s so hard not to take things personally. I just keep feeling like these girls sound really cliquey and mean-girl ish.
I think every new job comes with a lot of insecurities and doubts. Don’t let it discourage you!!!
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That is really really shitty that the students just waited until your back was turned to leave. How can you adjust something to someone’s needs if they don’t vocalize them, and then just slink out the instant they are out of view? Disrespectful. And then they didn’t have anything specific to say???….Okay. That’s jacked up.
To be honest I never really liked mixed level classes. In my experience, the beginners often get distracted or intimidated by the advanced students or the advanced students feel “held back” They seem to me very challenging to teach, because there is not a specific focus that can apply to everyone. So I definitely think that doing a flow and transition class was a great idea. Unfortunately some people only ever want to do tricks, (I used to be that way, but I grew up and got over myself). Anyway I digress, what I am trying to say is that from my perspective it seems as though you did the best with what you were given, and it sucks that that those there were too juvenile to take advantage of it. -
I was just discussing mixed level classes today at the studio. I think that maybe I will ask the teacher if she can do 2 routines: 1 for beginner and 1 for advanced. I’m not advanced and I stand around looking too much because I can’t do the routine.
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Thanks for your thoughts everyone! I really appreciate your support. Aghagha i was so cut up about it i had to get it off my chest; just wanted to sound out to my pole family cos i knew you guys would understand. I feel like I’ve made my peace with it now, taking it as a learning experience ! there’s a little phrase I have been applying more and more over the last few years to excellent effect in all situations haaaha ‘fuck em!’. It helps me to not get so bogged down stressing about stuff 😉 You have to go through tough things like this to learn & grow really don’t you, so I am taking positives from the situation. I feel like I’ve probably learnt more from my bad experiences than from the good ones, you know?! In pole & general life alike. Every day is a school day haaha we never stop learning !
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I haven’t been to a lot of pole classes but I have sampled all the studios in my town so I often have to go to the beginner class until they know where to place me if they are the sort of studio that teaches different levels. I’ve also gone to mixed level classes. I would not walk out of a class unless I felt the teacher was rude or unsafe and, frankly, I’ve stayed through a rude teacher before. There is always something I can learn or work on. I do not expect to be the center of class. I’m inclined to think that there was a “leader” in the group who left who took the group with her. Seems odd a whole group would individually decide to go. I would have been hurt too. I take everything personally. Someone yelled at me walking in the crosswalk in front of them the other day and I fretted about THAT for half an hour. 🙂 Good luck–hope it gets better.
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Ya know what?! My last patient today said I didn’t introduce myself before I sat down and started talking to her, she told the front desk lady that I was “very rude” even though I walked in the room and said hello and asked how she was feeling today…. and she snubbed me so I just was quiet and did my exam without chit chatting…. Then the receptionist told me she complained when she left.
Well I cried the whole way home from work and I’m still upset. It sucks, but you really can’t please everyone. Sometimes you just need to shake it off. Easier said then done. :/
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That lady may have been in a bad mood when she went to see you. You never know what people are going through or how they may be triggered. We have to let these hurts go.
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I attend a mixed level class and there are a few different things that the studio owner has done to make it work. First she identifies a couple of groups in the class… less advanced and more advanced. Then she gives two sets of conditioning moves. For example Hanging crunches with a fan kick to switch sides for the less advanced and shoulder mount fan kicks for the more advanced.
When we move into trick training she will do one of two things. She will either give an easier and a harder trick to work on then help the less advanced students first while the more advanced students spot each other for a minute then she will move to helping the more advanced students while the others work on what she just helped them with and spot each other.
OR… she will have everyone work on the same trick but make it harder for the more advanced. Yesterday we worked on the “violator”. The less advanced students worked on getting into the trick on both sides. The more advanced students were given the task to do a trick then transition into violator then transition out of it into another trick. So make up combos using the trick. Both methods work really well and everyone is happy in the end. Good luck!
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