Hi! Welcome to the series how to teach preschool ballet! So far we have talked about how to prepare for classes, how to organize your class and how to actually teach ballet to preschoolers. Now we are going to get more into how to keep the class listening and engaged so we can actually cover our material.
Like I have said before, teaching preschool dance is completely different than teaching dance to older students. It is an art. The goals are to teach your curriculum and keep the students paying attention to you the whole class while still having fun. How do you keep a preschooler paying attention for your entire class? Whether or not you are able to achieve your objective will depend mostly on how you run your class. If you follow all of the points I have made so far, you will succeed in keeping a well run class the majority of the time. Now I will go a bit further to insure your success.
In part one we are going to talk about the mind of the preschooler. If you understand the preschooler you will have more success dealing with them. In part two I will talk about so called “tricks” I use to keep the class listening. In part three I will touch on special situations such as children who are shy or are more likely to test you. If you put these suggestions together along with the material I have already covered, you will be on your way to a great class! So first let’s talk about how a preschooler thinks and what they love!
Part 1 ~ Know Your Audience ~ Going Inside the Mind of a Preschooler
In order to be a successful teacher, you have to know your students inside and out. Preschoolers are no exception. In fact, I feel it is even more important to know the preschooler than it is to know the minds of older students. The way the preschooler thinks is different. This is because they are in the very early stages of growth and development. Sometimes the way they process doesn’t make sense to those of us that are older. I learned early in my teaching career knowing how the preschooler thinks helped me teach my classes immensely.
Be One Step Ahead
Always anticipate what the students are going to do before they do it. This will come with time and experience. With experience, you will soon see what preschoolers like to do and what they should not do in class. Be prepared at each activity for unwanted behavior and remind the students what they should be doing. Here are some examples:
Preschoolers love to run around in an open room like a dance studio if you don’t tell them where to be. You need to be prepared and ask them to sit in between activities or be ready to go right into the next activity. This is why I have the students sit with me or on spots immediately when they come into class, because I know they are going to run around if I don’t tell them otherwise.
If you take them out of the room for example, to the bathroom, they will want to run down the halls. They will also talk loudly if not reminded to use their inside voices. Remind them, before you go out into the hall, what is expected of them. Have them line up and go over the rules. “How do we go down the hall? We walk in a line and use our inside voices.”
Another example is when I use props. I know some preschoolers are going to bang my shakers on the floor or put them in their mouths, therefore I go over the rules before we use them. I also know they will run on top of my parachute and fall down if I don’t remind them to stay off of it. Most girls love anything pink, so if they don’t get one of my pink scarves they may have a meltdown. If your students get to choose props and you want to avoid meltdowns, have scarves or shakers that are all the same color or just remove the pink ones if you think the students might fight over them.
Become used to being one step ahead of your class. Know what they are going to do before they do it in order to avoid unwanted behavior and potential accidents.
Know What is Fun
This point goes along with the first point. Not only know what the preschooler is going to do before they do it for behavioral and safety reasons, but you need to actually go inside their minds so they have fun! What is fun for the preschooler? What do they like to do? What makes them laugh?
Here are a couple ideas I will share with you. The first one, is again, that preschoolers like to run around. I don’t like my students to actually run around in class, therefore I make sure I have them move in other ways. They can chassé, skip, jump, and leap around. Have them move in a way that is related to dance. Make sure they all go around the room in the same direction. If not, there might be a collision! I train my students from day one to all go around the room counter clockwise whenever we chassé or skip around.
Second, preschoolers like to make believe. Girls usually love anything related to princesses, fairies or magic. Superheroes and pirates are also a hit especially if you have boys in the class. Pretending to be animals is great for both boys and girls. Choose activities and dances that relate to subjects children love. If you have many high energy yet controlled games along with a creative program, you will have a super fun class.
Are Your Students Having Fun?
Once you have created a great curriculum with what you think are many fun and engaging activities, how do you know if your students will enjoy what you have planned? If your students are having fun it will be so much easier to have a smooth and controlled class. They will want to listen to you and will be eager to learn. Here are some ways to tell if your students are having fun.
The way to tell if the students are having fun is if they look attentive. Look at their faces. Are they looking at you? Are they smiling? Do their faces look bright? Or are they going off to do their own activity? Ask them questions about the activity. Do they answer you? If they are not paying attention you need to quickly assess what you are doing. Have you spent too long on one activity? Are you moving too slowly? You don’t have to necessarily change the activity you are doing. Maybe you just need to raise your energy level. Keep in mind if one student or even a couple students are not listening that doesn’t always mean the class is not going well. Preschoolers all have their moments of not listening. Look at the rest of the group. Do you have most of the children’s attention? If so, you are probably okay. Just remind the ones who are not following what they should be doing.
If most of the students don’t look engaged and simply raising your energy isn’t working you may have to change what you are doing. Sometimes groups need to take a break, move around the room, get their sillies out or shake a parachute. Everyone needs a break from time to time, especially preschoolers.
Don’t just teach your class and go through the curriculum. Always watch the students and be ready to adjust if necessary. If you are teaching the same class to different children, remember all classes will be different. Some classes are quiet and others are more “squiggly”. You can’t sit and stretch for a long time with a squiggly class. Keep control over your students by not letting their energy take over the class. For shy or quiet groups, energize them by laughing and jumping around. For classes with too much energy, try to channel that energy into an interesting and engaging creative activity.
We always want the children to have fun. I believe this is our biggest job. If your class is fun and controlled your students will come back for more!
Knowing the minds of your preschool students keeps your class moving in the right direction. What I have given you will keep you one step ahead all the time. Of course, there is much more to be learned. You will have to learn how to read your students on your own through experience.
Thanks for joining me! In part two we will talk about special tricks that I use that are invaluable to ensure you have a class with amazing listeners!