Wednesday 17 May, 2006
Second lesson
Today I held my second class, and I had ten people show up from last week's six - and five people that came last time wanted to come this time too so I must be doing something right. When I told Kelly about my new teaching gig her advise was "not to get attached" - people will come and go to your classes and if they decide not to come one shouldn't take it personally.
Very good advice - I find it extremely difficult to not to go and harass people after class asking for their opinions (and, let's face it, praise). Praise is wonderful to hear, but practicing non-attachment becomes very important when people don't like it for one reason or another. And I'm perfectly willing to understand and accept that yoga isn't for everyone, even though for me it's the heaven on earth. And I guess if the only complaint I get is that the class is too short, I could have it worse.
But one thing I have found surprising about teaching is how little feedback I get from the people during the class. There's very little interaction - I tell them what to do and they do it, sometimes they smile, sometimes they don't, very difficult to know what they are thinking. Just one of those challenges in teaching, I guess.
Posted by kolibri at 17 May 20:15, 2006Most people are so concentrated on themselves, especially when they are practicing Yoga.
A teacher of belly dance years ago told me that when she gave her first class she had been so afraid that nobody liked it because they all had serious faces. But it turned out that they had concentrated on their hips. There was no more room to think of the teacher.
The teacher is a catalysator. I think you do a very good job.
# 2 - kolibri
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(on May 18, 2006 07:16 AM): Funny story about the belly dance teacher - and I bet that's what they're doing at my class too!
# 3 - anon (on May 18, 2006 12:37 PM):
It's SO hard to get good feedback - people who like you don't want to hurt your feelings, people who didn't like the class frequently just keep it to themselves.
If you really can't get any verbal feedback, maybe asking for a quick written survey can help.
The looks on people's faces *after* the class often better reflect their feelings than during. That doesn't help with specific feedback, but may give you a good general feeling.
I commented on the grim faces once, and had a student tell me that grim faces just meant they were working hard and very focused.
:)
# 4 - Chu (on May 23, 2006 11:21 AM):
The couple of times I've been to a yoga class, I didn't notice people interacting with the instructor - or one another, for that matter - much during the class. Sometimes someone might ask something about a pose, or the instructor might give suggestions or adjustment to someone. Same goes for aerobics, stretching and such.
So from a student's perspective, you might be worried for nothing.
On the other hand, why not take the matter up in your teacher training class? Based on these comments, you're not the alone with your experiences.
# 5 - Heidi (on May 26, 2006 11:05 AM):
It might also be that people don't want to break other people's concentration by asking questions - I know it might be silly, but I do that even though all the teachers at the yoga studio here are really nice... Sometimes I might have a question but I don't say anything because I don't want to ruin the atmosphere. Sometimes I ask these questions after the class, sometimes I find the answers during some other classes, so it's not always even necessary to ask. I have to say that I didn't even come to think of giving feedback to the yoga teachers, until I read this entry!
# 6 - kolibri
(on May 31, 2006 09:11 PM): I naturally want to talk to the teachers so I often tell them what I thought of the class. But then again I'm one of those people who always wants to be in the front too, even in lectures ;) I'm glad this entry made people think :)
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