Minute Masterclass Episode 148

Welcome to your one-minute masterclass. I’m Andrea Trench, founder of DiscoverDance and creator of the Foundations Course for Early Childhood Dance Educators and the DiscoverDance Experience Membership. Today we are focusing on our observers during observation week. Inviting caregivers into our safe space is stressful. There is constant chit-chat among friends, coaching their child from the side, phones ringing, small siblings running into the middle of the floor… Do I need to go on?

First, we must not assume that our observers know what is expected of them during observation week. It is our job to set clear expectations and make sure we communicate those expectations through multi-sensory communication. From there, we’re going to keep our observers engaged and focused on the class by educating them as we go through class. From the moment we start, we share the “why”…Why we begin class with this activity…Why this exercise helps improve this…Why we must first achieve this to then be able to do that…

If we’re making eye contact with our observers, speaking to them about their children’s work, and leading an informative class (with fancy dance terminology and all), we will have their full attention. In addition, they will clearly see our class objectives, the progress in our progressions, and the structure of our lesson plans leading to a better understanding of the anatomy of our classes. I will always encourage you to go beyond educating your students and educate their families as well. Observation week is a great place to start! 

For more information, to enroll in the Foundations Course, or to join the DiscoverDance Experience and view our Observation Experience full training inside the Academy, visit DiscoverDance.com.