Hey gang!
Drex here from DrexFactor.com and I'm here for those of you planning to teach workshops
at a fire or flow festival this season and are curious how to go about doing it.
I've been teaching workshops now for about 7 years and in that time I've learned a
lot of what to do and a whole heaping plate of what not to do in order to create the best
learning experience for you and your students.
To that end, I'm going to serve up some of my best practices and tips to help you
get the most out of your own workshops.
Please note: a lot of this is to the taste of the individual teacher.
There are some things that are going to be a good fit for you and others that aren't.
Stick to what resonates for you rather than trying to create a carbon copy of what I've
described here.
Before we dive in, I just want to take a moment to give a shout out to the friends of the
channel!
Big thanks to Dark Monk, Spinballs, and Ultra Poi for helping to make the videos on this
channel possible.
You can visit them all on the web by following the links down in the description.
Now on with the show!
Most of the work for teaching a class or workshop happens before a single student shows up or
a single word comes out of your mouth.
It's always a good practice to prepare a lesson plan to organize your thoughts and
give your students at least a little bit of structure to work with.
This doesn't have to be a term paper--sometimes just a rough outline will do, so you know
what you want to hit up and the order you want to hit it up in.
A great lesson is like telling a story: one idea leads to the next, building upon each
other and drawing connections between different things to create a picture for your students.
When I prepare a lesson plan, I start by defining goals for my workshop.
I try to limit myself to accomplishing no more than 3 goals per workshop because otherwise
I find the workshop to become too busy and unfocused.
For example, in my Art of Prop Performance class I walk in with the following three goals:
Get students to think of their choreography as conveying a story or emotional impression
Correct bad performance habits Make the class as physically interactive and
engaging as possible
These 3 goals, then, become something of a mission statement that helps me determine
what goes into my class and what doesn't.
I'll then outline my class in such a way that it supports these 3 goals.
Here's what that looks like:
The class starts off with a 5-minute warmup to get bodies moving and minds alert.
Then we go into 3 exercises centered around different ideas in movement art that flow
artists almost always neglect.
And finally, have everyone in the class write a haiku about their favorite childhood toy
that they then translate into a movement phrase to perform for the rest of the class.
You'll note: there isn't necessarily a 1 to 1 correlation between each of the sections
of this class and each of my 3 goals, but those 3 goals do guide how I tackle each of
these sections of the class.
I structure it this way because I want the lessons learned from the movement exercises
to have an impact on the final piece everyone in the class writes.
Again, just like in a story your class should be structured such that if this, then that
must inevitably happen.
Make your students see the connections between your ideas and concepts.
Now how much information should you be squeezing into your outline?
That's a really, really tough question and one that I find is better suited to refinement
than making estimates at the get-go.
Try and put in the least amount of information you think you need to cover the topic and
we'll get into refining this a bit later.
Off the top of my head, though, if it's longer than a single page in your notebook
it's probably too long.
One quick note on materials needed for a class: you can never guarantee that a festival can
provide you with anything, so make sure you're in a position to deliver it yourself if it's
absolutely necessary.
For this movement class, I bring a set of bluetooth speakers with me in case the festival
can't provide a sound system.
So you've showed up to the festival and your students are there--now what?
Well, the good news is that you've done a bit of prep so you're hopefully not just
left there hanging in the wind, but here are a couple things to keep in mind when it actually
comes down to teaching the workshop itself.
First, you have to talk loudly.
It's really tempting just to address the people in the front row, especially if you're
nervous.
But here's the thing: a bad workshop is not improved by being impossible to hear.
A great workshop, on the other hand, can be ruined if your students can't make out what
you're saying.
Talk to the back row at all times.
This will insure that you're projecting enough so that everyone can hear you.
Your front row won't feel slighted and your back row won't be straining to hear you.
Second, interact with your class.
Get them to move around.
Get them to speak to you.
The less directly engaged they are in the learning experience, the less engaged they
are in what they learn.
If you've got a class that's just standing there listening to you, you're going to
get 20 minutes tops before their minds will start to wander.
Doesn't matter how good the material is, this is just the human brain wandering from
lack of stimuli.
The more you get your students to directly engage in what their learning, the better.
Finally, the great question any workshop teacher must answer: do I split the class or not?
It's inevitable that you're going to get people of a variety of different experience
and skill levels walking into your class, so do you split them by experience and offer
a slightly different lesson to different people or do you give everyone the same lesson?
There is a wide, wide variety of opinions on this point but for me the answer is to
teach everyone the same lesson.
I've tried it both ways and I always feel like when I split a class that what winds
up happening is that I give several people more individualized instruction but the quality
of it isn't as good because my brain is working on several lessons simultaneously.
When I give a full group a single lesson it's much more focused and structured.
I know that when we have people in a class that are past the skill level we're aiming
for we get a little nervous and want to keep them engaged.
Honestly, I find that people more often will stick around for a solid and engaging lesson
even if it's something they already know how to do.
That said, tons of people that I respect and consider great teachers do split their classes.
See what you feel works best.
So you've taught your workshop--you're done, right?
Not so fast.
How do you know if your students had a positive experience or even if they learned the material?
The first thing I highly recommend is making doing a brief review of what you've covered
in class.
Ask the people in your class to get out their video cameras or cell phones as you do this
so they have the information to take home with them.
It's been scientifically proven that summarizing information like this at the end of a class
leads to greater retention--help those brains grow!
Next: collect feedback from your class.
This doesn't have to be immediate.
What I recommend is using Google Drive to create a submission form where people evaluate
the material the class covered, you as an instructor, and give you feedback as to which
parts of the class were the most and the least effective.
I have a template that I use for my own classes and I'll link to it down in the description
of this video for you to take a look at yourselves.
Bring a notebook with you to class and ask for people's email addresses.
Then send them an email--make sure all their addresses are BCCed--that includes a link
to that Google Form after they get back from the festival.
This kind of feedback is freaking awesome because it'll enable you to chart over time
the satisfaction of the people taking your classes, your effectiveness as a teacher,
and you'll often find that your students have great suggestions you may never have
thought of yourself.
If you've got a Facebook Fan Page, link to it in on the event page after the event
is done, thanking the people who attended your classes so they can follow your work
if they'd like to.
Cool, so you've taught your workshop and gotten feedback on it--now what?
Well, it's time to refine what you have and make it a better class.
You've taught the class and seen what you thought went well and what didn't.
Plus you have your students' feedback to work with, too.
Take a look at things that didn't go well.
Did your students single them out, too?
Maybe they should be cut in the future or maybe you should try to find a different way
to go about teaching them.
Did your lesson go too long?
Consider cutting one or two sections out.
You might be getting too ambitious in what you're trying to cover.
Hold onto the things your students really found rewarding if you can.
If not, maybe they can be spun off into a completely different workshop.
Teach and reteach your workshop to find what works and what doesn't.
I have a workshop I've been doing now for nearly 5 years and I'm still refining it.
As time goes on, people change and will walk into your classes with different levels of
preexisting knowledge.
Adapt to it to keep your workshop fresh.
I'm going to offer one more piece of advice when it comes to teaching workshops: take
other people's workshops.
Even if it's on a topic you already know.
Especially if it's on a topic you already know.
See what the teacher does and take notes.
What are the things they do well and the things they don't?
When do the students start to get restless and why.
Being a good teacher means assimilating as much of this information as you can.
You're not the source of all good or bad ideas.
See how other people work and it'll help you refine your own process.
Hope this was helpful!
Teaching workshops is one of my favorite parts of the flow experience and one I look forward
to every time I do it.
What are your best tips for teaching workshops?
Let me know down in the comments.
Thanks so much for watching and enjoy the flow.
Peace.
Hey!
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Thanks so much in advance!
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