TEACHING

Teaching Philosophy

 I find students at their most brilliant when they are engaged by their own curiosity.  In that space they are connection makers and truth finders.  Once they are in this space, the technical and anatomical work that we do next becomes accessible and personal to them. Teaching for me is not about a transmission of knowledge, but a guiding of one unique person towards key realizations.  The realization the we are conscious beings if we choose to be. That we are complete as we are. That artmaking is an avenue towards being able to express that completeness.

My work with public school students is some of the most incredibly rewarding work I do. What is unique to the public school student is the innate connection to the broader world that is created from taking dance while studying other subjects in school. 

When teaching, the approach to learning is as important as the subject matter, if not more. The states that are created, through both the classroom environment and its focused activity allow students to connect to a place inside them that allows for learning and lasting synthesis of information to take place. I am lucky to teach many of my students over the course of many years.  With them I take an approach that builds naturally on their strengths, speaks to their interests, and allows them to work, from superficial to deep, through what I call the “circles of knowing.”  First, understanding the space around them and the shapes and trajectories that they fit their body into. Then, working with breath to access energetic effort in order to be able to then dive deeply into honest intention and a nuanced awareness of effort in movement. 

I am a constructivist at heart and believe that classrooms are made effective through collaboration, community and context.  Professor George E. Hein sums up well these three concepts in notes from his presentation on the trademarks of a constructivist learning environment:

Collaboration:

Learning is an active process in which the learner uses sensory input and constructs meaning out of it. The more traditional formulation of this idea involves the terminology of the active learner (Dewey's term) stressing that the learner needs to do something; that learning is not the passive acceptance of knowledge which exists "out there" but that learning involves the learner s engaging with the world.  (Hein, p 3)

Community:

Learning is a social activity: our learning is intimately associated with our connection with other human beings, our teachers, our peers, our family as well as casual acquaintances, including the people before us or next to us at the exhibit. We are more likely to be successful in our efforts to educate if we recognize this principle rather than try to avoid it. Much of traditional education, as Dewey pointed out, is directed towards isolating the learner from all social interaction, and towards seeing education as a one-on one relationship between the learner and the objective material to be learned. In contrast, progressive education (to continue to use Dewey's formulation) recognizes the social aspect of learning and uses conversation, interaction with others, and the application of knowledge as an integral aspect of learning. (Hein,3)

Context:

Motivation is a key component in learning. Not only is it the case that motivation helps learning, it is essential for learning. This idea of motivation as described here is broadly conceived to include an understanding of ways in which the knowledge can be used. Unless we know "the reasons why", we may not be very involved in using the knowledge that may be instilled in us. even by the most severe and direct teaching.  (Hein, p.4)[1]

When a student is invited to be an active participant and guiding force in their education, they glean the agency necessary for change.  When they are able to enter into this process with dialogue and input from classmates who are on the same journey, they have true community support in that endeavor.  When this learning is connected directly to an increase in professional competency and given real world application, then the contextual connection has been forged and a student will take the initiative to master that area of study willingly.

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[1] Hein, Prof. G. (October 15-22, 1991) Constructivist Learning Theory: The Museum and the Needs of People CECA (Conference Presentation).International Committee of Museum Educators Conference, Jerusalem, Israel.

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