Amanda’s Teaching Philosophy

My work as a teacher focuses on creating a learning environment that supports students; meeting each student where they are and helping them to meet their goals and needs. My goal is to create an environment of exploration, self-expression, healing, and community inside of my classroom. My student-centered teaching approach allows for each individual student to feel that their artistic journey is being represented and addressed. My classroom focuses on the growth of the students. Growth can be defined in a variety of ways, mastering technical skills, emotional growth, exploring new concepts, or expanding their knowledge surrounding movement and how it connects to the world. Regardless, the studio should be a welcoming place for students. I believe students learn best when they are in welcoming and inclusive spaces. In part, I also allow for the ability for students to choose what is best for them rather than forcing movement and ideas on them. For example, if a student is not ready to take on a concept or movement yet, I welcome them to only take on what they are ready for. This could also mean giving students variations on movement material until they are ready for the full bodied experience.

Students have autonomy to choose their focus in class. To help facilitate this, I ask my students what they would like to focus on for a set of weeks or for a particular class. Inside of my lesson plans, I explore how a student might apply their goals to the movement material. Reflective of democratic pedagogy, this can also be framed via a discussion in small groups or with the whole class. However, I find it important to individualize the class for each student. I think that this is important so that each student feels like their needs and wants from the class are recognized and given the attention they deserve. Inside of this classroom structure, I am able to better gauge what I need to incorporate into the class to keep the students engaged and progressing through the content. In assessing and evaluating students, I believe that an occasional check-in with the student one-on-one to discuss their goals and progress is helpful for myself as well as for the student.

For a more inclusive and community atmosphere, the use of small groupings or partners to talk about each students’ goals is very supportive. In these activities, students are able to hear other student ideas and possibly explore how this idea feels, informs their movement and thinking, as well as creates a community among peers. In this way, students are able to help one another and brainstorm ideas to assist each other as they progress in their personal journey. Through this practice, my goal as the facilitator is for students to be able to experience kinesthetic empathy and use that to expand their knowledge of understanding others as well as broaden their own idea of how movement can be used, felt, and seen.

Tailoring my lesson plans to the needs and wants of my students is extremely important to creating a welcoming and positive classroom environment as well as the language and feedback used to assist students to meeting their goals. I believe that dance has a way of revealing things about ourselves whether it be identity, confidence, emotional intelligence, as well as physical abilities. It is vital that students be nurtured in an encouraging environment to promote optimal and inclusive growth to achieve a true sense of self.