Hearing more from you!
This week I had a few more opportunities than usual to talk with some of my students outside of class time. More than once I had someone mention they’ve been keeping up with the newsletters and wondered how I could come up with something to talk about each week. I’ll admit some weeks are harder than others! However, I’m a naturally pretty chatty and open person so I enjoy sharing my thoughts, feelings and experiences with any one who cares to hear it.
In the past few weeks I’ve been trying to focus more on listening than sharing though-- with the feedback forms for our trial class at TDC ( classes to start in October! ) and the invitation to share your story in last week’s letter. Additionally, I tried to spend a few extra moments talking with my clients and students to hear from them. How is their day going? How does their body and energy feel today? What I found was that these few small moments allowed me to feel more connected to them, took the pressure off of just me delivering something to my students and rather had us both feeling more energized throughout the class by the feeling of giving and taking going on.
Having a large number of back to back classes each day I tend to rush in and out of the classrooms and feel the need to give people a full 60 minutes class of dance so that they’ll feel like they “got their money’s worth”. I realized that in my constant rush and by not checking in with students it means I’m making a lot of assumptions about what they want or need that day. Some people are there to break a sweat, while others are happy to enjoy the music or to spend time for themselves or with friends.
Hearing from you makes our classes about US. Listening to you helps me learn how to be a better instructor, but also, simply a better, more understanding student of you and your life experiences.
If you haven’t already, I’d like to invite you to share some of your story with me. Why do you come to class? What does dance mean for you? What makes you want to open your newsletter each week? I appreciate you helping me practice to listen and learn more!
Keep movin'!
xx,
Katie
換你說說話
這週我有更多的機會可以和學生們，利用課外的時間聊聊天。許多同學們不約而同地提到他們有持續在讀每週我發的電子報，很好奇我如何每週都可以找到不同題材來發揮。我必須承認有時候確是頗困難， 但是我本來就是一個蠻好聊又外向的人，所以能分享我的想法、感受、與經驗給有興趣聽的人，對我來說是一種享受。
但是，在過去的幾週我開始嘗試花更多的時間在專心傾聽，像是前週我們去試新教室TDC(下週開始在那上課囉！)大家所填寫的回饋表，以及上週在電子報中邀請大家和我分享你們的故事。除此之外，我也試著花一些額外的時間和學生們與客戶們聊聊。他們今天過得如何？他們今天的身體或是精神狀態如何？ 很特別的是，我發現這些小小的片段讓我感覺與他們更靠近，所以我們的互動不只是我教學生們一些舞步，而是互相給予關心與能量，在課程在結束後，讓彼此的心中留下一抹額外的喜悅。
每天大量一堂緊接著一堂的課，讓我覺得自己總是在教室間衝進衝出，也讓我總覺得一定要給他們上滿 60 分鐘的課，這樣他們才會覺得值回票價。我發現長期地衝進衝出進出以及沒有和學生保持互動，顯現出我一直在猜測他們當天所想要或需要的：有些人想要大流汗，但是有些人只是想要和朋友一起享受音樂。
聽到你們的心聲讓我的課變成「我們的課」。傾聽你能幫助到我學習如何當一個更好的老師，同時當一位更了解你與你的故事的學生。
如果你還沒填寫，我想要邀請你來和我分享一些你的故事：為什麼來上我的課？舞蹈對你而言代表什麼？你為什麼會想要每周點閱我的電子報？感謝你幫助我練習成為一個更好的傾聽者，並在這個過程當中學習更多 。
繼續前進！
愛你的 Katie
( Anna Liang 譯 )
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