Hi, Tessa here. Since 2002, I've been writing advice articles for West Coast Swing from my perspective as a WCS Champion and 30 years as a professional teacher and coach. My mission is to help dancers #trainWCSsmarter and teachers #teachWCSsmarter, which we do thoroughly in our Swing Literacy training programs.
These articles are my way of contributing some free, bite-sized education to the community to help inspire and motivate with practical, actionable advice for your dancing & teaching.
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I highly encourage everyone to leverage these free resources by sharing them in your community groups and with friends you know who could use them. Enjoy!
We invite you to enjoy these rare but super-effective teaching tools from our massive collection:GamificationTrained Feedback podsThe Missing W’sGood teachers are collectors, tinkerers, and experimenters. They hunt and gather for nuggets of tips and advice to scuttle home to their students in the hopes that it will entertain them and help them improve.We know, because
Since dancing tends to slow down during the summer and winter holidays, it can be stressful wondering how you’re going to pay the bills before classes start up again. You also may fear losing the momentum and enthusiasm that you worked so hard to foster in your community during the regular season.So how can a
Teaching Snack #7Your StruggleYou’re teaching new material, and the students are focused, motivated, and capable, but you find that they are confused and learning slower than you would like.One critical piece of the puzzleWe help students every day who are lost and confused. We help them step back and focus on the skills they need
Do your students pester you with questions? Do you you wish they would ask more questions?Do you wish you could always find the right answer to give them?Do they distract each other and then ask about something you just said?How a teacher handles students’ questions proves their credibility, their maturity, their empathy, and their trustworthiness. All
You get lots of people in the door for their first class. Yay! But getting them to come back? That’s another story…You managed to attract people to come to your intro class, or maybe even sign up for a Beginner series. But the enthusiasm of the first class died out quickly, as students started to
We asked WCS MEN to tell us what would get them into class. You might be surprised what they had to say! Teachers and promoters: you’re going to love me – be sure to read to the end.It’s global phenomenon: most West Coast Swing scenes in the world struggle to attract men to try WCS
We asked WCS MEN to tell us what would get them into class. You might be surprised what they had to say! Teachers and promoters: you’re going to love me – be sure to read to the end. It’s a global phenomenon: most West Coast Swing scenes in the world struggle to attract men to
There are so many great teachers out there! You might be one! But even great teachers will have limited success with the wrong tools. Let’s be logical about this and take emotion out of it: “Wrong” in this case, simply means “less effective”, or “with negative side effects”. It doesn’t mean “bad” or “useless”: just the
Even the best teachers with the best intentions have moments of unintentional subliminal teaching: when their teaching habits or advice accidentally deliver a completely different, counterproductive, undesirable lesson. Check your habits here! In this article, I’m going to talk about why certain advice backfires. Then I outline 14 typical teaching habits or advice that tend to
I have no doubt that 99% of teachers are doing the best they can with the resources they have. But the best intentions can backfire due to limited/outdated resources and misconceptions, specifically about pedagogy (the science of teaching). Diligent, humble teachers with a growth mindset constantly check themselves. Be a student of your own teaching
Do you know how to do the Electric Slide? The Wobble? The Tush Push? If I asked you to show me Waltz box step, could you? Can you join in on the Horah? Do you remember how the Shim Sham goes? How about that Go, Johnny, Go square dance? These are “dances”. They are sets of
As creators of the Swing Literacy Development Method, we train teachers on a regular basis, and get asked all the time, “What do I need to do to start teaching?”. This question is quickly qualified with assuring statements like “I know I’m not advanced level yet, but there’s no one else in my town who