Im Going to Make you do it!

So, student teaching has been fun lately. Im not a fan of making lesson plans for every class, but I like teaching the students. Today was especially fun. I have about 40 students in a beginning dance 1 class and they are great students. But sometimes its hard for them to want to be involved because class starts at 7:30 in the morning. Usually they do fine, but this morning most of the class was lazy and tiered.

When I started warm up I noticed about 10 people not doing it full out. This warm up includes push ups and sit ups and some other activities that include full body movement. I made the whole class do the warm up again because not everyone was participating. I wasn't mean about it, I just said, "Ok, we are going to do it again, because not everyone participated" and just started doing the warm up again. Sadly, i still had some students not participate in full the second time around. So what did I do? Again! I made them do part of the warm up again! The students did the warm up about 3 times. I knew that they were going to hate me, but I wanted everyone to participate.

Surprisingly, I didn't have to worry about everyone participating the rest of the class period. I warned them after the warm up that if people did not dance full out during the center sequence, across the floor, etc. I would make them go back and do it. I told my students that it was important to me that everyone participate and put their minds to it. I put the responsibility on the students and it worked like a charm! I even had one girl (who is a great participator) warn the class that she would be upset if she had to do it again.

Overall, i felt like it was one of the best classes I have taught so far at Timpview. Because everyone was involved the rest of the class period, there was a nice energy and everyone was having fun by the end.

I will continue to teach this way! "IM GOING TO MAKE YOU DO IT!" (I wont say that to the students, but kinda) :)