Creating the Super Teacher
Tiffany Henderson with Amanda Scott
Twinkle Star Dance
Why are good Children’s Dance Teachers so important to the success of our dance studio businesses?
Close to 90% of dance studios are comprised of children ages 2 - 12 which makes up the majority of your business. If you are the Studio Owner and you are teaching all the classes yourself, you simply cannot manage your dance studio business in a way that it can actually grow.
Good Children’s Dance Teachers are the pathway to growth. They enable you to step away and improve your work/life balance. Dance Teachers are the lifeblood of any dance studio and will make or break the future financial and emotional success of your dance studio business.
Why is finding good children’s dance teachers so difficult? Teaching Dance is a niche market and the pool of qualified dance teacher applicants is sparse and sometimes non-existent. Dance Teachers often come to you with different backgrounds and training, mostly with no “preschool” or “school-aged” dance teaching experience.
Common Dance Teacher applicants are only proficient in select styles or might have limited time in their schedule due to second or other full time job. Dance Teachers might also have limited availability due to geographical restrictions. Unfortunately, even if they come to you with an excellent dance education, most Universities and professional training programs don’t educate or ready dance students for a career teaching preschool or school-aged children dance.
After nearly twenty years owning a dance studio, I can confidently say that there is good news - while it is difficult to find Super Teachers, with the right tools we can create them.
What is a Super Teacher? A Super Teacher is an energetic, passionate, knowledgeable Dance Teacher who can teach a variety of styles, levels, and ages. Sounds dreamy right? You have the power to create Super Teachers. As a studio owner you are proficient in training dancers as young as two years old dance steps of many styles. This is proof that you can also train a full grown adult any style in dance with the proper resources and procedures.
In my experience with potential teacher applicants it is not that they don’t want to teach preschool and school-aged dancers, it is that they don’t know what or how to teach them. Say hello to your newest set of dance students - your dance teachers!
How can you Create a Super Teacher? All that you need is the raw materials - dance experience, passion and a love for children. Then follow the four easy steps below:
- Purchase or Develop a Complete Class Curriculum - Must include actual class Video and Lessons Plans, Music, Teacher Methods, and Monthly Updates. Class Curriculum has to include the full class - choreographed warm ups, center skill building exercises, across the floor progressions, and class combinations. Miss Suzie who was a Modern Dance Major needs to have a clear path for teaching her first 6-9 year old Hip-Hop Class. She simply cannot do this with a list of terms!
- Prepare Written Lesson Plans, Music Playlists, and Teaching Methods Notes for each teacher.
- Email protected Link and Password to teacher training video galleries to each teacher ahead of training session for reference before and after sessions.
- Plan Teacher Training Sessions - Allow at least one hour for each age division and style.
Sample Training Session Schedule:
Day 1
9am - 10am - Twinkle Babies Ages 2-3
10am - 11am - Twinkle Stars 3-4
11am - 12pm - Twinkle Stars Ages 4-5 and 5-6
12pm - Lunch
12:30 - 1:30 - Show Stars Jazz Ages 5-7 and 7-11
1:30 - 2:30 - Show Stars Ballet Ages 5-7 and 7-11
2:30 - 3:30 - Show Stars Hip-Hop Ages 5-7 - and 7-11
3:30 - 4:30 - Show Stars Tap Ages 5-7 and 7-11
Day 2
10am - 10:30am - Mock Twinkle Babies 2-3
10:30 - 11:15 - Mock Twinkle Stars 3-4
11:15 - 12:00 - Mock Twinkle Stars 4-5
12pm - 12:30pm - Lunch
12:30 - 1:30 - Preschool Teaching Methods
1:30 - 2:30 - Show Stars Teaching Methods
Ready to start creating your Super Teachers? Get started with our trademarked Twinkle Star Dance Curriculum here.