Summer journal entry #3 service

For my service part of my summer I helped Gaby at the dance studio by teaching a few dance classes for the two weeks before school started and the new teacher arrived. The classes that I taught were mini company hip hop, mini company technique, mini company combo class, and mini jazz technique and combo. During the experience I was able to use my strengths like my leadership skills and my ability to choreograph. I was also able to improve in several ways. For example, before this I had little experience in teaching younger kids so I was able to better understand what level they are at and what they need to work on to help them. I also learned techniques for better warm ups and preparation for the dance classes. What I just reflected on connects to the learning outcome: identify own strength and develop areas for growth. When I was teaching I needed to have the IB learner profile traits of open minded and caring. I needed to be open minded because I needed to understand that there were skills that the kids did not have already and since I had never taught them before I really needed to pay attention to what they had to work on. I needed to be caring because being kind and patient are both qualities that you need to teach younger kids. You really have to pay attention to them and make sure they are enjoying the class. I would do this by always asking them if they had any questions or going over difficult techniques and parts of the combos. Overall it was an amazing experience. I was able to become a better dancer through helping out at the studio. I'm truly grateful for the experience.