Planning Successful Parent Observations
How to Plan Successful Parent Observation Times
Many ballet schools have a set time (like the last 10 or 15 minutes of class) every month, session, or semester, in which they invite parents into the classroom to watch their child dancing. Because this is often one of the few chances parents get to see their child dancing in the ballet classroom, it’s important to make a good impression.
Teach Your Parents*
This doesn’t mean teaching your students’ parents how to dance. (Although, having your students help teach their parents how to do a simple step like a plié or tendu correctly may not be a bad exercise to show parents how detailed and difficult ballet can be.) What we mean here is to explain to your parents the purpose of a step or exercise. Why is free dancing important? For very young children, how does moving across the floor like an animal translate to moving across the floor in ballet steps later? Let them know that marches and passé walks prepare students for skips. Or maybe let them know what level of technique is expected of children in a particular age group. Telling parents the why’s and how’s behind an exercise or movement will instill more confidence in you as their child’s teacher.
Manage Expectations
Sometimes parents have incorrect expectations going into a parent observation time. It can be helpful to send them an email or send home a handout in the previous class, letting them know the do’s and don’ts during observation time. Will you allow parents to take pictures and videos the entire time, part of the time, or not at all? Will they need to be quiet? How should they act during this time?
Plan, Plan, Plan
Of course, you’ll want everything to go smoothly during the parent observation time. Be sure you have a plan of what you’ll have students do during this time. Don’t wing it. In fact, have more planned than you can show, for backup. If an exercise or activity isn’t going so well, don’t be afraid to scrap it and quickly move on to something else.
Show at Least One Fun Activity
You’ll want to show some technique--some steps or movements students have been working on that will resonate with parents as technical ballet (or close to technical ballet, depending on the age group). Some kind of a little combination or dance can also be great to give students performing practice. But don’t be afraid to include at least one fun activity. Parents want to know their children are learning, but they also want to know that their children are happy and having fun in ballet class. It can be especially effective to end a parent observation with something fun--something so that parents will leave with smiles on their children’s faces.
* If you’re following the Once Upon A Ballet Curriculum, our Teaching Technique pages can be a valuable resource for teaching parents during observation times. If you can’t think of what to explain to parents in terms of the why’s and how’s of a step, choose a step from one of our Teaching Technique pages. Let parents know what their child should be learning according to our curriculum, some of the things you watch out for when your students are learning that step, and some of the ways you correct frequent mistakes for that step. Much of this is laid out for you in the Teaching Technique pages.
Happy Dancing!
Ashley Hartford
Founder + Owner, Once Upon a Ballet
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