By Simone (from the 80’s Seminar Series)

BEFORE CLASSES

  1. Find a studio or building to teach in
  2. Have flyers printed
    • Name of studio
    • Day of class
    • Small map to studio location
    • Names and phone numbers of 3 people to contact for more information.
  3. Advertise
    • Take flyers to friends, stores, schools, etc.
    • Run ad in paper classified section under instructions
    • Run larger ad in paper if funds are available
    • Send a story about yourself and your clogging group if you have one to the paper — sometimes they will print it and that is great exposure.
    • Radio and TV ads are a great help, however, most of us aren’t ready to sink that kind of money into an ad.
    • If you have a team, line up performances at the local malls — hand out flyers. You will be surprised at the response you get.

REGISTRATION DAY

  1. Greet all students with a BIG smile!
  2. Give students a form to fill out with their name, address, and phone number. If the student is a child be sure to get the parent’s name.
  3. Collect the money before the class begins.
  4. Help students by knowing ahead of time where they can get shoes, taps, and records to practice with. They will ask unless you give them a hand out with all this information on it.

FIRST CLASS

  1. Try to call people by name. Learning the names as quickly as possible will be an asset to you.
  2. Make everyone feel welcome — encourage them to bring a friend with them next week. I usually sign people for three weeks. Give all the students flyers to give to their friends and post at work.
  3. Explain that the first few weeks is a lot of drill. They may feel like they are going too slow but stress this time is very important.
  4. Using the guide for “Teaching Beginners,” start them on their way!

THE FOLLOWING WEEKS

  1. Give each student a hand out with the steps they are learning. Show them how to red it. Then have them read it back to you.
  2. As you teach, walk by each student and clog with him/her for a few minutes. Special attention sometimes makes them nervous, but it pays off in the long run.
  3. Keep telling your students they are doing well; verbal praise goes a long way in building confidence of those who may be shy and self-conscious.
  4. I usually have a graduation ceremony after 12 weeks and give each student a diploma. This is a time whey they can invite their families and friends into the class to watch. Be sure to tell all the students that they will graduate — they like the thought of getting a diploma.
  5. I run my class on a “pay-by-the-month” basis. Make sure to announce the week before payday and don’t be afraid to tactfully remind everyone not to be late with their payments — you have bills to pay too!
  6. Encourage all students to attend workshops and performances where they can see good cloggers. Keep them motivated, and they will keep you motivated!

5 TO 8 YEARS OLD CLASS

  1. Give them a certain place to stand.
  2. Get them to raise their hand if they have a question or want to say something — sometimes they think of wild things during class that they want to tell you.
  3. Make friends with them. Shake their hand, hug them, pat them on the head. Sometimes the younger ones are scared of people they don’t know.
  4. If they cry or ar undisciplined try to get them to behave, but if you can’t ask them if they want to sit down. Their behavior is contagious — if one cries the others get scared and cry — if one is wild, they all want to be wild!
  5. Teaching steps:
    • Don’t spend too much time on one thing, they get bored.
    • Play music as much as possible, they like to hear it and they do better.
    • Steps in order: (remember teaching younger children is different than teaching older children and adults)
      • Start with Rock Step an each leg – do it to music.
      • Stress bending the knee on the front leg.
      • Use a rhyme that they can remember and say out loud “Up on your toe & down in a hole.” This tells them exactly what to do.
      • Double Toe — has to be taught different — “front, back, step”
      • Play a lot of follow the leader games, you have to dance, or they wan’t know what to do, they are imitating you — you must be a perfect example, if you are not and are lazy, they will be lazy.
      • Spend about 5 minutes on each thing, then move to something else, you will repeat the process two or three times during a class.