I was asked to contribute to a Facebook group called the Acro Study Group. The premise of the group is to share ideas, lesson plans, video tutorials, and progressions for teachers. I’m not such a fan of revealing my methods – that’s what teacher trainings are for – but I have been putting together some thoughts to share in the group.
- Students should come away exhausted. There should be at least 1 muscle failure due to exhaustion – ideally 3. At the end of class I want them to feel it for the rest of the day and into the next. If we have warmup it is specifically to recruit muscle groups we will use for the actual content of the class. I do not believe in warming up or stretching for the purposes of the class – that is the students responsibility. I do not believe in warm downs or therapeutics at the end of class. Students should have their own self care practice which is done on their own time and not in class. We do not waste precious class time on preparing or recovering from class time.
- My classes are not a group workout activity in which a student can expect a well rounded exercise experience. Go somewhere else for that. We do detailed work on specific combinations of emotional, physical, and intellectual engagement and recruitment. Our goals include getting better at training and our practices. Not at getting exercise for exercise sake.
- I teach alone most of the time. The idea being that I am fully responsible for owning what is presented. I try not to give myself the opportunity to hide behind a partner. I encourage all the students I have had who go on to teach in their own right to do it by themselves. When I ask for subs for my classes I only ask one person to do it. They often invite partners to come with them but I always encourage them to do it by themselves and not to seek a partner for same.
I’m not very good at any of the above. I’m learning to get better. I assume I will add to this but I wanted to get this off my notebook.