My Metaphor for Teaching: Choreography
My journey in education has been a little bit all over the place, but looking back, teaching has actually been a part of my life for a very long time. I began teaching dance when I was a teenager, and since then I have worked with students of many different ages, abilities, personalities, and learning styles. Although a dance studio is very different from a traditional classroom, it has been my first real experience of what it means to be a teacher. It has taught me patience, adaptability, creativity, and most importantly, that every student needs something a little bit different from you.
My own experiences as a student have also shaped the teacher I want to become. The teachers who have influenced me the most have not necessarily been the ones whose classes were the easiest. Instead, they were the teachers who made me feel comfortable enough to ask questions, encouraged me when I was struggling, and took the time to explain why, rather than simply telling me what to do. I have always appreciated teachers who made an effort to know me as a person and made me feel like they genuinely wanted me to succeed. Those are qualities that I hope to carry into my own classroom.
Some of my most memorable learning experiences have happened when I have been pushed outside of my comfort zone. I have learned that I do not need to immediately be good at something for the experience to be valuable. Sometimes the moments where I feel confused, challenged, or even frustrated are the moments when the most growth happens. This is something I try to remind my dance students of as well. I want them to feel safe enough to make mistakes and understand that learning is a process.
Teaching is Choreography
The metaphor I chose for teaching is choreography.
When I create a dance, I usually begin with an idea of where I want to go, but the finished product rarely looks exactly how I first imagined it. I have to consider the dancers in front of me… their strengths, their challenges, their personalities, and what they each bring to the piece. Sometimes something I planned does not work, and I have to change it. Sometimes a dancer brings something completely unexpected that makes the piece better than what I originally envisioned.
I think teaching is very similar.
A teacher can create a lesson plan and have a clear goal, but once students enter the picture, teaching requires flexibility. You cannot simply teach the lesson; you have to teach the students who are actually in front of you. Just like dancers, students will not all learn in exactly the same way or at exactly the same pace.
Choreography also requires a balance between structure and freedom. I can give dancers steps, direction, and tools, but eventually I have to give them space to make the movement their own. I believe teaching should work the same way. My role as a teacher is not to create identical learners. It is to provide students with guidance, support, knowledge, and opportunities, while allowing them to discover who they are as learners.
To me, teaching is choreography because you can plan the steps, but the people in the room are what bring the learning to life.