Top Tips For Teaching Yoga In Schools -Tip #3: Backwards Plan
Hi there, and welcome back!
If you’re new here, each Tuesday and Saturday I’ll be sharing a top tip for teaching yoga in schools. These are tips I’ve gathered over my six years teaching yoga and mindfulness full-time as a for-credit class at a middle school. These tips focus on everything from how to get your foot in the door, to what to charge, to tips for teaching your class and SO much more.
If you’re looking to dive deeper, beyond these tips, I have just THREE spots left in my 1:1 mentorship program for my late winter / early spring 2021 session. (I only work with 5 clients at a time), so head to this link to sign up and learn more!
This week’s tip is one of my favorites, because it’s the first step in going from vision to execution!
If you haven’t read Tip #1 or Tip #2 yet, go ahead and do so now, and then come back to this tip.
Enjoy, and let me know how it goes!
Tip #3: Backwards Plan
This week, your challenge is to begin creating a scope and sequence. What, you might ask, is that?
It’s a large-scale breakdown of the content you’re going to teach each “unit” (or each week, depending on how often you see your students). When we create a scope and sequence we backwards plan, and start with the end in mind.
So, you’ll want to refer back to your vision to create this essential question:
What is it that you want your students to be able to do or articulate at the end of their time with you? Why?
Write your essential question down at the top of your paper.
Once that is clear, ask yourself, “What do my students need to know to get there?”
Write these statements or questions underneath of your essential question. Write down any and all that you think are important.
Once all of your questions are written down, begin to organize them. Which of those tasks makes the most sense to teach first? Second? And so on….
As you answer these questions, you’ll begin to formulate a plan for your class, and figure out the order in which you want and need to teach poses and content.
Tip Takeaway: Backwards planning will help you create a rough outline, or scope and sequence, for your program, which you’ll want to create ahead of time and share with principals and school administrators during the interview process.