Top Tips For Teaching Yoga In Schools - Tip #4: Implement and Reflect

Hi there!

Whether you’re just joining us, or you’ve been keeping up with the blog so far, you’ll notice that this week, our tips move more from planning into action! Over the course of this blogging journey, I’ll be providing tips from all aspects of my journey teaching yoga in schools: from the interview process, to classroom management gems, to how to plan for conversations with school administrators, to how to manage budgets and so much more!

Last week, I talked about backwards planning, and how it’s an essential step in creating a scope and sequence, or a plan for the program you’re looking to create. 

This week’s tip talks about the importance of implementing, and reflecting as you begin to build your program.

Tip #4: Implement and Reflect

After getting clear on your vision, and backwards planning, the next step is to find a group of kids--whether it’s your neighbor’s kids, your own child and their friends, or students you already teach from, say, a studio class-- and test out your plans on them. It doesn’t matter the size of the group, where you find them, or how long you teach them for--this step is more for you to practice, gather data, and reflect. 

This group will be your guinea pig group, where you’ll get to see what aspects of your program work, and what aspects don’t.

This step isn’t about perfection--it’s about testing what works and what doesn’t--both for you, and for your group of students. You’ll want to take notes after each class on things you noticed, how students responded, and more. To this day, I still have sticky notes everywhere and random emails to myself to let myself know how I want to change a specific lesson the next time I teach it.

This informal data will come in handy as you move into the process of approaching and interviewing with school administrators, as it will allow them to see that you’re able to adapt and refine your craft, both of which are crucial skills when teaching in schools and classrooms.

Tip Takeaway: Find a group of kids (preferably around the age-group you want to teach), and practice, practice, practice. Take notes on your observations and reflections after each class, and keep them in a safe space for when you begin the interview process.