“The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen.” ― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi believes that three elements must be present to create optimal experiences: voluntary motivation, worthwhile tasks, and active engagement. Like Csikszentmihalyi, it is my philosophy that a skilled educator is able to inspire students to participate voluntarily in challenging, worthwhile tasks as a means of fostering individualized student learning and growth.

One way that I inspire student ownership is by cultivating an educational environment where communication is both reciprocal and inquisitive.  I seek to increase student buy-in for learning by making clear from day one that students are not only allowed to demonstrate their curiosity and enthusiasm for learning by asking questions, vocalizing their observations, and engaging in reciprocal dialogue but rather are expected to do so.  In creating an open and communicative classroom atmosphere, I hope to increase voluntary effort and motivation during class (and hopefully outside of class as well).  In my own learning experiences, I have found that this “guide by the side” model of instruction leads to increased discussion, analysis, and critical thinking skills.  For me, inspiring voluntary effort and intrinsic motivation to learn is critical for maximizing student engagement and learning.  I believe that as an arts instructor, it is my job to develop artists who can think, not just technicians who can imitate.  It is my goal to inspire lifelong learners, not just course-specific learners.

In the studio, I seek to create challenging yet worthwhile activities.  One such activity, which I have titled “Workshop Day”, involves student performance, observation, analysis, and self-evaluation.  Students split into two groups, alternating exercises at the barre.  While one group performs, the other observes.  After each exercise, students are prompted to vocalize their observations into two categories: concepts that have been successfully accomplished and concepts that require further attention.  Additionally, I have the students film themselves with their cell phone so that they have footage to refer to later in the semester when we revisit the activity. This real-time reflection promotes critical thinking, observation, and discussion without losing a physical component of performing. Further, this activity provides me with feedback on where subsequent lessons may be best focused.  While this is just one example of a worthwhile activity, effectively varying activities like these promotes student engagement and learning.

My teaching philosophy is firmly student-centered.  I believe that a skilled teacher is goal-oriented and meets their students “where they are,” inspiring students to know what they don’t know, and motivating them to participate in educationally relevant, meaningful tasks.  Having the opportunity to be a critical agent in my students’ discoveries— and to witness these moments— is why I find such joy in teaching and have dedicated my life to sharing my knowledge with others. If I have cultivated curiosity and critical thinking in my students, then I have accomplished this mission as a teacher.