Day Four - If You Could Have Anything You Wanted As An AT Teacher, What Would That Be?

The Prince of Print, Gary Halbert, was famous for a simple question he posed to marketers in his seminars. Anyone in the direct marketing business knows this story - and I've told it before - so if you don't know it, get your education going by reading my old blogs from here. Imagine your Self as an Alexander Technique teacher who could have one wish granted to you. What would that be? What do you want the most - what would help your career the most? Stop for a moment and answer that question in your mind…. Then read on. Halbert posed this question around the idea of opening a hamburger store. He asked his audience: "If you can have anything you want to start your business, what would that be?" People said things like: the best beef, an original recipe, a beautiful location by the beach, low prices etc. Then Halbert told them what he wanted: a starving crowd. It's not about you, it's about them. It's about what they want, not what you want. If you can get only this idea, you actually got it all. Why Do You Want A Starving Crowd? [NOTE: This second half of my blog is a paid area describing ideas and exercises (to design and market groups) which are explored in a closed Facebook group together with 42 other teachers and students. Join now for less than the cost of one lesson - and get 30 lessons in return this month! Don't miss all the discussions, join now.] Many reasons, but for an Alexander Technique teacher wanting to teach in groups, an important one is this: when you find a starving crowd, it solves the problem of what to do in class. How It Works

To switch from the "Alexander-is-a-feeling" model to the "Alexander-is-thinking" model, you need material to work with. It's no longer about "let's put my hands on and see what happens". That works to create an agenda, but it puts you into the feeling model. This just doesn't play well in a group setting - but you know that already. That's why you are here. Let your students supply you with material. Their desire is the most powerful ingredient to ensure your group teaching is successful, regardless of how good or bad you believe you are. When they are getting what they want, they don't notice you having a panic attack. Make sure your groups are 80% student-driven learning events, then you no longer have to worry about how to plan them. You stay there in contact - listening, watching, waiting for your unconscious to supply the information you need to say, do or think in the next moment of your teaching. It's like a Disneyland experience - you never know what the rollercoaster will do next. Be afraid, but don't call it fear, experience it as exhilaration. How do you turn it into that? Like you do in Disneyland - understand you are safe! Understand that nothing will go wrong. That's why it is so fun on the rollercoaster - sure your heart beats fast, you even scream, but you love it! You want it! You even paid money for it. Because you know you won't die, you know nothing will go wrong. People do this every day and it is OK. You are OK. Trust that, and you'll be fine. Be a child again and start teaching in your group with that gay abandon. Ask "What do you want to do?" and only move on when an idea appears from your student. You owe them that. That is not something you do before you begin to teach, this is what you are teaching: self-responsibility, autonomy. Give your student that job, and suddenly you don't need to plan what to do in your groups. Then trust. Your Self. Your Abilities. Your deep, deep knowledge born from thousands of hours of experience. Trial This Approach in Your 121 Lessons You don't need a group to start experimenting this way. See if you can implement this in your lessons. How? First by gently asking the question every lesson. At first they will be surprised, perhaps unable to assist you. So you continue your usual way, but ask again next lesson. And again, and again, and again. Eventually, as they are coming to your lessons, they will start thinking: "Oh, Jeremy is going ask me what I want to do today. Oh dear. What do I want to do?" You are actually helping them to take more responsibility - to start noticing their daily activities, getting curious about things, coming to the lesson with questions. This is how you start group teaching. In your 121 environment. Please make an experiment like this with a few of your private lessons. If you are a student in a training school, then flip the experiment the other way: insist to your teacher on doing an activity other than chair or table work. Imagine you are the teacher, then notice what your teacher does differently. What have you got to lose? Nothing. What a great gamble that is: the worst that can happen is you end up with what you already had. How good is that? Let us know what happened: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ATCSProMembers/