| i offer apprenticeships to my students who wish to become teachers. this approach is very flexible and personalized to the interests, learning style, and needs of the student.
essentially, i 'pick out' a student whom i think will make a good teacher. I approach them about considering becoming a teacher and we talk about what teacher training in the industry currently entails (such as yoga alliance standards and the discussion surrounding these standards). THen, if they decide they would like to start training, we begin our apprenticeship.
the apprenticeship is pretty unique in that it can be 'anything.' As an example, one of my apprentices observes one class a week followed by two hours of private instruction with me and then attends one class a week followed by two hours of private instruction with me. Another of my apprentices meets me each afternoon while her daughter generally naps. She hires a sitter for the hour and a half and meets in my home for instruction. She also attends 2-3 classes a week when her schedule allows. Another apprentice spends saturdays with me--observing the first class in the am, taking the second class in the am, and then spending 2-6 hours with me (when we're both available) in private instruction. So as you can see, the whole process is 'very flexible' and everyone has to 'skip weeks' now and again because of scheduling conflicts, holidays, illness, etc. But, everyone works at their own pace, their own schedule, and so on.
In these private instruction sessions, the students asks questions about what s/he observed or practiced, we go over the independent study (homework) and set questions for new homework, learn anatomy and assisting, alignment and sequencing theory, teaching methodology and professionalism, philosophy, history, etc, and even how to 'run a yoga business.' Also, i regularly hold special workshops for my apprentices--they get to know each other, study together, ask questions, and it's particularly good for learning alignment, anatomy, and assisting so that they can practice on each other before assisting in my classes.
I have 'graduated' two apprentices to date. They informed me when they felt 'ready' to graduate and we compiled their hours. One apprentice had over 500 hours of training with me. Another had 250. I wrote a letter for them breaking down their training hours, what was covered, etc, so that if they want to register with yoga alliance, they can with ease.
But, apprenticeships take a lot more dedication than regular teacher trainings IME. you work much more closely with a single teacher, that teacher can be demanding (i know i am) and really pushes you to learn, question, to be and do your best. While it's flexible on the one hand (scheduling), apprenticeships require more dedication and often more time than a 'set' teacher training because the apprentice is really driving the learning process and needs to stay focused. I also found, in my own apprenticeships with my teachers, that the concept of "feeling ready" to teach or graduate was part of the equation. instead of shooting for a 'number of hours' to meet an external standard, i was shooting for an internal sense of 'knowing what i'm doing so that i can teach safely and effectively' and i've noticed that my apprentices feel the same way. because it is so self directed and self reflective, it is often far more intensive than a program for which you simply fulfill the requirements.
good luck on your search! |
flexible teacher training
