The following information is published with ROUNDALAB's permission from the ROUNDALAB Reference Manual compiled by Richard & Jo Ann Lawson, 1987.

Teaching Team Concepts

Joyce Hooper

This is being written to share the various methods, ideas and concepts that a teaching team can incorporate into developing their own teaching technique and style. The goal is to utilize both of your talents to the very fullest of their potential.

A teaching team should work together on the division of their responsibilities just as they do in all of their teaching assignments and develop the team concept that best suits their particular set of talents. The teaching team should always put its best foot forward for both partners.

The more festivals, weekends, and national events that you can attend will broaden your knowledge of various teaching team concepts even more than what I will be sharing with you in this article.

One observation involving a cueing team concept was observed by me while I was attending a weekend festival and this particular instance did not include teaching - but only cueing team concepts. In two couples that I observed this particular weekend, the cuers were the men in the team. In both teams, the lady (spouse) came to the stage with her cuer-husband, and sat down along side of him in from of the record boxes. The lady pulled the records for her cuer-husband and she also programmed the dances to be cued - as well as handled requests from the floor. The cuer-husband's responsibility was to learn the routine and be able to cue whatever the lady put in front of him. In both teams, she was a silent partner, as far as the actual cueing was concerned. This seemed to work very well for both of the couples that I was able to observe.

Another observation involves a teaching team concept in a round dance hall at a weekend festival. In this teaching team, the lady was the cuer and the teacher and her partner-husband was a silent partner. If the partner had any observations or comments, he would whisper them to the lady who would then relay them to the group - if she so chose to do so. In this team, one partner did the teaching and the cueing, and the other was the "silent" partner who observed.

Another observation again involved a teaching team concept in the round dance hall at a weekend festival. This team shared the responsibilities although the bulk of the cueing and the teaching was done by the lady. But her partner-husband, was not the silent partner. In fact, he carried his own hand mike, and whenever he noted a dancer problem, or had any additional comments for the man (or the ladies), he would flip his switch and speak up. The couple neve spoke over each other or disagreed with the comments of the partner. Each person referred to the other by their first name - whereas a lot of couples refer to the partner as "he" or "she" or "my partner". Although, the lady did most of the teaching (85%) and most of the cueing (90%), it was a very complimentary technique to the various teaching-cueing concepts.

If you cannot tell, I must tell you, that the last observation has become my favorite and one that I had hopes of realizing in my teaching-cueing concept. But, as I mentioned before, it must be developed between the two people and feel good for both - or it just won't work by wishing it so. I was not able to develop that type of a teaching-cueing concept until Jeff Grossman and I partnered up about one year ago. And our situation is even more enchanting because we are both singles - who love to teach and cue! I had been teaching for over 10 years and had partnered up with some 6 different partners in that period of time - all of whom were not as interested in teaching and cueing rounds as I was. Therefore, I could not develop a team teaching concept because I had partners who were willing to help me set up the equipment, teach the class (or dance) and help me load up the equipment. Everything else was up to me!

Jeff and I have developed our teaching-cueing concept and operate as a team. We are both equally committed and we have worked together to develop each other's talents and to satisfy each other's "love" in intermediate basics - both of us do the teaching. Since Jeff is also a good cuer and teacher, he teaches the men their parts and I teach the ladies their parts and the two of us do it together and then the group does it together. All of the hash cueing in class is done by myself and we share in the cueing - both at our classes and in our club programs. We have started something different in our area: we sometime will split the cueing of dance rather than Jeff cue one and I cue one. But we like to end our club program with an easy dance, that the dancers can execute to cues - and we split the cueing. For instance, I'll start the dance and cue A, Jeff will cue B and we will both cue the ending together at the same time! While I am cueing, Jeff will be talking to the dancers (careful not to talk over the cue command) telling them we enjoyed cueing their dance, thanking the caller and dancers etc. and while Jeff is cueing, I will be doing similar comments to the dancers. sometimes we even slip in an invite to a special function of ours - but we have received lots of good feedback on our personal ending to a club night. With respect to our own dance nights, we again share the cueing and the teaching - but I do the majority of it. Jeff also has his own wireless mike and "switches on" whenever he has something to say.

So sit down and talk to each other cuz there are a multitude of methods to how your team can develop their teaching team concept. You may need to experiment with a few ideas until you find the one that really fits your team. Oh yes. I even knew a couple that she did all the teaching and hash cueing and he did all of the cueing - 50/50. So figure out what you would like to project and go for it. Be as creative as you want to. After all... this is the activity that you love! And as you tell your dancers, remember to smile and have fun. This is your relaxation.

Let me hear from you...

Roundalab Journal, Winter, 1986