The Teacher's Exchange: An opportunity to build community and support; an chance to inspire, be inspired, share and learn; a moment to slow down and share our work, to discover our roles as teachers, mentors and students.
"No one achieves anything in life on one's own." Deng Ming-Dao
The Teacher's Exchange is a small way for us as movement teachers to share the path together and support one another through challenge and success. It is so easy to get involved in the moment to moment of teaching, working and achieving that we often loose track - unintentionally - of our greater path as teachers.
I can't imagine a more important gift to be given: to be a teacher and to teach.
It is with gratitude for you that we start this endeavor. We have many hopes and ideas for what the Teacher's Exchange might become and lead to, but it is with curiosity and a sense of openness that we begin.
Teacher's Exchange is:
- First and foremost, a place to laugh, have fun, find and share the joys of teaching
- A place to share what kind of teacher you are and want to be
- A place to share what inspires you, what challenges you and just outright perplexes you
- A place to tell stories, ask questions and learn
- A place to build support for ideas, endeavors and goals
- And really anything else you imagine it to be
How we started:
Teacher's Exchange began as an idea spurred by our involvement with the Philanthropy and Outreach program for the United Pilates Collective (UPC) out of San Francisco. The UPC is a professional organization for Pilates teachers that supports teachers in their training, businesses and beyond.
The discussion of philanthropy and outreach in the Pilates community lead us to identify several areas in need of attention: scholarships for professional training; community participation, outreach and volunteerism; teacher collaboration; resources for teachers.
We have learned the hard way that starting simple is more often then not, the wisest path. So, we started the Teacher's Exchange.
So far it consists of monthly gatherings the last Sunday of each month from Noon - 2 at our studio, Pilates Collective and this Blog.
From here, we see where it takes us.
Other elements in the works:
- A forum for a quarterly column or article related to skillful teaching
- Collaboration with veteran teacher, Carol Appel, on a six month workshop series for supporting teachers beyond the Method: Beyond The Technique – Business Skills, Savvy, & Strategies For a Thriving Pilates Business.
See our website for details. pilatescollective.com. Begins February 5th, 2010.
- The Teacher's Exchange Newsletter: A Resource for Pilates Professionals.
Sign up by emailing us at info@pilatescollective.com.
We hope you will join us on this journey. You can start by sharing any thoughts you have about teaching movement whether it's Pilates or Yoga or any other kind of practice.
We can't wait to hear from you.
No comments:
Post a Comment