Posts
Knowing Your Worth (Without the Drama)
"Knowing your worth isn't about walking into a staff meeting with demands. It's about walking into your work with clarity." A Conversation Years in the Making Earlier this Spring, I...
Emotional Resilience: A Skill We All Need
"Life doesn't get easier-you just get better at handling difficult situations." What I've Learned About Emotional Resilience One thing that I've learned as I grow personally and professionally is what...
Keep Everyone Engaged: Fun and Focused Caregiver & Tot Dance Class Activities
Consistent Lesson Planning is Key When planning my early childhood dance classes, I always build activities around a consistent lesson plan framework. This approach not only creates a reliable structure...
Making the Most of Your Show Lobby
Use your recital theater lobby as a place to make your entire studio shine! Your Show Lobby is a First Impression When it's showtime, we focus so much of our...
Preschool Classroom Success: Obstacle Courses
When I created my classroom management plan, I first identified where my class became distracted and off-track. Then, I put a strategy in place to avoid the off-track behavior so...
A Plan Can Save the Day
Are you a planner or a procrastinator? Do you love to make lists and check off tasks or do you prefer to go from project to project and finish things...
The Venn Diagram Life
I often joke that I live within a Venn Diagram. As studio owners, we can perhaps break our lives into three, round circles - Work, Housekeeping, Family & Leisure. Of...
Preschool Classroom Success: Meeting the Needs of the Developing Child
Have you heard the phrase Maslow before Bloom? Before our students can perform at their best and work their way through Bloom's Taxonomy (a hierarchy of learning objectives), they must...
6 Ways to Keep Your Students Engaged
As we kick off a new season, it is important to spend some time thinking about ways that to keep your students engaged and excited to come back week after...
Classroom Success: Catch & Reel Tools
Play Video Andrea Trench is dedicated to helping dance teachers create and deliver content that is research-based and developmentally appropriate for children under the age of 6. Her primary focus is...
Are You Ready?
As we begin another season of dance, I want to ask you "Are you ready?" Are you ready for the hustle and bustle in the hallways, the questions, the schedule,...
Preschool Classroom Success: First Day Prep
For many of us, another dance season is upon us. We are excited to get back into the studio and impact the lives of children like no other experience allows....
Acknowledge, Recognize & Encourage Your Students
As Mary Kay says, "There are two things that people want more than money, recognition, and praise." Our students are no different. They seek both recognition and praise from us...
Preschool Classroom Success: Transitions
We spend so much time planning our class activities, choosing our music, and incorporating props to enrich our learning environment. During all of this planning, we may forget to also...
Summer is the Time to Get Ahead
As dance teachers and studio owners, our summers are much different than the rest of the year. This is a time that we can get ahead, coast, or get behind....
Must-Have Preschool Props
Now is a great time to organize, order, and prepare your class props for your next session! As you are creating your early childhood dance class plans for the new...
Life After Recital
Months and months of planning go into our annual recitals. We pour our hearts and souls into every detail to make sure it is a success and in a matter...
50 Preschool Class Activities
I've collected some of my favorite class activities to share with you. These songs are categorized by the concept they explore. (You can read more about conceptual teaching here). Although many...
Celebrate Your Seniors
As you are planning the end of your season, it is important to take a few minutes and think of a few ways that you can celebrate your graduating seniors....
FUNday ONE-Day Camps
One-day camps are a fantastic way to bring additional excitement (and revenue) to your studio! Unlike a multiple day camp that is limited to longer breaks such as summer or...
Breathe
I will simply breathe. I have a confession to make…as I sit here on Sunday evening, I have tremendous anxiety about my upcoming show. Yep, the girl who always "has...
Get Recital Ready
Dance Teachers, it is time to get your classes Recital Ready. There are many ways to prepare your classes for the stage to ensure they feel confident and it is...
Coffee Talk: Episode 18
Play Video Looking for fresh ideas for the classroom and biz? This is going to inspire you, guaranteed! GUESTS
Worth vs. Work
"Your worth is not measured by your productivity." Read that again. We do this, don't we? We measure our worth by how much we have to do, by the amount...