Jeremy Chance

What Kind of Teacher Am I?

In teaching others, what do you aim for first? Cognitive clarity or sensory reliability? An educational process that guides a student towards autonomy necessitates them gaining a cognitive clarity relating to their new experiences. Alexander’s story, his first approach to the process of re-education, is one of gradually developing his cognitive clarity so that he could generate experiences of improving co-ordination. Ironically, he did not ask his students to follow his initial approach, but instead evolved a second approach that basically turned everything upside down: experience came first, with cognitive clarity following in its wake.

In this first workshop we explore the questions:
What would my teaching look like if I followed Alexander’s first approach, rather than his second? And how am I already doing that?

A Practical Plan for Teaching Groups

The alternative pedagogical approach introduced in the first workshop becomes the centre piece of this workshop. Using Alexander’s story “Evolution of a Technique” as our basis, a 9 step learning plan evolves for the alternative pedagogy introduced in the first workshop: 1-Intention(s), 2-Researching, 3-Interpreting, 4-Supporting, 5-Testing, 6-Formulating, 7-Applying, 8-Assessing & 9-Integrating.
With its primary emphasis on developing cognitive clarity, this pedagogy shines in a group teaching situation. However, contrary to expectations, the use of touch, and the development of these skills, continues to be an essential and central tool in the application of this teaching pedagogy.

Jeremy Chance has been studying Alexander’s discoveries since 1969. He is the author of “Principles of the Alexander Technique” now published in four languages. He originally trained in London during the 70’s and continued his studies with Marjorie Barstow in the 80’s. From 1985 to 2002 he was the Publisher & Editor of DIRECTION, a Journal on the Alexander Technique. He was a founding member of AUSTAT in Australia, and is currently a member of ATI. He is one of four Directors of a Teacher Training School with campuses in Tokyo and Kyoto, and also works as CEO of a corporation - BodyChance Ltd. - employing several of his teachers to bring the work into the Japanese consumer market. As part of this effort, he is currently involved in a radical re-structuring of his entire learning program to integrate both training and public programs so they harmonize as one within the cultural and educational milieu of Japan.


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