Teaching ATM better

Yesterday, I met with two groups of fellow Feldenkrais® teachers committed to teaching ATM® better.

During the first meeting — still inspired by the conversation that followed the AY a Day lesson the evening before — I deviated from the conversational format I’d originally proposed. After disclosing some of my early endeavors to make Awareness Through Movement® more accessible (including one of my greatest — and most significant — failures), I addressed the ways we talk about the method and our approaches to teaching ATM, suggesting how we might improve.

Our exchange turned to what it means to create an environment for learning and the practicalities of teaching when some of the participants recounted recent experiences and told us the questions they’ve been pondering, such as:

What’s the role of touch in teaching ATM?

How do we deal with the challenge of drop-in classes?

The second session followed more closely my initial invitation — to discuss the questions folks are asking themselves about what we have to offer to our classes and how we offer it. During a conversation that focused mostly on how we present the method, the attendees spoke openly and candidly about their experiences, expressed their ideas, and, much to my delight and relief, they questioned and challenged things I’d said. All of this made for a wide-ranging, lively, eye-opening interchange.

During each session, I also gave a brief introduction to the new version of RETURNING TO THE SOURCE, the start of which was just moved to next week.

Both sessions were recorded and Gifford, MIMO’s cybrarian, has already uploaded the recordings to the website. The links below take you to the video and the audio files, which you can then stream or download to the device of your choice.

Teaching ATM better - Session 1
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)

Teaching ATM better - Session 2
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)

If you’re curious about what I’ve learned from teaching RETURNING TO THE SOURCE (RTTS) seven times in the past couple of years and how that motivated me to upgrade the course’s design and change the ways I’ll teach ATMs for the upcoming eighth edition, please check out this recent blog.

Now that the start of the program’s been moved forward until next week, if you have yet to take this course, you’ve still got a chance to sign up! Even better: if you enroll any time up until the end of early registration at 11:59 PM California time on Sunday, 6 October, you save $50.

• If you want to teach ATM better next year . . . why wait until January to make a resolution? Get a head start on 2020 now.
• If you’ve got questions, please let us know so we can find a time to connect.

If you’d like to join in but the timing’s not right for you, RTTS will be offered next year. Please let us know you’re interested so we can add you to the priority notification list.