Being an extremely poor teenager,I have been thinking about possible jobs for the upcoming school year.

...Well,then I thought of how fun it would be to be an assistant teacher in a little kids ballet class!I mean,I love to dance,and I love little kids (as well as working with them),so,I got in contact with one of the local ballet schools,and asked if it would be at all possible for me to do something like that.

I got a very quick response,and,the program director said that I had great timing because they just hired two new ballet teachers for Pre-Ballet and Ballet 1 and 2,and it would be very helpful to have an assistant,especially with the littlest kids.She was especially nice about it because I've been a student there for a long time...She said that she would have to get back to me on how much they could pay me,but you know what?Even if I didn't get paid,I'd probably still take this opportunity anyway!Plus,I'm sure that I'll get paid something,and that's a heck of a lot more than nothing!

So anyway,any tips,experiences or stories would be greatly welcome!

I'm starting off as an assistant this September.
I have to help a 10+ Adv. Combo class (Street Jazz & Tap)
I don't get paid, though

Good luck with your classes!

I have been an assistant for the past 2 years and I have loved every minute of it! I'm sure you will have a great time. I mostly helped out with kids from age 3-9 doing tap jazz and ballet. I dont know what ages you will be teaching or how intense your classes are for your younger kids but for me I dont expect the 3-4 year olds to always be perfect listeners so if you lead stretching they love little games and stuff it holds their attention. If you are allowed to lead a warm up the older girls loved it when i put on some upbeat disney music and let them kinda play a copy cat game where i would do some hips and jumps and twirls or just pretty much anything to get them moving before stretching...

I dont know if that is the kind of thing you were looking for but if you have any specific questions you can PM me I'd love to help you out!

-Mandie

Thanks.

The age range that I'll be assisting with will probably be from 4-8.I've worked with this age range before (assistant teacher at a nursery school last summer,and some the summer before),so I know how they are,and call me crazy,but I absolutely adore them!

the main thing i look for when i have an assistant with little ones is that you keep them under control...make sure they stay as close to in line as possible, make sure they dont talk too much or get too rowdy, hands to themselves...and so forth, you would basically be a dance babysitter...that really is the most important thing to me when i have an assistant with little ones...other than that just make sure they understand first and second position and when asked to stand in it, help them get there...well that goes for most things... GOOD LUCK!! it is alot of fun and you are very fortunate to be paid for it...most studios use it as a learning experience!!

As an assistant make sure that you are very perky and friendly but don't talk to the little ones too much, one of my assistants is great, the little ones love her but they talk to her way too much and she does too.
Tuck in their shoe strings and if they need to go potty take them out to their moms.
Help line them up and tell them when it's their turn for going across the floor.
Good luck! HTH

Thanks guys for the information/tips!

I'm also starting as a teaching assistant, and another thing that I found that was really good was that with the little ones their parents might need a babysitter, which got me another job and more money. Im an extremely poor teenager too!

^ Nice!

I start assisting in 2 weeks,and I'm super excited!