On teaching, and teachers, and how to become one
Weeks ago, now, a former student asked me to say something useful about "WitchCamp, and teaching, and becoming a teacher, and what I might be doing to walk that path a little faster." I asked for time to mull a bit, and then got distracted ... but here, at last, is that post.
For many of us, our first pull to teaching comes just a little early. We've learned a couple of things, found ourselves with talents we hadn't known about before thanks to the masterful teaching / leading / guidance of someone leading a class or workshop. We get home, maybe, and our friends are so impressed with us. Perhaps they ask us, straight out, to teach what we've only just learned.
For others of us, we're happily content to sit in workshops and practice on our own, and never think of teaching. Until one day we're in a workshop and realize that we could be teaching what we're being shown just now. Or until one day a friend suggests we teach.
For still others, we start off planning to be students and looking for a class. Finding nothing local, we screw our courage tight and invite an out-of-town teacher we know, promoting the possibilities to friends and neighbors until there's enough interest. And then the out-of-towner asks us to co-teach.
Some of us have significant skills and training at teaching, and it's only the material of witchcraft that's new. Others of us may be learning how to teach, or how to see ourselves as teachers, at the same time as learning what to teach.
In all of these situations, the best thing for a Witch in the Reclaiming tradition to do is to go ahead and teach. (Fair Warning: Other traditions may take an entirely different view of this; Initiatory lineages, in particular, may have clear boundaries around who is allowed to teach what, and when).
If it's your friends who ask you, they already know and trust you; you just need to honor that trust enough to say, "Look, I've only had one weekend workshop and I'm not too sure what I'm doing." And then show them what you can remember, encourage them to take notes, to experiment, to try something and notice the results.
If someone more experienced invites you to co-teach, take advantage of this opportunity. Get some practice in front of the group. Pick the brains of the lead teacher about everything -- lore, procedure, pitfalls, "how did I do on that module?" Be teachable -- willing to step away from your own way of doing things, able to accept feedback without stepping on your ego, attentive to the details as well as the overall energy.
Some people do a lot of community teaching -- anything from a weekend at somebody's house to six Sunday afternoons in a row -- before they ever apply to teach at a Witch Camp. Others put together proposals for camper-led paths until finally one of them is accepted, and only start teaching in the community after that. Either of those routes, or any other, is fine.
From my perspective, the chief difference between community teaching and camp teaching is energy management (yours as well as the group's). Teaching a weekly afternoon or evening series gives you several days to get ready for each three- or four-hour module; plenty of time for back-burner preparation and getting yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally ready, as well as the mental planning process. Teaching at camp, on the other hand, means seven to fourteen days of intense togetherness as well as teaching every day. At some camps the teaching team leads Path in the mornings, spends the afternoons planning for evening ritual, leads ritual each evening, and then stays up with campers until all hours. Camp teachers probably don't have all the privacy they're used to, may not get enough time for their personal practice, don't always have the freedom to eat what they would usually choose. And each day builds on the one before, without a break. In addition to managing your own energy in these circumstances, you also will find your team supporting the group energy of the whole camp -- which can be quite tiring.
Whether at camp or in the community, most core courses in the Reclaiming tradition are fairly loosely organized. In addition to a rough outline of the information content, each class should lead the students to acquire a skill set. The same course taught by two different people will be quite different, but if you've attended three Elements classes you'll start to see what they all have in common.
My best suggestion would be to teach Elements first. Get outlines from two or three teachers -- either ones you know, or ask friends to refer you. Get notes from two or three students, and add your own notes from when you were a student to the pile. It's generally best to schedule the class so you can devote 3 hours to each of the 5 elements, plus giving the students a chance to plan and run their own ritual at the end.
Then you need to look at who your students will likely be, so you can start to plan what's in each module. Are these newcomers -- folks who've never heard of Paganism, but they like and trust you? You'll want to explain what's meant by Elements and why we have Tables of Correspondences and how having a tool in your hand can help you focus your intention. More experienced witches will bring some of that information with them; ask yourself what they will likely to want to know -- or try out -- in your class.
Students finishing an Elements class should know the table of correspondences we use in Reclaiming (and that it's not the only system); they should be able to ground and center themselves, cast a circle, call a quarter, invoke a deity, devoke respectfully and safely. They should understand the importance of knowing the Intention of the ritual before designing the Form. They should be able to move energy, with the breath, and in at least one other way. They should be comfortable in a well-designed trance led by their teacher. They should know a few general rules about safe magic (especially the one about Don't Do Magic When Angry).
There's more than that in a typical three- to six-page outline, but you get the idea. Know what lore you want to teach them, and what skills they need to learn, and then design your class around that.
In addition to Elements, the Iron Pentacle class and the Rites of Passage class are important in Reclaiming. Both of these focus less on specifically magical skills than on life skills and self-knowledge; self-knowledge and self-healing are important tools for a witch, as they support more personal empowerment and greater skillfulness in magic. But if you can, teach Elements first.
Reclaiming has a strong tradition of co-teaching. The advantages are that the students can see the same information from two teachers' viewpoints, that the teachers can support each other and backstop each other's errors, that in a team we're modeling more consensus process and less authoritarian process, that the teachers can trade off and take breaks when needed. The disadvantages are that the teachers need to have some planning time together for the class to feel coherent, and that they need to manage their disagreements and stylistic differences effectively or the students may try to take sides. I have seen co-teaching work well when both teachers have significant experience, when one teacher is a senior experienced professional and the other is brand new, and when both teachers have nearly-no experience but are open about what they do know.
A few suggestions about co-teaching: Give yourselves time to plan together, face to face, even if it's only the evening before the first class. Treat each other like honored, beloved guests. And before the start of the class, stand in each other's aura for a moment and breathe together. Some teams consciously join their energies at the upper chakras, the better to see with one Vision, teach from one Mind, love the students from one Heart. Begin each class with grounding and centering, whether you lead or you ask a student to do it. If you have a team ritual for before the start of class, be sure to have a corresponding ritual for after the end of class.
There is, of course, a lot more that could be said about teaching, but this is enough for today. I'd love to hear what you would add.
For many of us, our first pull to teaching comes just a little early. We've learned a couple of things, found ourselves with talents we hadn't known about before thanks to the masterful teaching / leading / guidance of someone leading a class or workshop. We get home, maybe, and our friends are so impressed with us. Perhaps they ask us, straight out, to teach what we've only just learned.
For others of us, we're happily content to sit in workshops and practice on our own, and never think of teaching. Until one day we're in a workshop and realize that we could be teaching what we're being shown just now. Or until one day a friend suggests we teach.
For still others, we start off planning to be students and looking for a class. Finding nothing local, we screw our courage tight and invite an out-of-town teacher we know, promoting the possibilities to friends and neighbors until there's enough interest. And then the out-of-towner asks us to co-teach.
Some of us have significant skills and training at teaching, and it's only the material of witchcraft that's new. Others of us may be learning how to teach, or how to see ourselves as teachers, at the same time as learning what to teach.
In all of these situations, the best thing for a Witch in the Reclaiming tradition to do is to go ahead and teach. (Fair Warning: Other traditions may take an entirely different view of this; Initiatory lineages, in particular, may have clear boundaries around who is allowed to teach what, and when).
If it's your friends who ask you, they already know and trust you; you just need to honor that trust enough to say, "Look, I've only had one weekend workshop and I'm not too sure what I'm doing." And then show them what you can remember, encourage them to take notes, to experiment, to try something and notice the results.
If someone more experienced invites you to co-teach, take advantage of this opportunity. Get some practice in front of the group. Pick the brains of the lead teacher about everything -- lore, procedure, pitfalls, "how did I do on that module?" Be teachable -- willing to step away from your own way of doing things, able to accept feedback without stepping on your ego, attentive to the details as well as the overall energy.
Some people do a lot of community teaching -- anything from a weekend at somebody's house to six Sunday afternoons in a row -- before they ever apply to teach at a Witch Camp. Others put together proposals for camper-led paths until finally one of them is accepted, and only start teaching in the community after that. Either of those routes, or any other, is fine.
From my perspective, the chief difference between community teaching and camp teaching is energy management (yours as well as the group's). Teaching a weekly afternoon or evening series gives you several days to get ready for each three- or four-hour module; plenty of time for back-burner preparation and getting yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally ready, as well as the mental planning process. Teaching at camp, on the other hand, means seven to fourteen days of intense togetherness as well as teaching every day. At some camps the teaching team leads Path in the mornings, spends the afternoons planning for evening ritual, leads ritual each evening, and then stays up with campers until all hours. Camp teachers probably don't have all the privacy they're used to, may not get enough time for their personal practice, don't always have the freedom to eat what they would usually choose. And each day builds on the one before, without a break. In addition to managing your own energy in these circumstances, you also will find your team supporting the group energy of the whole camp -- which can be quite tiring.
Whether at camp or in the community, most core courses in the Reclaiming tradition are fairly loosely organized. In addition to a rough outline of the information content, each class should lead the students to acquire a skill set. The same course taught by two different people will be quite different, but if you've attended three Elements classes you'll start to see what they all have in common.
My best suggestion would be to teach Elements first. Get outlines from two or three teachers -- either ones you know, or ask friends to refer you. Get notes from two or three students, and add your own notes from when you were a student to the pile. It's generally best to schedule the class so you can devote 3 hours to each of the 5 elements, plus giving the students a chance to plan and run their own ritual at the end.
Then you need to look at who your students will likely be, so you can start to plan what's in each module. Are these newcomers -- folks who've never heard of Paganism, but they like and trust you? You'll want to explain what's meant by Elements and why we have Tables of Correspondences and how having a tool in your hand can help you focus your intention. More experienced witches will bring some of that information with them; ask yourself what they will likely to want to know -- or try out -- in your class.
Students finishing an Elements class should know the table of correspondences we use in Reclaiming (and that it's not the only system); they should be able to ground and center themselves, cast a circle, call a quarter, invoke a deity, devoke respectfully and safely. They should understand the importance of knowing the Intention of the ritual before designing the Form. They should be able to move energy, with the breath, and in at least one other way. They should be comfortable in a well-designed trance led by their teacher. They should know a few general rules about safe magic (especially the one about Don't Do Magic When Angry).
There's more than that in a typical three- to six-page outline, but you get the idea. Know what lore you want to teach them, and what skills they need to learn, and then design your class around that.
In addition to Elements, the Iron Pentacle class and the Rites of Passage class are important in Reclaiming. Both of these focus less on specifically magical skills than on life skills and self-knowledge; self-knowledge and self-healing are important tools for a witch, as they support more personal empowerment and greater skillfulness in magic. But if you can, teach Elements first.
Reclaiming has a strong tradition of co-teaching. The advantages are that the students can see the same information from two teachers' viewpoints, that the teachers can support each other and backstop each other's errors, that in a team we're modeling more consensus process and less authoritarian process, that the teachers can trade off and take breaks when needed. The disadvantages are that the teachers need to have some planning time together for the class to feel coherent, and that they need to manage their disagreements and stylistic differences effectively or the students may try to take sides. I have seen co-teaching work well when both teachers have significant experience, when one teacher is a senior experienced professional and the other is brand new, and when both teachers have nearly-no experience but are open about what they do know.
A few suggestions about co-teaching: Give yourselves time to plan together, face to face, even if it's only the evening before the first class. Treat each other like honored, beloved guests. And before the start of the class, stand in each other's aura for a moment and breathe together. Some teams consciously join their energies at the upper chakras, the better to see with one Vision, teach from one Mind, love the students from one Heart. Begin each class with grounding and centering, whether you lead or you ask a student to do it. If you have a team ritual for before the start of class, be sure to have a corresponding ritual for after the end of class.
There is, of course, a lot more that could be said about teaching, but this is enough for today. I'd love to hear what you would add.