Examining the technique class: re-examining feedback

摘要

The technique class can be an amalgam of frustration and joy, cautious imitation and mindless replication, being right and being wrong. Competing requisites, such as a desire for expressive freedom in relation to the demand that a movement be precisely structured, can unwittingly create a tension between teachers and students. The reasons for such tensions highlight a fundamental conundrum. Feedback, as a teaching and learning tool, is one way to bring the situation into focus. Yet to better understand what is happening under the rubric of technique, the voices of students should be heard. This essay, engaging student voices, examines the nature of the technique class by re-examining the meaning of feedback.