5. CHOOSE RIGHT: Place of Study

....All key factors should be managed at top level. Of course many of us cannot reach the maximum of each key factor.

Let's continue with:    

Place of Study

This is the environment of work where the configuration of student/teacher takes place. It can be a simple hall in a school, a circus studio or a circus school. It can be nonprofessional or professional.

In most cases the perfect configuration of student/teacher will reach good success and the place's quality level will not determine it. A good configuration solves many problems, it is only question of time and money. If you have found a perfect teacher than you do not really need to care about the place of study, especially in the beginning. In case you do not have a good S /T configuration, than you have to find a good place to study as that usually has good teachers.

Of course if you study in a high quality level place, you will save time and efforts to reach your goal.

How to choose a good place? Where to study? Circus school? Studio? ...

Let us see what are the main quality parameters of the place of study:

• Brand
• Budget
• Administration
• Teachers
• Working Environment (building, props, mats, library, camcorder ...)

When your act is ready, than you need an easy take off in your career.

These days one of the best place to study is the National Circus School in Montreal.

It is a really competitive place at the circus education market. In the last 20 years they have build up a well known brand, they have good budget to run the school, the administration provides the students with a higher education certificate, the teachers are well known in the circus industry as they are following and adapting good techniques in most disciplines. And last but not least the working environment, the building of practice  and all the equipment are up to date with high standards. When you have finished school than you just cross the street to Cirque du Soleil, or can easily meet well known contemporary circus companies such as Seven Fingers or Cirque Eloize in the same city: Montreal. 

"There are many schools, but good schools are never cheap." 

- Education Report in Hungarian Radio

But not every prospective student has the money to pay for such a place. You can choose circus schools from the following list on the website of FEDEC (European Federation of Professional Circus Schools): FEDEC Circus School Directory.

A "good" place of study is not the main factor in many cases.... watch the next video:

Until than CHOOSE RIGHT!!!


All the best..... be the best!

György Losonczi

4. CHOOSE RIGHT: Student / Teacher Configuration

.... All key factors should be managed at top level. Of course many of us cannot reach the maximum of each key factor.

Let's continue with the first key factors:  

Student / Teacher Configuration

In the last two blogs I have written about how to evaluate the student and the teacher attributes. In default case both of them have the same goal to reach: successful performing act. After examining both sides and aspects, let's see how they can work together. The harmony between them (working together and understanding each other) will determine what goals they can reach in their working progress and how successful  will that be. Both of them have to be motivated approximately on the same level and should set the same goal. Both of them should feel themselves successful and satisfied when the performing act has success on market. 

The student's main aspects to reach his goal:

person > discipline > teacher/mentor > techniques > tricks > PERFORMING ACT

The teacher's main aspects to reach his goal:

teacher/mentor  > person > techniques > tricks > PERFORMING ACT

A perfect harmony between them depends on one more important factor:  FEEDBACK!!!!

The communication between Teacher and Student is essential!

Why?

Watch the following video:

Feedback is important for the student so that he knows what is right and what is wrong in practice session. Many people think (especially students) that they do not have to communicate with their teacher. That is wrong! The teacher needs feedback as well! Teachers usually use routine work in practice sessions. In some cases the students need different exercises or methods instead of the routine work. Feedback is important for teachers who continuously improve their knowledge and follow or develop  new working routine or techniques. Feedback helps teachers in their improving process! Good teachers are also  "students", they study and learn to be updated, to be competitive.

"To teach is learn twice" - Joseph Joubert

Which came first, teacher or student?

"When the teacher is ready, the student will appear"
- teacherken

The diagram below shows the results of the BXP Student Evaluation Model and the Teacher Evaluation Model. The Student / Teacher Configuration  predicts how successful  the cooperation, harmony in work and practice session will be in long term. 

The following Prezi shows the S/T Configuration Evaluation Model step by step:

I have mentioned the problem of good student and talented student :

"Many people think that students who work hard and are continuously gaining practical knowledge are talented students. In my point of view they are not talented students, they are "good students" and can be tought by a good teacher. They follow all the orders of the teacher and sooner or later they will have good results at the end. Talented people hardly accept the teacher's advice as they "know" how to do many daily exercises by following their inner sense. That is the reason why they need mostly mentors, they want definite guidelines during their practice process." - Blog No.3.

Typical problem is when a good student due to some success, starts to believe that he is talented. In this case the student slowly do not accept the teacher's advises as he already "knows" how to do his practice. He believes he needs a mentor instead of a teacher or in worse case he will try to practice alone.  I always say to my students "I'm out" when they get to this point because there will no longer be continuous improvement and the "configuration harmony" will not work. Result: it has no sense  to teach that certain student.

"When the pupil is ready, the Master will appear"

-  1921 (????)

The S/T Configuration is important as in case of good  "combination" the synergy effect will "appear" during the working process.

What is synergy?

Synergy (see meaning @ Wikipedia) is the interaction of multiple elements in a system. Synergy effect example:

1 + 1 = 3

Good Student +  Good Teacher = Successful Working Process

The system elements (e.g. student and teacher in S/T Configuration) working in good system configuration will produce stronger result than simply adding them together (1+1=2). Good configuration system will add a "plus 1" to the total of the system elements!!!

And this is the main reason why it is worth choosing a good S/T Configuration!

My next blog will continue with the first key factors: Tricks, Techniques, Teacher or Mentor, S/T Configuration, Place to Study.

Until than CHOOSE THE RIGHT CONFIGURATION!!!


All the best..... be the best!

György Losonczi