Results of the 2005 Teachers Survey

Special thanks to Lorraine Lepine, TCC Community Outreach Coordinator, for accepting the task of compiling the data and organizing the results of the 2005 Teacher Survey. Our heartfelt gratitude goes to Lorraine for the hundreds of hours she has contributed to the community. Thank you also to the 90 teachers who participated.

Survey results are progressively being posted to a hidden page on the TCC Community web site. Teachers will be e-mailed the exact web page address to access this information. If you don’t have e-mail or access to the internet, please contact a teacher who does and ask them to print out a hard copy for you. The first category to be viewed on the web is “Teaching People with Physical Challenges.” If you are going to be teaching TCC to people with arthritis, cancer, cerebral palsy, chronic fatigue, COPD, diabetes, fibromyalgia, heart conditions and stroke, hip or knee replacement, lupus, MS or Parkinson’s, you can contact other teachers who have taught these specialized populations.

The original creation of the TCC Community Outreach Coordinator was motivated by the need to answer questions related to specific populations of TCC students. The vision is to provide the TCC Community with team leaders who would assume the following roles:

• To develop guidelines for working with specific populations

• To provide resource materials

If you would like to participate in this development, contact Antonia, Pam or Sandy.

T’ai Chi Chih classes are being taught in a wide range of settings with Holistic Centers, Health Clubs and Senior settings at the top of the list. Classes are also being taught in Educational and Spiritual settings as well as in homes, hospital/rehabilitation centers, general and judicial settings.

Respondents shared some of their Teaching Tips for different student populations. Some of these tips are outlined below:

General Population:

• Encourage students and help them understand that the benefits of TCC will be realized through practice, even a short time every day.

• Let the chi do the work. Help students feel comfortable in the class, relax and enjoy the TCC movements.

• It is important for students to move out of their heads and into experiencing the chi.

Teaching Seniors:

• Many seniors cannot physically do some of the moves nor remember them, but it is important to always teach and demonstrate correct form.

• It is more important to emphasize smoothness, circularity and groundedness – the spirit of TCC being more important than the form.

Teaching Teens and Children:

• The experience of teaching in atypical schools can have great rewards.

• Rather than tell the students the benefits of TCC practice, allow them to feel the chi and be guided as to how it can be used.