By Andria Luo, FCSN High School Volunteer and FCSN Voice Youth Reporter

Hello! My name is Andria and I’m currently a sophomore at Mission San Jose High School. Since September of last year, I have been co-teaching a virtual dance class here at FCSN. Every week, we meet up over Zoom to exercise and learn choreography, which helps to make up for the lack of physical activity resulting from the shelter-in-place. We start the class with icebreakers so the students can get to know us and each other better and then head into a 20 minute warmup before starting choreography. We also leave time during water breaks and at the end of class to talk so everyone can feel more comfortable as time goes on.

I’ve been dancing ever since I was really little, so I was super excited to have the opportunity to help teach this class. Although I was nervous at first, we started off smoothly thanks to the guidance of our wonderful mentor, Chyler Quivetis, and I quickly got used to talking in front of the class. Our students are all incredibly fun to work with and their efforts in participating during class time help to create an engaging and lively atmosphere. I can see how hardworking they are and it’s really nice to see everyone having fun doing the exercises and dances we choreograph for them. This class is such a joy to teach and I look forward to it every single week.

Through this program, I’ve learned a lot about how to interact with other people, especially individuals with special needs. I’ve learned the importance of paying attention to details as well as being able to make impromptu changes to previous plans. Also, I’ve learned how important it is to ask lots of questions to make sure no one is too confused and to address any issues that may pop up. In order to make the students as comfortable as possible, we try to come up with ways for them to participate both verbally and nonverbally. For example, students have the option to respond to questions with a thumbs up/thumbs down or making an “X” with their hands if they don’t want to respond. We also tried to incorporate some of their favorite songs into our playlists to make class more fun and familiar for them. Helping the students feel comfortable is one of our top priorities teaching the class and we’ve learned to be more flexible and patient as time goes on. It’s been an amazing experience teaching this class and I hope to continue learning and growing with these wonderful students!