Teaching a Beginner Magic Class

[henrossy]

I work at a Non-Public school teaching students who qualify for Special Education services and are on probation. Most of the students live in placement (on campus in dorms or in group homes). I have been practicing magic for a year now and perform for my students at times. Some of them really enjoy it and have begun learning on their own.
Students are always asking for me to teach them tricks but there is never really time during class and with so many students if I taught them a basic trick, I would expose it to everyone in the room.
I have been thinking of volunteering to teach a magic class after school. I would really only focus on basics, such as the things you can learn in a magic book available at the library. I would make it available to the students who have shown a genuine interest.
How do people feel about this? Would it be unethical to teach such things as a DL or pinky break?
I might use the experience to demonstrate commercial effects I'm working on but would only teach tricks that are available for free. As an educator, I don't see anything wrong with teaching them about key cards and other basic principles. If it inspires them to learn more on their own then I would feel it was successful. Let me know what you think and if it is a good idea.
Thanks.

 

[adjones]

I think it would be fine just to get them started. But don't get in over your head. If they get past you in skill level, and want to learn more advanced material, you're screwed. Just be careful, and I think you'll be fine.

 

[jimbowmanjr]

I work at a Non-Public school teaching students who qualify for Special Education services and are on probation. Most of the students live in placement (on campus in dorms or in group homes). I have been practicing magic for a year now and perform for my students at times. Some of them really enjoy it and have begun learning on their own.
Students are always asking for me to teach them tricks but there is never really time during class and with so many students if I taught them a basic trick, I would expose it to everyone in the room.
I have been thinking of volunteering to teach a magic class after school. I would really only focus on basics, such as the things you can learn in a magic book available at the library. I would make it available to the students who have shown a genuine interest.
How do people feel about this? Would it be unethical to teach such things as a DL or pinky break?
I might use the experience to demonstrate commercial effects I'm working on but would only teach tricks that are available for free. As an educator, I don't see anything wrong with teaching them about key cards and other basic principles. If it inspires them to learn more on their own then I would feel it was successful. Let me know what you think and if it is a good idea.
Thanks.

A similar topic came up on the Magic Cafe awhile back regarding a guy who wanted to teach the basics such as color changes and the like. It didn't go too well mostly because the guy had very little experience in magic to begin with and because many felt that he had no right to teach the effects themselves.

Now...that aside, here is my suggestion:

If you have the funds approved or if you can find out a way to raise a small amount of cash buy enough Royal Road to Card Magic books for each student in your class and a deck of cards for each person. You are looking at around $12 per student tops. Go through the book from start to finish over the course of the class. To me this does two things, it gives them the resource to reference after class if they wish to practice on their own and it places no blame on you for teaching the material because you are just guiding them through the book.

I think it is awesome what you are doing and I wish you the best with your class and helping these kids. As a finale to the class you might even reach out to an established performing magician to come into the class for an hour just to give a brief show.

--Jim

 

[JohnnyZ]

Everything isn't about cards

 

[adjones]

What are you trying to say, that there are different kinds of magic? Psh, get real...

 

[henrossy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by jimbowmanjr
"If you have the funds approved or if you can find out a way to raise a small amount of cash buy enough Royal Road to Card Magic books for each student in your class and a deck of cards for each person. You are looking at around $12 per student tops. Go through the book from start to finish over the course of the class. To me this does two things, it gives them the resource to reference after class if they wish to practice on their own and it places no blame on you for teaching the material because you are just guiding them through the book."

this is an excellent suggestion. I am going to ask director of education tomorrow if he would approve the funds, if not I'll probably fork it over myself.
I appreciate the reply, thanks.

 

[jimbowmanjr]

Quote:
Originally Posted by jimbowmanjr
"If you have the funds approved or if you can find out a way to raise a small amount of cash buy enough Royal Road to Card Magic books for each student in your class and a deck of cards for each person. You are looking at around $12 per student tops. Go through the book from start to finish over the course of the class. To me this does two things, it gives them the resource to reference after class if they wish to practice on their own and it places no blame on you for teaching the material because you are just guiding them through the book."

this is an excellent suggestion. I am going to ask director of education tomorrow if he would approve the funds, if not I'll probably fork it over myself.
I appreciate the reply, thanks.

Anytime. I would really be interested in hearing how this goes. If you get a chance down the road drop me a PM or kick this thread back up to give us all an update =)

To the peanut gallery acting as useless as ever: Yes there is more than cards, yet I see your suggestion strangely absent. I could have mentioned JB Bobo's Modern Coin Magic and suggested bringing a roll of quarters into class. Or taking Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic for each of them and bringing in assorted props on different days to work with. Is it that hard to be helpful or are you just here to take pot shots from the gallery with nothing to actually offer these forums?

Cheers,

Jim

 

[adjones]

To the peanut gallery acting as useless as ever: Yes there is more than cards, yet I see your suggestion strangely absent. I could have mentioned JB Bobo's Modern Coin Magic and suggested bringing a roll of quarters into class. Or taking Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic for each of them and bringing in assorted props on different days to work with. Is it that hard to be helpful or are you just here to take pot shots from the gallery with nothing to actually offer these forums?

It was a joke, but apparently humor is lost on you. And if you took the time to read the thread... I did put a little input in at the beginning of the thread. Thanks, though.

 

[jimbowmanjr]

It was a joke, but apparently humor is lost on you. And if you took the time to read the thread... I did put a little input in at the beginning of the thread. Thanks, though.

Actually that wasn't pointed at you....not sure why you thought it was.

--Jim

 

[CDarklock]

I don't think one can effectively teach magic in a group setting. I think one-on-one instruction plus self-directed study is really the only way to effectively learn. The self-directed study gives you the major parts of your education, but you need frequent one-on-one sessions with an experienced magician to identify and correct the bad habits and misunderstandings you develop.

I could be wrong. I'd like to know how this goes.

 

[Deleted member 2755]

Quote:
Originally Posted by jimbowmanjr
"If you have the funds approved or if you can find out a way to raise a small amount of cash buy enough Royal Road to Card Magic books for each student in your class and a deck of cards for each person. You are looking at around $12 per student tops. Go through the book from start to finish over the course of the class. To me this does two things, it gives them the resource to reference after class if they wish to practice on their own and it places no blame on you for teaching the material because you are just guiding them through the book."

this is an excellent suggestion. I am going to ask director of education tomorrow if he would approve the funds, if not I'll probably fork it over myself.
I appreciate the reply, thanks.

Sadly, if your school is like mine, everyone in the administration is a heartless jerk that doesn't even belong in the school. (If your curious and wanna hear some nice stories, shoot me a PM) I doubt the administration will fork over the money. It's really nice what you are trying to do. Teach them stuff from the book (you may even learn some things yourself), then point them in the direction of where to go afterward, but tell the students that if they don't do magic anymore or give up after the first 2 meetings, to please return the book. This would make it so that if you ever started the after school class again, you would save yourself a few bucks. One last thing, you could even make a club out of it. Well, hope all goes well.

Best of luck.

-Doug

 

[Anonymous002]

I don't think one can effectively teach magic in a group setting. I think one-on-one instruction plus self-directed study is really the only way to effectively learn. The self-directed study gives you the major parts of your education, but you need frequent one-on-one sessions with an experienced magician to identify and correct the bad habits and misunderstandings you develop.

I could be wrong. I'd like to know how this goes.

So all those lectures giving by TOP PROS are pointless?

hmmmm.....

 

[CDarklock]

So all those lectures giving by TOP PROS are pointless?

A lecture is not a class. A lecture is a place where you can listen to someone else talk for a couple hours, and if you're lucky, maybe you can ask one question. A lecture is effectively self-directed study with a slim chance you might get some tiny amount of one-on-one instruction.

See, the person giving the lecture never said he would TEACH you anything. He said he would TELL you something. That's a whole different thing.

 

[Anonymous002]

A lecture is not a class. A lecture is a place where you can listen to someone else talk for a couple hours, and if you're lucky, maybe you can ask one question. A lecture is effectively self-directed study with a slim chance you might get some tiny amount of one-on-one instruction.

See, the person giving the lecture never said he would TEACH you anything. He said he would TELL you something. That's a whole different thing.

Hmm A Lecture is not a class...

WELL Lets see what Merriam-Webster has to say!

class: Definition 1c-a course of instruction
3-a group, set, or kind sharing common attributes

Lecture: Definition a discourse given before an audience or class especially for instruction



HMMM?

They seem to be the same thing?


-Brad


Links Here...
CLASS
LECTURE

 

[Shodan]

The concept of working through a good text on magic is a good one, whether it be royal road, card college, bobo or Mark Wilson's Complete Course. I would also try and get these students to be creative - in realistic terms. As an example, you demonstrate a GOOD trick using nothing but the key card principle - blow them all away. Then you show a BAD trick using the key card principle and ask them how they thought they compared. Then you let them in on the secret that both tricks used the same workings. This highlights the importance of construction, timing, presentation and choreography.

Their homework is to come up with their own use for the key card principle and perform it for the group the following week - like a book report. The focus now becomes learning about the performance of magic, about taking something and making it interesting, making it your own. Of course, there is plenty of opportunity for feedback and group discussion on what works and what does not. Students should be encouraged to record their ideas, either in notebooks or by videoing the performance sections. After doing this with the key card, you introduce another principle - something like the overhand shuffle placement for example, and run through the same process. You can vary between teaching them a trick using the sleights and having them put them together for their own tricks.

In this situation, magic should be regarded as something to play with - and through play, learn about performance and creativity. Most special needs students that I have worked with either have or could have benefitted from participation in performing arts. The biggest thing they take away from this experience will be the gains in self confidence and communication that performance cultivates.

In fact, it may not be the worst idea to play with how you accomplish this. Teach every student a good but simple trick away from the others (maybe even using the same principle to achieve each one!). Have them practise until they've got it down then perform to the group. Chances are with beginners that everyone will get good reactions, and a real kick out of it. Then you let them all in on the secret that everyone used much the same method...a very interesting and thought provoking lesson indeed. Magic after all is about knowing things that other people don't know - we all get a kick out of it and kids even more so. This approach, at least in the beginning, may do a lot to keep their motivation up. Remember as well that a secret revealed is sometimes the biggest demotivator to the novice - come up with a way to introduce secrets that's interesting (like everyone's trick working from the same principle!) and you may keep their interest in those initial stages.

This is a big departure from how I would approach the education of someone who was serious about magic - classic, real-world-tested tricks would be the order of the day. Creativity would be way down on the priorities list - in fact I would probably wait until they had a go independantly rather than bring it up at all.

Just some thoughts from another teacher

 

[Delta]

Hmm A Lecture is not a class...

WELL Lets see what Merriam-Webster has to say!

class: Definition 1c-a course of instruction
3-a group, set, or kind sharing common attributes

Lecture: Definition a discourse given before an audience or class especially for instruction



HMMM?

They seem to be the same thing?


-Brad


Links Here...
CLASS
LECTURE

Not nessicarily. Using the definitions you provided a lecture is a speech given to a group of people with common attributes. Nothing about education or learning there.

 

[Anonymous002]

Not nessicarily. Using the definitions you provided a lecture is a speech given to a group of people with common attributes. Nothing about education or learning there.

Instruction= the action, practice, or profession of teaching

Teaching is educating. If a lecture is a period of Instruction, it is also a period of teaching. Teaching is educating. If you are educating, then it defiantly has something to do with education...

-Brad

 

[Eddie]

A lecture is not a class. A lecture is a place where you can listen to someone else talk for a couple hours, and if you're lucky, maybe you can ask one question. A lecture is effectively self-directed study with a slim chance you might get some tiny amount of one-on-one instruction.

See, the person giving the lecture never said he would TEACH you anything. He said he would TELL you something. That's a whole different thing.

Lecture isn't a class? Which universe do you live in? So there really isn't a classroom in school right?

 

[CDarklock]

They seem to be the same thing?

They can be. It is possible, though unlikely, for a single lecture to comprise a complete course of study - if one interprets certain aspects of the definition very, very literally in a pure mathematical sense.

However, we are not discussing the edge cases. We are discussing whether magic might be taught in the same way one teaches, say, English Literature. Whether one may assemble thirty non-magicians in the same room at an appointed time and teach them magic over the course of several months.

I do not believe you can do this.

I do believe that you can gather several hundred intermediate magicians in one room, teach them some new concept over the course of a couple hours, and give or sell them a collection of notes that are useful in expanding upon that concept.

But that is not exactly the same thing, is it? Certainly, both situations might be called a "class", but they're clearly different things. To have any sort of sensible discussion about this, we have to identify which of these things is to be referred to as a "class", and what we will call the other.

I will refer to the former scenario as a "class", and to the latter as a "lecture". If you prefer some other nomenclature, you will need to define how you will be using your terms.

And I will continue to use mine, because they are perfectly accurate words that work perfectly well. Your own definition calls a "class" a course of instruction, and if you look up the word "course" it distinctly means a series of connected events - "series" indicating an orderly following of things, one after another. So it's entirely rational to claim that a single lecture does not constitute a series, because a single item neither follows nor is followed by any other item.

And I do make that claim. A lecture, being a single instance of education, is not a class - which is by your own definition a series of multiple such instances.

I don't use the pure mathematical definition of "series", because it's absurd in this context. It would require the admittance not only of a "series" of one item, but a "series" of zero items - the empty set - which means that doing nothing is a class because you're taking a course of instruction with zero lessons... which is quite frankly a stupid concept.

 

[Shodan]

The phrase "intelluctual masturbation" springs to mind.

I make a living from teaching in the private sector, both as a private tutor for maths and physics and as a teacher of group lessons for dancing and martial arts. It has been my experience that any attempt to educate anyone about anything benefits from the students walking away with some kind of record (be it notes, video or their own records) and then reviewing their experience - most effectively by trying to apply the information covered in the lesson. A student who takes this approach will advance whether they have a one-to-one mentoring situation or a group lesson.

There is no doubt that for most subjects, one on one teaching is superior - the relationship that develops between the teacher and the student facilitates learning, and there is far more opportunity for two way communication. However, this represents the ideal situation. Rather than bickering about the definition of a class/lecture/course and whether it is the best way to do things, how about finding practical suggestions for the original poster to approach his situation?