Fieldwork: Aerobic Dance

Our group’s fieldwork activity was scheduled last March 25, Wednesday. We were assigned to teach a fitness program to the CAMP administrators. We started the session with a short lecture about aerobic exercise and its benefits. Then, we taught them some aerobic dance steps. After that, we performed the aerobic dance steps plus warm up and cool down exercises along with the music. At the end of the session, we had a small group discussion in which we asked them what they thought about the activity. It was good to see that they actively participated in the discussion. They asked questions and shared their thoughts and realizations to the whole group.

Generally, I think that our group did very well in the activity. Our interaction with the CAMP administrators was very casual, thus it promoted a light mood throughout the whole session. The flow of the lecture was smooth. The contents were very relatable and were relayed in a way that they would easily understand them. For the exercise proper, the instructions during the demonstration of the steps were clear. Each step was named and associated to things making them remember the steps easily. Also, it was good that we used songs that are familiar to them. Another good point about the activity was that the ratio of the teacher to student was more or less 1:1. As a result, we got to focus more on each one of them, especially when we gave feedback and cues to correct the way they perform. Furthermore, it helped that they were certainly interested in the activity, which allowed them to actively participate all throughout the session.

With the good points come the bad points. As first timers, it is inevitable for us to make mistakes, but we should learn from them and make improvements in the future. For the activity, the aerobic dance steps that we prepared were quite a lot, so teaching the CAMP administrators the steps took a long time and maybe they got bored towards the end. This could be avoided if we should have just taught them a few steps. There were also times when we were all talking at the same time when we were giving feedback during the performance. There was a possibility that the clients got confused as to whom to watch or listen to. A factor that affected this was the small space that we allotted for them. To amend this, we should utilize the room more and use all the available space, so that they could spread around and have enough space between one another. Another cause for confusion was when we, the instructors, did not perform synchronously at times. In the future, we should practice more to be a lot familiar with the routine. One more thing that we could have done was to dwell on the main problem as to why they are not that physically active. The said problem was time. They do not have much time for other things aside from family and work. We should have focused on how to solve this problem rather than suggesting alternative ways of doing aerobic dance since they already know about these alternative ways.

We should always remember that improvement does not happen overnight. It is a process. We have to do more of the activity and learn from our mistakes in order for us to improve. Experience plays an important role in this.

All in all, the fieldwork was a wonderful experience. It gave us a glimpse on another aspect that we could do as physical therapists. It was great to see that the CAMP administrators had fun in our activity. Hearing them say that they want more of this aerobic dance activity was exhilarating. It just showed that what we did was a success.