10 Lessons to Learn From
An Expert Piano Teacher.
Are you beginning to doubt your homeschool teaching abilities? If you are a teacher by trade, you might not. But if you are like me, without a teaching background, those annoying thoughts of “am I doing this right” are probably inserting themselves into your thoughts, even now.
First, let’s just take a moment to give a hand clap to all the teachers in the world. It is not an easy task. Veteran teachers get double applause because they have sorted through a lot to find what does and does not work. Time and experience cannot be bought. They have earned it. But there is hope for the novice homeschool teachers.
One of the best ways to sharpen your teaching skills is to learn from an expert teacher. An expert teacher is someone who has proven to be a successful teacher of their trade. These teachers can be found in the classroom, coaching a team, teaching a dance class, or music lessons. The expert teacher that I found was my daughter’s piano teacher.
Here’s a short back story. A young friend of ours was slated to compete in a solo piano competition and needed a grand piano to practice on. She called me up and asked if she could come by the house to practice her piece. She arrived, and after a quick chat she sat at the piano and began to play the most beautiful music. She played with skill and confidence. Because Bernard and I had been talking about having the girls take piano lessons, I had to ask how she learned to play like that.
The young lady gave us the information of her expert teacher, and we called and made arrangements for piano lessons for our youngest daughter. This teacher had been teaching for over 50 years out of her home. She was the perfect balance of strictness and kindness. She expected a lot out of her students but was able to express that expectation with encouragement and love. After challenging lessons, my daughter walked away exhausted and confident. In contrast some of my math lessons were walked away from carrying a lack of confidence and a bowl full of tears.
It dawned on me that I could learn to teach like this expert piano teacher. I could teach math, reading, writing, history, and science, just like she taught piano. I began to study her technique and slowly started to implement those techniques within my own homeschool. I became a better teacher, and my children better students. Our confidence levels grew, and tears diminished.
Below I will share with you 10 lessons I learned from our expert piano teacher.
- Do not be distracted when teaching a lesson. Give your entire attention to the task at hand. Our piano teacher would not answer the phone, talk with me, or answer the door while working with Rebecca. Her total attention was on what was happening in front of the piano. Sometimes I sat there, and the drills were tedious and boring, yet she sat there, 100% tuned into what was happening on the piano.
- Pay attention to the details. Our piano teacher not only looked at how well the piece was played, but she paid attention to my daughters breathing, hand and foot placement, as well as posture. She watched how the pages of music were turned. She paid attention to my daughter’s anxiety level. It wasn’t just about playing a beautiful piece; it was how she played the piece.
- Be generous with rewards. Every piece that was played without any mistakes was given a sticker. My daughter looked forward to receiving those stickers. The reward was given right away, not at the end of class, but before moving on to the next page. She had an endless supply of stickers and happily gave them out quickly when they deserved them. Sometimes we want to wait till the end of the school day to give a reward for a job well done. It’s ok, to give a sticker to a young child learning how to print their name, every time the write it correctly. Give rewards generously. Don’t save them. You will not run out.
- Be selective with your criticism. You do not have to point out everything that is wrong all the time. When my daughter was learning a music piece, sometimes the teacher would have her take a simple measure and work on getting that measure right before integrating it with the rest of the piece. If mistakes were made outside of that measure, the teacher did not always correct them right away. She focused on the one thing. Once that trouble spot was carried out, she moved on to the rest of the piece.
- Don’t rush. Sometimes it would take weeks to pass a music piece. As my daughter advanced it would take months to pass a piece. The expert teacher did not rush it. She did not say things like, “you still aren’t getting it! “She would patiently work with my daughter, even confirming and reassuring my daughter that what she was doing was indeed challenging work. She knew that eventually my daughter would get it and move on.
- Show by example. Sometimes the expert teacher would sit at the piano and show my daughter how to work a piece. She would play the piece on the piano and have my daughter study her hands as she played. This was a notable example of what the finished piece should sound like. It helped my daughter to aim towards a concrete goal.
- Be impressed! Everyone needs to know that they are doing well. When an assignment is done well, be impressed. Show your enthusiasm for a job well done. It doesn’t have to happen every time. How nice for it to happen sometimes.
- Be consistent. Routines are good to have. If your child knows what to expect, it lowers their anxiety level. For example, when we arrived at our teachers’ home for piano lessons, shoes were removed, hands were washed, and my daughter sat down at the piano and started with her scales. My daughter knew what was expected and did it every time.
- Have elevated expectations. They will rise to meet them. Sometimes I thought the expert teacher was being too hard on my daughter. My daughter met those expectations every time and was a better pianist because of it.
- Demand Respect. While we were in the teachers’ home, we respected everything about being there. We spoke with respect and treated her home with respect. It’s easy to get into the habit of being mom and taking everything that your child throws your way. You explain away an attitude because they are hungry or tired. Don’t be the martyr. Even though you are mom, you deserve to be treated with love and respect regardless of the role you are playing during school hours.
Bonus: 5 things to do when you find your expert teacher.
- Sit in on the lessons. Resist the urge to drop your children off and run. It is tempting to take the 30 min or so and check emails etc. Zone into the lesson.
- Listen to the tone of the teacher. Not only is it important to know that the lesson is being taught, you can learn from an expert teacher by listening to the words and the tone they choose to use when instructing your child. How do they encourage? How do they demand excellence?
- Pay attention to the way your child responds. What gets them excited? What discourages them?
- Evaluate the teacher’s expectations. Expert teachers know how to give a proper amount of work. Sometimes it seemed like a lack of assignments, but in the end, it was enough to challenge my daughter and not overwhelm her.
- Try and spot small routines. Does your child respond well to them? Decide if routines would be beneficial in your homeschool and try them.