Here’s a really easy way to help keep your students from quitting. Keep things fun!
If they’re like most people, your students work hard all week at work or at school. They’re interested in the guitar because they love music and they want to express themselves creatively. It’s one of the few times in the week they can look forward to doing something they love to do.
The last thing they need is a teacher who will load them up with all kinds of complicated material to work on and then fuss at them the next week because they didn’t learn it all. That’s a sure-fire way to make a student want to quit. This is supposed to be fun!
As a good teacher, you need to know how to manage the flow of information so your students won’t get stressed and overwhelmed. Nobody likes to drink from a fire hose.
Try to mix things up, inject some humor into your lessons, and most of all MAKE IT ABOUT THE STUDENT. Remember, when you’re sitting in a lesson with someone, it’s not about you!
If you know how to keep things interesting, challenging and fulfilling for your students so that it’s easier for them to stay motivated, stay excited and keep making progress on the guitar…they will stick around longer.
OK…I would love to hear from you. What ideas do you have for keeping your students interested & engaged? Post a comment and let me know!
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So agree with this! I’ve been teaching for almost 8 years now and I felt like I just started to learn this last night. Half-way through the lesson my student started to look really discouraged and I realized that though she works really hard and loves to play the guitar that I might be pushing her too far too fast. I paused in the lesson and decided we should learn some Taylor Swift songs she had been asking to learn, she was thrilled! I realized that part of the reason I might push students like I do is not only because I believe in them but also because I wish I had someone like that for me growing up. Your site and this message are good reminders to me that the measure of success for us as guitar teachers is so much more than how fast they can play, how much complicated notation they can read/play. Thanks Donnie!
Wow…that’s awesome, Alex! Great job…sometimes we tend to forget that our students have feelings, and that we need to pay attention to them.