My Students & Me

One of the best things about being a full-time guitar and music teacher is witnessing my students' improvements week after week. In fact, this is such an important part of why I teach that I am driven to come up with more incentives to motivate my students to really stretch themselves, enjoy the challenges and discover the rewards of diligent practise.

It is incredibly rewarding to see my students grasp challenging concepts or demonstrate newfound skills. These moments serve as valuable reminders that my teaching methods and strategies, while constantly evolving, can have a positive impact. Witnessing student progress reinforces the importance of clear communication and effective facilitation. Their achievements inspire me to continually refine my approach and explore innovative techniques to enhance the learning experience for all of my students, with all of their different learning styles.

This reciprocal relationship is vital because it fosters a culture of learning that transcends traditional teaching boundaries. When my students excel, it encourages me to reflect on my methods, seek out professional development opportunities, and collaborate with colleagues to share insights and best practices.

Education is not and should not be a one-way street; rather, it is an interactive journey where both students and teachers evolve together. In this way, student improvement becomes a catalyst for mutual growth, leading to a richer, more effective educational experience for everyone involved.

My two latest initiatives for learning and practise in 2025 are the Star Jar and the Practise Tracker. Let me elaborate...

The Star Jar

I wanted my younger, school-age students to recognise when I feel they have excelled during their guitar lesson - beyond just saying "well done". Now, any improvement I notice during a lesson is rewarded with a wooden star token being dropped into the Star Jar. Their scores are displayed on the classroom blackboard in my guitar studio, where the lessons take place, as a visual motivating reminder of moments that they should be proud of. They can watch their tally of stars accumulate over the course of their month of lessons, before the 'slate' is wiped clean at the start of a new calendar month.

The Star Jar provides an excellent visual motivator and a tangible way to reward student successes.

The Practise Tracker

Additionally, I wanted my students to understand how to practise outside of their lessons more clearly. It's not enough to simply tell them what to practise. Or to practise for longer - see my other blog post on where I recognised the error of my ways with that idea!

It's also worth mentioning that I teach several young students with learning difficulties, including ASD (Austism spectrum disorder), PDA (pathological demand avoidance), and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), meaning that even more so I have to adapt and evolve my one-on-one teaching style to meet individual learning needs.

This drives me to continually seek new and progressive ways to motivate my students within the learning environment and help them to appreciate the joy of overcoming technical and musical challenges, both in their own time and during their lessons.

One of my most effective tools is the Practise Tracker cards, which I complete and give to each student at the end of every lesson. These tailored cards are designed to specify exactly what to do, how long to spend on it, and what to focus on while doing it. The cards also outline the expected outcome of each practise session and encourage my students to provide feedback on how well they think they have performed and what they have struggled with.

The Practise Tracker cards keep my students focussed during their home sessions and self-aware of their own progressions and weak spots.

This amounts to even more weekly progress; my school-age students can benefit from my step-by-step speed learning methodologies for every aspect of their musical development, ensuring progress with as little as five minutes of practise a week.

Don't Stop Me Now...

Ok, maybe it is time to wrap up this blog. But I'm not sure I will ever be able to stop trying to better my teaching style and tricks to deploy. One of my favourite things to do is to ask my students what they need from me, welcome their ideas for innovating our sessions together, and launch new learning tools. With all of our brains put together, the possibilities are endless.