Overcome Your Fear of Teaching

I was fourteen when I started teaching private violin lessons, and even younger when I started private language tutoring.  I remember feeling a little intimidated at first, and I wasn't sure what to do or say.  My mom, who has decades of piano teaching experience, was the best coach I could ask for!  As I talk with other teachers now, I have come to think that fear or intimidation is a common feeling for those starting out with teaching.

So how can you overcome your fear of teaching?  Of course everyone is different, and the fear could have different sources.  I don't know that there is one answer to help every person.  You can start by asking yourself what you are afraid of or what intimidates you.  Ask yourself what the source is.  If you can figure that out, then you are on the road to finding a solution.

I have just a few suggestions, which might be helpful to you.

1. First of all, remember that you know more than they (your students) do!  Otherwise you wouldn't be teaching, and they wouldn't be students.  Tell that to yourself over and over.  You know your stuff.  You are qualified to teach, or else you wouldn't be doing it.  If you do feel there are holes in your own musical training, consider continuing private instruction yourself.  Remember, the best teachers are those who never stop learning.  Set goals for yourself, and then work toward reaching them!

2. Continue your own education by reading useful books, research articles, and blogs, gaining ideas from other teachers, and expanding your teaching resources pool.  Join professional organizations and attend music teacher conferences and seminars.  Make goals based on what you learn.  And then do them.  Become familiar with new lesson books and repertoire so you feel you have a sufficient well of pieces to pull from and can tailor your teaching to the needs of individual students.  Never stop learning and expanding.

3. Use your network!  Reach out to other teachers, whom you feel are highly qualified.  Ask to observe other teachers' lessons.  I have found this to be one of the best ways to learn how to teach.  You can read and read about teaching ideas and methods, but seeing it in action is quite another thing.  Set goals based on what you see, and then do it!

4. Besides observing lessons, don't be afraid to ask for help and suggestions from other teachers.  It can be as simple as, "I have a student who is struggling with such and such.  What do you recommend trying?  What has worked for your students?"  Or, if you feel comfortable (and who really does?  Just do it anyway), ask other teachers, whom you trust, to observe you teaching and give you feedback.  And then take their constructive feedback and set goals for yourself and then work toward them!

5. Observe yourself and self-evaluate.  Find a video recorder, get permission from your students, and then record yourself teaching a few lessons.  Jot down notes of things you did well (Very important!  Don't skip this!) and things you'd like to improve.  Then set goals and do it!

6. The very best way to feel comfortable with teaching is to teach.  Teach, teach, teach!  If you just dive in and do it, you will begin to trust yourself, you will gain confidence as you learn and improve, and as you see your students improving and gaining a love for music.  There is no better confidence booster than to have that five-year-old student hand you a blue glass marble and a dime and say, "Thanks, Miss Megan!"  (True story!)  Or to have that 11-year-old, who used to hate lessons, draw you a picture of a violin with a heart.  (Also a true story!)  Or to have parents refer their friends to you because their own kids have learned so much and they have confidence in you.  (Also true!)  Oh, and set goals for improvement, and then do them! :)

7. And did I mention: set realistic, specific, measurable, meaningful goals for yourself? ;)

Reaching goals can improve your confidence as a teacher.

• Write down your goals, including everything listed below.
• Don't just set general goals, such as "Get better at teaching".  Be specific, for example: "Ask more effective questions while teaching."
• But that's not the end yet.  Why is this goal important?  Why do you want to learn to ask more effective questions?  "To encourage more critical thinking and to guide students to find answers for themselves."  If you know why you are doing this, then it becomes easier to find the motivation to do it.
• Also include specific descriptions and stepping stones.  How you will accomplish your goals?  For example: 1) Read online about effective open-ended questions. 2) Make a list of 20 open-ended sample questions that I can use while teaching a lesson. 3) Use at least three open-ended questions during each lesson for one week.  Write down my progress. 4) Self-evaluate my progress at the end of the week.  Make any changes needed to my goal, set new goals for future progress.
• The last part is when you will accomplish the goal.  Set a realistic time frame (see the point above, which sets a one-week deadline for reevaluation).
• Ok, I lied.  The last part is actually to DO IT!  It doesn't help to write all this stuff down if you don't act on it!

I hope these suggestions are helpful to you as you try to overcome any fear or reservations you have of teaching.  They certainly helped me a lot when I was first starting out, and even still.

Feel free to post in the comments anything that has helped you gain confidence as a teacher.