Over the last year, I have gained so many new students. It's wonderful. I am so blessed to have more families I work with and more opportunities to teach. I am even branching into group lessons, which is nice, giving me the chance to teach more students the same material at the same time. So how does on keep the experience fresh when teaching the same things over and over again? Even for the third or forth time that day?
1) Remember that it's new for the student(s). I may have already taught the same material three times today and don't really want to teach it again, but this student has never heard it before.
2) Remember it's a different student, so it's not the same lesson again. The material may be the same, but the personality of the student and your relationship with them are different, so tap into that. Do you have inside jokes? Do you have a way to relate the material to a different activity they do?
3) Try to come up with new ways to communicate the material. Is they rhyme or rap you can use? Is there a game or activity that will work? A new story to tell?
4) Can you change up the order a bit? By that, I mean, work on supplemental stuff before the method book songs? Do a review? Anything that keeps it from being a "script" that you've already recited multiple times that day.
It's a challenge sometimes to have literally just taught this, and know you will keep teaching the same material week after week to different students, but it's also a blessing. It doesn't take as much prep to be prepared to present it. But sometimes, it's worth taking a bit of extra time to come up with ways to spice it up even if it's just for your own sake. And your students will probably enjoy it too :).
Comments