This is so interesting as I read it from the perspective of someone who teaches partner dance. Before the pandemic shut it all down, I had many weekly or bi-weekly “regular” students and I did not enjoy those lessons because I came to understand that they replaced self-directed practise. That is the bread-and-butter student, but it was unmotivating for me personally. Especially for a kinetic activity, a lesson cannot fill a void of lack of practise. I believe you need at least 5 hs of intentional practise for every hour of instruction to make actual progress.
Now after some years off where I had a lot of time to contemplate, I no longer accept weekly students. I tell students to book their next lesson once they are either ready for the next step or feeling stuck. And because we social dance weekly, they know I know if they are engaged.
Having a weekly appointment may FEEL like accountability, but I can’t help but question the real motivation of it. 🤔
There's a lot for me to consider from this comment, so thank you. It is a bit of chicken and egg here because without the pressure of the lesson the person doesn't have as much urgency to put everything together. And for me the urgency is around figuring out what makes a good practice session.
I often sit down and i'm not crystal clear about HOW I am going to approach what needs to get done. When this is cracked I believe that a weekly cadence makes sense. When it's not cracked there is still a bit of that "i'm sorry" feeling on behalf of the student.
However keep in mind that even if a student hasn't practiced as much, there are still new concepts that a teacher can go through. In the case of music for example we can spend some time on analyzing the piece and doing some theory which isn't afforded when the focus is just on playing it cleanly.
This is so interesting as I read it from the perspective of someone who teaches partner dance. Before the pandemic shut it all down, I had many weekly or bi-weekly “regular” students and I did not enjoy those lessons because I came to understand that they replaced self-directed practise. That is the bread-and-butter student, but it was unmotivating for me personally. Especially for a kinetic activity, a lesson cannot fill a void of lack of practise. I believe you need at least 5 hs of intentional practise for every hour of instruction to make actual progress.
Now after some years off where I had a lot of time to contemplate, I no longer accept weekly students. I tell students to book their next lesson once they are either ready for the next step or feeling stuck. And because we social dance weekly, they know I know if they are engaged.
Having a weekly appointment may FEEL like accountability, but I can’t help but question the real motivation of it. 🤔
There's a lot for me to consider from this comment, so thank you. It is a bit of chicken and egg here because without the pressure of the lesson the person doesn't have as much urgency to put everything together. And for me the urgency is around figuring out what makes a good practice session.
I often sit down and i'm not crystal clear about HOW I am going to approach what needs to get done. When this is cracked I believe that a weekly cadence makes sense. When it's not cracked there is still a bit of that "i'm sorry" feeling on behalf of the student.
However keep in mind that even if a student hasn't practiced as much, there are still new concepts that a teacher can go through. In the case of music for example we can spend some time on analyzing the piece and doing some theory which isn't afforded when the focus is just on playing it cleanly.