Students
Helping students navigate valleys
What strategies have you used to help your students navigate a valley? First step – have a conversation about it. Ask questions. After finding out exactly what the cause of the valley is, I take the pressure off for a while – no new foundation…
Teacher in a valley
I’m hoping to find some advice and encouragement. For several months, I have felt bogged down in studio management (mostly involving recruiting and keeping students since my finances are very restricted at the moment). In the process of trying to fill vacancies and keep my…
Starting age for SM
I’m a new SM teacher and have started one class with two students which is going really well so far. I have run into some people with younger aged kids than what I originally thought was a good age to start teaching. I had always…
Parents requesting discounted lessons
I started to work with a student who has cerebral palsy. Tova is an amazing person and student but does have a lot of challenges, as well as in the class. Because of her many issues, the 30-minute lesson can easily extend longer than that…
Webinar Series: 04/20/2018 – Gateway – Improving Fine Motor Function at the Piano
Karen discusses some very common fine motor challenges in students with special needs and ways in which teachers can address them in the Gateway curriculum, and addresses teacher questions about some of their students’ fine motor issues. Topics include: Typical Fine Motor Issues (00:05) Fine…
Webinar Series: 04/19/2018 – Piano – Ask Neil Anything
This webinar is driven by teacher questions. Topics range from the rationale behind some of the curriculum to supporting coaches to the future of Simply Music. Enjoy! Topics include: Intro: Funny Story About Neil (00:05) Helping Parents be ‘Requirement-Based’ (2:06) How Teachers Can Improve Their…
Webinar Series: 03/23/2018 – Gateway – What Can I Do If…..?
In this webinar you will hear about actual situations that teachers have encountered with their special needs students and learn from Karen’s expertise how best to handle those situations. Topics include: Using a Schedule with Students on the Spectrum (00:05) Difficulty Finding Black Note Groups…
SHMs – help or hindrance?
I am a very new SM teacher and have not started to advertise in earnest yet. However, I started teaching one adult student who was going incredibly well, but she promptly dropped out after the first month of lessons were over (I charge on a…
Student refuses to watch SHM videos
I have a student that I’ve been teaching for just over 3 months. She practices regularly, but refuses to watch the videos. Her mom will not enforce this. It’s definitely slowing her down by not watching them, but she is still making good progress. How…
Lack of support from non-attending parent
Has anyone else dealt with the issue of the second parent, the spouse of the life coach, not being behind lessons fully? They question the method and cost and cause issues at home? If so, how have you addressed this? I’m contemplating making it mandatory…