What it takes to be a great teacher

1. Feedback - People improve through immediate, specific feedback on their playing and specific steps to level up. The more feedback the better, in general, and the CLOSER that feedback is to when they make the mistake, the better. I believe this means you need to be available as a teacher every DAY for your students, not every week.

2. Structure - "What do you want to learn today?" is NOT a curriculum. The student goes to the teacher to know what the next step is and how to get there. It's the teacher's responsibility to do the work necessary to provide that to the student. Don't default on this responsibility.

3. Individualization - Your guiding principle as a teacher should be "What does this individual student need to achieve their goals?" This requires a lot from you as the teacher and them as the student to introspect on what their goals are. Avoid teachers who prioritize showcasing their own skill over helping you achieve your goals.

4. Growth - Just like your students need constant feedback to improve, you as the teacher should also be open to feedback and actively searching out ways to get better results for your students. I believe there's always room for improvement and that goes for you too.

5. Application - To teach effectively, you must understand how learning actually works for yourself and others. Part of learning is acquiring new knowledge, but a bigger part is creating new actions or new behaviors. Understanding the melodic minor modes is useless unless your playing changes as a result.

6. Connection - Connect new learning to skills they've already mastered. When in doubt, relate it to language acquisition and communication, since nearly everyone has experienced this.

7. Curiosity - Learning and teaching is a process of continually asking "Why?". You must be brave enough to find out you've been doing things wrong and also willing to make the necessary changes to improve.