Guess who hasn’t done his Christmas shopping? That’s right… this guy! So am I worried? Absolutely not… because that’s just how I roll. And come Christmas morning, every one of my loved ones will have the perfect present with a great big shiny ribbon.
Try Teaching Like I Shop
Don’t take my last-minute Christmas shopping as a sign of weakness. I’m not a procrastinator… I’m simply a scheduler. If I let my Christmas shopping turn into a two-month marathon, my closet will be filled to the brim with less than perfect gifts that I spent way too much money on. But given a set amount of time, I skip the dilly-dallying and instead focus on what’s important (and then knock it out of the gift giving park.)
And this is how I think piano teachers should approach their planning; with a set-in-stone schedule. Too many piano teachers sit down in the front of their computers to do their weekly or monthly planning only to find themselves up until the wee hours of the morning… and then they do it again the next night and the night after that. I’m not knocking piano teachers… quite the opposite… I admire their dedication to their craft.
But I also want to help piano teachers get their lives back. The piano teaching profession can be physically, mentally, and emotionally draining and those precious hours in search of the perfect plan can be put to good use for the non-music things in your life like yoga… or roller derby ๐
Work Expands To Fill the Time
So, if you happen to be one of the many over-planners in our profession, give yourself a piano planning schedule and stick to it; when the time is up, it’s up. It will take a little bit of getting used to, but before long, you’ll discover that shorter lesson planning sessions result in higher quality lessons. Deadlines make you pay attention to what really matters.
If you’re finding that you’re spending waaaaay too much time searching for supplementary repertoire, we can help with that! PianoBookClub.com simplifies this process by delivering an entire book of supplementary repertoire to your inbox automatically… for just $8USD a month! Print as much as you like as it also comes with a studio print license, meaning in your “lesson planning time” you can blast through the music planning portion like a pro!
Read Also:
How To Plan For a Yearโs Worth of Piano Lessons (Part 1)
The Method Book Dilemma Faced By Us All โ Yearly Piano Planning Part 2
How to Plan for a Yearโs Worth of Piano Lessons: Part 3 (The Fun Part!)
Nicole C says
I agree Andrea, it’s nice to do the lesson plans in a blocked time! Now if I could just do the same for all the email answering…
Mary Gray says
This perfectionist needed to hear your words, Andrea! Thank you for sharing your creativity and talent.
Margaret says
Thanks, Trevor, for the needed reminder! What I find the most time-consuming is planning for the lesson labs. Do you have any practical suggestions for that?
Jennifer Foxx says
Margaret, do you customize lab time for each student? That could be a part of the time consuming. What I do for my lab to make it less time consuming is just have a focus or theme I want that week. So for example ear training. Then I give them the resource I want them to use for ear training and they do it in their level. So I am not customizing what each student did/learned in their lesson that specific day. That would be way too much work and time! If you did want to customize it per student, I would highly recommend Michelle Sisler’s/Key to Imagination Double Click Curriculum books. She pretty much does the customizing for you. I have some I’m willing to sell if you are interested. They are the one’s that go with Piano Adventures. Starting with MFPA up to 3B.
Christobel says
Thanks for sharing this resource – had never heard of it and getting excited!
Kathy G says
I have the opposite problem: lack of planning. I usually end up doing the last-minute thing, and I feel my teaching often suffers for it. I would love to hear more about how you do your planning.
Nancy says
Amen! Being the ADHD person I am, last Sunday I spent wayyy too much time (about all of it on your 12 days of Christmas blog :)) coming up with plans for the kids to do over the break. I can spend HOURS on all the cool and nifty things out there.
Trevor and Andrea, I LOVE your blog because you are so down to earth practical, and right on the money. Thank you and Merry Christmas!!
Andrea says
Merry Christmas Nancy!
Alice says
Definitely need the reminder; definitely haven’t mastered setting limits on prep yet. When I do set limits on time I am much more efficient for sure. I think I see a New Year’s resolution coming on!
Paulette A. says
Just wanted to send big hugs to you Trevor and Andrea for all your wonderful suggestions and games,etc. My students and I have had so much fun already with “Snow Day” and “Wintervals” We’re going to try “Moose on the Loose” in the new year. You guys are awesome. Hope you and your family have a great holiday season:)
Andrea says
Yay! So glad to hear it ๐ Happy Holidays to you as well!
Drema says
So true. I spend so much time on planning and prepping as well. Hehe…and sometimes a lot of last minute cutting out paper or laminating into late hours! I am so glad for a Christmas break. Yup, I really do need to stick to my piano planning schedule!!!
Linda says
Yes, thank you for the reminder. We need to think about this when working from home. It seems like the work never ends or we have to grab time here and there. We teachers carefully schedule our lessons, why can’t we schedule our own work time as well????????
Thank you for all the fun tips and games. I had them printed on cardstock and am ready to go in January. You guys are just GREAT!!!!
Andrea says
It’s very true Linda. I’ve really found a lot of success in having set work hours and when the clock says I’m done… I’m done. It’s way too tempting to “work buffet” I call it…pick away randomly without limits. It can really take over your life and lead to burn out (which no one needs)! Merry Christmas to you and your family ๐