A qualified music teacher, to me, isn’t just someone who knows music well and is good at teaching. Some of the most important qualities a music teacher should include being able to connect with students in a way they’re able to feel supported, bringing positive energy into their classroom while encouraging success and being patient with failure. Especially with beginning instrumental students, it's very easy for them to find music unenjoyable because they’re afraid of making mistakes; a qualified music teacher would be able to encourage these mistakes and enable the students to learn from them. While these are just a few of the myriad examples of characteristics of a qualified music teacher, I can see myself already beginning to develop similar qualities. After having opportunities to work with beginning/intermediate instrumentalists in the past, I have started to understand better what level of patience is needed for students in those situations and how to engage them in a way which is both productive and enjoyable. However, there's still much I will become more comfortable with over time. For example, while I’m not super comfortable with it now, I believe that over time I will become more adaptable and confident with improvising when things go awry. As far as limitations, I personally can’t identify any extreme ones. Yes, there are challenges that I will have to overcome but I’m confident I will get through it.
Over the course of this year I plan to develop my confidence in my professional teaching ability through hands-on experiences. Specifically, I want to practice ways I can avoid talking too much and over explaining techniques. Although at this point I’m not sure exactly what these hands-on experiences may look like, I hope to be able to use at least two or three different strategies that will help me allow students to work on their musicianship without over-complicated explanations.