Music Teacher's Helper Blog

With only a few days of 2010 remaining, it is time to consider your goals for yourself in the New Year. I am very goal orientated when it comes to my students (preparing for a graded exam, polishing a piece for a recital or competition, mastering a particular technique), but I often forget to think through my own teaching goals. So what are your goals for this year?

• Expand your number of students
• Reduce your number of students
• Write and enforce a new studio policy
• Put on a recital
• Complete a professional development program
• Design a Summer School for your students
• Participate in a Summer School yourself
• Attend more concerts
• Organise your sheet music
• Join an ensemble
• Perform at a charity event or in a nursing home
• Update your sheet music collection or repertoire knowledge
• Incorporate more features of Music Teachers Helper into your studio

Remember that goals need to be “SMART” –specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. This means that instead of merely deciding to ‘attend more concerts’, you also need to consider how frequently you would like to attend performances, ensure you have access to that number of live performances in your city and make time in your schedule to be able to attend. Once you have set goals for the New Year, write them down in a place where you can review them often to keep you on track throughout the year.

So in the next few days when the busyness of the holiday season begins to settle, sit down with a cup of coffee and allow yourself to think about your teaching goals for 2011. Enjoy this process and remember -

“Goals are dreams with deadlines.” - Diana Scharf Hunt