Teacher Gems

I did the math today: 14 years straight of private lessons. And during that time, I've learned a lot. The stuff that's stayed with me is mostly stuff that, uh, made me crazy. Or made me cry.

On weaknesses:
"I'm making up nicknames for all my students for what they need to work on most. You? You're Casey 'Intonation' Bozell."

On consistency:
"You know, when you're good, you're pretty good. But when you're bad, you're really bad."

On other teachers:
"Who's that guy you used to take with? The one who couldn't teach his way out of a paper bag?"

On perspective:
"When you first came here, Casey, you couldn't play a single note in tune."

On practice strategies:
"Did you even look at this piece this week?"

So when I have a student, who, after picking up the first line of Twinkle Twinkle brilliantly, claims the jump to the second line is way too hard, I want desperately to come up with a gem of my own. You know, something like, "SUFFER!!!"

I don't, however. I restrain myself.

I'm such a good teacher.