As a teacher & business owner, I always knew when spring arrived; it seemed students, well, were a tiny bit less interested in practicing and more involved in finding things to do outdoors.

How can you help teachers manage this issue? Missed lessons and cancellations do, after all, come out of the bottom line. Even if your studio is built around quarterly or period building, maintaining a high level of student interest and excitement leads to more spirit (and referrals).

The key question for exciting students becomes:

How can something be different, providing “overt fun” in some way?

Here are a few ideas to springboard your thoughts. I’m sure there are others that fit your “studio flavor.” Feel free to post a comment and share your own thoughts.

Do discuss these ideas with your staff to get their “buy-in.” That’s important. Change can open up possibilities… What teacher wouldn’t enjoy students who are more excited? Which teachers would turn down more students and income? Doing this puts vitality into your studio!

outdoor activities

Have you ever considered lessons and weekend classes outdoors, weather permitting? For musical instruments, find (or create) sheltered spots against a wall. That allows sound to reflect. Wind instruments, in particular, benefit from outdoor playing. When the sound “disappears into the large space,” students will often use better breath support and relax to get a bigger sound. You may of course opt NOT to put the snare drum lesson in front of a hard surface for more volume.

Other subject areas may involve special requirements. How does one replicate a dance floor outdoors? Perhaps have students wear runners and use a very smooth lawn surface or tennis court. For an outdoor session the focus would be less on “watch yourself in the mirror”, more on “use the space around you.” That could lead to more free movement and expressive qualities.

An art class might draw or paint based on outdoor subjects. Martial arts lend themselves to outdoors too. Keeping uniforms free from grass stains might take some planning, though. Perhaps put down canvas or us a soft tennis court?

Not every activity can be adapted to an outdoor setting. Perhaps there’s another space available — community center, church hall, even a park shelter. The idea is to encourage variety. Fresh ideas on your part = revitalized interest.

“experience” events

Offer a chance for students to explore other studio classes. This may take investment on your part, it may also pay real benefits.

If you can turn existing “one class/instrument students” into multiple class enrollment, you’ve added revenue without increasing marketing costs. Schedule a special event on a Saturday morning where students can work with teachers for other areas. Does your dance studio encompass ballet, jazz, and tap? Interest those kids in multiple styles!

The same could apply for art. Turn painting students into sculpture and pottery enthusiasts. Music students could be “mined” for music theory classes, pianists might pick up a stringed instrument. That snare drummer could learn to read notes in addition to rhythms through piano lessons.

Organizing this sort of event means setting up a series of “stations” for each type/media, then having a schedule where students rotate every 20 minutes or so. You could even charge a modest amount and use funds to cover some or all of the teacher expense. Not all teachers need to be involved, just enough to cover each area.

This really follows the principle of “cross-marketing” studio offerings to existing clients. Depending on how creative you wish to be, maybe include beginner activities and encourage younger family members to attend.

faculty retreat

A retreat (even a pizza party or coffee & dessert meeting with some door prizes) can build faculty connections. Hold a cookout and provide the steaks! Guided small group activities may lead to exchange of ideas for effective teaching. It’s also possible that there are things the teachers observed that they will offer up as ideas for change. You may have to front some funding for this (perhaps even pay for attendance), but the value might outweigh the short term cost.

Tips:

• Plan carefully so there are times for general conversation, others with focus on positive discussion and exploration.
• Use small groups as well as full sessions. Perhaps assign each small group in a “subdivided activity” a separate topic and writes up their “best two thoughts,” then pull things together at the end (common in business meetings where creative thinking is encouraged).
• Try to avoid “problem declarations” and focus on “solutions.” Examples: What are the things I could change to make your teaching more successful? What can I do to give you what you need so the teaching experience is best for you?
• Break down any questions or discussion into areas (scheduling; environment; support; communication, etc.). This avoids the common challenge of an open ended questions… “What answer is he looking for?”
• Consider having people sit in a circle so nobody can “hide in the back row.” This can also lead to eye contact and a better sense of connection.
• Summarize at the end, then put out a thank you note including key points to all who attended.

Your teachers are a valuable asset. Giving them a chance to share their ideas helps everyone!

It’s true — a bit of creative thought and action on your part can help students and teachers stay engaged and involved when “the distractions of warm weather” call, as they do to us all.

One way your studio can rise above the competition:

Provide a positive and successful environment for your instructors – help them do their best on your behalf.

It’s a fact: Word of mouth referral goes a long way towards expanding your business. If students tell others about good experiences, the studio sells itself.

Knowing more about your staff’s strengths helps document successes. It can give you new ways to identify, recognize and encourage the best teaching approaches across your entire business.

Here are six tips to help evaluate your instructors in a positive way. This sort of information can be useful to you as a studio owner or manager, regardless of the focus of your teaching studio.

Studio Helper is a leading edge tool supporting this type of communication with students, parents and teachers. These tips and Studio Helper can give you a way to measure and track your success.

1. Keep it simple and straightforward.

Use a simple questionnaire, checking only the most general information. Short forms are most likely to be completed.

The web provides some great free tools for gathering information. Two that are easily available are surveymonkey.com and www.polldaddy.com. Getting the survey to your target audience is as simple as including a link in an email.

2. Measure accurately.

For valid results, use statements that assign a rating:

Another way to get this information (perhaps better suited for online forms):

Question #1: The zoo is a place where animals are kept

a. Strongly agree
b. Agree
c. Neither agree nor disagree
d. Disagree
e. Strongly disagree
f. Does not apply

Here are sample questions that might work on a student questionnaire:

• My teacher clearly shows me what to practice.
• My teacher helps me know how to practice.
• I feel my teacher helps me improve.
• Class always begins on time.
• When I don’t understand, my teacher helps me by presenting ideas in other ways.

Questions that might apply to a parent questionnaire:

• I am kept informed well of my child’s progress.
• I know schedule information well in advance.
• Class always ends at the scheduled time.
• I am welcome to attend any class or lesson.

Of course, if you are using a comprehensive tracking and communication tool like Studio Helper, the only reason for not knowing about items [a] and [b] is that the parent hasn’t logged on to check status or they are ignoring emails!

Looking at the questions above, can you see how “checking for positive issues” need not be threatening to instructors?

Instead, these questions focus on gathering feedback so teachers can think about ways to improve and be more successful. It also helps parents and students feel they have a voice, that someone is interested in their opinions.

Remember, look for the good, note areas where coaching or mentoring might help.

3. Give them a reason to participate.

Provide an incentive for students and/or parents to complete the questionnaire. This may take a bit of thinking on your part.

A discount on tuition could raise response rate. For the kids, arrange an ice cream party or some other celebration if they respond. Whatever works for you, give it a try.

Anonymity is important for comfort levels:

Stress that any information will only be shared with a teacher in an average way, individual responses are completely confidential.

4. Track results.

Compare results across a period of time (say three times a year). Don’t view results from a single data set as a strong indicators.

Remember, a small response pool can give single voices a very large impact. In that case, individual ratings can assume a strong bias towards positive or negative. The more responses you get, the more valuable the information.

5. Share the good news.

Visibly recognize and reward teachers who show significant improvement over time. It’s a great way to encourage others to think about “how they do what they do.” Movie tickets, certificates, posting the “teacher of the quarter” names on your web site – each of these can help boost morale.

6. Prepare before you start measuring.

Present the concept of evaluation to your teachers in a carefully planned way. A team meeting is an excellent time to introduce the idea. If you have a questionnaire prepared before the meeting, sharing it with them during the meeting can help defuse any worry about “being judged.” What you’re doing, after all, is building the best possible team.

It’s also good to ask for teacher input and ideas, giving them a sense of ownership and participation in the process. Getting ideas from small groups while you are outside of the room probably leads to the best sort of response.

Closing thoughts:

So you decide to try this out. Awesome. Just remember that when it comes to teacher assessment:

1. Any questionnaire should have no more than 4-5 items.
2. Put your contact information on the form (email for online formats), it gives anyone filling it out a chance to get in touch with you about other thoughts or issues.
3. Transition gently into regular assessment in a very positive way. Your teachers should know the information affects neither pay nor status. It’s a chance for them to get feedback that improves their ability to help students succeed.

These tips can help your studio improve a lot over time. That should be the goal – developing the best possible environment for your students and teachers.

With Studio Helper as a communication tool and thoughtful data collection for feedback, the circle of success is complete.

Checking the pulse of your studio helps everybody!