Teachers of the Year for 2019

Teacher of the Year	Lesson Category
Pierre Lalonde	Ableton
Leah Kruszewski	Acoustic Guitar
Denis Beliakov	Akai EWI
Willen Moolenbeek	Alto Sax
Chris Roszell	Banjo
Yonit Spiegelman	Bass Guitar
Ben Baron	Bassoon
Kaila Mullady	Beatboxing
Wannamaker Lewis	Blues Guitar
Hector Crespo	Cello
Liz Ramirez	Clarinet
Amy Stephens	Classical Piano
Dana Herz	Classical Voice
Rob Kovacs	Composition
Lindsay Artkop	Drums
Yoel Genin	Electric Guitar
Mike Mitchell	Fiddle
Erika Andres	Flute
Paola Damico	Italian
Melanie Faye	Jazz Guitar
Jim Funnell	Jazz Piano
Lydia Harrell	Jazz Voice
Heather Gerber	Keyboard
Hae J. Kim	Korean
Thiago Trinsi	Lead Guitar
Alan Epstein	Mandolin
Steve Boniello	Music Theory
Grace Mehm	Oboe
Mary Gossard	Piano
Kasia Komosa	Pop Voice
Leah Hinton	R&B Voice
Emily Zimmer	Rock Guitar
Willem Moolenbeek	Saxophone
Hannah Christianson	Songwriting
Natalie Cressman	Trombone
Stewart Felkel	Trumpet
Michelle Teague	Upright Bass
Lisa Williams	Viola
Miguel Ramirez	Violin
Chantal Kuegle	Voice

2019 has been our biggest year yet at Lessonface, with more lessons, students, and teachers interacting, teaching, learning, inspiring than in any year previous. On this final day of 2019, we celebrate the end of 2019 in naming our Teachers of the Year. These commendations are based on a combination of time spent in lessons, and the reviews the teachers received. Many very excellent teachers are unfortunately not included in this list, as we restrict each lesson category to just one teacher of the year. We give huge thanks to all of the teachers (and students) who make the lessons here so excellent, and are looking forward to another great year! 

 Our overall Teacher of the Year for 2019 is Chantal Kuegle, who answered a few of our questions about her approach to teaching and her advice for other teachers and students. Congratulations to Chantal, to all of the teachers of the year listed to the right (alphabetically by the lesson category), and to all of the many other excellent teachers who share their wisdom with students, inspiring us to grow better together.

Lessonface: What made you decide to start teaching online?

Chantal: I move a lot and I wanted to have a more stable teaching schedule. With online lessons, I can travel for gigs and still maintain my students lesson schedules. I also like that I can reach a wider audience with online lessons. I have students from all over the world, many are in places where lessons are difficult to access. 

Lessonface: What do you like most about teaching online?

Chantal: I enjoy meeting and working with students from all over the world. 

What do you teach?

Chantal: Primarily voice, but I also teach guitar, ukulele, recorder, and music theory.

Lessonface: Has anything about online teaching surprised you? (If so, what?)

Chantal: The ease of it all. The platform and zoom meeting rooms are great and easy to navigate. But I am especially happy with Lessonface, they take care of the scheduling, payment, and tech. With this, I am able to focus fully on each student and their individualized lesson plans. 

Lessonface: Any general advice for students and teachers who are considering online lessons?

Chantal: For students, find a quiet space where you take your lessons and that you can also use as a practice space. 

For teachers, ensure that students know what the expectations for lessons are at the start. Go over the general structure of lessons and what is ideal in terms of lesson consistency and practice time. 

Lessonface: What is your usual set-up for online teaching? Is there any technical advice you would give other teachers and students?

Chantal: A quiet space, clean background, a place where you can sit or stand (for voice) or a place that your instrument is fully visible. 

Spend time familiarizing yourself with the platform and with the zoom meeting screen before your first lesson. Use the test room to get to know all the different options in the zoom meetings. The screen share option has been a very important tool in my teaching. I can give students control of the mouse icon, which has been a great way to incorporate interactive activities.

Lessonface: Has your approach to teaching online changed since you started?

Chantal: Yes, mostly with finding resources that work better for online lessons. For example, I often use the screen share option and messaging system for sharing electronic resources with students. I also have developed a large repertoire of instrumental versions of songs for vocalists to have and sing with. 
 

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Happy New Year to everyone! Hoping you have a wonderful final few hours in 2019, and wishing you all the best in the new year.