Around 11:45 today, I received a call from the mother of my 1:00 student. She wanted to check with me as “M” had been complaining of a sore throat and said she was feeling a little achy. Although she didn’t have a temperature or seem sick otherwise, the mother wanted to see what I wanted to do. Thank you! I was grateful to her for being considerate of my health. She knew I would be traveling for the next week and wanted to be especially cautious.
At first, I suggested I would do a video lesson for her; I have been trying this for the first time this year and have had good feedback from parents. (I still need to figure out a better way to record videos other than with my iPhone but that’s another conversation). It then dawned on me that I had not yet replenished my Piano Adventures 3A studio copy. It makes it hard to do a video lesson without the music they are working on!
Then I remembered I updated my policy this year to read:
Students who are ill should not come to piano lessons. I reserve the right to send a student home if they arrive sick. If students are only mildly ill, please contact me and we can do a FaceTime lesson or I can record a short video assignment for them during their regularly schedule lesson time.
I had yet to try FaceTime with a student so we decided to go for it and I’m so glad we did – we all agreed it was a great success! The mom held the phone and was able to maneuver around as I needed. We were able to cover all the material we normally do during her 45-minute lesson. Mom dropped by the studio about 30 minutes later on her way to Walmart to pick up new sight-reading cards, a fresh assignment sheet and a few other things.
Yea for technology keeping me healthy!
Thanks for writing this. I tried my first video class, and it was a success. The same student wants to try Skype classes, cos he’s on a long holiday, but has a piano to practise on. Hoping the Skype class goes as good.
Hi Anita! Let me know how it goes. Curious if you like Facetime over Skype or vice versa!
Hi, Amy! I do FaceTime lessons occasionally during the winter when the roads are bad. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish once you become comfortable with it- and learn how to plan your activities!!! How did you capture the screen shot-I’d like to do a quick ” screen grab” to put on my website so that other parents who are afraid to give it a try will get a little peek at the process. Thanks!
Hi, Kerry, with an iPhone, if you press the home button at the bottom while simultaneously pressing the top power button, it will take a photo of your screen. I’m unsure about androids – I hope this helps!
Ok-thanks! I do that all the time!! I thought maybe you had an app or program on you Mac that records your FaceTime session.
Yay! I’m so glad you tried it with success! Isn’t technology wonderful? I love how it can create solutions for us!
Yes – I wish I had started doing this sooner!