Contributor Bio: Bonnie Jack
Let’s get to know our next wonderful contributor, Bonnie Jack! Wow we are getting so excited to hear what our amazing contributors have to share.
name:
Bonnie Hopper Jack
she is from:
Kaysville, Utah
she is:
a detail-oriented, list-driven, project-loving people-person
she attended:
Brigham Young University, B.A. in Music, 2000 (studied with Robin Hancock); M.M. in Piano Performance, 2006 (studied with Scott Holden)
currently:
lives in Spanish Fork, Utah, with her husband and little boy; teaches 14 awesome piano students at the Art City Music Academy
her studio:
she has been teaching piano since 1995, and has been a teacher at the Art City Music Academy since 1999
she loves:
reading, writing, songwriting, scrapbooking, blogging, teaching, diminished 7th chords, and the circle of 5ths
what she says about the joy of teaching:
I started teaching piano 15 years ago, when I was 15 years old. I was excited about new books and notepads, studio policies and spring recitals. But I was inexperienced, and not a great teacher. Not a single one of my original students loved to practice, and not a single one progressed very far under my tutelage. And yet, I will never forget the moment, many years later, when my own nephew introduced me at his wedding–not as his aunt, but as his piano teacher. My teaching technique may have been weak, but I still left a mark in the lives of those students.
I’ve come a long way since then. I’ve had some great mentors, and I’ve faced a lot of my own fears and inadequacies. As I’ve progressed, I’ve learned to love what I do more and more. I love watching students grow. I love sharing in their accomplishments, whether it is winning a tennis match or memorizing a new piece of music. I love watching a student’s face light up when he begins to understand. I love teasing a teenager about her first date. I love hearing a student say, “I love this piece!” I love watching a student do something he couldn’t do a week ago, or maybe a year ago. I love figuring out new and better ways of presenting concepts so they make more sense. I love inspiring kids to work hard, and I love seeing the smiles on their faces when they realize how much progress they’ve made.
When I first became a mom almost two years ago, I wondered if I would enjoy going back to teaching. I feared I would resent the time I spent with my students, since it was time I couldn’t spend with my own child. I learned two important things when I started teaching again. First, these students are also my children. I am a partner with their parents in the effort to raise exceptional human beings. And the second thing I realized is that this is who I am. I am, and will always be, a teacher. Nothing will ever change that.
read more:
russellandbonniejack.blogspot.com
her posts:
click here to read all of Bonnie’s articles on this blog!
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