A reddit comment that got a lot of upvotes, so posting it here.
Will probably come back and turn it into a proper essay at some point
I have found in the course of learning and teaching many different things that a good coach will:
(a) spend a few minutes watching what you're currently trying to do
(b) work out what the right thing to teach you next is (this is the hard part of teaching, learning the structure of the subject and what order to teach it in)
(c) explain what it is that needs doing, demonstrate the difference between what you're doing and what you should be doing.
(d) get you to do the new thing and check that you're doing it right.
(e) show you how to feel the difference between what you were doing and what you should be doing. This is crucial, because once you can feel whether or not you're doing the new thing right, it is easy to practice it and it will quickly become automatic.
In a good lesson, you should be able to go through this process for several different points, and if you make notes and go away and practice the things, then after every lesson you'll get obviously much better at the thing you're trying to do.
You'll be able to feel the difference, and it will be obvious to others too.
If you feel you're not making progress, or your teacher is just saying the same thing over and over again but it's not helping or it feels wrong, then you have a bad teacher and you should find someone else.
Will probably come back and turn it into a proper essay at some point
I have found in the course of learning and teaching many different things that a good coach will:
(a) spend a few minutes watching what you're currently trying to do
(b) work out what the right thing to teach you next is (this is the hard part of teaching, learning the structure of the subject and what order to teach it in)
(c) explain what it is that needs doing, demonstrate the difference between what you're doing and what you should be doing.
(d) get you to do the new thing and check that you're doing it right.
(e) show you how to feel the difference between what you were doing and what you should be doing. This is crucial, because once you can feel whether or not you're doing the new thing right, it is easy to practice it and it will quickly become automatic.
In a good lesson, you should be able to go through this process for several different points, and if you make notes and go away and practice the things, then after every lesson you'll get obviously much better at the thing you're trying to do.
You'll be able to feel the difference, and it will be obvious to others too.
If you feel you're not making progress, or your teacher is just saying the same thing over and over again but it's not helping or it feels wrong, then you have a bad teacher and you should find someone else.
