Efficacy

I feel the best way to become an effective teacher is through practice. Just like anything else, you can't expect to be great at something without any practice. I also feel a certain amount of natural ability is necessary in order to be great at something. In sports, this comes in the form of natural athleticism, in music it could be a natural sense of a beat or a great ear. I feel in teaching it comes from things such as your personality, naturally being able to explain things to people, and naturally possessing leadership qualities. These natural abilities must then be trained, practiced, and improved. In my instrumental methods courses we often have to bring in outside students to practice giving lessons. I think this is very effective. The first time I gave a flute lesson to an outside student I was given comments on things that might be improved. I realized what things wouldn't work and tried to organize them in a more logical order for the next student I taught. In my double reeds method course we practiced teaching certain things in front of the class with classmates purposely making mistakes. This was a very good way of learning how to diagnose the problem and help the student fix it.

Throw in confidence and persistence to natural ability and practice and you will become unstoppable as a teacher.