Hi Greg,
Well, you have two very good questions right there in your post:
- what makes you qualified to guide students through the rough spots?
- what makes you qualified to guide students through the advanced stages?
(Don't just ask the "are you ...?" questions, because they will get you "yes" as an answer, or perhaps an evasion)
More suggestions ("Why do you teach?" "How many students do you have?") can be found in
More on the Mushroom Factor.
I particularly like the following paragraph (a telling preference, I know):
[indent]
Beyond this, there are also good reasons to question the very concepts of “teacher” and “student” and the disturbing and often unquestioned rigidity with which they are sometimes applied. One person may have an understanding that they share with someone else and then turn around and ask them a question about something that the person who was a “student” just moments before is skilled in. I have come to the conclusion that some of the best teaching happens in conversations between friends and not in the context of very short, formal interviews with lineaged teachers who have just flown in for the week.[/indent]
Cheers,
Florian
