I am new at teaching

[jamie_liszt]

I have been teaching for around 5 months, got a few students (but they are all young, around 7-10) I have a 17yr boy that wants lessons, he has said to me he wants to skip the easy stuff like learning the notes and clefs, time signatures, rests, etc. and start learning scales and chords so he can play chords to some modern pieces while singing, he said he knows the notes, I tested him on that on the spot and it takes him around 3 to 5 seconds to figure the notes out. He also mentioned he can play a little bit of drums and guitar so he has a little sense of rhythm and pitch.

I said to him even though he says he knows the basics I still want to go over it with him.

Now, you experiences teachers, if you had a older teenager like this would you still go over basics? what kind of stuff would you do on the first lesson?

[thalberg]

First, it sounds like you have a good grasp of the situation--you see that 3 to 5 seconds means he really isn't a great note reader.  And you see he needs to improve there.

You also see that he's highly motivated to learn scales and chords--a positive thing.

I say, give him the kind of teaching you know he needs regarding notes, but also devote time to showing him they keyboard skills he wants.   It is like a lesson with two parts--your way and his way.