u/Poseidon_with_iPad

tl'dr

Are my expectations off or should I get another teacher? 1.5 years in and on teacher #4.

Me (32m) started playing piano March '25 as a lifelong dream. It's a hobby, just for me. No external expectations, just me learning sth new. I want it to be fun, but I also want to finally understand the theory behind it in appropriate doses. 

My 'brief' of expectations to my teacher: 

• Have a plan (what milestone to reach roughly when and how)
• Push me where necessary while its still fun
• Focus: "fun" classics, pop, soundtracks

My questions:

1. How can I better screen teachers ahead of time?

2. What do I need to ask for to get to the above?

3. Are my expectations too high?

Full history:

Bad HS teachers have failed my music education, so I started at zero. 

Teacher 1 ("Bob"), School A: 

• Made me buy the Faber Piano Adult adventures
• Lesson structure: None
• Usual lesson: He'd always ask: "So what did we do last time" (assuming he didn't remember, he also never took notes), then he would flip through the book and ask "can you play this?" I play it, "okay good, how about this?" and so on. If we got stuck, I'd just repeat playing the song. Many of my basic questions ("best way to learn to read sheet music?"), he didn't really have answers and I had the impression it was too long ago for him to relate
• End: I stopped the lesson, since I couldn't shake the impression he improv'ed every lesson and $75 for that was too much

Teacher 2 ("Jane"), School B: 

• Switched schools
• Lesson structure: Some
• Talked a lot (like 70%) of the lesson
• Gave me some exercises ("Dozens a day")
• Then asked me what I wanted to play, found sheet music on the internet and we worked through that
• Almost no theory
• End: She quit the school. Probably my fav so far, she cared, just a lot of talking and not a lot of playing

Teacher 3 ("Joe), School B: 

• Composer
• Lesson structure: None
• Mismatch for my experience level, brought me pieces I could barely play (Prelude Op 28/4, Bach inventions) but insisted I stuck with them. Would get three measures in in 2 weeks. During the lessons, would go into deep theory lessons of what the composers did (completely over my head), focused hard on how to play it (when I could barely read the notes)
• End: He left the school, but I would have ended it there

Teacher 4 ("George"), School B: 

• Lesson structure: minimal
• Current teacher, nice guy, very chill
• Starts each lesson with: "What do you want to do today?" which I'd like to respond with: "You are the teacher, not me?", we've been working through Moonlight which I enjoy, but he seems a bit lost in what to talk or how to approach it and therefore the lessons feel a bit wasted.