Third on the helicopter flying and using the rudder stick separately. My airplane flying improved a ton after learning to hover a heli.

You could buy a little heli and work on it that way, or just go up high and steer around with rudder only. Get used to that, then continue using rudder to steer the plane doing level 8's, and add a little aileron back in. You will strat to see how rudder and aileron together really make a plane turn nicer.

As a glider flyer, I can tell you that the plane will definitely glide better when coordinated with rudder. So, using your rudder can indeed stretch your glide on a dead-stick, if nothing else...