If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Sorta OT - slight dilemna - to teach or not to teach
Remember about a month or so ago I told you about a LQS opening up in my
little village? Well it's opened and she's gradually getting in more fabrics - it's kinda like a sewing machine shop with some fabric and classes and things. Anyway, just before it opened I slipped a note under their door letting them know I was available to work casually if they needed help in the shop. Well she called me today and we had a chat and I'm to drop in on Monday morning for a bit more of a chinwag. She thought I was a teacher and wondered if I wanted to teach beginner classes. Apart from being overcome at the thought of being able to teach, I said no, I didn't feel I was ready yet to teach. She accepted and we moved onto other topics. When I told DH he nearly went through the roof and replied along the lines of "Of course you are good enough to teach......you've done fantastic quilts......you have heaps of patience.....". He has convinced me to take up some samples and talk to her. What I want is expert opnions - how hard is it to teach? What is expected of a teacher? What do I provide? How hard should a beginner class be? Please don't rush out to answer this, take your time as I know y'all are busy. BTW the hairdresser today was magnificent - gotta wonderful head massage and the cut is teriffic. -- Sharon From Melbourne Australia (Queen of Down Under) http://www.geocities.com/shazrules/index.html |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Hullo Sharon
There is another side to this - another way of looking at it. If you are not completely confident, *you* won't enjoy it. Whether or not you have the knowledge, and the skill to put it over, you might be hating every minute. I have done a lot of quilting, I am a qualified teacher, too; but I still find workshops where I am not happy. Have you ever tried to teach one of your friends something, perhaps? just to give you an idea of whether you would like it. Also, it isn't just the hours of the class itself, there is a lot you have to do beforehand, making samples and so on. I am *not* trying to put you off at all, just want you to think of the whole picture. You always sound much more outgoing than I am, so it might be just your thing; and how great would that be! .. In article , Sharon Harper writes Remember about a month or so ago I told you about a LQS opening up in my little village? Well it's opened and she's gradually getting in more fabrics - it's kinda like a sewing machine shop with some fabric and classes and things. Anyway, just before it opened I slipped a note under their door letting them know I was available to work casually if they needed help in the shop. Well she called me today and we had a chat and I'm to drop in on Monday morning for a bit more of a chinwag. She thought I was a teacher and wondered if I wanted to teach beginner classes. Apart from being overcome at the thought of being able to teach, I said no, I didn't feel I was ready yet to teach. She accepted and we moved onto other topics. When I told DH he nearly went through the roof and replied along the lines of "Of course you are good enough to teach......you've done fantastic quilts......you have heaps of patience.....". He has convinced me to take up some samples and talk to her. What I want is expert opnions - how hard is it to teach? What is expected of a teacher? What do I provide? How hard should a beginner class be? Please don't rush out to answer this, take your time as I know y'all are busy. BTW the hairdresser today was magnificent - gotta wonderful head massage and the cut is teriffic. -- Best Regards pat on the hill |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Go for it! Haven't really taught myself, but I've been a student. Seems to
me that people take classes for various reasons: they are absolute beginners who know nothing and learn better from a human than from a book, they know quite a bit but want to try a new technique in a controlled setting, or they are pretty good seamsters who like a class environment to give them motivation. What kind of class do you want to teach? Roberta in D "Sharon Harper" wrote in message u... Remember about a month or so ago I told you about a LQS opening up in my little village? Well it's opened and she's gradually getting in more fabrics - it's kinda like a sewing machine shop with some fabric and classes and things. Anyway, just before it opened I slipped a note under their door letting them know I was available to work casually if they needed help in the shop. Well she called me today and we had a chat and I'm to drop in on Monday morning for a bit more of a chinwag. She thought I was a teacher and wondered if I wanted to teach beginner classes. Apart from being overcome at the thought of being able to teach, I said no, I didn't feel I was ready yet to teach. She accepted and we moved onto other topics. When I told DH he nearly went through the roof and replied along the lines of "Of course you are good enough to teach......you've done fantastic quilts......you have heaps of patience.....". He has convinced me to take up some samples and talk to her. What I want is expert opnions - how hard is it to teach? What is expected of a teacher? What do I provide? How hard should a beginner class be? Please don't rush out to answer this, take your time as I know y'all are busy. BTW the hairdresser today was magnificent - gotta wonderful head massage and the cut is teriffic. -- Sharon From Melbourne Australia (Queen of Down Under) http://www.geocities.com/shazrules/index.html |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Go for it.....I love the beginners classes, I teach at our local Hancock
fabrics, I love the moment of aha when they open up Half square triangles! I teach a simple nine patch block...churn dash, which we make into a pillow.....you can cover choosing fabrics, seam allowance, pressing, using the rotary cutter, straightening fabric, making a grid for 1/2 square triangles, layering for quilting and SITD and in three sessions they go home with a project COMPLETED....Anything more ambitious can be frustrating.....I have found that in a class of 6 only 2 will know enough about their machine, 2 will be sketchy, 2 will not have used their machine EVER or have borrowed someone else's! I cover fabrics, thread, tools , and books the first night....I soon will extend that to setting up their machine for quilting so we don't have to do that the 2nd night. KEEP IT SIMPLE.....I can't emphasize that enough...If you need more information on handouts, let me know....I give out a handout about SM(always a topic of discussion: What is the best SM for quilting?), care of quilts, book,magazine,website, and TV show recommendations; -- Mauvice in Central WI USA .. "Sharon Harper" wrote in message u... Remember about a month or so ago I told you about a LQS opening up in my little village? Well it's opened and she's gradually getting in more fabrics - it's kinda like a sewing machine shop with some fabric and classes and things. Anyway, just before it opened I slipped a note under their door letting them know I was available to work casually if they needed help in the shop. Well she called me today and we had a chat and I'm to drop in on Monday morning for a bit more of a chinwag. She thought I was a teacher and wondered if I wanted to teach beginner classes. Apart from being overcome at the thought of being able to teach, I said no, I didn't feel I was ready yet to teach. She accepted and we moved onto other topics. When I told DH he nearly went through the roof and replied along the lines of "Of course you are good enough to teach......you've done fantastic quilts......you have heaps of patience.....". He has convinced me to take up some samples and talk to her. What I want is expert opnions - how hard is it to teach? What is expected of a teacher? What do I provide? How hard should a beginner class be? Please don't rush out to answer this, take your time as I know y'all are busy. BTW the hairdresser today was magnificent - gotta wonderful head massage and the cut is teriffic. -- Sharon From Melbourne Australia (Queen of Down Under) http://www.geocities.com/shazrules/index.html |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
I recommend full disclosure and a helper.
By full disclosure, I mean that both your employer and your students should know this is your first time teaching and be comfortable with that. I can imagine being disappointed if I felt I was being experimented on, thinking that the teacher was unsure and didn't know what to say next. If I knew that she was new at it too, I'd know what to expect and wouldn't mind. (And if I did mind, I could choose not to take the class.) I've taught quilting to individuals (no classes), and I have experience teaching cooking classes and academic classes. The biggest challenges a 1. Paying attention to everyone's individual needs at once. 2. Thinking of everything you'll need to bring. 3. Getting a sense for how long things will take and moving things along smoothly. For all of these, a helper can be (ahem) a big help. If one student needs everything explained 5 times while the rest of the class is ready to move on, the helper sits next to that one person and helps her understand. If you realize that you need bobbins or batting or something cut, the helper can run and fetch or cut. Make sure your helper is someone you know and get along with well, not someone you've just met and has volunteered. The only thing worse than no helper is a helper who needs twice as much time while you explain to her what you need done. --Lia |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
"Sharon Harper" wrote in message u... What I want is expert opnions - how hard is it to teach? What is expected of a teacher? What do I provide? How hard should a beginner class be? Please don't rush out to answer this, take your time as I know y'all are busy. Here's my take on it -- you'll get other opinions, I know. Teaching and quilting are two different skills. I know a number of good quilting teachers who aren't that great at quilting, and many more excellent quilters who are lousy quilters. And there are many who are excellent at both. Think for a minute about your personality. Can you break down a simple project like a rail fence and explain to someone who has never sewn how to do it, step by step? Will you get frustrated if they ask the same question over and over? What about the one person in every class who wants to monopolize your attention? Can you break down the project into clear baby steps? Most teachers in my area don't provide anything except a supply list. (It's a good idea to make sure the LQS you're teaching at has all the items on it! LOL) Include *everything* on a beginning supply list, such as a sewing machine in good working order, etc. Some teachers who teach away from the LQS will note on their supply list which items they will have available for purchase at the class, but that's a bit rare. How hard should the class be? The important thing is to pick a project that people will successfully finish. IMHO, a rail fence or a 9 patch is an excellent project. Lap size is wonderful. The idea is to introduce them to the concepts and tools, get them hooked on quilting (bwa ha ha!), and then turn them loose on the big wide world. You might consider including how to finish the quilt -- maybe some simple machine quilting with the walking foot and then binding. Having a finished quilt instead of a UFO will set fire to some of the students. One local teacher does an 8 week "beginning" class where they make a 12 block queen sized sampler, sash it and do 3 mitered borders. IMHO, this is NOT a beginner class. (And I've had to quilt many of the results). It's too much for the students to absorb in too little time, and with the size of the class (often 20 students), she can't give everyone the help they need on the difficult parts. The result is usually 18 students with UFOs, and 2 who bring the top to me only to find out that it won't lay flat and they need to do major surgery. Only 1 of those 2 will usually stay with quilting. Another local teacher who teaches a finished rail fence lap quilt as a 3 week beginning class (with only 8 in the class) has a fabulous success rate. The students do the whole quilt from start to finish. Sure, they haven't tackled anything tricky, but they've had that first sweet taste of success, and they're hooked. Some move on to more difficult projects, and others churn out an endless series of rail fences, but all are pleased with what they're doing (and keep buying fabric from the LQS), and everyone is happy. Hope that gave you a couple of things to think about. -- Kathy A. (Woodland, CA) longarm machine quilting, Queen of Fabric Tramps http://www.kayneyquilting.com , remove the obvious to reply |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Sharon,
And now, for something completely different ... or a little different, anyway. Maybe the shop could offer "clinics" instead of classes. At least until you get your feet wet. That way, your students won't be total newbies who don't know which side of the sewing machine to sit on. People could bring WIPs or UFOs to work on. You could do a short demo/lesson on some topic and then be available to help with any problems. The students would probably pay less for that than for a real class. But you could establish your credentials by having lots of your own work on display. Maybe you couldn't point to "classes" that you had taught, but you could point to perfect points and mitered borders and all that. After a few sessions like that, you would also know how well you interact with learners, whether you like the teaching part, and you would have a track record as a "teacher" so future students wouldn't feel that they were getting someone inexperienced. Just my $.02 US -- Anne in CA "It's not having what you want; it's wanting what you've got." -- Sheryl Crow http://home.covad.net/~arudolph/annes.htm Sharon Harper wrote: Remember about a month or so ago I told you about a LQS opening up in my little village? Well it's opened and she's gradually getting in more fabrics - it's kinda like a sewing machine shop with some fabric and classes and things. Anyway, just before it opened I slipped a note under their door letting them know I was available to work casually if they needed help in the shop. Well she called me today and we had a chat and I'm to drop in on Monday morning for a bit more of a chinwag. She thought I was a teacher and wondered if I wanted to teach beginner classes. Apart from being overcome at the thought of being able to teach, I said no, I didn't feel I was ready yet to teach. She accepted and we moved onto other topics. When I told DH he nearly went through the roof and replied along the lines of "Of course you are good enough to teach......you've done fantastic quilts......you have heaps of patience.....". He has convinced me to take up some samples and talk to her. What I want is expert opnions - how hard is it to teach? What is expected of a teacher? What do I provide? How hard should a beginner class be? Please don't rush out to answer this, take your time as I know y'all are busy. BTW the hairdresser today was magnificent - gotta wonderful head massage and the cut is teriffic. -- Sharon From Melbourne Australia (Queen of Down Under) http://www.geocities.com/shazrules/index.html remove NOSPAM to reply |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Thanks Patti, funny how it is so easy to sound outgoing when you are sitting
typing away in your jammies!! DH spent most of last night trying to recruit people into telling me how I SHOULD teach, in then end I said I'd think about it just to shut them up. But no, it will bear a lot of thinking. Thanks. -- Sharon From Melbourne Australia (Queen of Down Under) http://www.geocities.com/shazrules/index.html "Patti" wrote in message ... Hullo Sharon There is another side to this - another way of looking at it. If you are not completely confident, *you* won't enjoy it. Whether or not you have the knowledge, and the skill to put it over, you might be hating every minute. I have done a lot of quilting, I am a qualified teacher, too; but I still find workshops where I am not happy. Have you ever tried to teach one of your friends something, perhaps? just to give you an idea of whether you would like it. Also, it isn't just the hours of the class itself, there is a lot you have to do beforehand, making samples and so on. I am *not* trying to put you off at all, just want you to think of the whole picture. You always sound much more outgoing than I am, so it might be just your thing; and how great would that be! . In article , Sharon Harper writes Remember about a month or so ago I told you about a LQS opening up in my little village? Well it's opened and she's gradually getting in more fabrics - it's kinda like a sewing machine shop with some fabric and classes and things. Anyway, just before it opened I slipped a note under their door letting them know I was available to work casually if they needed help in the shop. Well she called me today and we had a chat and I'm to drop in on Monday morning for a bit more of a chinwag. She thought I was a teacher and wondered if I wanted to teach beginner classes. Apart from being overcome at the thought of being able to teach, I said no, I didn't feel I was ready yet to teach. She accepted and we moved onto other topics. When I told DH he nearly went through the roof and replied along the lines of "Of course you are good enough to teach......you've done fantastic quilts......you have heaps of patience.....". He has convinced me to take up some samples and talk to her. What I want is expert opnions - how hard is it to teach? What is expected of a teacher? What do I provide? How hard should a beginner class be? Please don't rush out to answer this, take your time as I know y'all are busy. BTW the hairdresser today was magnificent - gotta wonderful head massage and the cut is teriffic. -- Best Regards pat on the hill |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
It would be an absolute beginner class (you know put fabric on mat, cut
here, slice there). Thanks for responding -- Sharon From Melbourne Australia (Queen of Down Under) http://www.geocities.com/shazrules/index.html "Roberta Zollner" wrote in message ... Go for it! Haven't really taught myself, but I've been a student. Seems to me that people take classes for various reasons: they are absolute beginners who know nothing and learn better from a human than from a book, they know quite a bit but want to try a new technique in a controlled setting, or they are pretty good seamsters who like a class environment to give them motivation. What kind of class do you want to teach? Roberta in D "Sharon Harper" wrote in message u... Remember about a month or so ago I told you about a LQS opening up in my little village? Well it's opened and she's gradually getting in more fabrics - it's kinda like a sewing machine shop with some fabric and classes and things. Anyway, just before it opened I slipped a note under their door letting them know I was available to work casually if they needed help in the shop. Well she called me today and we had a chat and I'm to drop in on Monday morning for a bit more of a chinwag. She thought I was a teacher and wondered if I wanted to teach beginner classes. Apart from being overcome at the thought of being able to teach, I said no, I didn't feel I was ready yet to teach. She accepted and we moved onto other topics. When I told DH he nearly went through the roof and replied along the lines of "Of course you are good enough to teach......you've done fantastic quilts......you have heaps of patience.....". He has convinced me to take up some samples and talk to her. What I want is expert opnions - how hard is it to teach? What is expected of a teacher? What do I provide? How hard should a beginner class be? Please don't rush out to answer this, take your time as I know y'all are busy. BTW the hairdresser today was magnificent - gotta wonderful head massage and the cut is teriffic. -- Sharon From Melbourne Australia (Queen of Down Under) http://www.geocities.com/shazrules/index.html |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Thanks so much Mauvice, I really appreciate your help. I've saved your
response so that IF I decide to go ahead, I'll have some ideas. -- Sharon From Melbourne Australia (Queen of Down Under) http://www.geocities.com/shazrules/index.html "CHARLES MURPHY" wrote in message ... Go for it.....I love the beginners classes, I teach at our local Hancock fabrics, I love the moment of aha when they open up Half square triangles! I teach a simple nine patch block...churn dash, which we make into a pillow.....you can cover choosing fabrics, seam allowance, pressing, using the rotary cutter, straightening fabric, making a grid for 1/2 square triangles, layering for quilting and SITD and in three sessions they go home with a project COMPLETED....Anything more ambitious can be frustrating.....I have found that in a class of 6 only 2 will know enough about their machine, 2 will be sketchy, 2 will not have used their machine EVER or have borrowed someone else's! I cover fabrics, thread, tools , and books the first night....I soon will extend that to setting up their machine for quilting so we don't have to do that the 2nd night. KEEP IT SIMPLE.....I can't emphasize that enough...If you need more information on handouts, let me know....I give out a handout about SM(always a topic of discussion: What is the best SM for quilting?), care of quilts, book,magazine,website, and TV show recommendations; -- Mauvice in Central WI USA . "Sharon Harper" wrote in message u... Remember about a month or so ago I told you about a LQS opening up in my little village? Well it's opened and she's gradually getting in more fabrics - it's kinda like a sewing machine shop with some fabric and classes and things. Anyway, just before it opened I slipped a note under their door letting them know I was available to work casually if they needed help in the shop. Well she called me today and we had a chat and I'm to drop in on Monday morning for a bit more of a chinwag. She thought I was a teacher and wondered if I wanted to teach beginner classes. Apart from being overcome at the thought of being able to teach, I said no, I didn't feel I was ready yet to teach. She accepted and we moved onto other topics. When I told DH he nearly went through the roof and replied along the lines of "Of course you are good enough to teach......you've done fantastic quilts......you have heaps of patience.....". He has convinced me to take up some samples and talk to her. What I want is expert opnions - how hard is it to teach? What is expected of a teacher? What do I provide? How hard should a beginner class be? Please don't rush out to answer this, take your time as I know y'all are busy. BTW the hairdresser today was magnificent - gotta wonderful head massage and the cut is teriffic. -- Sharon From Melbourne Australia (Queen of Down Under) http://www.geocities.com/shazrules/index.html |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
sorta OT sorta not....t-pins | Dannielle | Needlework | 7 | August 29th 04 09:35 PM |
OT sorta, AD sorta, burned myself | Kandice Seeber | Beads | 29 | June 12th 04 06:30 AM |