Hi there, sorry you are having a grumpy teacher, there is nothing worse.
I found it difficult to grasp, however the secret is to place your material on the side of the paper without the lines on it, pin the material onto the paper, hold it up to the light to make sure your materials cover the line, turn it over to the lined side of the paper and machine along the black line.
Continue placing your fabric over each of your numbered points starting at 1 and. Place the first fabric on the paper right with its pattern up and the next piece pattern side down. (hope that makes sense).
Look on this site, it may help.
http://www.caroldoak.com/free-quilt-patterns.php
You need Adobe Reader to download the free patterns in pdf format.
If I can help anymore by explaining ask, please