Years ago I took a thread painting class. The instructor was very talented and actually sold her work. However, as a teacher I would rate her a "0"!
[1] She wore perfume or cologne and I am asthmatic. When she got near me I actually started wheezing, so she avoided getting near me.
[2] She didn't address my questions whenever I had one. Of course, I had to speak up since she couldn't get near me.
[3] She did spend much more time on the 1 student who was really gifted and 'got' the idea. Much later 2 other students in the class told me they almost walked out because of this.
[4] Therefore out of a class of 5 there were 3 of us who didn't get the benefit of the teacher's knowledge base.
I did let the owners of the store know what happened and strongly encouraged them to go with a scent free environment. They did make it a policy for all staff to be scent free after this incident.
Much later I realized I should have walked out and asked for my money back rigth away.
Another point: I don't always expect to finish a project during class. I go to learn the technique and get advice. If it is a large project it is OK for me to finish it at home. Now I usually plan on making only a small sample so I don't have another UFO. I can donate the project for the silent auctions at one of of my quilt guilds.
How has this helped me grow; I now state fully what I expect when I sign up for a class. The last class I took for making a shirt I firmly stated I wanted a garment I could wear. I didn'ty buy expensive fabric for the shirt. I told the instructor where my fitting problems were and she measured me and adjusted the pattern before I even started in on working on the shirt. BTW the shirt fit. Now I can make a 'prettyy' one and know it will fit. If it didn't fit I would have asked not only for my class fee back but also compensation for fabric bought. I know the shop owners and they were fullly aware of this before I took the class.
You learn to speak up. Some people are great at doing a process but lousy teachers.
ali
Last edited by AliKat; 07-15-2012 at 10:17 AM.