It is good to know the space you will be using beforehand. Lighting, temperature, outlets, and tables and chairs are important to take in to consideration. Where will you be positioned? Are there places to display the pieces in progress?

I would be interested in how your class went. I think as you are concerned with how it goes, your class will be fine. :lol:

Someone once took a class and the teacher used her selection of fabrics as a bad example. She was mortified.

That's so not cool!!!!

One way I see to address it is in a separate class that is focused on picking fabrics and have the teacher provide samples of why the fabric doesn't work well with others. However, everyone has their own "eye" too and sometimes those difficult fabrics look outstanding in certain patterns.

I agree with teaching as if there are beginners in the class. I remember when I started quilting in 2005, and feeling shy about being the only one who didn't know what she was doing. Everyone made me feel so comfortable and reminded me that they were beginners once too.
Sounds like you already have a good plan, so good luck and hope the class appreciates your time and energy it takes to put it all together.

As a color challenged human, I always get uncomfortable when someone starts going into colors matching or colors complementing or brings out a color wheel.
I quilt because I like doing practical things, I like the colors and I really enjoy all the angles. I would LOVE to be able to make a quilt that was color correct, but I get so excited by my stash that I just start pulling out the things I like and put them together and HOPE it is okay ... (in other words, that I will like it)
I don't think much of the hippies, but they did loosen up that color wheel, didn't they? <g>
anyway, I will admit to being a hard learner/knot head/challenge student <g>, but sooner or later, it dawns on someone that their quilt doesn't look exactly like they thought it should. When someone mentions contrast, it starts sinking in ... how to combine the over zealous zest for color with a manageable/recognizable quilt pattern is something I think people grow into ... and through time, being exposed to other quilters, I have come to understand texture, even! ... not that I want to know much more than that.
I think, reading all the things, and to spare beginners information overload, maybe understand how different people learn is the key to all teaching, and even learning ... some students READ ... some students LOOK and figure it out sans patterns, technique experience or everything else others go through (over achievers! LOL) ... some students have to SEE an operation done a number of times to understand the technique they are trying to learn.
One of the greatest gifts a teacher can give a student is the confidence to learn in exactly the way that student needs to learn. Students get so frustrated with themselves because they don't catch on like their neighbor does ... they just need to relax and accept the way they learn and work to achieve that technique. I always try to teach people to understand themselves, and work with themselves just as they are.
I know it sounds all so psychological, but it is as simple as understanding that we all have different gifts and different approaches, but even those differences compliment, not compete and boil down to three to five different approaches.
I know our teacher friend that started this thread wants to make sure that she has satisfied, taught students because of the joy she has in the effort.
That heart will be revealed within her students ... it always is. <g>

I think if most of the students learn what you planned for them to learn, you will have had a successful class.

There are some of us that just don't get it the first time - so there is no point in beating yourself up if you did the best you could.

It is so nice to have an AHA moment - but sometimes that occurs YEARS after the class in question.

That! Is REALLY the truth!

I agree that it is important to show each step of the way and have a sample of each step on a board so that even the beginners are able to see how things come together. My friend and I are teaching a class in Sept. and decided to teach a 'simplified' version to learn the technique. Once the students have the technique down, perhaps sewing a sample from their stashes, they can go on to duplicate it on premium fabrics.

good luck; it will be fun and you'll be surprised how fast the day will go by.

YIKES! Other than deleting and rewriting, I don't know how to correct this. Sorry about this. I think you can find my response in here somewhere. Must be time to go to bed. :oops:

The one thing I would like to add is to have someone who is somewhat of a beginner (if possible) test your instructions. Sometimes we think something is clear, and it may be confusing to others.

An extreme example of this is a favorite English lesson I have taught from 5th grade to middle school students. The assignment was writing the instructions for making peanut butter sandwiches. Then I had different students follow the instructions exactly! (I had a copy to make sure they did) They would leave out the simplest thing assuming the person making the sandwich would know what to do. In their case, they left out things like "open the jar of peanut butter" , "use a knife to scoop out and spread the peanut butter on one slice of bread" which, by the way you hope they have been told to take the bread out of the wrapper. In case you haven't guessed, the point of the English lesson was to never assume the reader knows what they are talking about.

My second ever quilt class (supposed to be a rail fence lap quilt) the instructor was a high-school math teacher. She told all of us to "Find the hypotenuse of the triangle". OK, ladies, those of you who have been out of school more than 10 years, quick, what the dickens is the hypotenuse and how do you find it? Then she told all of us beginner quilters that if our seams were off by a needle width, out quilt would be ruined. (Yes, accurate piecing is imperative, but that's not how to explain it to a new quilter!)

I walked out of the class almost in tears swearing I would never quilt again. Fortunately I phoned my FIRST quilt instructor, who had given me her home phone number, and she invited me to her house to sew with her. We have been best friends now for almost 15 years, and everything I've learned is because of her! Thanks JoeAnn!

P.S. We STILL laugh about the Hypotenuse. It's become a good giggle!

Yeah like me and Algebra. I have taken it three times and still waiting for the AH-HA moment.

I found that I could understand algebra better if I went from the specific to the general.

Example: 1 + 2 = 3 versus a + b = c

Roben,
Everyone has given you so much great advice. What I want to add really has nothing to do with actually teaching, but I love it when an instructor brings along self-sticking name tags. If your students don't all know each other, it gives them a chance to learn each others' names. Sometimes it's difficult to remember all of the names during the introductions. Have fun with your class. :D

Thank you, everyone - your replies were great and have given me a lot to think about.

I went to the shop on Saturday; we previewed the pattern and discussed various aspects of the class. Since the class is based on a kit we pre-assemble, color won't play a large part of the discussion. We will all be working on pieces that look identical, which will simplify matters a great deal. The 'mechanics' I'm not worried about at all - we've got that covered. (Although the peanut butter sandwich story is giving me pause LOL!) What I wanted to do my best to avoid is inadvertent behavior that leaves someone feeling bad - ie: not feeling part of the group. I cannot for the life of me imagine myself using a class participant's work as an example of what not to do - I think I can provide enough of those from my own work :wink:

I read a line in a book the other day, a reference to unintended rudeness happening quite frequently. That is the very last place I want to go, and all have you have helped me avoid that pitfall. Thank you so much!

you seem to be more aware than most people - I think I would like to be in one of your classes -

I'm not sure what to do about the student that thinks she knows more than you do and won't shut up or won't wait for you to finish the explanation - (sometimes I might be that one) - duct tape???

LOL ... I am getting so old that by now, if something is missing from the equation, I just do not care!
Not everyone is a math person. If all a teacher manages to teach a student is: Go here for help
the teacher has been successful!
I love math, and I can see the practicality of it, but a total class on "suppose you need to know ... " thinking is almost a waste of time!
That hypotenuse story is just grand!
At least there is one teacher in the world who doesn't have a job any more? <g>
I am a Mary Ellen Hopkins girl " I may not be accurate, but I am consistent!" LOL life is really to short to demand perfection. Most people will head toward perfection as they grow in the endeavor .... or, they won't quilt for long.

I really liked Mary Ellen Hopkins book "It's Okay If you Sit On My Quilt"

She made the projects so attainable!

And for a lot of piecing, consistency is the key!

Of course, Loretta - I'd love to have you! Might I suggest, if you'll be sitting by Lisa, to bring some plastic to protect yourself? :lol: :lol: :lol: She causes spew, trust me (and my laptop!) ROTF!!!