On becoming a Quilt Teacher

Lorraine,

Congrats on starting a new and exciting time. I just started teaching and taught 3, classes in Free Motion Quilting, 4, paper piecing and 3, EQ5. The best thing is the ladies I have met and become close to.

My first EQ5 class has 5 ladies who decided to stay together. I will not let anyone join them and they are now drawing and exchanging files. Now, another quilt shop has contacted me to teach EQ5 classes there.

Good luck!!! you have some great adventures waiting.

Mary

A Friend Is Like A Good Bra. Hard to Find, Supportive, Comfortable, And Always Close To Your Heart!

Yippee!!

I'm not a pro quilt teacher (although I've taught a couple of quilt related classes), but my girlfriends and I just had a long discussion on what we like to see in a quilt teacher.

Biggest pet peeve was the supply list. So many teachers either forget stuff you need or include stuff that isn't used. And so very few teachers let you know which items are optional.

Good luck, and most of all have fun!

Congratulations! I'm sure you'll be great and have a fun time with teaching. One thing I do for multi-part classes that students like is to give them a sheet at the end of each class that says..."homework" and tells them what needs to be finished by the next class in order to move forward. I usually give them and "at least this much" like for the applique wreath the at least need to have the stem down and at most they can do the stem and every leaf. I also let them know what tools they will need for the next class. Sometimes they need rotary cutting supplies the first week but not the rest so I make sure to let them know that so they aren't lugging stuff to class that they won't be using.

I also do an outline of my class. That way I can check to make sure I have covered things before moving on. I dislike teachers who halfway through a process say "oh, I forgot to tell you...." The outline keeps me from doing that. For my hand quilting class it goes something like this...

Discuss fabrics Discuss marking methods and demo Discuss battings Demo basting and have class baste their project Discuss needles Discuss thimbles Show students how to hoop up their project Demo quilting stitch Practice time for students break/lunch Discuss thread Practice time quilting for students Hand out size 10 needles Hand out size 11 needles

Not detailed, but keeps me from having them start quilting without showing them my box o'thimbles so students can see the different styles and know they are free to try out any of mine if the thimble they brought isn't working for them.

marcella

Good luck Lorraine. You'll have a great time - and, yes, teaching skills do transfer perfectly! . In message , TwinMom writes

I write extensive notes for all the techniques and projects I teach (can't you tell LOL) and test them on a non-quilter. If my non-sewing neighbour can follow my instructions and picture what I am on about, I figure the instructions are clear. I like everyone to have notes to take home with them. And after you write them leave them for a few days before proof reading them VERY carefully.

All my notes are printed and put into plastic folders, and include blank pages for notes.

Marcella's advice about requirements lists and points to be covered is spot on!

Depending on what I am teaching I will have "dismembered" samples in various stages of construction that can be passed around, and while I don't insist on it I provide cheap cotton fabrics for practise blocks if anyone wants to test seams/measurements, etc.

Ask - very early on - to determine what level of experience everyone is at. Make sure you don't have a very quiet beginner lurking quietly at the back in a state of complete confusion as you all chatter away.

Be VERY familiar with your work area before you start. There is nothing worse than having to break off to go look for things. And take a break from "instructing" at regular intervals. I break the thread about every 30-35 minutes and chat or get a drink or ask an OT question. The break should be short but it can be vital to keeping people fresh and interested.

As you get into it you will find teaching is harder work in many ways than you expected, and easier in other aspects. I love it.

Teaching can be very rewarding whilst also being the most tiring thing you will ever do :-) One of the things I found -- in addition to the excellent advice given by others in this thread about an outline, supply lists, handouts, etc -- is that it is very difficult the first time or two thru a given class to get the timing right -- i.e. how much can the group accomplish in the given time period. What I found was that if I timed how long it took me to do whatever the task was for the given session and then doubled that time, I came pretty close to how long it took the students. If it was something tricky or not intuitive then I would add an additional fudge factor into the timing. I always knew that if the students turned out to all be quick studies and fast piecers that there was additional information I could give them but if they encountered problems and took longer than I had planned that could become a real problem. Always assume something odd will go wrong :-)

Ellen

Piggybacking here. I've only taught one class in a shop, as well as a couple of little "mini-classes" to my local group. In my pre-retirement life, I was a high-school French teacher. YES! Teaching skills do transfer. After all, you're used to watching to see if your students understand what you're demonstrating, you're used to watching to see if their results are what was expected, you're used to giving help where needed and praise where earned.

Have a ball with this, Lorraine. :)

Congratlations! Barbara in SC

Good for you! Go get 'em! Have fun too. Linda in Tx

I've never taught a class, but one thing I appreciate if the teacher is new to teaching, is that she tell the class she's new at this. I've had teachers that just don't seem to "have it", only to find it was their first class. This can make a big difference to the students. Gen