Focusing on the positive…

If there was ever a time when everything falls apart it was in class this past weekend and, as an instructor, that’s the one place you never want it to happen.

I’ll admit, the majority of my classes usually go extremely well and I consider myself very fortunate. It doesn’t just happen, though. There’s a lot of time put into designing my projects, keeping track of all the products used and writing easy-to-follow instructions with color photos for all the students. I package kits and pack extra supplies. The store owners receive a complete list of products that will be used in class and they receive a sample for display.

Techniques are the focus of all my classes. I love teaching technique so have learned to incorporate them into projects that can be completed in an allotted amount of class time. I’ve been getting much better at estimating class times and classes have been finishing on time – until this past weekend.

Boy, my estimates were way off and everything that could go wrong did! Students were very understanding and still commented about how much fun they had and that they loved their project, but underestimating the time to complete the project combined with confusing instructions was frustrating for students as well as myself.

On my journey home I churned the day’s events over-and-over again in my mind, working through all the kinks – I do make an effort to learn from my mistakes. These mistakes needed to be corrected because I’m teaching this class again in a couple of weeks and I’m positive it will be a good time for all!

10 thoughts on “Focusing on the positive…

  1. BTW…love the vintage project!! Super cute..and if that is what they made in class…I seriously wouldn’t worry about going over 🙂 Just gogeous!!

    On another note…I am going to have to talk to wordpress about the icon in front of my name…LOL..that poor little star looks not to happy..what is that about 🙂 LOL

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  2. Linda~ I am quite sure that who ever took your class was having such great time that they did not know that things were taking longer than expected :-)…anyone taking your class is lucky…just to learn what you know. I personally wouldn’t worry about it if I were you…because if I were in your class and things took a little longer than expected…I would consider it an added bonus 🙂
    Hugs
    Heather

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  3. Susan Gioiella

    I’ve learned a ton in your classes! I’m sure these students were amazed by all your goodness!!

    I’m looking forward to your vintage white tray class!

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