Interesting post about teaching quilting from another group

I found this post on the Yahoo Quilt Teach list. It is quoted in with
permission from the author Barbara Douglas. Please check out her
website for some amazing "eye candy"!

Working intuitively and trying to teach others to work intuitively are
two different ball games all together.

I found out, right quick in my first teaching venue that everyone
learns differently. I assumed that since the class was "Design Your
Own Snowman" wall
hanging that the students would come in and design their own snowman,
after all it
was simpler than cutting out a paper doll, or snow flake. Not a one
would draw or cut their own snowmen. They wanted to use my drawings.
Yet one of the women took off in "dressing" her snowmen. Mine were
dressed in hats and scarves. She made free hand vests and more creative
hats
and scarves. Yet she wouldn't attempt to cut out the snowman. I also
assumed that if you were going to take a quilting class that wasn't a
"learn to quilt" class, that you would have a certain level of
quiltingskills. This is not necessarily the case.

Through the years I became a student of people and a whole new world
openedup to me. Different people learn differently. There are perhaps
as many learning
styles as there are people. But I now see a bit of a pattern.

1. There are those born with "vision" and will jump in and try things
to see if they can put their idea to their chosen medium. Of this type
there are those who grudgingly take a class to learn a technique, and I
say grudgingly, because they don't really want anyone telling them what
to
do. Then there is the one who readily takes the technique class so
that they can apply it to what they envisioned and goes on her merry
way to create what she wants.

2. There are those who learn the rules and expand on them. This may be
right away, or may take years. They finally realize that therules are
not LAW, but guidelines and can be adapted. These "develop vision" and
learn to look at things differently and tend to get creative.

3. Then there are those that need the rules, they can not create
without therules. To them the rules are law. These are those that can
only make a quilt in the colors the designer chose.

In all of these groups, there are those who are Open minded and those
who are Close minded. It is the Close minded that have the hardest time
because they just can't understand that it is ok to do things
differently. If they are close minded and work intuitively they scoff
at the rule follower. If they are close minded and they are rule
followers, they get angry
because someone isn't doing it the way the teacher or book said to do
it.

As an instructor, I had to learn to deal with different learning
styles. I learned that some "GET IT" easily and some don't. And "IT"
can be anything from basic skills, to advanced curves or even the math
to figure out how much backing to use.

I have since learned to modify my teaching. I was the one who had to be
more Open minded.
When I remembered that I was the kid who frustrated the math teachers
because I could find the answers but couldn't do the formulas, I
realized that MY way wasn't necessarily the only way to do things.

I tell students up front, "In quilting there are 'rules of thumb' and
it is perfectly ok to break the rules or follow the rules, after all it
is your quilt and it isn't brain surgery, where the consequences of
getting creative with a sharp instrument could have dire consequences."

I explain that I will not be the teacher who expects them to do
everything exactly the way I do. If their corners don't match, and they
can live with it, then it is their choice. Usually they rip out and try
again and not getting frustrated, because they are forced to do so.

I explain that yes there are rules to get in to shows, and there are
things that Judges look for in quilt shows, but that the judges are NOT
the "quilt police" The quilt police, tend to be self appointed and look
at a quilt to find the mistakes, so that they can criticize it.

If they don't want to do the quilt the way the designer did it, that is
fine. But not to get upset if it doesn't turn out as spectacular as
the picture, because like a recipe that calls for baker's chocolate and
heavy cream and you substitute cocoa and milk, the results are going to
be
different. The results may be better, or they may fall flat.

I stopped expecting my students to work the way I do. Even with my
Fiber Arts classes, where I expected all the students to justjump in, I
found that this isn't necessarily true.
They may have creative vision, but want some basics first, someone to
explain how something is going to work, before they get their hands
dirty. Some don't care and jump in first then come back for the basics.
What comes to mind, for my teaching, is the old saying, "be all
things to all people". I may work intuitively, but not all people can
be taught to be so. So
if I want classes to fill up, I had better be able to adapt to the way
they learn.

Barb
Barbara Douglas
Stone Cottage Designs
http://www.stonecottagequilts.com
http://qnm.com/rjrbonus/rjrbonus9/

Very interesting, Leslie. I've learned a lot about teaching quilting. I
thought many times about getting a toy recorder and setting it to say "be
careful with those scissors".
"Don't drop the scissors, they can spear all the way through you foot."
"Pay attention to the scissors. It's a long way for the EMTs to get out
here."
and on and on and on.
Eventually, one of my students reached across to pick up a dropped
applique piece and carelessly waving the new, sharp Ginghers in her other
hand, poked the scissors right into herself.
"Ah," I thought. A teaching shortcut. If I ever, ever try to teach
another "bull in a china shop" person to quilt, I will simply stab her
first. It will save me a lot of breath.
Forgive the pun, but maybe I just wasn't cut out for teaching. Polly


"Leslie & The Furbabies in MO." wrote in message
oups.com...
I found this post on the Yahoo Quilt Teach list. It is quoted in with
permission from the author Barbara Douglas. Please check out her
website for some amazing "eye candy"!

Working intuitively and trying to teach others to work intuitively are
two different ball games all together.

I found out, right quick in my first teaching venue that everyone
learns differently. I assumed that since the class was "Design Your
Own Snowman" wall
hanging that the students would come in and design their own snowman,
after all it
was simpler than cutting out a paper doll, or snow flake. Not a one
would draw or cut their own snowmen. They wanted to use my drawings.
Yet one of the women took off in "dressing" her snowmen. Mine were
dressed in hats and scarves. She made free hand vests and more creative
hats
and scarves. Yet she wouldn't attempt to cut out the snowman. I also
assumed that if you were going to take a quilting class that wasn't a
"learn to quilt" class, that you would have a certain level of
quiltingskills. This is not necessarily the case.

Through the years I became a student of people and a whole new world
openedup to me. Different people learn differently. There are perhaps
as many learning
styles as there are people. But I now see a bit of a pattern.

1. There are those born with "vision" and will jump in and try things
to see if they can put their idea to their chosen medium. Of this type
there are those who grudgingly take a class to learn a technique, and I
say grudgingly, because they don't really want anyone telling them what
to
do. Then there is the one who readily takes the technique class so
that they can apply it to what they envisioned and goes on her merry
way to create what she wants.

2. There are those who learn the rules and expand on them. This may be
right away, or may take years. They finally realize that therules are
not LAW, but guidelines and can be adapted. These "develop vision" and
learn to look at things differently and tend to get creative.

3. Then there are those that need the rules, they can not create
without therules. To them the rules are law. These are those that can
only make a quilt in the colors the designer chose.

In all of these groups, there are those who are Open minded and those
who are Close minded. It is the Close minded that have the hardest time
because they just can't understand that it is ok to do things
differently. If they are close minded and work intuitively they scoff
at the rule follower. If they are close minded and they are rule
followers, they get angry
because someone isn't doing it the way the teacher or book said to do
it.

As an instructor, I had to learn to deal with different learning
styles. I learned that some "GET IT" easily and some don't. And "IT"
can be anything from basic skills, to advanced curves or even the math
to figure out how much backing to use.

I have since learned to modify my teaching. I was the one who had to be
more Open minded.
When I remembered that I was the kid who frustrated the math teachers
because I could find the answers but couldn't do the formulas, I
realized that MY way wasn't necessarily the only way to do things.

I tell students up front, "In quilting there are 'rules of thumb' and
it is perfectly ok to break the rules or follow the rules, after all it
is your quilt and it isn't brain surgery, where the consequences of
getting creative with a sharp instrument could have dire consequences."

I explain that I will not be the teacher who expects them to do
everything exactly the way I do. If their corners don't match, and they
can live with it, then it is their choice. Usually they rip out and try
again and not getting frustrated, because they are forced to do so.

I explain that yes there are rules to get in to shows, and there are
things that Judges look for in quilt shows, but that the judges are NOT
the "quilt police" The quilt police, tend to be self appointed and look
at a quilt to find the mistakes, so that they can criticize it.

If they don't want to do the quilt the way the designer did it, that is
fine. But not to get upset if it doesn't turn out as spectacular as
the picture, because like a recipe that calls for baker's chocolate and
heavy cream and you substitute cocoa and milk, the results are going to
be
different. The results may be better, or they may fall flat.

I stopped expecting my students to work the way I do. Even with my
Fiber Arts classes, where I expected all the students to justjump in, I
found that this isn't necessarily true.
They may have creative vision, but want some basics first, someone to
explain how something is going to work, before they get their hands
dirty. Some don't care and jump in first then come back for the basics.
What comes to mind, for my teaching, is the old saying, "be all
things to all people". I may work intuitively, but not all people can
be taught to be so. So
if I want classes to fill up, I had better be able to adapt to the way
they learn.

Barb
Barbara Douglas
Stone Cottage Designs
http://www.stonecottagequilts.com
http://qnm.com/rjrbonus/rjrbonus9/