Guys this is long so if you have no interest in my 'amusing' stories and moral about impervious learners then hi and bye.
Liz See below for observation on teaching .... Ruth wrote: > But I do find that I tend to take the "blame" for my students' failings....if > they don't do follow up practice, and forget a technique, I > tend to think it > must be my fault. It's interesting, as a trainer in my main life, we are always told that there is never anything wrong with the student - it's always the fault of the teacher. WRONG. There are some people who are impervious to any teaching. Look at it this way - I make lace like a natural. Can do any type of lace I have ever tried my hand on. However - I cannot draw to save my life. So, no matter how many lessons I take it just is never going to happen. I taught a lady lace for 6 months and in the end had to tell her that as she could not remember from one week to the next how to make the two stiches (whole / cloth and half stitch) we were never going to progress. I asked her if she did any practice between lessons and she said 'no' because she couldn't remember what she'd been taught. I asked her if she had learnt any other crafts and she had but when questioned about her learning methods she admitted that she had always practiced between lessons. I suggested she went straight home after a lesson and practiced lace for an hour but she said 'no way' as she hated it and wanted a rest after the lesson. With a strange look of surprise on my face I asked her that if she 'hated it' why was she coming to the lessons and she replied because she wanted to show her friend she could learn it when her friend couldn't. So, I took the ultimate sanction and quietly said that whilst I had no problems taking her money off her each week for not actually teaching her, I was not able to focus equally on all the students and therefore would have to suggest that she looked towards either choosing another craft or one to one lessons and, no, I wasn't available to teach her one to one. She was upset, but she went away to think about it. A week later she rang and told me (I'm sure to save face) that she was now taking up stump work as her friend wasn't any good at that. I have taught many people, many new skills both as a business / life skills tutor and as a craft tutor and believe you me, the one key thing that you have to understand to learn anything is that to do it once rarely makes the person an accomplished user of the skill. I was taught by a wonderful trainer that to actually master a skill it takes over 700 repetitions of the skill to do it. I watch my new students each week start new skills and the best example is when they teach themselves touch typing. The ones who put in simply 30 - 60 minutes a day quickly reach speeds of 35 wpm within 3 - 4 weeks. The ones who think they can do it by doing 2 hours a week in one block fail to reach 20 wpm within a month. I always tell people that they must put most of their energy into the first 3 weeks of a course - it's the hardest time because of all the information that they get, all the new experiences and the change to timetables and family circumstances because they are with us. But if they can do the first 3 weeks and put in the effort, after that it all becomes so much easier. For weekly lace lessons, I'd say that they'd need to survive the first 5 - 6 lessons putting in 30 - 60 minutes work 2 - 3 times a week, just to keep their hand in. And I always suggest that they do some lace the next day after the lesson otherwise they just won't touch it that week. So for those of you teaching people to make lace - don't worry if they don't get it. If they don't put the effort in between lessons then it may be that this is the wrong time for them to be learning (due to commitments) or they may just be rubbish at it and have to learn that lesson. But for those who show enthusiasm and effort but are slow learners then nurture them but not to the detriment of your fast learners who often feel let down by teachers who leave them to their own devises. I taught lace long before I became a professional trainer and although I was pretty good, I am sorry to say that I was an enthusiastic lace teacher who had only lace skill and patience - now I train for a living, I'm a good tutor who uses her skill and patience to nuture well now and understands how people learn and teaches according to the student's needs for teaching. Regards Liz Beecher I'm <A HREF="http://journals.aol.com/thelacebee/thelacebee";>blogging</A> now - see what it's all about - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
