canuckninepatch

That's one of the reasons I'm not too fussy about taking classes. I would rather figure it out from the internet, from a pattern, from my quilting sisters, etc. I would rather spend the money on fabric!

Holice

Speak to the instructor about the problem . It is his or her responsibility to deal with the problem.

JoanneS

Great, tactful way to respond! I'm going to try to remember this.
Monica also had a nice response.

quilter2090

I don't take classes. I can't sit for the lenght of time a class would take, so I taught myself how to quilt. I watch quilting shows and I don't have problems with figuring out patterns.

Rose_P

I'm too distractible. I prefer Craftsy and Youtube if I really want to learn something. I would go to an in person class expecting to have fun and to get inspired, but hope I can pick up enough that I can follow through on my own later.

It seems your classmate wasn't very considerate. I see nothing wrong with saying to her nicely that you need to focus on what you're doing. As long as you express something in terms of your needs rather than making it seem like she's bothering you, it shouldn't cause any hard feelings.

Sewnoma

I guess I'm an odd bird here, because I love helping people, when I can. If I don't know, of course, I stay I don't know. But if I do know and it's not interrupting the instructor talking I am happy to help someone near me figure something out. I tend to learn quickly, though, so it's not usually a burden for me to spend MY class time helping someone.

I get stuck, sometimes, even in the craft store. I must have an approachable face or something; it is rare I can get in and out of a craft store without being asked for help or advice on something. 99% of the time I'm more than happy to help; it's rare that someone takes advantage and badgers me when I am in a rush or something.

I end up training people at work all the time, too, even though that's not my job. Maybe I missed my calling and should have gone into teaching!

junipergal

One retreat was enough for me - teacher actually raised her voice to me and I thought clicks went out with junior high!

captlynhall

The only class I took was so much fun and we did ask each other questions and helped each other, but the teacher helped all of us. I guess we were just a cohesive group.

quiltjoey

I have taken a lot of classes for different projects. I seem to always learn what I need to from the class. Lots of time, I think the classes are over filled and the instructor just can't get to everyone. Also as a former high school teacher, if someone doesn't ask questions, you think they are getting it.
For me, the classes are becoming cost-prohibitive or maybe I have reached a point where I don't really need them as much. I recently took a class to make an apron. It ended up costing me $50 for that apron!! It's also ugly as I didn't get to pick my fabric!! I have become a student of the University of You Tube. It has about all you need to know in one way or another. It's showed and taught me in some ways, more than a lot of paid-for classes have! LOL

petthefabric

Wow, was this inciteful! I teach classes and encourage the members to interact. I keep a close eye on the interaction and the solutions they're finding as a team. When I'm teaching....well here's an example, if I'm talking about threads, I'll give everyone some spools of thread and ask them what they have and then as a group we "discover" the best functions for that thread. My style of teaching is more kinesthetic than lecture. I think when people discover for themselves, they'll remember and understand better. And when working as a team, they develope relationships.

Then as I hear their questions, I'll talk while everyone tries to see how that applies to them. I like lots of feedback and cross talk. I might explain one way and it doesn't click, but when several people explain it in a way that helped them, maybe it'll click.

I limit the class material so that some people can finish 1hr early and some people don't quite finish. Usually everyone hangs around talking and laughing afterwards.

After reading this, some people may need more time to understand and one-on-one time from the instructor. I'm going to watch even more closely. I need to be allert to those who process info more to themselves.

Recently a friend said she doesn't take classes because she's always falling so far behind that she doesn't get much from them. But when we sew together, she picks my knowledge. Works for us.