Where to draw the line

Stardate wed 6 Feb 08

I should have struck whilst the iron was hot but I left it a while now I have to think back to what I did nearly 2 weeks ago. The lessons went well the classes are getting into the swing of things, with routine a kind of pattern builds. After 3 hard weeks of term they will be glad of the break and all out of the habit again. I have a small problem in that I am due to be inspected the problem is that I’m not entirely sure of the inspection date. I had it in my mind it was to be this coming Wednesday but I have the following week as the date on my phone. Still I don’t suppose it matters I have lesson plans for both and I will work on them but its nice to make a great one for an inspection yes I do that I also drive slow when I see the police so they think I’m a good law abiding citizen. Back to the point, I was pleased with my new learners in the fact they have some ideas and ambitions of what they would like to achieve. Sometimes I wonder why people bother to come having no interest or enthusiasm in the subject, but these 2 have. I liked the opportunity to talk about a good design the learner had made and relate to what we learned the previous week about the characteristics of the glass and discuss the difficulties that would emerge looking at his design. It more valuable to discuss a real project and say what can and can’t be done than to waste time on a fictitious example, I think the other learners benefited from this. The learner seemed to be open to the fact his design would need to be changed or I could have been in trouble. It is important to be flexible with a design and have though through it from a range of different criteria before beginning it as it saves a lot of time later. The evening session proved difficult for all the same reasons learners are prepared to let me do all the work for them as far as drawing a window design .I suppose the learners have mixed expectations of what to expect from a level 2 course and the play of against complexity of design compounding the complexity of construction. There is a lot to get across as far as what they can expect to make. I don’t want to hold ambition back, but I don’t want them to bite of more than they can handle. It’s a difficult balance. A window could take a learner 30 hours to make and me only 5, where to draw the line…..