I just taught the first lesson of Course I tonight! I spent SO much time preparing and studying and worrying over it. Overall it went pretty well, but I was nervous at times and I probably looked so disorganized. It's just wierd to teach or do cakes in a new setting. All the students seemed really nice, and I think it will be a lot of fun. I hope it gets easier! I dont' want to count the hours I spent preparing for that 2-hour class!!! It's just the beginning, so I'm just hoping I get better and more efficient.

I would LOVE any tips or tricks from other WMI's on ANYTHING you've done to make your classes successful.
THANK YOU!

I would like to modify this to say: I would love help from anyone, not just WMIs. If you are/were a student, what advice do you have for a new instructor?

Relax! LOL I'm not a Wilton instructor...but have a degree in education and have taught many things thru the years. I think anytime you're treading into new territory it's hardest. Survive this first course...and the next one won't be as stressful. Just try to be yourself, and share what you know. Remember....YOU KNOW MORE THAN THEY DO!!!!!!!

Just have fun. If you have fun then everyone will have fun. If you seem stressed and come off as "grumpy" then everyone will pick up on that.

I think about half the time I was teaching I was worrying about what the students were thinking, and the other half I was genuinely having fun. I tried to lighten things up whenever I could, and I think the students seemed like they were having fun, but I have such a hard time "reading" students. Then again, when I'M in the student seat, I probably look like I'm bored to death when I'm just fine. It's kind of wierd to teach people who are older than you are! The first lesson of Course I was hard because it's mostly just the instructor demonstrating everything. I can't wait for the hands on part where it's more relaxed.
ANYWAY, I'm rambling, so thanks for the advice, I know I need to loosen up!

hi APCakes,
just wanted to say congrats on getting through your first class, i'm sure you were fabulous!
where in VA are you, if i may ask?
ria

I just took my first class on Monday and if I hadn't found this site before I would have been clueless in my class. My advice is to assume that your students know nothing and explain everything. My instructor acted like she was talking to other instructors and I know some people were having a hard time. Hope that helps!

riagirl, I'm in Fredericksburg, VA.
chocomama, that's a really good point, thanks. It's hard to tell what kind of experience students have, since they're all at different levels. I guess it's better to be safe than sorry. I'll keep that in mind for next class.

I've been teaching for about 5 months now and I know what you mean about that first class! I almost backed out but my sister encouraged me to give it at least one shot! And, as others have said, it does get easier! You will get more organized and soon, you'll get very comfortable with it, especially when you see how much fun all the ladies are having in class 2,3,and 4. My first class teaching Course 2 was almost as bad but I had one thing in my favor - I knew all the students! I haven't taught Course 3 yet but will do that in April but I know all the students, so that shouldn't be so hard! Hang in there - and have fun!

I have also recently been hired as a WMI and have yet to teach my first class. I am nervous already so I feel like I wrote your post myself! Good to know I'm not alone! I look forward to hearing from everyone on this subject also! Good luck!

~Nicole

Hi to all the WMI did not relize so many were on this site. I am also new to wilton teaching. I have been teaching five month My first class I was so nervous and at the end I kept going over everything wondering what I forgot.Things did get easier each week. The more you teach the more comfotable you will fell and the easier it gets. My students told me last month they had a lot of fun and learned alot. Thats all I can ask for.

I think because you are nervous and spending a lot of time preparing that you will do great! It shows that you are treating this class as something important and you are doing the best job you can. I've read a lot of complaints here on CC about teachers ending the class after 20 minutes on the first night and not even showing the students how to make icing and explaining the different consistencies. The teacher I had for Course II was late every single night and ended the class a half hour early every single night. I think that is upsetting to the students because it shows that you don't really care. So as long as you're not being a slacker (and it's obvious that you're not!!!) you'll do a great job. Even if you're nervous and that shows through it doesn't matter. As long as your heart and spirit are there you'll do great!!!

I just took my first class of Course 1 last night......and it was fun.......I am pretty much ready for Course 3...so I pretty much know everything....but the reason I took it is because I can't make a bc rose for my life LOL However, even though I know everything she's teaching....I sit and listen as though I do not (afterall...it's not her fault I can make gumpaste flowers and not bc roses LOL ) and she deserves my respect as well as everyone else's anyhow....I agree with chocomam....I was surprised at some of the questions people were asking.....like they were shocked when she frosted the cake!!!! I didn't really understand that...but then I realized....these people have NEVER decorated a cake!!! I didn't realize that a lot of people are so intimidated they never even try!!! I guess maybe what I'm saying is the same as chocomama...don't take for granted that they've even ever picked up a spatula...because the class I was in, I think I was the only one who even knew what a "decorator bag" was !!! I mean it is course one...so I would just assume you're teaching a completely inexperienced person...and then you'll be able to get a feel for their levels of experience as the class goes onl....I think the most important thing is after each technique maybe ask , are there any questions??? My instructor did that a lot and I think people are more apt to ask their questions when given a chance than to just interrupt the instructor with a question, even if it is a good one (which they ALL are).

I completely agree with you, KHalstead. I just sat there and listened and didn't open my mouth b/c she's the teacher and who am I to tell her all the good things I've heard about MMF and smoothing with Viva? Some of the questions were really interesting and I can't wait to see everyone's iced cakes on Monday, esp. since she didn't actually show us how to do it. My class has varying levels of experience...one woman works in a bakery and another bakes everything from scratch but doesn't decorate and another just seemed to be pretty confused. I think we would have all been on the same page if the teacher had gone through everything step by step and had been really thorough.

Hi, I'd like to add my 2 cents as I am a student in the Course 3. I know that some people are there just to have fun or have nothing better to do but some of us really want to learn. Please ask your students to:
1. be on time
2. come prepared

There is nothing more frustrating than sitting there waiting for someone to make up their icing or color it while the rest of us wait. Or if we move on we have to wait for them to catch up before we can move on.

Oh, one more thing. Students are constantly hitting up the teacher for this or that (consumables) that our teacher (at Michael's) does not get reimbursed for. I think the students should keep this to a minimum and only in an emergency type situation.

My thoughts only.

I was one of the cake decorating disasters. Someone who couldn't decorate anything. I would have been satisfed to have a smooth non crumby cake. We passed our practice board around It gave me a sense fo accomplishment. Have them to be sure and try to practice at home. I was alot more satisfied with the result when I did. Course 2 is when it started to click for me, I would encourage them to hang in there and at least take that one also. Extra pictures of what you can do with cake are inspiring. I still cannot believe What all of you are able to do on CC it has opened up a whole new world to me for being creative. Good luck with your class and have fun!

I am just in the middle of course 3 and also went in with a lot of self taught knowledge. But there were people in the class that had never baked a cake much less decorated. One lady had baked a boxed cake in a 9x13 pan and iced it with canned frosting right in the pan. She was amazed at how the instructor got the cake to come out of a pan! So likt others said make sure to act as if you are teaching people who know absolutely nothing about baking, decorating and such.

Also- How did you guys become instructors? I am interested in becoming an instructor. I filled out the form on Wilton's site and haven't heard back. How long does it take to hear back from them? Or do they only contact you if there is an opening?

I have never taken a class but was taught by someone one on one who does teach. I have learned a lot! One thing that I was very happy with was that when I asked a question or mentioned a new way of doing things,(like viva) She never even looked at me funny. She took what i had learned and begain to try some things herself. AND she always asked me a few questions, like what was the easiest or, most time consuming part for me. So I wasen't just standing there. Maybe it was an icebreaker.
Never to old to learn and how do we learn, Questions! I heard the only dumb question is the one you don't ask. It's the one you may never get the answer to.

For all those WMIs here, especially the new ones.... If you haven't heard about the WMI Yahoo E-Group, email me and I will give you the addy for it. It's a great place to talk to other WMIs about your classes.

Like others, I am largely self-taught but am taking the Wilton course from the beginning...because...well...that's just where you're supposed to start with some things. I had my first class last week.

I'm also a college prof, who has taught both late adolescents and people much older than I am.

A few bits of advice I'd give to anyone just starting out:

While most others have noted that you know more than your students and you should treat the whole class as if they are all just entering the world of cake decorating, I believe that you should also keep in mind that they might all have interesting/new ideas to offer to the class with which you all can experiment. Ask questions of your students, and encourage them to give their perspectives. Such respectful interest in others inspires an environment where curiosty and enthusiasm reign supreme. (If there is one thing the older student has an abundance of it's enthusiasm. Use it to your advantage.)

If someone is having trouble with something, get the whole class involved in trying to help him or her solve the problem. Sometimes, the same suggestion coming out of someone else's mouth just clicks in a way that your own words could not.

I have to say that the instructor who taught my first class last week did not ask one single question of anyone else in the room during the whole two hours. She also mentioned more than once that she would bring in her portfolio so we could all see a mere smattering of the work she's done. Ugh. It was all a bit queenly. That "I am the intructor/queen/goddess" thing really sucks.

Everyone is giving such good advice! Keep it coming, please!! I just hope I can put all this good advice to work!
In my first lesson, I told the class that they should please speak up if they have any ideas, and that I hoped everyone would teach each other and be creative and have fun. But I wish the whole first lesson didn't have SO much to cover, because we only got to a couple questions/ideas. Wilton specifically asks you to cover each topic in a certain amount of time, although it's flexible, it moves pretty fast.
Anyway, THANK YOU for all the ideas! More please!!

p.s. Meems, I agree! It is so distracting when people seem self-promoting. It's like people get the chance to have an audience and they go nuts. In college we had a professor that was always promoting his own books and spoke as if he invented political science. It was SO annoying and made me almost hate the class. So I always worry about that, so I probably come across as self-deprecating!!

You sound like you'll be an excellent instructor, APCakes.

Does Wilton encourage "guest instructors"? If so, I invite you to come to my neck of the woods, and teach my class.

Seriously, though, students will get as much enjoyment out of a class and their instructor as the instructor gets out of them.

As for your experiences with your Wilton classes --I predict great amounts of fun in your immediate future.

When I took the classes, I was already addicted to CC and had learned tons from the fine, talented folks on this site. I think my instructor actually learned a few things from me. She never knew that there were other types of fondants out there. (she only used wiltons). But she was very open about it, and asked me every class...."have you learned anything else on Cake Central". It was funny. I finally just gave her the website info, so she could come here herself.
What I liked most about her though, was she let us use our own designs and creativity, rather than having us make the cake exactly like it was in the book.

Meems, thanks for the compliment, but yeah right! Ha ha! I was a nervous wreck, and I'm sure you wouldn't want me near your class! But you all have given me some great ideas for me to work on. Seriously, it is helping. I'm taking notes! I've never taught anything except to maybe a few people at a time, so I'll take all the help I can get.
I really like hearing what students want from their teachers. Any other comments or opinions out there?

APCakes, I am sure you are going to be a great Wilton Instructor, you prepared and you really want to do it right. Prepareing is the best way and yes,it will get easier and you won't have to take as long prepareing as time goes on. My best advise for you is if you haven't taken the Seminar yet do so at your earliest convienance. They not only teach you the classes you are teaching but how to teach the courses. The seminar is very helpful and I try to go as often as possible, not only do the instructors help you have 30 other instructors there to interact with. It is a wonderful time for everyone.

Hey I just wanted to give a little update...
I just taught lesson two last night, and it went SO much better. It must have been all your ideas!! THANK YOU! I felt much more relaxed and everyone had fun it seemed. What a relief! I definitely like the hands-on parts better than the monologuing in lesson 1!
Kaecakes, I really do want to do the training seminar and the yearly instructor meetings. I just hope a seminar comes somewhere nearby!

Any other suggestions for what you'd want in a teacher or class would be great!

HI I took all 3 Wilton courses and the only thing that I could suggest was not to tell the student that they are doing wonderful when you could help make it better. A couple of students in my classes were not doing the flowers correctly and instead of saying great, maybe this way would be easier for you the instructor just said wonderful. I wouldn't discourage anyone by any means but good critisism will go a long way for people to learn and not get so frustrated. The courses were difficult at first because there is alot to learn and it should be fun as well as learning as much as possible.

This is a great forum,I am a fairly new WMI and I find it quite sad/BLAH that an instructor would make the class/lessons revolve around herself, so queenlike!
I feel more comfortable asking questions to my students and sometimes they they open my eyes to something/idea!I had a student last night in class 2 of course I,we were using our practice boards for writing and she wanted to know to do the writing on pg 20 that says "best wishes", and I just couldn't get it with those squiggly lines,but about 10 mins she got it and it was great!!!!!! so I asked her how she did it!!!!!!!!!!!
just a question for everyone.........why do we use piping gel to do/teach pattern transfers,when I found out from a student of mine that the buttercream works exactly the same?she really wanted to know but I justed wasn't sure........does anybody know please










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