[Sca-cooks] class sign-ups vs. first-come first-in

[Susan Lin]

If I recall - and excuse my limited mental capabilities right now, they
stopped requiring sign ups several years ago (maybe 5).  I do not know the
real reason but I think it may have been a mixture of a lot of thing - 1.
People there first week could sign up and fill all the spaces leaving
nothing for those who arrive war week, 2.  those that do sign up don't show
up leaving classes with empty seats that could have been filled by willing
learners, 3. not enough people to man the tent for sign up, 4.  people
forgetting to try to sign up because at one time you had to sign up a day
before.  5.  I'm sure there were other reasons.

I think you can still limit the size of your class - you just have to accept
some unhappy people or people who will try to bargin with you "well, just
let me stand in the back" and such.  It's your class and you need to be
comfortable in your teaching environment.  The class book does list maximum
class size so you'd be in your right to tell them that you're sorry.
Another way to handle it is to send a helper to the tent as you're hauling
your stuff to set the ground rules.

Shoshana

On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 12:35 AM, Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
> wrote:

> Susan Lin posted the Pennsic University Policies. Among them, I noted:
>
>  <<<  4. No advance sign-ups for classes; just show up at the right time
> and
>  location. Students, the earlier you arrive, the better it will be for
>  seating and handouts/materials (if available).>>>
>
> Is this also new for this year? Or was it done this way at the last two
> Pennsics, which I couldn't attend?
>
> Anyone know why this change was made? I suspect it was because they were
> having problems getting volunteers to man the tent for class signups.
>
> Unfortunately, for someone like me who can easily attend three or four
> classes one after the other, it puts me at a disadvantage. Since even if the
> class ends 10 minutes before the hour, and many don't, there may already be
> people lined up by then, especially for popular classes. And if your first
> class is at one end of the class tents and the next class is at the other
> end, it is that much worse.
>
> I also see this as a likely problem for teachers. I, or my classes, may be
> one of the reasons they started implementing sign-up lists at Gulf Wars.
> Ten? years ago, I arrived a few minutes late for my hands-on pewter-casting
> class, probably because I was hauling all my equipment from my camp, and
> there were already 25 people waiting for a class I wanted to limit to 15
> people. So I taught everyone who was there when I showed up, but I could've
> given more individual help with my originally planned 15.
>
> If this isn't the first year with this free-for-all arrangement, how well
> did it work last year?
>
> Thanks,
>  Stefan
>
> --------
> THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
>   Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas
> StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
> **** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****
>
>
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