Hi Andrew,
It's been a long time since I've been teaching, but back in the day when
I did I would hold up a separate square of paper, fold it diagonally
into a triangle and then, without pre-creasing the fold I would
demonstrate the action in the air using the words "Now, stuff the point
down in the middle so that it goes in between, then mush it flat" and
hold up the result.
At that point you would get lots of reverse folds of various angles and
many without clean points (ie, not following the original diagonal
crease.) At that point I would say "Excellent, very good. Now I'll show
how we can do it even better" and proceed to demonstrate it with a
pre-crease and also making sure that the original diagonal crease is
properly reversed. While the students generally struggle quite a bit
more on the second try this method was much quicker than trying to show
them on the model itself on a particular crease.
Also, I always had a rule when teaching students who weren't already
origami fans that there be at least 1 adult assistant for every 6-8
students. So with a class of 30 I'd pre-arrange with whoever I was
teaching for that there be assistants to help. In absence of that I'd
yield to having the student's help each other, "Ok, if you've got it
check with your neighbour and see if they need help." This of course
has it own dangers (smarter or more experienced students taking over for
less inclined neighbours) but all in all it tends to have class move
faster and with less chance of frustrated students.
I've found that the tension between "getting it right" and "getting it
wrong" is one of the intimidating factors in learning origami by
students. Simplifying the step and making the space to "do it sloppy"
the first time can really help take the edge off.
-- JC
