I just started teaching a new Intro to Rally last night. Small class, but that is fine since it's a new way of doing it. All of the ones I've been to in the past are like Tanya's, and I have felt sorry for both the owner and the dog since the owner is spending far too much of her focus on the signs, and not the dogs who end up being dazed and confused. I have taken classes where some of the first signs on courses were things like Sit Down Walk Around or the Left About Turn (schutzhund turn) and thought to myself, oh my.... talk about skipping the ABCs and just diving into a book.
Our class last night was so "easy peasy" I hope it wasn't too disappointing, but I had to get some of the basic mysteries out of the way first... like signs will be on the right unless it's a directional change, and yes, you get scored for your heeling in between the signs too! Anyhow my first 2 courses were only 4 signs total (incl Start and Finish). That is all (imo) a first time rally competitor needs to worry about. Keep it simple, group similar type concepts together... And to be honest, a couple of the people in the class will still likely find it challenging as they need to figure out how to improve their relationships w/ the dogs.
As for guys in class, I also started teaching the Open obedience class last night (both classes will have a co-instructor in 2 wks who will take the month of Feb for me since I have puppies coming!). I do have 1 male in the Open class, but he's a judge who is teaching the class I have my 9 mo old in (basically a BN/ CD prep class). I focused heavily on retrieve foundations last night (using Kanzi as my demo dog) because NO ONE around here teaches good retrieve foundations in obedience class. I made the comment about w/ puppy field training, etc, men seemed to have the hardest time PLAYING w/ their pups because they seem more self conscious. He laughed... it's true in general! Hopefully you are not from that mold. I've watched a lot of men in the obed ring do VERY well (one is now aspiring to judge), so it's a matter of communication and relationship w/ your dog. You should be having fun while you are doing all this. Gone are the days of that nauseous nervousness for me, and THANK GOD for that! When you can learn to laugh at yourself and your dog (when appropriate), you are miles ahead of all the others. Hope you have fun!