Sounds like you have the right idea.
I was a Small Arms Instructor for 12 of my 20 years in the Navy, and the first thing I ever did when teaching marksmanship was in a classroom going over safety and the basics (loading and unloading, grip, sight picture, trigger pull, stance, mechanics of the weapon being taught). All this before the students would ever touch a weapon. After this initial training, I would re-enforce it with an unloaded weapon and allow dry firing. All this would take a full day prior to going to the range. Even though these were all members of the military, I would always teach like they knew nothing about weapons to ensure all points were covered.
Good Luck