Archive for the 'teaching martial arts' Category

Teaching Karate to Visual Learners

Published on September 13, 2011 in teaching karate, teaching martial arts and visual learners. 0 Comments

Ok, so last week we talked a little bit about how what we see as instructors might be completely different to what our students see.

And we came to the conclusion that until we can communicate effectively to everyone in our class, there are going to be students who, “just don’t get it!” when really it’s our responsibility as martial arts teachers to make sure they do “get it”.

Often students are labelled as talented, smart, intelligent, dumb, stupid, slow, A.D.D, etc. which much of the time may not be true. What might be more accurate is those students labelled as “intelligent” might be the ones aligned with our individual way of teaching… on the same wavelength so to speak.

And those who are sometimes labelled “A.D.D” may certainly be very intelligent, but process information differently to you or me – simply be tuned to a different wavelength.

KEY POINT: Just because we’re listening to different radio stations doesn’t make a student more or less intelligent.

So how do you teach so everyone learns?

If you have the opportunity to work individually with a student there are certain ways to determine if they are VISUAL, AUDITORY or KINESTHETIC in their approach to learning.

Today I’ll give you a brief overview of visual learners since this group makes up 65% of the population.

VISUAL LEARNERS

It’s possible to figure out which group a person predominantly fits into based on a few simple tests. One test is to watch the EYE movements of your student when asked a question.

For example, 90% of people who tend to visualize things will look up towards their left when questioned about a past event. The same people will look up towards the right when visualizing something that is yet to happen, or when they are accessing the part of the brain involved in imagination.
 
Visual people also tend to use descriptive words like “I see”, “watch this”, and “look at that!”. Visual people also speak very quickly as their mouths attempt to keep up with the images they see in their minds.

Visual learners learn well by watching, looking at a diagram or drawing a picture. In essence, they must “see it” to learn it.

Since the majority of your class will be predominantly visual in their approach to learning, it’s the most important standpoint to be able to teach from (in terms of reaching the most people).

When your visual students learn karate they will learn best when you demonstrate things. They don’t need a 10 minute explanation on how to form their stance for optimal power, or how far to pull back their hikite. Nor do they need to be asked, “Well how do you think you should stand to be strongest?”

Visual learners learn by SEEING.

In other words, just show them! 

Demonstrate the technique and have them repeat it. Make corrections by SHOWING them again, and have them repeat it again.

Try to avoid getting frustrated with thoughts and questions like “How many times do I have to show you?” and “Why can’t you just LISTEN to me and do it?!”

Remember they don’t learn by listening, they learn by watching.

Also be sure to draw diagrams using different colors to get your point across, or ask your visual learners to close their eyes and imagine how to do the technique before performing it. You can also give them specific things to work on visually. For example… if your visual student is failing to bend their front knee, have them stop, close their eyes and imagine what their stance should look like. Then have them show you.

These are just some methods I use when teaching visual learners. There are more. But for now these ideas should get you pointed in the right direction.

In part 3 of this article series, we’ll tackle are the auditory learners…

(These guys are so frustrating! I just don’t get why they can’t do it when I’ve shown them 5 times already!)

Stay tuned.

One more time and I’ll… One more time and I’ll… One more time and I’ll…

Published on April 26, 2011 in teaching karate to kids and teaching martial arts. 1 Comment

My daughter Olivia just turned 3 years old.

Usually my wife takes her to her swimming class once a week, but Olivia was sick a couple of weeks ago so I took her along for her “make up class”.

(And no it’s not some kind of aqua-cosmetic thing in case you were wondering).

Anyhow after class had finished last week we were in line at the front counter waiting to be served. There was a family in front of us who was taking F-O-R-E-V-E-R…

I’m usually a pretty patient person, but I could feel myself getting older by the second.

The reason they were taking so long was because the 4 year old daughter in front of us was running the show. The father stood to the side completely tuned out, inattentive and not present. The mother fussed and buzzed around the daughter with weak attempts to get her to hurry up and make her selection (she was having trouble choosing a sticker – critically important stuff you know!).

“Come on Tiffany, please choose which one you want”, begged the mother.

Out of the corner of Tiffany’s eye she smirked and deliberately picked up 3 stickers.

“I said one sticker Tiffany. Put the others back and choose one”, requested Tiffany’s mother again.

The daughter put them back, and now picked up 2 others and then decided to pick some more items from the baskets at the front of the counter.

“Tiffany, put those back right now and choose one sticker!”, said her mother with a little more urgency.

This time Tiffany completely ignored her and continued to do her own thing.

“Tiffany, people are waiting. Choose a sticker now. I’m going to count to three…”, warned the busy-bee mother.

Tiffany continued to ignore and explore.

“One…. Two…. Three…”

Tiffany still did her own thing.

“Tiffany choose a sticker RIGHT NOW!”,  her mother demanded with an elevated voice.

Still no response from Tiffany. She just picked up more items, put some back, and continued to shop at her own will.

“Please Tiffany, choose one sticker. There are people waiting. You need to choose one sticker. Choose a sticker right now Tiffany”, begged the mother while pseudo dad zoned out.

At this point I wondered if Tiffany was deaf. She continued to ignore her mother and do her own thing.

This whole process continued on for another couple of minutes, with plenty of “One more time and I’ll…” type warnings from her mother, however she never followed through.

Clearly Tiffany didn’t respect her parents or even acknowledge their presence. She knew they were there and she heard every word, but refused to comply. Clearly she hadn’t been taught to follow directions.

Finally the mother picked her up and Tiffany screamed like a banshee as she was carried from the premises.

Olivia looked at me and asked, “Why is that girl being naughty?”

The sad thing about this story is that there are sooo many kids without respect for their parents, teachers and in many martial arts schools, their sensei.

It’s important as teachers of our younger generation that we instill the foundations of respect in our students.

Start by enforcing rules and follow through on your warnings the first time. Avoid being a “One-more-time-and-I’ll” Sensei.

Secondly, never, ever, reward a child for attention-demanding behavior. Eg. Never coddle a child who is faking an injury, spontaneously crying in class, etc. Giving attention and coddling encourages more of the same. It only strengthens their belief that they should act poorly or cry for attention.

It’s important that we uphold the general belief of instilling respect and discipline. Goodness knows there are too many martial arts schools out there that are run like daycare centers without a hint of discipline or respect being learned.

Your thoughts? Post ‘em below!

- Jason

Put yourself to the test…

Published on March 15, 2011 in teaching martial arts. 3 Comments

 As a martial arts instructor of 18 years and teaching over 8,000 classes, I’ve encountered a lot of different situations. I’ve had kids projectile vomit on the floor in the middle of class, other kids wet their pants and break bones…

There’s been times where students have lost teeth, and other times where I’ve had to send students to the ER. I’ve even had gangsters walk into my dojo and “want to show you somethin”. The list goes on…

Sure I learn something everyday through teaching, and by no means have I experienced it all. But teaching and dealing with most challenges is now easy for me – a walk in the park so to speak, without the muggers and stray dogs…

So last week I decided to challenge myself. And boy, this was tricky. This was almost more demanding than all those challenges faced above…

What was it?

Teaching 5 and 6 year olds.


“Yeah, yeah. So what?”, I hear you say, “I teach kids everyday!”

Well as it turns out so do I, but this time I did it differently… and this is why it was sooo difficult.

Last week I decided to teach the entire class as if I were mute. 

Yep, that’s right, I didn’t utter a word for 45 minutes.

From the time we bowed in to the time we bowed out, not a word was spoken.

There was no counting, no “yame!” (stop), or “hajime!” (begin) commands….

There was no, “Hey, Johnny! Eyes to the front and pay attention please!” or “The next thing we’re going to work on is…”.

There was no “Line up at the back of the room…” or “Please pair up for the next exercise…”

Nope, none of that.

Nothing but silence.

And the kids loved it!

They thought it was hilarious and tried desperately to hold back from talking. Little smirks on their faces. For the most part  you could have heard a pin drop, but on the few occasions where one or two students began to open their mouths, I quickly silenced them with my index finger to my lips. And of course my student complied.

There were soooo many times I wanted to break silence. So many occasions where I’d look at the clock and wonder if it’d actually stopped. But once I got into the groove, my class responded well and before I knew it we were almost done.

Students are like sponges or mirrors or whatever metaphor you like to choose. Whatever you give them, for the most part they’ll just soak up or give back just as you give it to them.

(Ever wondered why your students get bored? Or why you hear them repeating words you wished you’d never said?)

And teaching a class in complete silence was testament to that fact. If you’re a dynamic teacher with proper body language you’ll be able to do it. If you usually stand in one place and bark orders like a drill instructor with a chip on his shoulder, you’ll have a really hard time.

Nevertheless, I challenge you to try it.

And it’s not whether you pass or fail the test, it’s what you’ll learn about yourself as an instructor by attempting to teach a class in complete silence.

Try it.