Ahhh, nice to have (assistant) Sensei back. We had our first class with him back on Saturday, and then another class last night.
Bill and I talked to Sensei before class started on Saturday and let him know what changes we had begun to implement with the white belts while he was away, and Sensei seemed very receptive to it - of course, since we're basically saying we're willing to step up to the plate and help deal with the junior members of our club so the intermediate members can get more of the attention they need.
So, from now forward, the white belts all get shuffled off to the side for warmup and for the main meat of the training class, and either Bill or myself does the warmup with them, but standing right in front of their group, making sure each one is participating.
The change in the "less disciplined" kids when we do this is remarkable - of course, when they're not being stood over, they're more likely to not pay attention and to distract others, but when we're right there staring them in the eye, there's a lot more participation.
I'm also finding that while I'm working with them, I'm getting more of a chance to see what the kids are capable of, I'm getting more chance to encourage them when they're doing something well, and I'm assuming that the intermediate kyu ranks are getting a much better lesson on their side of the gym as well because the white belts aren't restricting what the class is able to do.
Last night I worked with Jerome, a 7 year old who is in his second season of training with us, and who is a white belt with two yellow stripes. His next testing is for full yellow, but I've personally been very skeptical about the message that would be sent to other white belts if he were passed to yellow, because he inadvertently teaches new students it's okay to misbehave and not listen by his own behavior. However, working with him over a few classes I'm starting to see where he is doing well instead of just where he's causing troubles, and I'm much more supportive of him getting a yellow belt now, as long as we also sit him down and tell him about the influence he has on other kids and what a yellow belt is expected to behave like. He's a smart kid and will do well in karate once he gets a bit more advanced, but for now his focus is a bit troublesome.
There's another kid who is about 8 or 9 and who has ADD - Cody. He's also white belt with two yellow stripes and his next test is also for full yellow. And from what I'm hearing from Sensei, he's very likely to get his yellow belt in December, which is kind of fine, but he's another kid who needs to be constantly prodded to pay attention (yah I know, that's what ADD is) and to control his body and stay still so he's not distracting others. Advancing him to his next kyu rank and thus taking him out of the pod of white belts will be interesting as well.
I hope both Jerome and Cody wear the yellow belt and start to feel a bit more pride about it and start to attempt to behave more like the senior belts and less like uncontrolled white belts.
Time will only tell!
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Surviving the "Other Teachers"
I think our club did rather well with the three different instructors (me, Rob and Peter) they had over the last three classes, but it'll be good that one of our regular Sensei's is back on Saturday, for many reasons.
Peter is officially the "senior student" in the club but he doesn't train regularly due to a back injury, so I am regularly "senior student", with Bill as the next in line for seniority. Bill and I have had some great conversations about how to improve things at the club in the future, especially regarding the children and teaching them the rules and ways of a dojo, and during the past three classes we've been implementing some changes, with the co-operation of the two other instructors.
So, when Don gets back we're going to take him for coffee or something, I believe - and have a nice deep chat about some goals for keeping the dojo in order regarding new students, while also making it so the intermediate students are getting more of what they need and the first class isn't all about the white belts anymore.
It's interesting how a few years at a dojo combined with a black belt make me feel more authorative and confident in being so. And so far I haven't been pulled aside and told I'm going too far, so that's good ;)
Oh, and last night after class at the Instructors' dojo, a bunch of us went out to the local Legion to have a few drinks, as one of our bunch is having exploratory surgery on Monday for a recent diagnosis of cancer and isn't sure what to expect as a result from the surgery. There were a few people around that table who didn't know about the cancer, but most of us did. It was really good to be able to sit right beside the guy (my favorite Sensei btw) and buy him a few shots of his favorite scotch liqueur and have some fun conversations with him, as he doesn't train regularly and since he's not teaching regularly this fall I haven't seen him very often since June.
I hope the news will be good on Monday.
Peter is officially the "senior student" in the club but he doesn't train regularly due to a back injury, so I am regularly "senior student", with Bill as the next in line for seniority. Bill and I have had some great conversations about how to improve things at the club in the future, especially regarding the children and teaching them the rules and ways of a dojo, and during the past three classes we've been implementing some changes, with the co-operation of the two other instructors.
So, when Don gets back we're going to take him for coffee or something, I believe - and have a nice deep chat about some goals for keeping the dojo in order regarding new students, while also making it so the intermediate students are getting more of what they need and the first class isn't all about the white belts anymore.
It's interesting how a few years at a dojo combined with a black belt make me feel more authorative and confident in being so. And so far I haven't been pulled aside and told I'm going too far, so that's good ;)
Oh, and last night after class at the Instructors' dojo, a bunch of us went out to the local Legion to have a few drinks, as one of our bunch is having exploratory surgery on Monday for a recent diagnosis of cancer and isn't sure what to expect as a result from the surgery. There were a few people around that table who didn't know about the cancer, but most of us did. It was really good to be able to sit right beside the guy (my favorite Sensei btw) and buy him a few shots of his favorite scotch liqueur and have some fun conversations with him, as he doesn't train regularly and since he's not teaching regularly this fall I haven't seen him very often since June.
I hope the news will be good on Monday.
Friday, October 14, 2005
First time teaching
Our main instructor is extremely busy with a new business, so the assistant instructor has been handling the classes since the start in September. However, now the assistant instructor is on holidays for a week and a half, so new some of the rest of us at the club are taking on instructing responsibilities in the mean time.
I was asked to teach on Oct 11, but there are two others who will be teaching the next two classes that the assistant instructor is still away for. I think I was only offered one day because the main instructors didn't want me to have a bad experience with the first and then still be responsible for the next two classes as well.
As it turns out, the class went really really well. I didn't do it all on my own, however, and that's what made it work out the best. A fellow karateka, Bill, helped watch the white belt kids who need to be supervised and hounded to pay attention and not disturb others, which helped a lot because it allowed me to pay better attention to the intermediate students and allowed me to separate the techniques that they all practiced.
It's always nice to be able to tell the white belts to do white belt things, while getting the more advanced students to execute more advanced combinations. This is one thing I feel has been missing in our club, largely because the white belts haven't been separated from the rest of the class enough. Bill and I agreed that the classes would be much better if the white belts WERE separated, however, as they really do bring down the complexity of the class for the rest of the students.
After standard warmup and initial basics, we split the gym up with a big curtain and Bill worked with the white belts on his own on one side while a junior brown belt by the name of Adam and myself worked with the colored belts on the other side. Adam handled the yellow-to-green belts to go through Heian Nidan and basics for yellow to green belt testings, and I took on the purple belts to go through Heian Godan, since a couple of the low purples are thinking of testing for high purple come December.
There were 24 people in the first class, and everyone seems to have gotten a good workout, and even the kids were more disciplined when they lined up to be dismissed from class, after Bill had been standing over them, making sure they participated properly instead of just lolling around. One of the parents came up and thanked Bill for the disciplined instruction, which was another pat on the back for us both, aside from what we'd already seen as improvement in the class due to the white belt segregation.
Bill and I chatted for a bit before and after class about how to improve our club, because right now we really do have a few undisciplined white belts that bring down the quality of the class for the higher ranks, and our higher ranks are moving very slowly up the ranks as a partial result. Unless they stay for the second class, they're not going to get much of a chance to work on their testing material, and even if they DO stay for the second class, the odds are we will be working on material that is way above their current point and doesn't help them directly for their own testings.
Bill and I are going to talk to the assistant instructor when he returns and suggest that we take turns taking on the kids and separating them from the colored belts. I think this is a way that we could motivate some of the kids to pay more attention, because once they get to a certain level of proficiency we could "graduate" them to the main class as a reward.
At any rate, it was a great experience, and it'll now be interesting to see the two others who are going to be instructing while our assistant instructor is gone - the guy who is teaching tomorrow morning is someone who has basically never trained at our club and is largely unknown by the students, and the guy who is teaching next Tuesday is hardly any better in terms of attending our club regularly or being known, etc.
Everyone liked my class from the feedback I got, and I certainly liked doing it. I wonder when my next opportunity will be??
I was asked to teach on Oct 11, but there are two others who will be teaching the next two classes that the assistant instructor is still away for. I think I was only offered one day because the main instructors didn't want me to have a bad experience with the first and then still be responsible for the next two classes as well.
As it turns out, the class went really really well. I didn't do it all on my own, however, and that's what made it work out the best. A fellow karateka, Bill, helped watch the white belt kids who need to be supervised and hounded to pay attention and not disturb others, which helped a lot because it allowed me to pay better attention to the intermediate students and allowed me to separate the techniques that they all practiced.
It's always nice to be able to tell the white belts to do white belt things, while getting the more advanced students to execute more advanced combinations. This is one thing I feel has been missing in our club, largely because the white belts haven't been separated from the rest of the class enough. Bill and I agreed that the classes would be much better if the white belts WERE separated, however, as they really do bring down the complexity of the class for the rest of the students.
After standard warmup and initial basics, we split the gym up with a big curtain and Bill worked with the white belts on his own on one side while a junior brown belt by the name of Adam and myself worked with the colored belts on the other side. Adam handled the yellow-to-green belts to go through Heian Nidan and basics for yellow to green belt testings, and I took on the purple belts to go through Heian Godan, since a couple of the low purples are thinking of testing for high purple come December.
There were 24 people in the first class, and everyone seems to have gotten a good workout, and even the kids were more disciplined when they lined up to be dismissed from class, after Bill had been standing over them, making sure they participated properly instead of just lolling around. One of the parents came up and thanked Bill for the disciplined instruction, which was another pat on the back for us both, aside from what we'd already seen as improvement in the class due to the white belt segregation.
Bill and I chatted for a bit before and after class about how to improve our club, because right now we really do have a few undisciplined white belts that bring down the quality of the class for the higher ranks, and our higher ranks are moving very slowly up the ranks as a partial result. Unless they stay for the second class, they're not going to get much of a chance to work on their testing material, and even if they DO stay for the second class, the odds are we will be working on material that is way above their current point and doesn't help them directly for their own testings.
Bill and I are going to talk to the assistant instructor when he returns and suggest that we take turns taking on the kids and separating them from the colored belts. I think this is a way that we could motivate some of the kids to pay more attention, because once they get to a certain level of proficiency we could "graduate" them to the main class as a reward.
At any rate, it was a great experience, and it'll now be interesting to see the two others who are going to be instructing while our assistant instructor is gone - the guy who is teaching tomorrow morning is someone who has basically never trained at our club and is largely unknown by the students, and the guy who is teaching next Tuesday is hardly any better in terms of attending our club regularly or being known, etc.
Everyone liked my class from the feedback I got, and I certainly liked doing it. I wonder when my next opportunity will be??
Friday, October 07, 2005
When will my legs stop hurting so much??!!!
I keep telling myself my legs are hurting so quickly during class because I haven't been training properly for the past 3 months or so, and I know that's the truth, but I can't wait until I've been back at it long enough that someone else in the brown and black belt class is wimpier than me.
Last night three of us carpooled to karate at the Instructor's Dojo and participated in the Thursday evening class, which is generally a lot about advanced basics and partner work.
Partner work is a big part of this club, our instructor is very good at building a class where first we warm up, then we practice attack and defense combinations that we then use in partner exercises with a variety of partners. The combinations are definitely co-ordinationally challenging, and Sensei puts us through it at a pace that makes it extra challenging as well. Occasionally I can remember the combinations well enough to go hard and fast, but most of the time still I'm a little confused and going more of a medium-type pace.
My partners were good ones last night, I'm happy to say. None of the "bruisers" as I call them (those guys who are stronger than they realize and who have one speed, no matter if we're supposed to be going full speed or "light") were out and training, and therefore there were a lot less "accidental contact" moments.
In fact, there were only two people (aside from the instructor) who don't train regularly at our kyu rank club, out last night. Four out of six students were from our other club :)
We're taking over!!
After those advanced basics combinations/partner exercises, Sensei had us practice cat stance for a while, and stepping forward in cat stance as well. For my already exhausted legs, this was more torture, but thankfully stepping forward lets one leg work, then rest while the other is working, and on and on.
Cat stance practice was a lead up to the kata that we practiced for the last 20 minutes of the class - Gojushiho-sho. Sensei had wanted us to work on Gojushiho-Dai but there weren't enough people in the class who knew it to help guide those who didn't know it, so he went back to Sho.
I went home after class and drank a full liter of water while I wound down for bed, and surprisingly I didn't get up ONCE in the middle of the night. Tired, and dehydrated after class, I guess!
Last night three of us carpooled to karate at the Instructor's Dojo and participated in the Thursday evening class, which is generally a lot about advanced basics and partner work.
Partner work is a big part of this club, our instructor is very good at building a class where first we warm up, then we practice attack and defense combinations that we then use in partner exercises with a variety of partners. The combinations are definitely co-ordinationally challenging, and Sensei puts us through it at a pace that makes it extra challenging as well. Occasionally I can remember the combinations well enough to go hard and fast, but most of the time still I'm a little confused and going more of a medium-type pace.
My partners were good ones last night, I'm happy to say. None of the "bruisers" as I call them (those guys who are stronger than they realize and who have one speed, no matter if we're supposed to be going full speed or "light") were out and training, and therefore there were a lot less "accidental contact" moments.
In fact, there were only two people (aside from the instructor) who don't train regularly at our kyu rank club, out last night. Four out of six students were from our other club :)
We're taking over!!
After those advanced basics combinations/partner exercises, Sensei had us practice cat stance for a while, and stepping forward in cat stance as well. For my already exhausted legs, this was more torture, but thankfully stepping forward lets one leg work, then rest while the other is working, and on and on.
Cat stance practice was a lead up to the kata that we practiced for the last 20 minutes of the class - Gojushiho-sho. Sensei had wanted us to work on Gojushiho-Dai but there weren't enough people in the class who knew it to help guide those who didn't know it, so he went back to Sho.
I went home after class and drank a full liter of water while I wound down for bed, and surprisingly I didn't get up ONCE in the middle of the night. Tired, and dehydrated after class, I guess!
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Back on track? Time only tells.
September was a month of colds and holidays, but now I'm back from holidays and feeling healthier and am back at training as a result.
Of course, it's also FALL now, in Central Canada, and since our region had a snow advisory for today (it's snowing right now) I figured I'd do some raking yesterday, and the 45 minutes of cleaning up the front yard (not including the boulevard) was a very good workout for my upper body.
Then, I went to karate last night at the kyu rank club and did a whole whack of basics and a few kata, which were a great workout for my lower body.
This morning, I'm feeling the pain!
At any rate, back to karate ...
Our kyu rank club generally has a wide variety of belt levels training at any one time, and at the beginning of the season like now, we can have up to 50% white belts in a 30 person class.
This season, our new white belts are all under 13 years of age it seems. Thankfully there are very few under-7 trainers (ie: those who fidget like crazy and can't stand still or pay attention for very long), so dealing with the new people hasn't been all that bad in terms of having to bark at them about staying in position.
Our main Sensei is unavailable for a while as he deals with personal matters, so the assistant instructor is relying more heavily on the senior belts (brown and black belts) to keep the club running smoothly this fall, whether it be teaching occasional classes or merely helping to demonstrate what a good karateka trains like and helping keep the kids focussed.
So, a fellow senior belt, Bill, and I are going to be handling the class next Tuesday while our assistant instructor is out of town. I guess that means I'll handle the warmup, and then we'll see how it goes from there. Maybe Bill won't mind taking on the kids (he's more experienced with dealing with kids) and I can take the teen-adult belts and work with them on one of their kata that we normally don't get to go through during the first class.
I haven't had very much experience instructing or leading groups of people, so this will be interesting :) I am looking forward to the opportunity, but will probably be a little nervous as well!
Jill
Of course, it's also FALL now, in Central Canada, and since our region had a snow advisory for today (it's snowing right now) I figured I'd do some raking yesterday, and the 45 minutes of cleaning up the front yard (not including the boulevard) was a very good workout for my upper body.
Then, I went to karate last night at the kyu rank club and did a whole whack of basics and a few kata, which were a great workout for my lower body.
This morning, I'm feeling the pain!
At any rate, back to karate ...
Our kyu rank club generally has a wide variety of belt levels training at any one time, and at the beginning of the season like now, we can have up to 50% white belts in a 30 person class.
This season, our new white belts are all under 13 years of age it seems. Thankfully there are very few under-7 trainers (ie: those who fidget like crazy and can't stand still or pay attention for very long), so dealing with the new people hasn't been all that bad in terms of having to bark at them about staying in position.
Our main Sensei is unavailable for a while as he deals with personal matters, so the assistant instructor is relying more heavily on the senior belts (brown and black belts) to keep the club running smoothly this fall, whether it be teaching occasional classes or merely helping to demonstrate what a good karateka trains like and helping keep the kids focussed.
So, a fellow senior belt, Bill, and I are going to be handling the class next Tuesday while our assistant instructor is out of town. I guess that means I'll handle the warmup, and then we'll see how it goes from there. Maybe Bill won't mind taking on the kids (he's more experienced with dealing with kids) and I can take the teen-adult belts and work with them on one of their kata that we normally don't get to go through during the first class.
I haven't had very much experience instructing or leading groups of people, so this will be interesting :) I am looking forward to the opportunity, but will probably be a little nervous as well!
Jill
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