Here at the Warrior Quest Society in California we have our students on an  
element saturation program where they spend 4 months (sometimes less) in each  
element.  When we have students of multiple ranks we group them by elements  
and give them their element specific kata and lessons to work on.  If we  have
a few students of varied ranks we will pair them with partners of different  
elements but each person is working on his or her own lesson.  

We have a small school with two instructors on the mat at any given time so  
our classes function almost like semi-private lessons when it comes to  
structure.  When I'm teaching I like to take the first 20 minutes teaching  the
class as a whole working on basics as a warm up - ever changing types of  ukemi
and striking, ground movement drills, San Shin etc.  Then we split  the class
into realms and work the lessons.  The students have freedom  within the
structure to make discoveries and then have them verified and/or  improved since they
are not always under the constant attention of the  instructor.  I know with
other instructors at WQS, they do a preliminary  quick warm up, curriculum
training and finish with 10 minutes of some form of  group experience - energy
drills, special techniques etc.

Our students seem to like the element saturation and they come out of the  
process with a very clear sense and feeling of the element.  Most of our  
students also seem to come away with a strong ability to create within a given  
element.

Merry Christmas everyone!  And/or Happy Holidays!

Tori Myotoshi Eldridge
Senior Instructor Warrior Quest Society
Newbury Park, CA

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