teaching advice

[Chris Wissmann]

Hey:

Hope everyone's having a great new year!

I spoke to Shihan Francis about this a little earlier tonight, but I thought I'd fish among our wider family for feedback.

When I set up the karate program for the park district, my intention was to keep the beginner and advanced classes separate— a beginner session Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., then an advanced session from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Long story short, the park district can't afford to keep the building open past 7 p.m., and I understand where they're coming from there.

I'm mulling a move of the beginning class to Mondays and Wednesdays, but I don't know if my newspaper life will allow that. So, for the time being, I need to commingle the beginning and advanced students, and I've never seen that work well— either the advanced students get bored or the beginners get lost.

But I need to make a go of it, and thought I'd see if any of you had ideas.

Thanks!

Chris Wissmann

1111 West Walkup

Carbondale, IL 62901

(618) 549-2653

nigh...@midwest.net

[Rod Lindgren]

Hi Chris,
At� Wyoming, we always had a mix of beginners through advanced. We used a 12 lesson Beginners Program (http://www.okinawa-te.info/BeginnerOrientation.shtml) to introduce them to the basics, and added the beginners to the rest of the class as they progressed.

Basic drills were the same for everyone, so the mix was not a problem. When it came to Kata, each group had something to work on and I could circulate between groups. We had a full basketball floor for our workout area, so space was not a problem.

It was also a great chance for the advanced students to get some teaching experience. Sometimes the beginner lesson was taught by a senior student.

This was at a university and our youngest student was 16. Your situation might be different.

What I find myself having trouble with is teaching small groups (1-5) and not having a mixture of skill levels. I also have some trouble wrapping my head around teaching little kids. I know they are the future of the Art, but my experience is with adults. I have taught many kids how to swim, so I am not uncomfortable teaching them. It is just that I am afraid I would be too demanding or "hard" on the kids.

I hope this was of some value to you.

Sensei Rod Lindgren

On 1/8/2014 6:40 PM, Chris Wissmann wrote:

Hey:

Hope everyone's having a great new year!

I spoke to Shihan Francis about this a little earlier tonight, but I thought I'd fish among our wider family for feedback.

When I set up the karate program for the park district, my intention was to keep the beginner and advanced classes separate� a beginner session Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., then an advanced session from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Long story short, the�park district can't afford to keep the building open past 7 p.m., and I understand where they're coming from there.

I'm mulling a move of the beginning class to Mondays and Wednesdays, but I don't know if my newspaper life will allow that. So, for the time being, I need to commingle the beginning and advanced students, and I've never seen that work well� either the advanced students get bored or the beginners get lost.

But I need to make a go of it, and�thought I'd see if any of you had ideas.

Thanks!

Chris Wissmann

1111 West Walkup

Carbondale, IL 62901

(618) 549-2653

nigh...@midwest.net

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Isshin Shorinji Ryu Okinawa Te" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to isshin-shorinji-ryu-o...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to isshin-shorinji...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/isshin-shorinji-ryu-okinawa-te.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

[Chris Wissmann]

Great ideas!

Incidentally, two of Mister Heriaud's students, the Carrs, told me the secret to teaching young children is: Runrunrunrunrun…. throw a few punches.  Runrunrunrunrun… throw a few kicks. Wash, rinse, repeat. Just keep them moving. I haven't tried this, per se, since I'm limiting my classes to ages twelve and older. I'm not patient with young children, especially when it comes to karate, and several instructors in this area already work well with those age groups.

Right now I have two students who are pretty close to earning their yellow belts. (The third, my new student, starts tomorrow.) They're not ready to teach, except for leading warmups. They are getting there, though, and by February I'd like to get them involved in basic instruction.

This is a little off-topic, I guess, but the Wyoming beginner program reminds me that Soke Murphy had developed a rolling enrollment strategy. Phil or Chris Chavez sent it to us, I believe. It was a six-week course broken into two-week segments. Students could enroll at the beginning of any two-week period. It was pretty amazing. But the things that gave me pause with that were the series we learn, in particular the eight-point soft blocks and fourteen-point hard blocks, and how to incorporate them into that rotation. Soke Murphy may have abandoned them by then, or taught them in another context. I've wondered about that.

This, I think, brings me back to where I think I'm a little hung up: Simultaneously teaching items like the eight-point soft blocks and fourteen-point hard blocks to (1) an absolute beginner, to whom I want to introduce techniques just a few at a time, and (2) other students who know the entire series.

On Jan 8, 2014, at 9:16 PM, Rod Lindgren wrote:

Hi Chris,
At  Wyoming, we always had a mix of beginners through advanced. We used a 12 lesson Beginners Program (http://www.okinawa-te.info/BeginnerOrientation.shtml) to introduce them to the basics, and added the beginners to the rest of the class as they progressed.

Basic drills were the same for everyone, so the mix was not a problem. When it came to Kata, each group had something to work on and I could circulate between groups. We had a full basketball floor for our workout area, so space was not a problem.

It was also a great chance for the advanced students to get some teaching experience. Sometimes the beginner lesson was taught by a senior student.

This was at a university and our youngest student was 16. Your situation might be different.

What I find myself having trouble with is teaching small groups (1-5) and not having a mixture of skill levels. I also have some trouble wrapping my head around teaching little kids. I know they are the future of the Art, but my experience is with adults. I have taught many kids how to swim, so I am not uncomfortable teaching them. It is just that I am afraid I would be too demanding or "hard" on the kids.

I hope this was of some value to you.

Sensei Rod Lindgren

On 1/8/2014 6:40 PM, Chris Wissmann wrote:

Hey:

Hope everyone's having a great new year!

I spoke to Shihan Francis about this a little earlier tonight, but I thought I'd fish among our wider family for feedback.

When I set up the karate program for the park district, my intention was to keep the beginner and advanced classes separate— a beginner session Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., then an advanced session from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Long story short, the park district can't afford to keep the building open past 7 p.m., and I understand where they're coming from there.

I'm mulling a move of the beginning class to Mondays and Wednesdays, but I don't know if my newspaper life will allow that. So, for the time being, I need to commingle the beginning and advanced students, and I've never seen that work well— either the advanced students get bored or the beginners get lost.

But I need to make a go of it, and thought I'd see if any of you had ideas.

Thanks!

Chris Wissmann

1111 West Walkup

Carbondale, IL 62901

(618) 549-2653

nigh...@midwest.net

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Isshin Shorinji Ryu Okinawa Te" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to isshin-shorinji-ryu-o...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to isshin-shorinji...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/isshin-shorinji-ryu-okinawa-te.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

[Sensei Francis]

Hello everyone and Happy New Year to you,

I know we talked on the phone but I will add this to the pot.

We all go through growing pains when starting a program.

Any program, regardless of what it is.

Don't be afraid to try all of the suggestions.

You will find things that work and things that don't in each of our suggestions.

What works for me may or may not for you because we are different people with different energy and skill sets.

Enjoy this journey and know that I/we are always here for you.

Many Blessings to you on this journey....

Scott

[Chris Wissmann]

Thanks so much for the encouragement! I'm working on my lesson plan right now…. I can get through tonight.

I just told Ms. Ansari that I already needed to divide the class. When she was out playing on the ice the other week, one of my advanced students sprained her ankle, so I've come up with some punching and blocking exercises she can do from a chair and kicking exercises she can do on all all fours. (Remember those aerobics-style kicks Mister Heriaud used to make us do?)

It's going to be interesting cutting the class into three pieces for three students…. I hope my new student has some martial-arts experience— that'll make a huge difference. But long-term the hard part is going to be getting her past the hard blocks, soft blocks, and the Empi and Taikyoku kata— those basic series— while keeping the current students engaged.

Failure isn't an option, so I'll figure it out. I appreciate all the ideas. It could get a little scattershot, but if I have to toss the martial-arts spaghetti against the wall to see which strands stick, so be it!

[Rod Lindgren]

The block sequences are not a problem. The new student does as much of the series as they can and maybe fumbles around with the rest. That is okay. It will give them a taste of what is coming up in their future lessons and gives them the feeling that they are getting some advanced training.

On 1/8/2014 9:31 PM, Chris Wissmann wrote:

Great ideas!

Incidentally, two of Mister Heriaud's students, the Carrs, told me the secret to teaching young children is: Runrunrunrunrun�. throw a few punches. �Runrunrunrunrun� throw a few kicks. Wash, rinse, repeat. Just keep them moving. I haven't tried this, per se, since I'm limiting my classes to ages twelve and older. I'm not patient with young children, especially when it comes to karate, and several instructors in this area already work well with those age groups.

Right now I have two students who are pretty close to earning their yellow belts. (The third, my new student, starts tomorrow.) They're not ready to teach, except for leading warmups. They are getting there, though, and by February I'd like to get them involved in basic instruction.

This is a little off-topic, I guess, but the Wyoming beginner program reminds me that�Soke Murphy had developed a rolling enrollment strategy. Phil or Chris Chavez sent it to us, I believe. It was a six-week course broken into two-week segments. Students could enroll at the beginning of any two-week period. It was pretty amazing. But the things that gave me pause with that were the series we learn, in particular the�eight-point soft blocks and fourteen-point hard blocks, and how to incorporate them into that rotation.�Soke Murphy may have abandoned them by then, or taught them in another context. I've wondered about that.

This, I think, brings me back to where I think I'm�a little hung up: Simultaneously teaching items like the eight-point soft blocks and fourteen-point hard blocks to (1) an absolute beginner, to whom I want to introduce techniques�just�a few at a time, and (2) other students who know the entire series.

On Jan 8, 2014, at 9:16 PM, Rod Lindgren wrote:

Hi Chris,
At� Wyoming, we always had a mix of beginners through advanced. We used a 12 lesson Beginners Program (http://www.okinawa-te.info/BeginnerOrientation.shtml) to introduce them to the basics, and added the beginners to the rest of the class as they progressed.

Basic drills were the same for everyone, so the mix was not a problem. When it came to Kata, each group had something to work on and I could circulate between groups. We had a full basketball floor for our workout area, so space was not a problem.

It was also a great chance for the advanced students to get some teaching experience. Sometimes the beginner lesson was taught by a senior student.

This was at a university and our youngest student was 16. Your situation might be different.

What I find myself having trouble with is teaching small groups (1-5) and not having a mixture of skill levels. I also have some trouble wrapping my head around teaching little kids. I know they are the future of the Art, but my experience is with adults. I have taught many kids how to swim, so I am not uncomfortable teaching them. It is just that I am afraid I would be too demanding or "hard" on the kids.

I hope this was of some value to you.

Sensei Rod Lindgren

On 1/8/2014 6:40 PM, Chris Wissmann wrote:

Hey:

Hope everyone's having a great new year!

I spoke to Shihan Francis about this a little earlier tonight, but I thought I'd fish among our wider family for feedback.

When I set up the karate program for the park district, my intention was to keep the beginner and advanced classes separate� a beginner session Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., then an advanced session from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Long story short, the�park district can't afford to keep the building open past 7 p.m., and I understand where they're coming from there.

I'm mulling a move of the beginning class to Mondays and Wednesdays, but I don't know if my newspaper life will allow that. So, for the time being, I need to commingle the beginning and advanced students, and I've never seen that work well� either the advanced students get bored or the beginners get lost.

But I need to make a go of it, and�thought I'd see if any of you had ideas.

Thanks!

Chris Wissmann

1111 West Walkup

Carbondale, IL 62901

(618) 549-2653

nigh...@midwest.net

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Isshin Shorinji Ryu Okinawa Te" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to isshin-shorinji-ryu-o...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to isshin-shorinji...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/isshin-shorinji-ryu-okinawa-te.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Isshin Shorinji Ryu Okinawa Te" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to isshin-shorinji-ryu-o...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to isshin-shorinji...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/isshin-shorinji-ryu-okinawa-te.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.