young student disipline

[judojedi]

has anyone any pointers on keeping the disipline of there younger students.

i have recently taken over an existing club when the old sensai got a new job and couldn't attend anymore. i have two classes, the first is about 15 or 16 students strong and made up of 6 - 10yo and the second class is about 12 strong made up of 10yo+ up to 17yo. the second class are wonderful and i really enjoy teaching them, the first class has three or four hyper-active little buggers who will not do as they are told. i have tried with limited success sending them off the mat and threating to cancel the game at the end of the lesson but they still persist on messing about. i cant ban them as it is a council run course and they have paid for 10 lessons. i'm usually an easy going instructor but they have pushed me to far.
thing is though i'm in danger of spoiling the lesson for the others in the class who are well behaved and are there to learn.

i'm going to tell the council that i'm going to leave if these kids arn't ejected from the course cos they dont pay me enough to deal with hyper-active children. am i over reacting? is there something i can do to calm them down besides beating the crap outa them or injecting them with morphene?

any instructors out there with advice please help. cheers

[Thomas]

The first thing I would do is separate the students into groups, each headed by a 'loyal' leader. I would probably make 4 groups of 4 and put one malefactor in each. Keep them separated and keep them busy.

At their age they probably have lots of energy... try to harness it in good competition perhaps... set the teams against teams (NOT individuals) and have them compete to get the most repititons or kicks or 'perfect' forms or whatever. Allow no down time.

Continally circle around the class to all of the groups and give advice and encouragement. For students who don't wnat to work or behave, sit them out in the back... just because they have paid doesn't mean they get to participate in ALL activities.

Spend some time teaching the behaviors you want to see in the dojang... show them exactly how you want them to behave, model it, and have them practice it. Students who misbehave don't get punished, they get to go in the back and practice 'behavior' instead. Reinforce positive behavior... give the "good jobs" and "well done" comments and benefits like being the demonstrator to the students who do well. Good luck

[gojuman]

I teach a lot of young stuents. My first class of the evening is of 30 kids (ankle biters, I call them) between 5 and 10 years old. The second group is also of 30 with the 11-14 year year old gang.
It is important to remember that one teaching method does not work for every age group and the younger the student the shorter the attention span. With the 5-10 year olds I find it best to work on short drills interspursed with games. Demanding that a 6 year old give me his/her undivided attention is unrealistic. I also try to combine games with learning. Ie. if I am teaching snap punches I try to get them to visualize creating a strong enough wind with their punches to move my hair ( of which I hav very little).
Keeping the class fun and light for the most part is the best way to go, I think. At the beggining and end of class I am quite strict with bowing and standing attention, as well as maybe a minute of eyes closed meditation. But then I do try and mix things up.
I have found that when they are particularily unruley I get them to run races. If I try to demand attention by yelling I usualy make things worse and I always have a lousy time. And lets face it . I only teach because I want to. So I make it fun for them and it is fun for me.
You might like a book that one of my sensei's has written. It's called "Kicks for Kids" . It tries to speak about teaching rather than any one particular style so even though we are Goju Karate, the lessons in the book do not emphasize our style.
If you look on the web site www.wildcatdojo.com and look for books to buy you will see it there. The authur is Master Darbro.
Remember to have fun and the class will go better for everyone.
Oos

[judojedi]

some great advice there, thanks guys. i like the 'groups' idea. i tried something similar last week but the leaders of the groups ended up bullying their team. i like the team against team approach though, that would get them working together.
i will re-consider my approach to the class, maybe i could draft in some kids i know from other classes who are higher grades to become the leaders of the groups. mmm, the possibilities.

thanks again, any more advice from anyone?

[cal_JJJ]

Judojedi:

Some things we do w/ our 4 to 8yo;

Increase the cardio at the begining of class a little for a extra energy burn off.

Increase the rolls and falls part of class w/ some fun coordination stuff again to burn energy but keeping it up beat.

Pair hyper kids w/ mello kids for balance, and rotate partners often to prevent personality conflicts/unions from becoming a distraction.

Keep it mixed up. That is let them work on a technique for a few min. then spread them out to do a related drill like X-in the box drill, then pair them up to work on a technique for a couple of min, then spread them out for the next drill..........Its a lot of work but I find it far more enjoyable then an hour of threats & scolding. I think the more mature students prefer it as well as they get to do more stuff.

[judojedi]

thanks for the help in here.
last night i spoke to the duty officer and told him about the little brats and his words were:

'give me the names i'll throw them off the course'

which i thought was a brilliant attitude. none of this give them warning after warning then give them a last chance then if they look sorry give them another last chance etc etc.

so i informed the class before i took the rei that if anyone messes around or is dis-obedient then i would put their names on the list. the class went alot smoother although i did put one lad on the list but removed hiwm again when he apologised most graciously at the end of the class. the new 'BARRED LIST' is now the sword by which i controll the first class. :woo:

i have, however, taken the words of you other sensai's and began to incorporate them into my lessons. i delegated teaching responsability to my second and to a few of the kids and allowed no (or very little) down time.

thanks again sensai's.:)

[Kwajman]

Hello! I teach a 'Little Dragons' course for 4-6 year olds. The first thing I do is have them run 2-3 races around the gym. Works a little energy off of them to start with. I'm only a high brown belt, but it works to keep them a little less hyper. Find out what they like to do, and then use that as a reward for good behavior.

[Chazz]

With kids of that age all i can say is that you need to keep it fun. Its hard to keep their attention so it will have to be fun. Remeber, what is fun for you might not be fun for them since they are younger. One thing that i found that helps is to talk to a pro daycare center. They will and can give you ideas on how to deal with young kids. Another thing is that you do need more than just you in there. Find you one or two asst. from the older classes that wouldnt mind to help you.

[Reiki]

Lots of great advice here!

I instruct a juniors class of a similar size and have similar problems with unruly kids from time to time, the best thing I've found is keep the variety in the work, mix up the exercises and keep each fairly short so that the attention doesn't wander!

Burn off the extra energy in the warmups with shuttle runs and partner wheelbarrows and piggybacks to build up their strength. Make sure all "games" are constructive to your training, and they will improve as they go.

Reward good behaviour with a good game that they choose.

[Energy.]

uhh, i would just eat the little buggers... :) lol, actually, i would just give their parents warnings, and on third one, kick em' out, they obviously dont wanna be there and arent cut out for the discipline of the martial arts... i know you said you cant kick them out though, but i would do it any way...

[neryo_tkd]

kids are simply kids. they are all different, and they all have a lot of energy. i also teach kids. by yelling at them u won't achieve anything. so please don't do that. being strict is something else. first of all u need to get to know them. then u'll see what the best approach will be for each and every one of them. teaching kids is difficult but u'll get the hang of it after a while.
start with a warm up but don't do the same exercises every time. kids love change. then stretching. change exercises again. u have to be sure that they are paying attention to what u r saying. for example u r sitting on the floor, legs straight in front of u and u have to touch ur toes. u can show the exercise and tell them: and now touch ur ears! u'll see if they'll notice it and then do similar things. believe me it's quite funny. and this way they will start accepting u and everything will be easier for u too.
if they are really misbehaving, send them in the back or u can tell them that they got a penalty point. u can tell them that if they get several penalty points, they will not be allowed to do something like belt testing or similar. but also tell them that there is a way to get good points as well if they do all the technique or forms or whatever properly. so if they do several exercises good, tell them that they lost one penalty point. i have noticed that this way they focus 100% for a while and are really eager to get rid of the penalty points, also the hyper-active kids.
or maybe when u r doing the stretching and counting how many times they have to bend over, let one of them do the counting. for the next exercise, choose someone else.
what ''my'' kids really love is when i divide them into 2 groups and they race. for example the first pair has to run to the other side and back then the second pair gets to do another exercise. so that is my way of ''blackmailing'' them :) :) :) that is why i told u that u have to get to know them. in that case u know how and which buttons to push. at the beginning of the training session, they often ask me if we are doing that run at the end of the class. so u can tell them if they behave and do everything the best they can, they will be allowed to do it. so they get 5 minutes of running and competing against each other (the winners are soooo happy) and u get let's say an hour or 45 minutes of their attention. good exchange, wouldn't u say????? :) :) :) :)