For those who have participated in seminars or classes on the methods and ideas behind instructing martial arts or have organised and taught at one of these sessions, I have a few questions for you. How long was the class or seminar? What was the format of learning? Did you have an open forum, one person lecturing? Were there notes handed out? Was it all theory or did people get up and practice what they were taught? What topics were covered? What do you think were the most important topics covered? I'm going to be part of a 2 hour refresher in a couple of weeks and seeing if I could utilize any of the expertise on this website. Thanks.
The time of the seminar depends entirely on the volume of content and quantity of attendees. The ones I've attended have generally been sit-down lectures, with minimal interaction between the speaker and guests. The topics have varied from one seminar to the next, but I think the important topics (to me, at least) would be effective communication skills, eliminating boredom, marketing and student retention. Enjoy your upcoming course.
I've been fortunate to attend a couple offered by the ehad of our federation (GM Pellegrini). If he can, he likes to schedule a few hours with black belts the night before an open seminar. It is a mix of theory and teaching tips as well as some of the philosophy behind it... all with a bit of time to practice on a partner. As an instructor, I found this to be very valuable (maybe even more than the entire open seminar the next day). At our school, we have one Friday a month set aside for "Instructors' Night"... and the format is usually very informal. We use the time for any of several reasons/purposes, such as: -A time for the senior black belts to work their own patterns and material - Sometimes as a forum for each instructor to share a drill or teaching tip that works for them - Or for one instructor to lead the class on a topic they are good at. -Curriculum review and alignment -To discuss future goals, trends, and teaching ideas It's always a great use of time!
I run seperate advanced classes where the senior students learn advanced techniques plus teaching skills. Every week one of them stands in front of the class and teaches a warm up set and goes through the teaching of a beginners skill. He then gets criticised by his peers. This peer review helps them focus on ensuring their form is good, teaching points are got across clearly and the session has the right balance of theory and practice etc. I don't believe teaching can be learned through sit down lectures - the only way you can learn to be comfortable and effective as a teacher is to stand up and do it regularly. When the guys are comfortable standing up and teaching to their peers then they are let loose on the junior students. By then they will have developed their own teaching style which works for them. Obviously before they start teaching their peers I give insruction on developing a teaching voice, how people learn - visual, audio etc, keeping the whole class interested and motivated. lesson planning and so on.
