Over the past few weeks I have started helping the owner/instructor at my gym with the kids Kenpo class. My eldest daughter is in it, so I am there anyway, might as well help out. I am working on my blue belt, so I am not that advanced, but in large classes I often take the white belts and go through techniques with them so the owner can work with the advanced kids. I have found this to not only be a great workout, as I do their conditioning and such with them as well, but it's been a GREAT teacher. I have become so much better with the basics of Kenpo by teaching them to the new kids. With this familiarity and extra few hours of practice every week I have found the techniques I am learning now to come to me quicker and feel my whole self just adapting to Kenpo that much better. Has anyone else had this experience? If not, and you have the opportunity to help teach some kids, I recommend doing it. It's helped me, plus, it's really cool to see the grade school kids eyes light up when they "get it"...very rewarding indeed.
Hi db, good question. Yes the hardest question is "why?". Usually I know the answer but figuring out how to communicate the answer to the wide variety of students is the real challenge. But once you can give a good answer to a 8 yr old and a 48 yr old then you really know your material. But then you can also fall back on the practical : "There is so much to learn, and so little time - let's focus on the 'how' for now and the 'why' can come later"
Yeah, breaking things down to explain them to someone can have it's benefits. You just have to make sure you don't get choppy and robotic in your movements from teaching the kids. Slowing down enough to get them to understand can turn into a bad habit. If the material is the same wouldn't the answer to "why?" be the same, regardless of who you are teaching? I think is it very important to inform the student as to why you are asking them to do something instead just telling them to do it because you said so. I mean no disrespect, but if you can't answer the "why" question you probably aren't ready to be teaching that particular material. I don't mean to offend anyone, that is just the way I was trained and that's how my opinions were formed. I would have to disagree with David's last sentence, the "why" can play a very important role in the "how" so it should be addressed when the material is being taught. Just my opinion, take it for what it's worth (and since it was free.....)
Yeah, I have already gotten the "why" thing, I like it, it makes me think, and pay more attention and remember when my instructor is teaching me, because I know I'llhave to spit it back out at some point. The "why" often explains the techniques on a different level.."why strike him there instead of there" "well, because if you hit him like this his arm will likely wind up here in your way so you go here where it will more than likely be open"..."Oh, OK that makes sense", then you see that light bulb go off over their heads...then ya sick them on each other and they say "hey, you're right, his arm does wind up there"
I would say that teaching isn't the best teacher, what is the best teacher is a willingness to learn... a willingness to learn from ANYBODY. When you teach, you are also a student and you are learning from your students. You can learn from a white belt the same as from a grandmaster, what you learn may be different but you can still learn. The only difference is that at the end of a day, the grandmaster is still a grandmaster and the white belt is still a white belt. Some people refuse to learn from lower ranks and will only try to learn from higher ranking people, this is not good. This is a lack of willingness to learn from anybody... IMHO.
I'm a Hapkidoist not Kenpoist, so I hope you don't mind my jumping in. Since I have started teaching I have experienced this greatly myself. Whenever I teach a new student it is like I am starting over at white belt again with them. It has made me realize that everyone learns differently and sometimes you have to be creative and display the material in a different way to get the desired results. Teaching has made me take a step back several times and figure out how I was doing something and how to explain it. Plus, when I'm demonstrating and teaching, I make sure that my techniques are as perfect as I can make them, because I am their example. I truly believe that you don't know your martial art until you are able to teach it.
Teaching is a skill like any other, some are good at it others are not. I have seen several martial artists that just couldn't teach. They most definitely know their material and their art, teaching just isn't their thing. I don't see teaching ability as a requirement.
If I spend the whole hour explaining to a white belt why he should align his feet and why he shouldn't step too far apart and why he should keep his hands up and why this and why that then he will never learn HOW. WHY is very important and will come in time but I want to see somebody learn HOW for a while before getting into all those WHYs.
Like I said, I don't feel that you can properly learn how if you don't know why. Things that a white belt is learning really shouldn't require an hour to explain why they are doing it. Don't step too far, why, because it will throw off your balance and/or weaken your foundation. Keep your hands up so you don't get hit in the head. All to often people never get to the why part of previous material because the instructor is busy making sure they are teaching the how of the new material. Why is critical, especially for beginners that probably can't put together the reasoning on their own just yet. I'm not trying to say anything about you as a teacher, I don't know anything about you, if you are an instructor, assistant instructor, 15 year BB or 1 year BB, and I guess it really doesn't matter. Don't take any of this as a personal attack. I think we just have different priorities and methods when it comes to passing on material and that's OK.
In relation to the original thread... yes - teaching is great because it really forces you to analyze what you're doing with that very same technique or set of techniques. Sometimes it give you the ability to see something that doesn't quite jive - and sometimes it's not readily apparrent until you're teaching it to someone else and then all of a sudden the big light bulb turns on and you realize... hmmm... wait a minute... that kinda sucks. Thankfully not often but even once is enough.
i've been helpign teach children's clases at my school for about five years now, and i've found that i learn more from teaching than i do from just taking class. when you're in class you only have to understand something for yourself, but if you're teaching others, you have to understand it for everyone in the group. i've also found that teaching something to seven year olds is completely different than teaching the same thing to four year old.
We often work with beginners in kung fu We often work with people with a bit less knowledge than us and yes, you do notice things and learn things. Like how someones stance is wrong and realize taht you have to do better work on yours because even though you have achieved more and been there longer you stance may bbe not as good as it could be. I usually help those who just started with technique and form.
Teaching rewards you many things tolerance, adaptability, communication skills, seeing your students acheive. However by teaching it also helps you re asess what you yourself do. No two people in the dojo does things the same, and what works for you may not work for another so by being able to adapt what you know to a different person you leanr tolerance and communication witht end result of watching people achieve. Also by adapting certain things it helps you reasess your style and think well what if i did do it like that, weigh up the pros and cons of doing so. You can be a 3rd dan black belt and still learn something from any of the lower grades as well as the higher grades by teaching i have formed the ability to WANT to understand rather than just do the movements. I also disagree with the notion of "you do not truely understand your art until you can teach" I have met and know some amazing martial artisits who do not have the capability to teach effectively this doesnt make them any less it makes them different and it means that they want something different.
I agree with you completely on that one. The art of doing and the art of teaching are two entirely different things...and that applies to anything in life. Lots can do, few can teach, it's a different skill completely. I gotta admit, since I have been helping teach I have gotten exponentially more comfortable with the things I am teaching...it's been a truly great experience so far.
