Instructors response to students

[jthomas1600]

I wasn't sure how to title the thread. My question is mostly for instructors/long time students. Does the nature of instruction ebb and flow as your group of students changes? If you have a group of students that show an aptitude for and seem to enjoy sparring with an emphasis on self defense and then gradually your group evolves to have more students who have an aptitude for and enjoy sparring as a sport and forms etc. will the focus of your teaching change at all? Who do you/would you respond if a student comes and requests to more instruction in particular areas?

 

[terryl965]

Well for me I have time slots available for all aspect of TKD. So we cover everything so that has never been a problem, plus once a month we have a focus training on let say SD and it is free and we work on it all day on a Saturday from 10 am till 6 pm and you can go and go as you like.

 

[jthomas1600]

Well for me I have time slots available for all aspect of TKD. So we cover everything so that has never been a problem, plus once a month we have a focus training on let say SD and it is free and we work on it all day on a Saturday from 10 am till 6 pm and you can go and go as you like.

On the surface, this sounds like something I'd really like. It would be great to go to a class knowing it was going to be mostly hard core self defense. However, knowing me, I'd be prone to cherry picking classes I liked. Do you ever tell students they're not getting a well rounded TKD education and they need to come to a wider variety of classes?

 

[dancingalone]

Who do you/would you respond if a student comes and requests to more instruction in particular areas?

Yes and no.

I am very conscious about teaching the full range of karate/kobudo taught to me, since preservation and transmission of the material is a goal of mine. So I am aware that there are regular aspects of the lessons that not everyone is particularly interested in, such as the punching differences in goju-ryu vs. shorin-ryu karate. Tough.

On the other hand, I am glad to offer remedial instruction in a particular topic people are having problems with. If we need or want the added focus on sparring as mentioned, I will accommodate it to an extent in class or offer an additional clinic (no fee) on a Saturday. The Saturday clinics are some of the best learning opportunities I have since attendance is usually sparse, so there is a low student to teacher ratio.

 

[terryl965]

On the surface, this sounds like something I'd really like. It would be great to go to a class knowing it was going to be mostly hard core self defense. However, knowing me, I'd be prone to cherry picking classes I liked. Do you ever tell students they're not getting a well rounded TKD education and they need to come to a wider variety of classes?

Yes I do but in today society people will always cherry pick. I have not had to many problems over the years, maybe I am just lucky or maybe it just works whichever it is I am gateful.

 

[tshadowchaser]

Our classes varry from night to night. We cover Forms, sparring, and SD each night but the main area of study will varry depending on the make up of the class and what the instructors have noticed needs more work.
Missing a certian night dose not mean you miss forms, sparring, etc but it dose mean you miss something and that something may not be shown again for a long time.
We ask the class from time to time what they need or want to wok on that night. Normaly we know what they are going to say but sometimes we get surprised

 

[bluewaveschool]

We might focus on something more one night that usual, but the students can expect to cover most of the normal aspects every class (forms/kicks/SD). I CURRENTLY don't have time for sparring every night, I plan on pushing to change that after the holidays. I just have to prove I can keep current numbers steady or higher to the YMCA before I ask for the massive youth gym that is locked up 90% of the time. I really hate only having 1 hour a night, I want the second hour we used to have back. I always found a 2 hour class was best. First hour is for the white belts, all basics, but almost all advanced belts attended to continually work on/improve their basics. Second hour was all advanced, you couldn't attend until you got your yellow belt. The workout over 2 hours is great.

 

[ATC]

Our class or program structure address either case. No need to change to accommodate anyone or any type.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

My instructor told me recently that he comes to class with no lesson plan. We have about 40-50 students in our class and about 60-70 are enrolled so the actual clientel can change a lot from night to night. Our instructor arrives at class, gets a feel for which students are present and works his lesson plan around who is there, for example if he has a lot of students with injuries and grading is only a few weeks away he may have a class that just focuses on stretching or self defence and steer away from sparring that night. I know that in the past I have mentioned to him that I feel I need to work on one specific aspect of my training and he has incorporated it into his class and he does the same for all students. Overall he has a curriculum that he adheres to but is very flexible about how and when he teaches it.

 

[Gemini]

I wasn't sure how to title the thread. My question is mostly for instructors/long time students. Does the nature of instruction ebb and flow as your group of students changes? If you have a group of students that show an aptitude for and seem to enjoy sparring with an emphasis on self defense and then gradually your group evolves to have more students who have an aptitude for and enjoy sparring as a sport and forms etc. will the focus of your teaching change at all? Who do you/would you respond if a student comes and requests to more instruction in particular areas?

While I do have a structured format for the most part, the students present on any given night do have some impact on what I teach. On more than one occasion, I've thrown the planned curriculum right out the window.
As for students leaving and new ones coming in, not really. My school is not open to the public, so I don't have a frequent changing of the guard so to speak. As for a student making a request, it depends on the student and the request. It has to be in the interest of the entire class. If not, I'll address it one on one later. For instance, I have 2 students that want more sparring time. While I do place a value on competition sparring, my class is primarily centered around the self defense aspect which of course encompasses considerably more than sparring. I don't do contracts so they're always free to go to one of the many schools in town that train primarily for sport competition.

Regards,