Up and coming students in Hwa Rang Do

[Michael]

Hello and HwaRang to all of you,
I'd like to affirm that I feel that there is little wrong with the 'old' (JBL) curriculumm, but, it changed the way people learned from before, creating a new generation to argue over its appropriateness. Any changes now reflect our need to address what we feel is necessary to evolve and redress doctrinal holes. What we are doing has to be 'tried and tested' and eventually will prove to have holes itself.
I like the system but have made some changes and have radically added to my students pre-requisites to Sash standard. I want to offer them more (than I got) for preparation but not give them more than they 'earn'.
One thing that I find interesting to note is that no matter what the Kub or colour belt syllabus, when I meet 'awakened' Dan holders they are of the same ability. Certainly a syllabus may prepare some with more for a knowledge base but when everyone approaches the same proficiency level. We all kind of level out.
My last conversation with KjnC was to the effect that kub ranks are my choice of preparing my students (both a priviledge and a responsibility that I take very strongly). Sash ranks are all of us in this together. Lets get it together and lift ourselves up.

 

[floweringknight]

Michael - Thanks for posting; it's always good to hear from another Hwarang brother. I feel the same way about my students' preparation. In fact, I remind them consistently, that color belt tests are merely more than a quiz. The real test is for black sash - and then the "real" training begins. And I love the "we're all in this together" mentality! Great stuff. Michael, what kinds of things have you added to your color belt syllabus (sp)?

Farang :asian: - SBNB

 

[shesulsa]

I'd like to take a moment to welcome floweringknight and Michael to MartialTalk. Most new users will usually open a newbie thread in the Meet N Greet area, but you two gentlemen have just dived right in, which is way cool and, with all due respect I'd like to use a phrase I'm rather known for here on MT if that's all right ... YOU SO TOTALLY ROCK!

Thank you for joining and conversing. It's nice to see. Enjoy MT and happy posting! :asian:

 

[floweringknight]

Thank you - it is a pleasure to be able to converse freely with my fellow martial brothers and sisters. This is awesome!

 

[Michael]

FaRang to everyone, thanks for the welcome.
You asked me about the changes I've made. Well I'm still making them. I warned my students that the newer syllabus wouldn't become stable for a while and it would take a year for most of them to absorb all the changes (then I'd do the 2nd draft).
I added 4 ranks to the curriculum (the beginning), borrowing heavily from a number of other doctrines, I kept the last 5 ranks almost (almost) untouched.
I created slimmed down versions of the first 8 ranks and started the numbers off low and built them up as each rank progressed. 4 ranks for novice, 4 for intermediate test for 'Scholar's rank' (interim Class leader certification) then 5 ranks (purple->halfBlack {slightly modified}).
Green was removed completely, Yellow was split among 2 of the intermediate ranks, White and orange cut down and amalgamated into 2 of the novice ranks. Some techniques were modified and others left as they were. Four forms added (virtuous names added), others reorganised to reflect my judgement of appropriateness for the new syllabus.
You would recognise everything but not the order.
I'm fairly happy with the result so far and the students are working the new syllabus better than I'd hoped.
I'm rewriting the study guides that I give them to prepare for the written exams, to expand the level of general martial arts knowledge. Anecdotes and stories included.
Sort of Academic and dry but I find it to have breathed more life into my own practice and appreciation for the fundamental levels of knowledge.

 

[glad2bhere]

OK, since you opened this can of worms.......

Micheal:

When you made your changes and in keeping with my earlier comments about teaching priorities, would you be willing to tell us what your goals for your students (and maybe yourself) are as you make the changes? Proceeding from that maybe you might talk about how you first saw the learning goals when you started and how those goals were impacted over time. Then you could say a bit on what you see your learning/teaching goals are now and how these are reflected in the changes you have made. I know these are not easy things to say in 25-words-or-less but I really think this would be good for people to talk about and reflect on rather than just talking about adding this and removing that. Thoughts? Comments?

Best Wishes,

Bruce

 

[floweringknight]

Michael - That sounds like a lot of re-organization. It will be interesting to see the long-term results. I totally like the idea of written tests. I have kind of neglected that portion, as of late.

Bruce - Great questions! We all need to be asking ourselves these questions - and on a regular basis! You got some gears turning in my head that's for sure.

 

[lulflo]

So Here I am again, Hello to all.

I just passed up an opportunity to test from Red Sash to Half Black. I am not too sure of all of the reasons, but there was one specifically that I am thinking of. I have two martial brothers that were testing from Brown to Red. I will inevitably be testing with them somewhere down the road because they have come up so quickly and my pace has been much slower. I could have tested and continued to be a belt rank above them and it would have proved nothing. Now I have another 6 months to a year to practice and polish the material I have learned as a Red Sash and also brush up on all of my skills. I have also begun supplementing my training with BJJ and by going to several other HRD teachers to learn from more than just one. The good news is that even my BJJ teacher is a black belt in HRD so I can learn more info from him too! I don't really know the point of all this, just some info on what is going on in my training career. I have been practicing harder by myself now than ever and I am trying to squash my ego issues by just settling into the fact that I am a lifer of the MA and will benefit from finally having fellow students at the same rank to study for the Big test when it comes. Any comments are always welcome.

Farang - Larry

 

[lulflo]

This thread has been dead for awhile. I am getting geared up for my black sash test in April. The two guys I ended up waiting for are going to be testing with me as planned and it should be a great test. Thankfully, my instructor has set up a pretest situation so I will be more prepared for the real thing. Eight hours? what can we do for eight hours?...

I am a student and am happy to be one.

Farang - Larry