i am a first degree and latley i am finding that alot of newer students or lower raked students just dont want to follow instructions... and mind you talking back, thinking that they can do it better.
anyone that i teach that listens and gets the points really go far and progress rather quickley.
also when there are lower ranks that dont listen but do a diffrent style but are all under the same corpration.
in these times i am not sure on how to uphold the dojo law and still follow the sempai oath and the bushido code.
i feel like i have to be gentle with this situation and let it come with time but some time i also feel like the only way to get respect is to get into them and show them that what i do works and that i have the time and knowledge to deal with it
basiclly i want to know how to conduct myself with these people and what i should do about them.
sempai marco...
How old are the people in question? One of the many things that I learned when I started teaching, was that no matter what age group you're teaching, you need to keep everyones attention, because once you lose it, its very hard to get it back.
One thing that may help you, is to have a class plan already in place. For example...if your class is 60min long, spend 10min doing warmups. From there, you can move on to the main portion of the class. My past schools, had set days for certain material, so say on a Mon. it was all beginner classes, so after the warmup, it was straight into rank required material. My idea usually pertains to days when its an open class. Back to the lesson plan...
After warmups, you could move into strikes. This can be done in the air or on pads. Lets say you do this for 20min. You're already halfway to the end. Spend 10min on kata. Have everyone start off together, and as each person reaches the end of the katas that they know, they sit down. To end off, you can do techniques.
This is just one example of many. Of course, you want the plan to be flexable. In other words, there were days when I was planning for a big class, and only 8 people showed up. The plan needs to be adjustable enough to compensate for that.
It may also help if you had someone else to help you. Of course dont always rely on that, and be prepared to teach a 20+ person class on your own. If you had helpers, it'd be easier to break into groups. Lets say you had 2 other people to help you. The first person could run a kata station, the 2nd person a technique station, and you could run one for the basics, ie: punches, kicks, etc. After a set amount of time, everyone rotates.
Now....for the ages of the people. If you're dealing with kids, its really simple. You tell them once. If they don't listen, you remove them from the class. And yes, parents may question you when you do that, either when you do it, interupting your class, or afterwards. Either way, it was made clear to them that I was not there to babysit, but to teach. The childs behavior is rude, disruptive and its taking away from the kids that are behaving. I always had the full support of the Head Inst. at the school, so if what I was saying didn't work, he would take over. It was usually a non issue, due to the fact that it was made clear that people are here to learn. If your child can't or wont do that, then perhaps they should come back when they're old enough.
As for teens....treat them the same as the smaller kids. They're older and should know better.
Adults....I usually had no issues with people. If someone really started going on a tangent about whether or not something would work, I'd do my best to explain it to them during class. If that didn't work, I'd tell them that I'd work with them afterwards. If all else fails, and they're still not taking that as an answer, then sadly, a few times, I'd have to make an example of them in front of everyone. I'd use them as the uke, have them attack me and do the tech. on them, and usually that solved the issue. Many times during that demo, they'd try to foil my tech., but I'd simply just work with whatever they did. It was funny because there were a few times, when, once they discovered that it was THEM that I was using, suddenly they tried to back peddal. I"d have them come up, because afterall, it was them that doubted the tech., so if you really want to see it work, try to hit me.
Now, while this may sound mean, I was not abusing the student. But, IMO, sometimes feeling is believing.
Obviously this method is reserved for someone older. Would I do this with a teen? Sure. Of course, I'm not going to kick them thru the wall, nor am I going to put someone in the ER. It is possible to do a tech. hard, make hard contact and not seriously injure someone.
Adults should know better, so if I had an issue with anyone, I'd usually address it with them privately.
As I said, once you loose the attention, its hard to get back. People will test you, and see how much they can get away with before you do anything. Its best to nip anything and everything ASAP. Of course, prior to the new student joining in, the rules of the school were made clear to them, as well as parents, if it was a child. The majority of the time, any issues were resolved quickly.
I hope that helped.
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