How to motivate long time instructors to keep training

[terryl965]

I know alot of us here have been at this a long time, I mean 210 pkus years. How do you make sure your longtime instructors maintain a good workout in your school? As things goes so does the instructor workouts, like they never have time speech, or I really do not need to workout because I have everything down to a tee, which we know they do not. The one I personally like is when am I suppose to workout I am helping all the time, which means they help out a couple of times a week and refuse to find time for themselves.

 

[Drac]

I know alot of us here have been at this a long time, I mean 210 pkus years. How do you make sure your longtime instructors maintain a good workout in your school? As things goes so does the instructor workouts like they never have time speach or I really do not need to workout because I have eveerything down to a tee, which we know they do not. The one I personally like is when am I suppose to workout I am helping all the time, which means they help out a couple of times a week and refuse to find time for themselfs.

WOW, I am stumped for an answer outside of if ya wanna stay on as an Instructor get more involved or hit the streets...I do the warm-ups (standing off to the side) as Master Steve has one of the black belts take the class through warm-ups..I will hold the sheild if we are a student low or if one of our light weight students is partnered up with a heavy weight and participate in the drills...I just don't hit the floor as much out of fear of aggrivating my injury..

 

[JWLuiza]

Have an instructors class. If you have a bunch of high ranking instructors, they could take turns leading the class, that way it doesn't fall on one persons shoulders. You could give a plaque out at the end of the year to best master's workout and hardest training instructor...

 

[JWLuiza]

Another cool thing is to have informal demos at the beginner/intermediate classes. Take a low/intermediate form and do a master's demonstration.

I got this idea from two instructors in our school. They tied for first in forms at an intramural tournament, so they performed Pyung Ahn Ee Dan for their second form to inspire the underbelts. And it caused them to go back and train their Pyung Ahns.

 

[Drac]

Have an instructors class. If you have a bunch of high ranking instructors, they could take turns leading the class, that way it doesn't fall on one persons shoulders. You could give a plaque out at the end of the year to best master's workout and hardest training instructor...

Good post....

 

[CDKJudoka]

I have been offering some of the senior yudanja judo classes to supplement their TKD, as they are starting to feel stagnant in their training. Think about cross training in another style. Get another instructor from another school and style to come in for an instructor seminar. I find that giving them an option for another style, they flourish in their own style.

 

[Blindside]

Crosstrain in an art that is significantly different than their core art. It is a great reminder that we are all supposed to be students, and that few of us know all that much.

 

[StudentCarl]

Three things I've done for me:
1. Find or create a new challenge to focus my training on. It re-inspires me when I can get a chance to spar with someone who's way out of my league and then back off a little and get them to teach me...reminds me that I have so much more to learn. It's great when it's someone I don't regularly get to see...a guest. I find the same with forms and breaking. We need to feed that hunger to learn. Last time for me was sparring with a guest instructor with a very different style and techniques from mine.
2. Pick something to master and polish it. I think most of us have pet techniques, the ones that we know we do best. Again, my inspiration comes from watching others. When I see an insanely fast spin hook kick, a killer fast kick, or watch a national team master doing a form, I want to improve. I end up studying it, work on the mechanics, and find ways to polish it to a higher shine. Right now it's my kicking height. I'm trying to improve it in forms and work head level with as many different kicks as I can.
3. Play and be creative. The more time I spend helping with teaching the less I'm spending building my skills. It's fun, when I spar, to just try different techniques and combinations, not having to focus on the most efficient way to score or to make sure I don't embarrass myself. In practice with the kids, there are times we're working on one technique or sparring to win, but there are also times I want the kids to experiment, play, and just try something new. It doesn't always have to be what works. That fun factor helps let go of the pressure we take on as teachers. Lately (not with kids), I've been having fun with a twist on a game I learned in the service--two players spar until there's a clear point, then a third person enters on the side of the one who scored for 20 seconds. Light head contact is an important restriction. Change pairing and play again.

 

[Flying Crane]

I guess I am surprised that someone who has reached the level of an instructor would need help in getting motivated for his own training. Things that make ya go "hmmm..."

 

[IcemanSK]

Anytime someone does the same thing over & over for years, burnout can happen. Changing things and/or adding things to a workout can jump start the passion for the Art again, in my experience.

When we teach, we need to change things up to keep our students from being bored, as well as decreasing the physical plateaus they experience. We, as instructors, need to do that for ourselves as well.

 

[JWLuiza]

I guess I am surprised that someone who has reached the level of an instructor would need help in getting motivated for his own training. Things that make ya go "hmmm..."

I don't think it as quite as insidious as that. It happens in my school that you get pulled into teaching, and once your focus is on that it is hard to go back and focus on your own "stuff".

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I don't think it as quite as insidious as that. It happens in my school that you get pulled into teaching, and once your focus is on that it is hard to go back and focus on your own "stuff".

This is generally the crux of the situation. Way to often people are drafted into teaching to early and lose focus from training and polishing the stone to teaching. I think teaching responsibilities should be very gradual once at the instructor/black belt level. Slowly allow them to teach but make sure that they have a class solely dedicated to their training. That way they continue to progress!

 

[shesulsa]

One of the most important aspects to teaching (as opposed to instructing) is OBSERVATION. You have to take time to observe what a student is doing - not just in one class, but how they approach techniques, training, other people, their talents, their challenges.

If you are spending your time in the regularly scheduled class doing this, then you are likely not training your own material ... you're teaching color rank stuff.

I *highly* recommend an instructor's class (or black belt class) regularly scheduled and structured. It should be short because I think one test of being a teacher/instructor is making/finding your own time to train and practice. Yes, it's hard, but having a laundry list of things you're supposed to practice doesn't make you better and practice can make you better, but to assume you're done being an in-class student once you achieve black rank or become an instructor is to neglect what some consider to be the most important tenent: that we never stop being students.

Just 30 minutes ... say, after the last class of the day is over or in between classes or before they all start ... whatever works in with the schedule at the school. That should be enough to run through a form a few times, techniques, discuss some nuances that help perfect what we already know ... kind of an appetizer to keep the juices flowing and the growth of the group focused and moving. Otherwise, things can become stagnant for all, I think.

These are just my ideas, FWIW.