Instructor's Tips Wanted

[KenpoTess]

Teaching a varied populace from age 4 to 40something plus requires diverse tactics. Our school offers adult classes 5 nights/ week and kids 3 nights/week. Also we teach 50 + kids at the college 2/week. I would appreciate other Instructors and students on the board to post ideas and tips on their methods of teaching/being taught along with what you would like to see done in your school and why.

Anything from Regimented drills to Fun stuff, games etc. Different ways to spar, warmups, etc.
Dealing with problem students to promoting your school. Sharing in the Kenpo Community is what it's all about. Hopefully Kenpoist's will come together again, at least in spirit.

With Respect,

Tess

 

[Chiduce]

I have 2 students over 50 years old. One is a brown belt in my style and the other is a white belt. The white belt has not trained much in any way for the past eleven years. He is a large man with potential. The drills i use for him are basic; waist turning in the guard position to improve his blocking & parrying motion. The typical twisting from left to right with inside blocking has improved his defensive blocks 45%. This is only his second training session. Since we do not use the snap kick within our kenpo arsenal. Our new student prospects tend to snap hard and hyper extend the knee ligaments when kicking. To adjust this problem and decrease their probablity for knee injury while kicking; i slowed the kicking motion down and drill by the numbers. We use thrusting kicks, so the standing drill starts with the kicking leg's knee being raised to the waist position (for side thrusting); next the hip is rotated and the student's body is checked for proper body and single leg stand positioning. The leg is then gradually thrusted out to the desired target. This is done until the student can start a rythmn of circular single leg motion from the knee lift, to rotating hip, to single leg thrusting of the kicking leg to target , and back to stance without kicking leg touching the deck in re-chambering for another thrusting sequence. Of course, for my senior (age-wise) student's, their leg is going to touch the deck. In time they will produce a continuous and returning thrusting motion with powerful kicks resulting. This helped improve my white belt's kicking while moving and standing 25%. So, in the first two training sessions, the white belt has shown positive consistant improvement in upper and lower extremity motion.
Sincerely, In Humility;
Chiduce!

 

[KenpoTess]

Thanks for your input Chiduce

I had asked Kaith to remove this thread as nobody had any interest in it.. It's too bad as it seems sharing is passe now..
Thanks again

Tess

 

[Kirk]

I like this thread, but I'm too new to contribute, sorry

 

[KenpoGirl]

Unfortunately Tess I too am too new to give you some advice but I can give a suggestion as to where you might find information.

Turtle Press

As a lot of interesting instructor books, for drills, the runing of your school and other subjects. You might be able to start there.

 

[KenpoTess]

Originally posted by KenpoGirl

Unfortunately Tess I too am too new to give you some advice but I can give a suggestion as to where you might find information.

Turtle Press

As a lot of interesting instructor books, for drills, the runing of your school and other subjects. You might be able to start there.

I've checked out Turtle Press, It's got some good stuff in it too Dot.. thanks.. See the post to Kirk and you'll see what I'm driving at.. I guess I wasn't too clear in my original post.. but hey.. I'm not stressed.. *G*

Originally posted by Kirk

I like this thread, but I'm too new to contribute, sorry

Kirk.. Maybe I should of titled the thread.. all Tips wanted.. Seriously.. anything your school does.. that you and the other students enjoy.. is certainly worthy to be posted *s*.. from warmups.. to kicking,blocking, sparring drills.. all are welcome~!!!


What I'm seeking to do.. is to Implement a thread for all to gather different ideas and try something new

Tess

 

[Kempojujutsu]

Here are a couple of games I do in the kids class. First one is basically dodge ball, but we put martial arts into it. Students can block the ball by keeping their hands up or by doing a leg block. If it hits them anywhere other than their arms or if they are late on the leg block they are out.

Game 2 is Tag this tends to help deal with mulitpal attackers. Everyone is it you try to tag out as many people as you can. You can do this several different ways. Students must only tag the back, or just the stomach, or anywhere. Be careful with the last one and have them stay away from the face.

Game 3 I call Survivor. We start with 2 tribes. Call out a technique name or how you would defend against certain type of attack if you don't use names for techniques. After calling out the technique count 123 then have the kids do technique. The ones that goof are out, the ones that are right stay in. Keep going until you have one survivor. I have found kids will go home and try to remember or learn techniques for this game.
Bob

 

[Seig]

Originally posted by Kempojujutsu

Here are a couple of games I do in the kids class. First one is basically dodge ball, but we put martial arts into it. Students can block the ball by keeping their hands up or by doing a leg block. If it hits them anywhere other than their arms or if they are late on the leg block they are out.

Game 2 is Tag this tends to help deal with mulitpal attackers. Everyone is it you try to tag out as many people as you can. You can do this several different ways. Students must only tag the back, or just the stomach, or anywhere. Be careful with the last one and have them stay away from the face.

Game 3 I call Survivor. We start with 2 tribes. Call out a technique name or how you would defend against certain type of attack if you don't use names for techniques. After calling out the technique count 123 then have the kids do technique. The ones that goof are out, the ones that are right stay in. Keep going until you have one survivor. I have found kids will go home and try to remember or learn techniques for this game.
Bob

I do something very similiar with the dodge ball. I like the survivor idea.:asian:

 

[Rob_Broad]

For kids I like Sensei Says, it is just a "Simon Says" with the word Sensei instead, but it does help them develop their listening skills.

I always use the idea that children learn their best at play. So I used to introduce new concepts and basics thru games. Once they have it down you can then have them do it as a drill.

 

[KenpoTess]

Originally posted by Seig


I do something very similiar with the didge ball. I like the survivor idea.:asian:

ahhh Dodge ball.. *chortles* yeah that is fun.. I want to try.. a game we used to play as kids.. where you have half of the group on one side of the floor.. the other half on the opposite side.. and one in the middle.. the one in the middle calls out a word.. ( we used to call it Tackle Booty) and each side simultaneously tries to cross .. the middle man would tackle.. now we can do this with techniques etc.. the guys dropped.. are now on the middleman's team.. and it goes til one is left trying to cross.. Sounds like a plan to me to try of course Control must be used.. and good clean tecs should be used.. But I think I'll give it a go on Friday .. will let you know

Tess

 

[Kempojujutsu]

I am sure someone does this, but one day I was brain storming and came up with the Idea. Came from watching to much survivor the show. :rofl:
Bob

P.S Maybe I should patent my idea.

 

[Kempojujutsu]

Kids love to do this also. Set up some pop up bags in line of three and have them work a strike or technique on the bag that you went over in class.
Bob:asian:

 

[Kempojujutsu]

During relay races, if I want to build on team work, will have kids take off belt, put on boxing gloves. Before the next person in line goes they must get belt on or get the gloves on the next person. You can have as many people help. usually when I first do this one group will fail to help each other out and will lose.
Bob

 

[tonbo]

Tess:

Here's a website to look at for some ideas......most are pretty good, and worth at least a cursory look...

Ron Sell's iTips

Also, a little game I practice kicks with:

Take a plastic shopping bag (the small ones) and tie off the handles, so it is basically a plastic bag "balloon". Now, get your students into either a circle, or teams (depending on which works best and how many bags you have). Tell them that the objective is to keep the bag in the air, using only kicks--MARTIAL ARTS kicks, not wild flailing kicks!!

Obviously, this requres a bit of room, and a lot of control. However, it can be a lot of fun.

Feel free to PM me, if you want.....I have plenty of ideas for games, drills, warmups, etc., and have tested a great number of them out. However, I don't want to eat up the whole thread, so I'll just go sit back down now...

Peace--

 

[KenpoTess]

Originally posted by tonbo

Tess:

Here's a website to look at for some ideas......most are pretty good, and worth at least a cursory look...

Ron Sell's iTips

Also, a little game I practice kicks with:

Take a plastic shopping bag (the small ones) and tie off the handles, so it is basically a plastic bag "balloon". Now, get your students into either a circle, or teams (depending on which works best and how many bags you have). Tell them that the objective is to keep the bag in the air, using only kicks--MARTIAL ARTS kicks, not wild flailing kicks!!

Obviously, this requres a bit of room, and a lot of control. However, it can be a lot of fun.

Feel free to PM me, if you want.....I have plenty of ideas for games, drills, warmups, etc., and have tested a great number of them out. However, I don't want to eat up the whole thread, so I'll just go sit back down now...

Peace--

Thanks Tonbo
Yes I am well acquainted with the ITips forum.. and have used quite a few of the tips on it.. Actually that's where I got the idea for this thread.

We use Tennis balls, Larger balls etc for Kicking drills.. they are always fun .. have a few hanging from the ceiling.. different levels for height kicking.
I would appreciate any other ideas and feel free to email me
[email protected]


Thanks for all the input
Tess

 

[tonbo]

Okay, Tess.....

Keep your eyes on your mailbox!! Sometime before the end of the week, I will mail you out a doc, and you can critique it all ya want. Nothing is copyrighted, so feel free to pick and choose, or dump it all.

This will actually be good for me as well, since I will be forced to remember all the details!!

:asian:

Peace--

 

[satans.barber]

Can't contribute too much on the kids front, although Glen has some cool games for them. One they really enjoy is where sensei and another adult fold a bely stretched out for them, and they have to jump over it or do a flying kick over it or whatever, and he moves it higher and higher. Not sure that it has that much training potential but they do like it! A mat would be good for them to land on of course!

Adult classes though, I can go on a bit about:

Firstly, how long are they? We recently switched from 60 minutes to 90 minutes, and the improvement is vast; not only is the workout better, we seem to have so much more time for everything, and we can also manage to work a bit of sparring in nearly every session, which was getting neglecte before.

Another thing, as instructors don't be afraid to demonstrate. This may not apply to you, but our sensei, although I know he's got the moves, he tends to tell you things in words a hell of a lot more than just doing it for you to watch. Not only is watching more enjoyable, a picture paints a thousand words

There seems to be, in our class at least, a lack of activities that involce watching. We're always working in pairs or groups and everyone is active. This is good, but sometimes it's even better to just watch people. One way this can be done it to have everyone sit around and have 2 people spar in the middle (don't pitch higher belts against lower belts, teaching is for when everyone is sparring at once). If you have higher belts sparring, just let them go at it for 90 secs or 2 mins, and let people watch, you'll be amazed how much people pick up. If there are lower belts, let the higher belts call out a bit of advice as they spot weaknesses so that people can implement the changes right there and then, rather than trying to remember it later on at home and forgetting it by the next session.

If you have a class with a lot of people in, pair higher belts off with lower belts and let them take over some of the teaching duties. However, make sure that there aren't any nuggets teaching people rubbish; there's one guy in our group who I can think of who'se a purple belt and thinks he knows everthing....he actually knows very little. I cringe every time he goes near one of the lower belts and starts getting them into bad habits! Although this is a good thing to do, don't do it too often. Our sensei has got us doing this regularly and although it's good for us to get teaching practise, I really don't learn anything whilst I'm doing it, and the pace is so slow that there's little exercise as well.

Another tip is to warm up with a short exercise bit and then some light sparring rather than a really long warm-up; although they're good for you, to be honest you can do that sort of stuff at home if the fancy takes you, there;s no need to pay an instructor to do it.

Hmm, what else. I know, go to the pub! Training together is one thing, but of you organise a night in a local pub where all the adults can meet up and chat, people get to know each other a lot better and that improves the atmosphere in the dojo. Everyone down out club is really friendly, and it makes it so much better. It also helps with people's commitment.

I may think of other things as well, that's it for now!

ian.

 

[KenpoTess]

Originally posted by satans.barber

Can't contribute too much on the kids front, although Glen has some cool games for them. One they really enjoy is where sensei and another adult fold a bely stretched out for them, and they have to jump over it or do a flying kick over it or whatever, and he moves it higher and higher. Not sure that it has that much training potential but they do like it! A mat would be good for them to land on of course!

Adult classes though, I can go on a bit about:

Firstly, how long are they? We recently switched from 60 minutes to 90 minutes, and the improvement is vast; not only is the workout better, we seem to have so much more time for everything, and we can also manage to work a bit of sparring in nearly every session, which was getting neglecte before.

Another thing, as instructors don't be afraid to demonstrate. This may not apply to you, but our sensei, although I know he's got the moves, he tends to tell you things in words a hell of a lot more than just doing it for you to watch. Not only is watching more enjoyable, a picture paints a thousand words

There seems to be, in our class at least, a lack of activities that involce watching. We're always working in pairs or groups and everyone is active. This is good, but sometimes it's even better to just watch people. One way this can be done it to have everyone sit around and have 2 people spar in the middle (don't pitch higher belts against lower belts, teaching is for when everyone is sparring at once). If you have higher belts sparring, just let them go at it for 90 secs or 2 mins, and let people watch, you'll be amazed how much people pick up. If there are lower belts, let the higher belts call out a bit of advice as they spot weaknesses so that people can implement the changes right there and then, rather than trying to remember it later on at home and forgetting it by the next session.

If you have a class with a lot of people in, pair higher belts off with lower belts and let them take over some of the teaching duties. However, make sure that there aren't any nuggets teaching people rubbish; there's one guy in our group who I can think of who'se a purple belt and thinks he knows everthing....he actually knows very little. I cringe every time he goes near one of the lower belts and starts getting them into bad habits! Although this is a good thing to do, don't do it too often. Our sensei has got us doing this regularly and although it's good for us to get teaching practise, I really don't learn anything whilst I'm doing it, and the pace is so slow that there's little exercise as well.

Another tip is to warm up with a short exercise bit and then some light sparring rather than a really long warm-up; although they're good for you, to be honest you can do that sort of stuff at home if the fancy takes you, there;s no need to pay an instructor to do it.

Hmm, what else. I know, go to the pub! Training together is one thing, but of you organise a night in a local pub where all the adults can meet up and chat, people get to know each other a lot better and that improves the atmosphere in the dojo. Everyone down out club is really friendly, and it makes it so much better. It also helps with people's commitment.

I may think of other things as well, that's it for now!

ian.

Good stuff here Ian.. we do pair up the upper belts with the lower belts various days.. it's good for both of them.. and Teaching does help the learning process.. Ingraining the lower belt tecs into their muscle memory recall by repetetive working..
Fridays are our relaxed night.. sometimes we play dodge ball.. using kicks, strikes etc.. lighter warmup and just enjoy each other. 90 % of the students hang out after class or on weekends together.. and we are a close knit group so that's always beneficial .. and we are planning a 'road trip' next month to head up to a Kenpo Camp so that's going to be a fun time .. our class is only an hour right now because we have kids class 3x week from 7-8pm then the adults to 9pm.. and Seig has to be off to work his reg job leaving the house by 10.. so until that changes.. we can't do much timewise.. because the other 2 days we teach at the college from 6:30 til 8..
Thanks for your input~!!!

I like the pub thing but hey most of our students aren't even old enough to go to one..hahahaa

Tess

 

[Abbax8]

I'm a judo instructor so perhaps these suggestions are of limited help. I teach a combined adult and kid class. Warmups- anything from traditional stretches from neck to ankle in progression, to using ukemi practice to warmup. Using ukemi balls after breaking a sweat is fun and always popular. Other warm-up ideas are crawling races, crab walks. Log rolls are fun, also fun to watch. Training in techniques. A good rule of thumb- talk little, show and practice much. If a kid is 10 years old, generally he starts to fade in 10 minutes of doing the same thing. 7 years about 7 minutes. This really appears to be true just from my observations. Therefore- plan out your class in such a way that there are changes in training to defeat the boredom aspect. With kids I stress the importance of doing good in school. At least once a month, I'll ask who nailed a 100% on a quizz or test in school. Those who did take turns leading the class in various activities of their choosing. The favorite is jumping over the folding mats or the belt. But others like to do crab walk races, the tree- an instructor is the tree- the students have to climb up and around without falling off- or other stuff. I have veto authority in case something is not safe, but that hasn't been a problem. I'll use the final 15 to 20 minutes of class for this and IT IS VERY POPULAR. Also the kids are training without knowing it. Adults join in and seem to enjoy as well. Hope this helps.

Peace
Dennis

 

[RCastillo]

I apologize for not making a contribution. Your question is an important one.

Guess, right now I'm at the "Burn Out " stage.