Some things beginners are learning that you don't think about

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This is something my Master has talked with me several times about, that popped into my head as I was reading another thread. We often think of beginners as learning new techniques, but there is a lot that beginners have to learn in a martial art besides just how to properly punch, kick, block, throw, and fall. And I think some people don't realize this, or have forgotten.

Language
Beginners have to learn a new language when they start taking a martial art. On the metaphorical level, your body is learning a new language. It might be a completely new skill for someone who has never done any formal physical activity, or it might be a new dialect for a dancer or athlete, but it's going to take some getting used to. There are a lot of students, even in the adult classes at my school, that have trouble with concepts like "move your front foot", "step out with the right leg". They'll use the other. As they get to higher belts this gets easier, but for some it's a big challenge to go from hearing the direction to exactly following the direction, even for gross motor movements.

However, there's a much more literal sense of the word as well. You're learning new vocabulary. You might have to learn the difference between a jab, cross, hook, and uppercut. You might need to learn a front kick, roundhouse kick, and side kick. Maybe different types of locks, sweeps, or throws. But you also need to learn what they're called, and build the stimulus-response for those specific commands.

If there's a language barrier, or the student is really young (like 3-5 years old), this can be an even bigger consideration. Some are learning the difference between "punch" and "kick". If your art uses the traditional technique names and you are not in the same country as it was founded, then you will have a difficult vocabulary lesson as well.

School Rules and Culture
One thing my Master told me a few years ago is that I can't give discipline in the white belt class the same way I would in the red belt class. This is because the white belts are still learning the rules and need to be reminded of them, but the red belts should know the rules and should be expected to follow them much more closely. Not only that, but they have practiced following those rules, and have a lot more experience in being reminded of them (if needed).

The same applies for the culture of the class. This one applies to brand new students, but it also applies to transfers as well. For example, some schools will typically drill kicks on your spot, where you return to your stance after a kick. Other schools will drill kicks where you follow through by stepping forward. When we get transfers at my school, their first couple classes are mostly spent getting used to the way we do things.

But it goes deeper than that. New students are trying to figure out the hierarchy within the school, even if it's just to learn who to go to for advice. They're learning what the Master's focus is, and his teaching style. They're learning the kinds of things that will get "good job" or "you need to work on this" or "stop doing that immediately". Some of this goes back into rules, and some of it goes into my next point.

Students are also going to have to build the reflexive response for "yes, sir", "no, sir", "I'm sorry, sir," and similar comments. Students are going have to learn the more formal style of speaking in this situation.

Learning How to Learn
Students are learning how to learn their techniques. There are a lot of things that you can do to practice alone, but some students might not have these study strategies. Things like:
  • Isolate different parts of the technique before putting it together
  • Practice slow and build the form first, and then build speed and strength
  • Training flexibility is just as important as training form
  • How to memorize forms or prescribed combinations
  • What things to focus on remembering vs. what things to just get your body used to
  • How to identify when there is something that needs to be improved
As a black belt, when I'm learning something new, I have a very methodical way of learning it. But this is after getting lots of advice from my Master, from other Black Belts in class, from people on Martial Talk, from people on /r/Taekwondo, from taking lessons in other things (such as guitars), from talking to people who teach other things (teaching Facebook groups), and from video lessons I've seen on YouTube.

It's very easy to forget that a new student doesn't know what it takes to improve a technique, because that new student has no experience in improving their techniques.

Learning Partner Learning
Working with another student is one of the most important aspects of martial arts training. And yet most new students don't know how to properly work with another student. They will be learning how to communicate, how to improve their technique, and how to do so safely.

Communication is very important. When we do one-step punch defenses at my school, the attacker will assume a front stance and kiyhap. Then the defender is in ready stance and kiyhap's as well. That's when the attacker steps forward and punches, and then the defender executes their defense. This helps formalize the process (which is useful for testing) but is also a proper call-and-response communication so both partners know they are ready. (We don't do this in sparring, don't worry).

I've mentioned improving technique already, but now you have to work with a partner. You have to not only improve your technique, but help them improve theirs. As a black belt, I can tell when someone needs to build muscle memory, needs to learn the finer details, or needs to learn the proper application. A white belt doesn't even know about these concepts, so we generally aim for a middle-ground where the partners will provide passive resistance. That way they can learn the proper technique, without failing the next step.

Safety. Safety is very important, especially when working with a partner. A partner who resists a submission too hard might end up with a dislocated joint. A partner who is too careless with their strike might break someone's nose. A person with improper aim or technique may hit the knee in sparring when they're supposed to aim for a chest protector. And this goes back to communication - every submission grappling artist should know how to tap out.

Discussion
There's probably some things I missed. Feel free to bring those up. I just think most of us when we discuss beginners on the site, we tend to forget that there's a lot more they're learning than just how to punch, kick, and throw.
 
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Oh, I know I forgot things, because here's one I forgot:

How to Feel Confident
This is kind of a weird one, but students are still learning how to feel confident in what they do. Especially when everything is new and they basically feel overwhelmed, students will struggle to feel confident. Sometimes encouraging a student because they're working hard can be better than correcting their technique and making them feel like they're wasting their time because they can't do anything right.

Sandwich compliments, or little things like "hi, that's pretty good, but can I give you a tip to make it better?" instead of "your block is wrong, you should do this instead" can really help. I've spent a lot of time over the last couple of years learning how to phrase my advice as improvements rather than fixes. At least to the beginners. For the advanced it depends if the advice is new or if it's a habit they should've broken years ago.
 

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Good points. New students are always drinking from a firehose. They don't know the names in the room (everyone else learns one new name, while they try to learn 10-30). They don't understand the unwritten rules - this is part etiquette and part vocabulary. They don't know what will cause offense (sometimes this is etiquette and sometimes it's personality). They don't know what they're supposed to do, what they're not supposed to do, how good or bad they're supposed to be, whether things are supposed to hurt, or any of the other "supposed to" stuff going on in their head.

One tip on the concept of appending a revision to a compliment - it's better not to use "but". "That's good, but can I give you a tip"...that "but" causes a lot of people to forget the compliment and it loses its impact. Try something like, "That's much better. Can I show you one thing that'll make it get even better?" Or, "That's improving, and if you do this thing, it'll improve more."

Oh, and praise effort more than skill. "You're really good at kicks" is less empowering (results of psychological research) than "I can tell you've been working hard on that."
 

Bill Mattocks

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You can learn a lot by teaching, because new students will mimic you. Including your imperfections. What you don't notice in your own technique, you'll see in theirs, and then realize they learned it by watching you.
 
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Good points. New students are always drinking from a firehose. They don't know the names in the room (everyone else learns one new name, while they try to learn 10-30). They don't understand the unwritten rules - this is part etiquette and part vocabulary. They don't know what will cause offense (sometimes this is etiquette and sometimes it's personality). They don't know what they're supposed to do, what they're not supposed to do, how good or bad they're supposed to be, whether things are supposed to hurt, or any of the other "supposed to" stuff going on in their head.

One tip on the concept of appending a revision to a compliment - it's better not to use "but". "That's good, but can I give you a tip"...that "but" causes a lot of people to forget the compliment and it loses its impact. Try something like, "That's much better. Can I show you one thing that'll make it get even better?" Or, "That's improving, and if you do this thing, it'll improve more."

Oh, and praise effort more than skill. "You're really good at kicks" is less empowering (results of psychological research) than "I can tell you've been working hard on that."

Is it possible to rate a post "Like" "Agree" "Useful" and "Informative"?

In addition to "I can tell you've been working hard on that" praising the effort, it's also something more accurate at a lot of stages of development. "You're really good at kicks" means they've gotten good. "They're really working hard" means we see the effort.
 
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You can learn a lot by teaching, because new students will mimic you. Including your imperfections. What you don't notice in your own technique, you'll see in theirs, and then realize they learned it by watching you.

I just wish some of my not-new students would mimic me more!
 

Gerry Seymour

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You can learn a lot by teaching, because new students will mimic you. Including your imperfections. What you don't notice in your own technique, you'll see in theirs, and then realize they learned it by watching you.
Something an instructor (not in martial arts - in motorcycle safety) taught me years ago:

If a student does something wrong, they didn't understand. If two students do the same thing wrong, you didn't explain it right. If three students do the same thing wrong, you're doing it wrong, too.

It's obviously not literal, but it's a valuable lesson I've held onto in all my areas of teaching.
 

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Good points. New students are always drinking from a firehose. They don't know the names in the room (everyone else learns one new name, while they try to learn 10-30). They don't understand the unwritten rules - this is part etiquette and part vocabulary. They don't know what will cause offense (sometimes this is etiquette and sometimes it's personality). They don't know what they're supposed to do, what they're not supposed to do, how good or bad they're supposed to be, whether things are supposed to hurt, or any of the other "supposed to" stuff going on in their head.

One tip on the concept of appending a revision to a compliment - it's better not to use "but". "That's good, but can I give you a tip"...that "but" causes a lot of people to forget the compliment and it loses its impact. Try something like, "That's much better. Can I show you one thing that'll make it get even better?" Or, "That's improving, and if you do this thing, it'll improve more."

Oh, and praise effort more than skill. "You're really good at kicks" is less empowering (results of psychological research) than "I can tell you've been working hard on that."
In addition to that, “Good job” is pretty much meaningless. They might feel good about themselves for a moment, but that’s as far as it goes. “Good job” is too unspecified. Good job doing what or better yet which aspect? Make it more specific so it has meaning: “Great job keeping your hands up while you kick” “I like how you circled rather than stepping straight back” stuff like that.
 
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Something an instructor (not in martial arts - in motorcycle safety) taught me years ago:

If a student does something wrong, they didn't understand. If two students do the same thing wrong, you didn't explain it right. If three students do the same thing wrong, you're doing it wrong, too.

It's obviously not literal, but it's a valuable lesson I've held onto in all my areas of teaching.

I've heard a similar thing for mistakes: once is a mistake, twice is a coincidence, thrice is a problem.
 

dvcochran

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Something an instructor (not in martial arts - in motorcycle safety) taught me years ago:

If a student does something wrong, they didn't understand. If two students do the same thing wrong, you didn't explain it right. If three students do the same thing wrong, you're doing it wrong, too.

It's obviously not literal, but it's a valuable lesson I've held onto in all my areas of teaching.
I think it could be literal.
 

dvcochran

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Good points. New students are always drinking from a firehose. They don't know the names in the room (everyone else learns one new name, while they try to learn 10-30). They don't understand the unwritten rules - this is part etiquette and part vocabulary. They don't know what will cause offense (sometimes this is etiquette and sometimes it's personality). They don't know what they're supposed to do, what they're not supposed to do, how good or bad they're supposed to be, whether things are supposed to hurt, or any of the other "supposed to" stuff going on in their head.

One tip on the concept of appending a revision to a compliment - it's better not to use "but". "That's good, but can I give you a tip"...that "but" causes a lot of people to forget the compliment and it loses its impact. Try something like, "That's much better. Can I show you one thing that'll make it get even better?" Or, "That's improving, and if you do this thing, it'll improve more."

Oh, and praise effort more than skill. "You're really good at kicks" is less empowering (results of psychological research) than "I can tell you've been working hard on that."
But isn't your description the preferred norm? My GM has talked about this often; as instructors we can waste time trying to be too specific when teaching a new student technique. There are dozens of things going on at the same time, for both the student and instructor. I like the analogy of a bullseye. The new student starts learning a technique at the outer circle, and that is ok. As the instructor we learn their unique strengths (hearing instructions, visual learner, timid, aggressive, etc...) and leverage those to help the student work toward the red dot. The student is usually just trying to keep up so confirming where they are doing things right and pointing out where they are doing things wrong, without condemnation, is the instructors job. How we say "you did that wrong" is much more important than what we say. @JR 137 said it well when he said be informative when being critical. Remember, some people have to learn how to accept critique.
I get the impression some think there is a way to fast track the process. It can and is being refined but should not be to the point gaps in learning surface. With the dichotomy in the way people learn there has to be overlap when teaching.
 

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I think it could be literal.
It could, but if 3 in a class of 40 make the same error, it's probably not what you're doing. With that many people, it's more likely still the "one person" answer. But Ross (the trainer who taught me) was talking about classes of up to 12, where it's pretty nearly literal.
 

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But isn't your description the preferred norm? My GM has talked about this often; as instructors we can waste time trying to be too specific when teaching a new student technique. There are dozens of things going on at the same time, for both the student and instructor. I like the analogy of a bullseye. The new student starts learning a technique at the outer circle, and that is ok. As the instructor we learn their unique strengths (hearing instructions, visual learner, timid, aggressive, etc...) and leverage those to help the student work toward the red dot. The student is usually just trying to keep up so confirming where they are doing things right and pointing out where they are doing things wrong, without condemnation, is the instructors job. How we say "you did that wrong" is much more important than what we say. @JR 137 said it well when he said be informative when being critical. Remember, some people have to learn how to accept critique.
I get the impression some think there is a way to fast track the process. It can and is being refined but should not be to the point gaps in learning surface. With the dichotomy in the way people learn there has to be overlap when teaching.
IF (big "if") we compare good practice to bad practice, the good practice does act like a "fast track". By that, I mean that some practices can dramatically slow the learner's progress, and correcting those can dramatically shorten the learning curve.

In other words, yes.
 
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IF (big "if") we compare good practice to bad practice, the good practice does act like a "fast track". By that, I mean that some practices can dramatically slow the learner's progress, and correcting those can dramatically shorten the learning curve.

In other words, yes.

This is one of your rare posts that I don't understand what you mean.
 

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This is one of your rare posts that I don't understand what you mean.
Then you're one of the rare ones I don't confuse regularly with my rambling.

Imagine (and most of us can just "remember when") you were a weak instructor doing many things wrong (too much detail, no positive reinforcement or the wrong positive reinforcement, demonstrating without purpose, etc.). Your students would have a long learning curve, in part because of your teaching ineptitude. Now imagine you suddenly learn to do all those things well (good demonstrations with appropriate explanations, teaching to their level, reinforcing good habits, and so on). Your students would suddenly start learning faster. It would seem like you'd found the "fast track" to learning, because you'd removed so many obstacles.
 

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Why? Your students come to you and want to learn your best techniques.

I have always told my students that if they have learned single leg and head lock, they can leave and find themself another teacher.
When I make mistakes, I wish they'd do what I say and not what I do.
 

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IF (big "if") we compare good practice to bad practice, the good practice does act like a "fast track". By that, I mean that some practices can dramatically slow the learner's progress, and correcting those can dramatically shorten the learning curve.

In other words, yes.
True, but why practice bad? Unless of course you are new to something then we most all suck at most of it (that is in another post).;)
 
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True, but why practice bad? Unless of course you are new to something then we most all suck at most of it (that is in another post).;)

He was talking about growing as an instructor.
 

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