Some things I have learned since becoming a TKD instructor...

[Kong Soo Do]

Since I started teaching, I have learned a lot of lessons.

And this is the sign of a good instructor. An instructor should continue to learn for as long as he/she teaches and/or trains personally. And their goal should be for the student(s) to exceed what they themselves have learned. Indeed, the highest compliment a student can pay his/her teacher is to exceed their knowledge and level of skill.

 

[WaterGal]

I feel like we should start a "some things I've been asked since becoming a TKD instructor" thread.

I was asked today "do you have to do a roundhouse kick with your leg?" and a few days ago I was asked "is a cheetah faster than God?".

Kids are interesting to teach, I'll say that.

 

[Gnarlie]

I feel like we should start a "some things I've been asked since becoming a TKD instructor" thread.

I was asked today "do you have to do a roundhouse kick with your leg?" and a few days ago I was asked "is a cheetah faster than God?".

Kids are interesting to teach, I'll say that.

"When do I get my Cookie Two?"

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Earl Weiss]

I feel like we should start a "some things I've been asked since becoming a TKD instructor" thread.

Or answers to questions.
Me: Where are your hands when you do this technique?
Student: At the ends of my arms . Sir.

 

[skribs]

Reading the replies to this thread actually helped me to back off a bit. There are a couple students I kept hounding (one in particular has precise techniques but no power and quiet kiyaps, it looks like she's not trying to put any effort into those aspects) and she was starting to get annoyed with me whenever I commented on it. Now, I still remind her every once in a while, but I don't do it as much. There's a few other students I've taken this path with now.

 

[Emilee <3]

When I was a kid, I did TKD for about 4 years, ended up with a green belt before I quit to do school sports. I started up again just over 2 years ago at white belt. I quickly got my blue belt (tested every time we did testing, even though some people skipped a test or two until they were ready), and right around then one of the instructors quit. My master asked me if I wanted to be an instructor. I started helping out with most of the classes, and got put on an accelerated path towards black belt. The minimum to get black belt at my school is 2.5 years, I did it in 23 months, and got my black belt in June.

Since I started teaching, I have learned a lot of lessons. I thought I'd share my thoughts with all of you:

1. Sometimes the fat person is the most agile person in the room.
2. Just because someone looks fit, doesn't mean they are.
3. The guy who looks incredibly sloppy in forms and has no idea what he's doing on combinations may be VERY good at sparring. Especially if he's older.
   
4. The least coordinated white belt may be one of the better purple belts.
5. I have no idea how my Master does it, but the kids definitely learn how to be respectful, as evidenced by some of the white belts I have seen their first couple of classes compared to their yellow belt test (this is why he is Master and I am Assistant Instructor).
6. (NOTE: I have no prior experience working with kids, and I am not a parent). Kids will ask the darndest questions. For example "what is puberty like?"
7. Dancers can make really good martial artists.
   
8. I am more nervous judging tests than taking them.
9. This one needs the story: there was a three year old girl who saw a bee fly into the classroom and she was scared of this bee; so scared that she couldn't even pay attention to class. She wasn't listening, wasn't practicing, just watching the bee. So I told her "don't bother it, and it won't bother you." She smiled and ignored the bee, and went back to taking class. Ten seconds later the bee flew at me. All I could think as I dove to the ground in terror was how big of a hypocrite I am.
   
10. My Master is smarter than I thought. I relearn this one every day, and I thought he was pretty smart to begin with. When I was a lowly yellow belt, I thought I could teach easy. After all, you just tell people to do what you already know, right? How wrong I was! It took me a while to get to the point where I could lead something right (by "right" I mean so the kids understand what I am telling them, and so that my teaching style helps energize the class) and even longer to get to where I could do a whole class on my own.
    He's also shared a lot of his wisdom with me, both how he runs his classes (which gives me great advice on how to teach) and on life itself. He is the pastor at his church, and he has a lot of wisdom to offer.

These are just some of the thoughts/stories I've had since I started teaching, and thought I would share. Hopefully there's some laughter to be had.

This is really funny thanks for sharing! I can't really relate to some of these because I've only been a temporary assistant instructor six times for the little kids class, but I totally get some of them (like number 1 and 10).