Who should lead which class?

[skribs]

Let's say you have three classes and three instructors. The classes are beginner, intermediate, and advanced. The instructors are the Junior Instructor, Senior Instructor, and Chief Instructor (Master, Professor, Owner, etc.).

There are 6 possible ways this can work. Let's write these out based on the template: Beginner Instructor - Intermediate Instructor - Advanced Instructor.

1. Junior - Senior - Chief
2. Junior - Chief - Senior
3. Senior - Junior - Chief
4. Senior - Chief - Junior
5. Chief - Junior - Senior
6. Chief - Senior - Junior

Let's look at each class:

Beginner Class

• The Chief instructor will have the most experience working with beginners. If his primary class is the beginner class, then all newcomers will come to know him early on. He's also going to be the best at helping newcomers, due to his experience teaching.
• On the other hand, the Junior Instructor will have the largest skill gap with this class, so it might be the class he has the most authority in. Any mistakes he makes in teaching will be ironed out in later classes by more experienced instructors.
• The Senior Instructor has more experience working with beginners than the Junior Instructor and is less likely to make mistakes that will cause a beginner to quit. (I made plenty of those mistakes when I started teaching). In my opinion, they fit here best if the Junior Instructor is a bad fit, and the Chief Instructor is a better fit somewhere else.

Intermediate Class
We'll come back to this one.

Advanced Class

• The Chief Instructor will have the biggest skill gap compared to the other instructors for this class. The Junior Instructor may not be much better than the other students, and not have much to offer.
• The Junior Instructor will have the smallest skill gap, and may even be a similar rank and experience. However, the advanced class should be full of students who have the tools to work with more independence, and may just need gentle pushes from a Junior Instructor.
• The Senior Instructor will have a bigger skill gap than the Junior Instructor. Like the beginner class, they are a good fit here if the Junior Instructor is a bad fit, and the Chief Instructor is a better fit somewhere else.

Intermediate Class (revisted)
I kind of feel that both of the middle-of-the-road options (the senior instructor and the intermediate class) sort of become the catch-all from the end groups. However, there may be specific reasons to have someone do this class:

• Chief Instructor - will have the best experience at molding the intermediate students to become advanced levels. Also a good idea to introduce them here if they weren't introduced at the start.
• Junior Instructor - this might be a good fit if he's too inexperienced a teacher to run the beginner class, and too inexperienced a martial artist to run the advanced class.
• Senior Instructor - The senior instructor might fall here if the fit is best for the other two in the other two classes.

I know, I'm way over-analyzing this. It's just something I've been curious about. In particular, the question regarding whether the junior instructor would be better fitted for the beginner or advanced class.

 

[isshinryuronin]

It's hard to put instructors into these categories as personal teaching style I think trumps the rank. The instructor's age may come into play as well. Sometimes a young senior instructor may have too much ego to teach beginners, having a tendency to show his skills, rather than develop the student's skills. And a jr. instructor may not have the deeper technical skills to teach an advanced class. So I think there are too many variables involved to use the template you suggest.

 

[jobo]

the answer is get more exsperianced instructors

 

[KOKarate]

The rank of the instructor doesn’t always translate to good teaching. Some people are just more natural instructors and teachers. Some people no matter how good their martial arts skills are or what belt they have they’re just not teachers. Not everyone is born to be a teacher. You could have a yellow belt who’s a better teacher than a black belt, there’s no shame in not being a good teacher it’s not for everyone. That’s why I’m against the idea of HAVING to teach to get belts because then people who aren’t natural teachers and don’t want to do it they’ll just go through the motions to say they’ve done it to get the belt and that’ll have diminishing returns on the school

 

[Yokozuna514]

Having the highest rank instructor teach the highest rank of students seems to be the most logical but as others have said teaching is the sum or more than the ability to master the techniques personally. Personality, communication skills, ability to command a presence as well as other implicit skills may make a lower belt a 'better' instructor for a group of students. Giving lower belts the opportunity to teach more advanced students is also a form of training in itself. It gives them experience in covering more advanced subject matter especially with students that have more experience and have been around the block once or twice before. The ability to develop instructors that are comfortable and able to teach various levels, I think would be the best way to proceed. So who should lead the class would depend on what the CI is trying to accomplish.

 

[skribs]

the answer is get more exsperianced instructors

And how would those instructors get experience if everyone thought like you?

 

[jobo]

And how would those instructors get experience if everyone thought like you?

i thought you wanted the best for your students not your instructors

 

[skribs]

i thought you wanted the best for your students not your instructors

If we're not growing instructors, then future students won't have instructors.

 

[jobo]

If we're not growing instructors, then future students won't have instructors.

how does that help your current students

 

[dvcochran]

I know, I'm way over-analyzing this. It's just something I've been curious about. In particular, the question regarding whether the junior instructor would be better fitted for the beginner or advanced class.

Yes; yes you are.

As others have said, dynamics like instructor age, ability to hold a room full of people orally and physically, and class size play big(ger) roles. FWIW, topic is key. We have all seen or heard of "instructors" who have excess ego and think they can blow most any kind of smoke to keep peoples attention. I believe most people (or the parents if kids) are way more informed going into classes these days. And keeping the attention of kids most often requires activity so combing actual MA skills into the activities is an ever changing challenge. That said, I have seen some down right stupid kids drills in my time.
So, if I had the option I would do some instructor rotation. When I figured out who was the best fit for a given rank, regardless of title, that would be my primary instructor for that class. Just remember, burnout goes both ways.