skribs
Grandmaster
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2013
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I recently moved, tried out a new school, and didn't really connect with it. That story is in another thread, but the TL;DR is that there was so much about the school for me to learn that I struggled to feel useful as an instructor. It cemented for me opinions I had of other students who had come to my old school already at a high rank, and their struggles to fit in. As I prepare my plans for my own school, one thing that I've kept in mind lately is not just "How would a student react to X", but also, "How would an instructor react to X" and "How would a transfer student react to X?"
As such, I have tried to keep to a minimum extra things that might make it difficult for an instructor to keep track of the entire curriculum, or things in which a transfer student might feel self-conscious about. Some ideas I have regarding this:
What are some ways you make newcomers feel welcome? Do you purposefully arrange your classes or curriculum to help accommodate them?
As such, I have tried to keep to a minimum extra things that might make it difficult for an instructor to keep track of the entire curriculum, or things in which a transfer student might feel self-conscious about. Some ideas I have regarding this:
- Minimize the rituals. The school I went to recently had essentially scripted the first 10 minutes of every class, the closing ceremony (in Korean), had 3 different student creeds, and a few other scripted items in the middle and end of class. My plan is to have general guidelines on how class should start and end, or how drills and forms should start and end. The one exception is instructors need to learn the specifics of the beginner class. No student creed, nor any rote memorized word lists.
- Minimize the rote material. Students only need to memorize their form. Advanced students will have a specific set of items that they create themselves and then memorize for testing (instead of rote memorizing what I teach). Additional rote material will be required for demonstration team or other choreographed events, but not for belt progression. Again, the exception is for instructors to memorize the beginner curriculum.
- Tangent to #2, regarding the creative material advanced students need to create, a transfer student can use material from their old school. This isn't by design, but is a happy bonus for them.
- Minimize the requirements on instructors, especially in the advanced and black belt class, in order to allow them to teach what they know, instead of what I dictate. Transfer instructors can ease into the class by helping out at this level, until they can learn my beginner curriculum.
- Approach differences in technique as such (except in the white belt class or in forms). If someone comes in as a red belt and does a different style of spinning hook than I teach, I will work with them on the way I teach it and the pros and cons of their way vs. mine. I can use that as a lesson. Instead of (what's been my experience, and luckily I was the "correct" way) just saying one is wrong and mine is right, because mine has details XYZ.
What are some ways you make newcomers feel welcome? Do you purposefully arrange your classes or curriculum to help accommodate them?