# For instructors in a non-profit situation



## IcemanSK (Feb 26, 2007)

More specifically, for those who share training space with other disciplines.

How do you create MA room space? 

I share a room with another MA program & several dance programs. Putting things up permenantly is not an option. I use a desk set that has a Korean & American flag as our flags to show respect. I pull out the kicking sheilds, paddles & other gear out of storage each class. This works out well. 

I'm trying to figure out what to do about posting belt order. I've thought about having a standing belt rack that I bring out daily, also. 

What have you done? What would you suggest?


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## Drac (Feb 26, 2007)

Sounds good..Limited space is hell...


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## terryl965 (Feb 26, 2007)

Iceman you really have limited choices, try and see if they will let you hang them up next to the cielling in order, that way it is not in anybody way. If not they have a belt holder that you can mount on the wall each time before your classes.


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## bushidomartialarts (Feb 26, 2007)

the standing rack is a pretty good idea.

also look at other decorations in the room you have.  you can take those down and use their anchor points to hang stuff.  just remember to replace them afterward.


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## IcemanSK (Feb 26, 2007)

Unfortunately, I can't hang belts on the walls. And since the karate program is right after my class, there would be no time to change the belts (it would also be very confusing for students of both programs, as our belt systems are different). The portable belt rack seems like the best idea. 

We have our organization's flag that I stick to mirror in the front of the room with 3M tape for testing. I figure, it's a special event, so I can use it then.


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## ArmorOfGod (Feb 27, 2007)

I am dealing with an identical situation.  The rec center I use is very big, but is shared with a sewing class in the afternoons.  During the mornings, they have senior bingo, health fairs, and even child care, so me hanging things would be innappriate.
On the upside, the ladies who run the building like me and make sure that there are no classes overlapping with my times.  On my days, the building is mine, and only mine.
Today I was thinking about using a handtruck to bring in my freestanding punching bag.  Right now, I just lug in my blocking bats, 3 kicking shields, my duffel bag (full of gi's and belts), and whatever else I have with me.  It takes two trips to my truck to get it all in.
It is a trade-off though.  My "rent" is so far less than signing a lease that it is the best option for me.  I would love to hang some pictures, belts, and other things though.

AoG


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## Carol (Feb 27, 2007)

Maybe an folding easel and pad that displays the belt order?   You could perhaps move this in to and out of storage along with the kick shields.  Plus, you would have an easel pad available if you ever wanted to spend part of class doing something that would involve writing ideas down. 

(ie:  what is "respect"?  Can you give me examples?)


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## IcemanSK (Feb 28, 2007)

ArmorOfGod said:


> I am dealing with an identical situation. The rec center I use is very big, but is shared with a sewing class in the afternoons. During the mornings, they have senior bingo, health fairs, and even child care, so me hanging things would be innappriate.
> On the upside, the ladies who run the building like me and make sure that there are no classes overlapping with my times. On my days, the building is mine, and only mine.
> Today I was thinking about using a handtruck to bring in my freestanding punching bag. Right now, I just lug in my blocking bats, 3 kicking shields, my duffel bag (full of gi's and belts), and whatever else I have with me. It takes two trips to my truck to get it all in.
> It is a trade-off though. My "rent" is so far less than signing a lease that it is the best option for me. I would love to hang some pictures, belts, and other things though.
> ...


 
We understand one another. It's wonderful to have the space, but there are trade offs. (Yet, I think there are trade offs no matter where we train...unless its in a custom-made space.) Luckily. I have a storage room next to our training room where I can store our gear. I need only carry my duffle bag from my car.

I have a difficultly, because I also work for the Center doing other things. This is "difficult" in that I understand the whole picture of the Center & there is an unspoken expectation that I balance my program with "the greater good" of the whole Center in the eyes of my bosses. The karate instructor also naturally sees me as on his side in any difficultly he has trying to get what he wants. Sometimes, it's not a good place to be in. The floor of the room we use is a custom made wooden dance floor. Sensei thinks that we should be able to have Wavemasters in this room that the Fire Marshall says is only supposed to hold 23 people. When he wanted me it pitch  to the "powers that be" I told them all the reasons I thought it would be a bad idea (space, scrapping the floor, possible leakage). Sensei thinks that, without hitting a heavy bag, his students are only doing "half martial arts". 

On the other hand, the Center brass get nervous when we talk about contact in class (even tho we also have a boxing program at the Center) or don't explain everything I expect of my students in non-MA terms. It can be quite frustrating at times, but my space is free & the Center is very supportive of my program. I can't complain too much.


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## IcemanSK (Feb 28, 2007)

Carol Kaur said:


> Maybe an folding easel and pad that displays the belt order? You could perhaps move this in to and out of storage along with the kick shields. Plus, you would have an easel pad available if you ever wanted to spend part of class doing something that would involve writing ideas down.
> 
> (ie: what is "respect"? Can you give me examples?)


 
That is a great idea, Carol!


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## Kacey (Feb 28, 2007)

I teach at a Y.  I have never had a space dedicated solely to my class.  We hang an American flag at the beginning of class, and take it down at the end (years ago I left it up in a room only used by my class, Yoga, and t'ai ch'i, and someone "borrowed" it - I got it back 3 weeks later with a note:  "sorry, I forgot where I borrowed it from and then I forgot I had it").  When I started teaching, the class didn't have any gear, and I taught without it; it's accumulated over time.  Class gear (focus pads, spare sparring gear, etc.) is stored in a closet (room A) and in a locking foot locker (room B).  Anything else is brought in by the students.  I've never really thought about it being any other way in a shared space; in fact, the locking container only showed up last month - before that, it was a pair of Rubbermaid tubs with a note "contents property of TKD class" on the top.

Having a training space is a wonderful thing - but the training is, IMHO, the activities that occur - not the props used as training aids.  Don't get me wrong - I love having focus pads, a wavemaster, a Bob... but they are ajduncts to my instruction; I can - and have - teach just fine without them.  

I hang a flag because part of the ceremony for beginning and ending class requires one - but if it doesn't get hung, we skip that part of the ceremony - and only a US flag, because, after all, I am not Korean - so why would I salute a Korean flag?  If you really want a flag, and don't want to have to put it up and take it down all the time, do what another instructor I know did - buy or print a flag the size of a piece of paper, laminate it, and tape it in the corner of the room, out the way but easily visible.  A flag is a symbol - it doesn't need to be a full size piece of cloth.

Just my perspective...


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## Infinite (Feb 28, 2007)

Lockable interstacking storage systems.

They have them they are plastic and you can if you have a truck pretty much just stack 5 or 6 of them with everything you need.

You can also stack them up in different configurations to hold and prop other items up. Carol beat me to the tripod 

Also if you have a laptop you could get a cheap lcd screen and rotate displays of various images.

--Infy


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## IcemanSK (Mar 1, 2007)

Infinite said:


> Lockable interstacking storage systems.
> 
> They have them they are plastic and you can if you have a truck pretty much just stack 5 or 6 of them with everything you need.
> 
> ...


 
Infy:

I have storage (thank God!) I'm more concerned with "the props" as Kacey so aptedly put it. 

Kacey, I agree that the flags are props: that's why I use a small desk set with a US & a Korean flag on it. The kids love to be in charge of setting them on "the spot" we use in the front of the room. 

As a classroom teacher (& one of character, I may add) you know that the student comes before the lesson being taught. We can teach TKD outside daily & it would be great if we taught well. For me starting in TKD as a teen who was raised on TV, I loved the "props." But also, from an education standpoint, I think it's important to have the belt order in the room as a to help them set goals. (As a year old school, my highest ranked student is 8th Gup. They don't "see" the belt order played out in class). 

I appreciate everyone's ideas & assistance on this. It's a comfort to know others are in a similiar situation & are willing to share their knowledge.


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## kidswarrior (Mar 1, 2007)

All good replies, here, so I would just be duplicating ideas. Instead, will just give my own specifics in the hope it may add support.

I have four classes. Two are in my public school alt ed classroom, so we just have to move furniture around and replace it (advantage is the walls are mine ). The other two are in a private school's cafeteria--the opposite end of the spectrum, where we have to move and then replace tables, no wall space, no storage (so heavy bags, etc. are out, and all equipment has to be carried back and forth each time). But, it works, so, we just make the best of it. :ultracool


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## kidswarrior (Mar 1, 2007)

IcemanSK said:


> Infy:
> 
> I have storage (thank God!) I'm more concerned with "the props" as Kacey so aptedly put it.
> 
> Kacey, I agree that the flags are props: that's why I use a small desk set with a US & a Korean flag on it. The kids love to be in charge of setting them on "the spot" we use in the front of the room.


 
My wife made a nice poster which summarizes our art (complete with 5 animals, meaning of kempo kung fu, etc.), but that's our only standing visual for the school cafeteria.



> _But also, from an education standpoint, I think it's important to have the belt order in the room as a to help them set goals. (As a year old school, my highest ranked student is 8th Gup. They don't "see" the belt order played out in class_).


 
Yes, I totally agree! I am fortunate to have purple belts by now, one of whom returns--in his black gi--after his high school is out to help with the younger kids' class. So in a way, he's my best 'advertisement', or visual prop.


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## kidswarrior (Mar 1, 2007)

I'm typing responses on the run, here, but had the thought that there is a wealth of great info posted already: ideas, solutions, problems, etc., and these as well as great anecdotes which will be worth sharing will continue to occur to all of us. So: Wonder if we could ask Bob to turn this into a sticky? Would really help me, since being a somewhat specialized area of interest it's hard to find info/get help. Anyone?


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## gixxershane (Mar 1, 2007)

i was thinking of one of the bulliten boards that are on wheeles.. you know the ones with the corck surface, so you can pin stuff up on it and change stuff arould too.. Carols idea about the easle is along the same lines that i was thinking also...

shane


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## Kacey (Mar 1, 2007)

IcemanSK said:


> Kacey, I agree that the flags are props: that's why I use a small desk set with a US & a Korean flag on it. The kids love to be in charge of setting them on "the spot" we use in the front of the room.


Mine do too - and it's not just the kids; the adults hang them too, as some of the kids can't reach the hanging method in one of the rooms.  We keep a flag in each room (folded each night) - one hangs from a sound baffle (the room started life as a racquetball court) and the other has the top edge put under the edge of a standard institutional drop ceiling (that's the one the shorter kids can't reach to put up - even on a chair - but they can and do take it down).  I had a big gap in my class at one point, I don't currently have a red belt student - although the 3rd gup is testing in 3 weeks, and if she passes, then I will, but she's 14 - so the green belts (who are mostly adults, where the rest of the ranks are mostly teens) have taken over much of what would normally be the job of the senior color belt.



IcemanSK said:


> As a classroom teacher (& one of character, I may add) you know that the student comes before the lesson being taught.



Thank you kindly, sir.  :asian:



IcemanSK said:


> We can teach TKD outside daily & it would be great if we taught well. For me starting in TKD as a teen who was raised on TV, I loved the "props." But also, from an education standpoint, I think it's important to have the belt order in the room as a to help them set goals. (As a year old school, my highest ranked student is 8th Gup. They don't "see" the belt order played out in class).



See above - I have 2 black belt students, but they haven't been around; one blew his back out (herniated disk - an injury from years before he became my student that came back to haunt him), and his wife had a baby Tuesday night, so it'll be a while before he comes back regularly between the 2; the other is in college several hours drive away, and we only see her on college vacations.  There was no one between her and 14 year-old for nearly 1 1/2 years - so the younger girl has been senior color belt student for nearly 2 years, from the time she was a green belt.  It's been hard for her, with everyone who was higher in rank being so much higher, although she's done a really good job with it.


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## tellner (Mar 1, 2007)

What you are trying to do here is create a sacred ritual space in an area which has other uses. The props and rituals are used to take the area and training time out of the regular world and make them into something special, something Other. It doesn't really matter what you use for that. Any combination of sounds, smells, sights and actions that is associated in the participants' minds with the event and the change from normal consciousness will do. They just have to be appropriate, consistent and familiar.

It would be ideal if the space itself were set off from the rest of the world. Since you can't you might want to take particular care to make the actions leading up to the beginning of instruction almost ceremonial in their quality. If you give them significance so will the students and so will your own subconscious. 

The props you've chose such as flags and belt rank displays are good ones. You aren't invoking the deities themselves, but the symbols of patriotic nationalism already have resonance for your students, the symbols of status and accomplishment within the Art likewise. Ritually they serve to bestow the protection and blessing of something larger on the enterprise. You tie that to the students' putative reverence for the work they are about to engage in and their connection to it through progress in the system. That and the bowing-in ritual are probably enough.

You might want to be sure to do everything exactly the same way to set up. First the American flag. Then any other flags. Then the rank display. Same order, same procedure every time. At the end of class do it in exactly the reverse order, again same actions every time. That will serve as a final reinforcement in everyones' minds that where they were was some place different and special.


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## tellner (Mar 1, 2007)

Mind, in my teacher's Silat class it's pretty abbreviated. Before class, if there aren't too many babies, dogs, cats and escaped goats and horses underfoot he'll ask "Anyone want coffee?"

We all shuffle into the garage, or his shop back when we worked out there. There's a salutation. He says "Djurus". We start practicing djurus. After a while he asks "Any questions about the djurus?" The lesson for the day begins. At the end of class there's the same salutation. Everyone shakes hands. We start asking "Who's driving the _____? You're behind my car and I can't get out." As people leaves he gives something that's the equivalent of a short benediction "Drive careful."

It's simple. There's nothing remarkable about it. It serves to delineate the class in much the same way. Preparation. A ritualized action. The class. A formal closing. A return to the everyday world.


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## Laurentkd (Mar 24, 2007)

IcemanSK said:


> Unfortunately, I can't hang belts on the walls. And since the karate program is right after my class, there would be no time to change the belts (it would also be very confusing for students of both programs, as our belt systems are different). The portable belt rack seems like the best idea.
> 
> We have our organization's flag that I stick to mirror in the front of the room with 3M tape for testing. I figure, it's a special event, so I can use it then.


 
This is kind of old but...
I taught a TKD class in the rec center while I was in college.  I found at a hardware store little suction cups that had hooks on them.  Before class someone would get the flags up and mount them on the mirrors with these and it worked perfectly! You could do probably make some sort of poster board with each belt on it (maybe drawings or pictures rather than the actual belt) to show the progression, and use a simliar set up to mount them on the mirrors.  It worked out really well for me, quick and easy and no worries about messing up the mirrors or (in my case) the flags.


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## jks9199 (Mar 24, 2007)

I just noticed this thread...

We train in a community center that has been very understanding with us about space, storage and so on -- but we can't put stuff up at all.  Which leads to a simple question... Why do you need to display the belts?  Give students a hand out, and make them learn the belt structure, instead.  Visitors don't need to know that Susie is ranked higher than Billy...  They'll either know or the difference is so minor that it won't matter.


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## Kyoshi71 (Mar 25, 2007)

I too have a non-profit type of situation.  Let me start by saying that you have a very unique and special opportunity by having a non-profit class. 
The opportunity is that, although you want to keep a nice sized group, money really isnt the issue as long as the rent is paid, right?
My point is that you dont NEED to make belts an issue like you would if you were a commercial school and have the capability to do what you do best...teach what you love and remove a ton of headaches, politics and bellyaching. I'm not saing you should remove your grading system all together, just not make it a central focus.  Trust me when I tell you...students know the grading order!!!  With or without a belt rack!!!!


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## kidswarrior (Mar 25, 2007)

Kyoshi71 said:


> I too have a non-profit type of situation.  Let me start by saying that you have a very unique and special opportunity by having a non-profit class.
> The opportunity is that, although you want to keep a nice sized group, money really isnt the issue as long as the rent is paid, right?



Kyosho has hit a really important chord, here. We are actually much better off than our for-profit brethern, imho.



> My point is that you dont NEED to make belts an issue like you would if you were a commercial school and have the capability to do what you do best...teach what you love and remove a ton of headaches, politics and bellyaching. I'm not saing you should remove your grading system all together, just not make it a central focus.  Trust me when I tell you...students know the grading order!!!  With or without a belt rack!!!!



The way I handle this, kids being kids and having the attention span of a moth at times, is to take questions at the end of class. Someone always asks the same thing about time reqmts., intangible reqmts., belt order, etc., and I find that taking a couple of minutes to (_RE!_)-explain puts many minds at ease.  (with adults, I"m sure you'd not even need to do this). And as the club grows and you have students standing there as living illustrations of different ranks, this becomes more solidified and less of a concern.


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