Goldendragon7
Grandmaster
"Ideally" you should know well what you have been shown and be able to preform it well. Again, this is the ideal. We must be realistic tho and remember that the learning of anything is a "Process", and this takes time and energy and much correcting and adjustment.
Strive for perfection but accept progress. We need to instill the thoughts that the student needs to continually focus on the material at hand and constantly strive for betterment and perfection but realize that advancement is awarded for achievement and skill developed as well as attitude. To be 100 % would really be nearly impossible. Just keep focused and continue to learn an be a student.
:asian:
Strive for perfection but accept progress. We need to instill the thoughts that the student needs to continually focus on the material at hand and constantly strive for betterment and perfection but realize that advancement is awarded for achievement and skill developed as well as attitude. To be 100 % would really be nearly impossible. Just keep focused and continue to learn an be a student.
:asian:
Goldendragon7
Grandmaster
What I like to see is a good understanding of the material and be shown that you have seriously have been working on it. To have no clue when a movement is asked of you or to be totally blank shows no practice. Now I realize that you can be under the pressure of the test and not recall stuff that you know...... believe me I know the difference.
If you do your homework ..... it shows. Leave it to the testing board to say "how well you have done the material".... be sure to practice what you have been instructed and are familiar with the procedures and protocol.
I want to see sound Basics, crisp movements, and the demonstration of improvement from where you were at your last promotion or starting point. I want to see a desire to "show" the board what you can do and demonstrate a spirited attitude. We will take care of the rest.
:asian:
If you do your homework ..... it shows. Leave it to the testing board to say "how well you have done the material".... be sure to practice what you have been instructed and are familiar with the procedures and protocol.
I want to see sound Basics, crisp movements, and the demonstration of improvement from where you were at your last promotion or starting point. I want to see a desire to "show" the board what you can do and demonstrate a spirited attitude. We will take care of the rest.
:asian:
R
Ronin
Guest
Just try to be the best you can be at any rank. My understanding is that you should do your best at at each rank, however as you grow in kenpo some understandings dont become clear until your later ranks. In this case you then begin to refine your beginning material. You eat the elephant one bite at a time. My honest opinion is to do whats best for you and dont get caught up in what other schools do. Just have a good attitude and work hard. Time will tell if you have. Sometimes sites like this can make one feel overwhelmed and second guess things on how they are taught the art, because they read about so many other opinions and styles. Bottom line is train now and chit chat later. No offense if you spent this time working on kenpo instead of posting messages so often you could be one of the best out there. I hope that doesnt sound rude and again no offense. Many people talk but few actually DO. Sorry If I rambled. like I said one by one the penguins steal my sanity.......
Klondike93
Master Black Belt
GD, have you ever had a student throw a fit in the middle of a test and what did you do.
At the school I teach at, we had a yellow belt get mad in the middle of testing, because she was being hit during sparring (not hard either mind you). She was also screwing up some of the requirements and just finally stormed out and went home.
I wanted her gone as I found that disrespectful to the head instructor. They didn't axe her though and she's still there wining every day about something or some one. What do you do?
:asian:
At the school I teach at, we had a yellow belt get mad in the middle of testing, because she was being hit during sparring (not hard either mind you). She was also screwing up some of the requirements and just finally stormed out and went home.
I wanted her gone as I found that disrespectful to the head instructor. They didn't axe her though and she's still there wining every day about something or some one. What do you do?
:asian:
R
Rob_Broad
Guest
I am not the GoldenDragon but I would have picked the person up by their belt and carried them like a suitcase to the edge of the floor and pointed them to the nearest exit. That type of behaviour is intolerable. Next time try to weed a person like that out before the testing.
Better yet point her to your competitior let him have the headaches!
Better yet point her to your competitior let him have the headaches!
T
tigerstorm
Guest
Mayeb Im to young to know or too stupid to remember the right answers to these things, but I was always told that you were earning the belt that you wear and you had earned it only when the next was given to you. This has nothing to do with knowing material and or techniques it was the philosophy that you earn something once you have passed by it. Passing by not meaning above it. I guess higher ranks are more obvious to point to. Does the Grandmaster ever make a mistake, well I would hope he does, whats different is that he knows his mistake has not ended the situation only changed it. Also in the case of techniques, the 108 combinations (or whatever number you go by) on the day of promotion to grandmaster rank do you always know them all, and for that matter at the age of eighty with grandmaster rank and alzeihmers, you expect someone to rememebr them all? I dont think I can remember 100 percent of mine, so my rank should be taken away because things are not on call at the instant there called out. I thought thats why I spent time in training to get better, if promotion to my next rank gives me gaurentee of knowledge up to two ranks ago life would be great. I think basically there is to much emphasis on specific criteria and not enough on the ability of the person to function when the criteria does not fit the situation.
I remember something my first instructor told me and it is something that I've continued to teach my students... "There is no such thing as a mistake, there is only a missed opportunity."
I'm not a great teacher and I think that it shows often enough. I've taught Goju-ryu Karate, Hapkido, Tang Soo Do, and an Eclectic form of Kenpo. <I'm an American Kenpo wannabe, but there hasn't been any Kenpo instructors near where I live.> No matter how hard I try, I just can't get the order of techniques right. I know all of the information and can perform the techniques, but if you ask me what technique 198 is I'll just look at you with a blank stare. I think I've managed to keep my students coming back because of that one little philosophy. I require my students learn the curriculum and I learn it right along with them as I teach it, but I don't expect them to perform the technique perfectly or even the way it was written. I can show five students a technique and then send them home to practice... The next class session I will have five students all saying "This is the right way, he showed me to do it this way." They're all right.
Each person moves in a unique way. Some people will tend to close in with a person, while others will tend to move away. Some will move their arms and legs in ways that I can't quite understand, but I can use to make the technique effective. Because of the uniqueness of every individual, all of them will make a "mistake" in the course of doing the technique. But I don't believe in mistakes.. There are only missed opportunities. Show I show them how to fold their backfists into elbows because the moved to close or I show them how to turn their roundhouse kicks into side kicks. One student of mine had the habit of lifting one leg up into a crane stance while doing a spinning backfist and he would feel very self conscious about making that mistake until I showed him that he could be proud of it because if altered just a hair it could be used as a knee spike to the inner thigh... Knowing techniques and a curriculum isn't going to do a whole heck of a lot of good in a fight. Developing a flow of techiques that comes from inside each person is what I focus on. Make the art and artless art, springing forth from the unconscious. This is what the martial arts are all about. While there are a lot of scientific principles, its still an art. I would feel like I'm a failure if my student received his black belt and went off to teach and his students visited my class and looked like a bunch of mini-me's running around. I don't want to create clones, one of me is probably too much.
I require my students to bring a notebook with them to class. I have a print out of all the techniques that I provide to them so that they can learn the ideal... But when I review their notebook I want to see each technique torn apart and made into something brand new... something their own. Its wrong to plagerize someones novel, its wrong to copy someone's masterpiece, and its wrong to attempt to do the same with the martial arts. Use me as a template, use me as a guide, but research, develop, experiment, and renovate what I teach you and become better than I am. Use me as a stepping stone to reach greater heights.
I started teaching adults when I was 20 and all of my students had previous experience. One was a Brown Belt in Tae Kwon Do under one of the <many> Grand Masters. One was a Black Belt in karate. One was a student under a Kung-fu guy who was a GrandMaster with black belts in 15 different styles, one trained with a Tracy Kenpo guy in Italy... The list goes on. All of them seemed to be in awe of me even though I was the youngest person in the class and made statements about how I was better than all of the people they had trained with. A constant theme was 'I'll never be as good as you.' And I smiled and told them that they were right... They'd never be as good, they'd be better. I don't want reverence, I don't want to be considered the best. If you think I'm good... Strive to be better. Don't sit there in awe and say "I'll never be as good as you." Because as long as you have that attitude you never will. Treat all of those legendary martial artists how they probably want to be treated... stepping stones to someplace higher. Take their knowledge and run with it. Spend time getting intimate with it. Practice a technique until it is yours and then go practice it with someone who is still stuck on the I'll never be and you'll see them whine "Thats not how he showed me to do it..." and they'll be right because He showed you something different... He showed you how to become better than he.
Ok, I kinda got off subject, but hey... variation.. thats what kenpo is all about.
I'm not a great teacher and I think that it shows often enough. I've taught Goju-ryu Karate, Hapkido, Tang Soo Do, and an Eclectic form of Kenpo. <I'm an American Kenpo wannabe, but there hasn't been any Kenpo instructors near where I live.> No matter how hard I try, I just can't get the order of techniques right. I know all of the information and can perform the techniques, but if you ask me what technique 198 is I'll just look at you with a blank stare. I think I've managed to keep my students coming back because of that one little philosophy. I require my students learn the curriculum and I learn it right along with them as I teach it, but I don't expect them to perform the technique perfectly or even the way it was written. I can show five students a technique and then send them home to practice... The next class session I will have five students all saying "This is the right way, he showed me to do it this way." They're all right.
Each person moves in a unique way. Some people will tend to close in with a person, while others will tend to move away. Some will move their arms and legs in ways that I can't quite understand, but I can use to make the technique effective. Because of the uniqueness of every individual, all of them will make a "mistake" in the course of doing the technique. But I don't believe in mistakes.. There are only missed opportunities. Show I show them how to fold their backfists into elbows because the moved to close or I show them how to turn their roundhouse kicks into side kicks. One student of mine had the habit of lifting one leg up into a crane stance while doing a spinning backfist and he would feel very self conscious about making that mistake until I showed him that he could be proud of it because if altered just a hair it could be used as a knee spike to the inner thigh... Knowing techniques and a curriculum isn't going to do a whole heck of a lot of good in a fight. Developing a flow of techiques that comes from inside each person is what I focus on. Make the art and artless art, springing forth from the unconscious. This is what the martial arts are all about. While there are a lot of scientific principles, its still an art. I would feel like I'm a failure if my student received his black belt and went off to teach and his students visited my class and looked like a bunch of mini-me's running around. I don't want to create clones, one of me is probably too much.
I require my students to bring a notebook with them to class. I have a print out of all the techniques that I provide to them so that they can learn the ideal... But when I review their notebook I want to see each technique torn apart and made into something brand new... something their own. Its wrong to plagerize someones novel, its wrong to copy someone's masterpiece, and its wrong to attempt to do the same with the martial arts. Use me as a template, use me as a guide, but research, develop, experiment, and renovate what I teach you and become better than I am. Use me as a stepping stone to reach greater heights.
I started teaching adults when I was 20 and all of my students had previous experience. One was a Brown Belt in Tae Kwon Do under one of the <many> Grand Masters. One was a Black Belt in karate. One was a student under a Kung-fu guy who was a GrandMaster with black belts in 15 different styles, one trained with a Tracy Kenpo guy in Italy... The list goes on. All of them seemed to be in awe of me even though I was the youngest person in the class and made statements about how I was better than all of the people they had trained with. A constant theme was 'I'll never be as good as you.' And I smiled and told them that they were right... They'd never be as good, they'd be better. I don't want reverence, I don't want to be considered the best. If you think I'm good... Strive to be better. Don't sit there in awe and say "I'll never be as good as you." Because as long as you have that attitude you never will. Treat all of those legendary martial artists how they probably want to be treated... stepping stones to someplace higher. Take their knowledge and run with it. Spend time getting intimate with it. Practice a technique until it is yours and then go practice it with someone who is still stuck on the I'll never be and you'll see them whine "Thats not how he showed me to do it..." and they'll be right because He showed you something different... He showed you how to become better than he.
Ok, I kinda got off subject, but hey... variation.. thats what kenpo is all about.
My apologies for the previous post. It came off sounding arrogant and was, well, inappropriate. I am not a great martial artist, I am not a great instructor. I am nothing special nor do I ever expect/want to be.
My point was, when it comes to teaching our emphasis should be on making the techniques work for the student and not so concerned with them being 90-100% right. I haven't studied with nor do I know Mr. Parker or Mr. Lee, but in reading their writings, these are the points that stood out to me. If I read Infinate Insights correctly and my understanding of Mr. Tatum is correct, one of the reasons that Kenpo is so effective is that it is based upon natural movements that have been enhanced/modified. When I teach beginners this is my point of emphasis. Due to my years as a martial artist I walk and move like a martial artist (I hope, someone else should be the judge of that) and there are times when I watch a beginner move and just can't understand that movement. In doing the most basic techniques I will see 'mistakes' but recalling what my first instructor, Mr. Parker, Mr. Lee, and Mr. Tatum all said I realize that I can take those mistakes and show them that while they missed the opportunity to do the technique as I do it, they have opened opportunities for other techniques to be employed and so using the way their body moves as a beginner and turning that into their weapon I've altered the curriculum a little bit for them, but have given them something that is a little more natural and more likely to be used in the street than having them perform exactly like me. So when it comes to my analysis of the students progress, I judge the individuals ability to turn a mistake into a new opportunity.
My point was, when it comes to teaching our emphasis should be on making the techniques work for the student and not so concerned with them being 90-100% right. I haven't studied with nor do I know Mr. Parker or Mr. Lee, but in reading their writings, these are the points that stood out to me. If I read Infinate Insights correctly and my understanding of Mr. Tatum is correct, one of the reasons that Kenpo is so effective is that it is based upon natural movements that have been enhanced/modified. When I teach beginners this is my point of emphasis. Due to my years as a martial artist I walk and move like a martial artist (I hope, someone else should be the judge of that) and there are times when I watch a beginner move and just can't understand that movement. In doing the most basic techniques I will see 'mistakes' but recalling what my first instructor, Mr. Parker, Mr. Lee, and Mr. Tatum all said I realize that I can take those mistakes and show them that while they missed the opportunity to do the technique as I do it, they have opened opportunities for other techniques to be employed and so using the way their body moves as a beginner and turning that into their weapon I've altered the curriculum a little bit for them, but have given them something that is a little more natural and more likely to be used in the street than having them perform exactly like me. So when it comes to my analysis of the students progress, I judge the individuals ability to turn a mistake into a new opportunity.
T
tigerstorm
Guest
I believe that one of the definitions of Kempo/Kenpo that puts it shortest and best is: Adaptability.
Tigerstorm
Tigerstorm
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