Lisa said:
How many instructors have had one of these? A truly talented student whom you started teaching and were amazed by their remarkable ability to pick up on techniques easily and were a pleasure to teach. How did you keep them interested and challenged in your school and did it involve altering your curriculum and how did it effect the other students in your school?
Heh. These students were pleasant to teach. To be honest, anyone could teach them, and look good as a teacher.
I never really altered the cirriculum for these gifted students, simply because I stuck with the proven programs that had sustained the dojos throughout the years.
However, if those gifted students could perform all of the required techniques to an exemplary level, were mature enough to handle things, and had the required number of hours of training in hand, etc., then I'd push them more than the others when it came to advancing in the ranks.
The way I see it, there's no sense in holding someone back if he is ready for the next level.
I would also count on them to serve as good examples for others, and when they were old enough and advanced enough, would encourage them to assist the teaching aspect, which can provide a new challenge.
If they had proven themselves to be capable assistants, then I'd even allow them to give first day lessons to newcomers. From there, some went on to become assistant instructors, and one even became a chief instructor of a dojo.
All of my instructors in the past and present, have all told me the same thing, and I'm sure almost everyone who is an instructor here has heard this same line (although the percentages may vary from one to another):
The bottom 20% of your students are never going to "get it" no matter how good of a teacher you are.
The top 20% of your students are going to "get it" no matter how bad of a teacher you are.
The middle 60% of your students might "get it," but this will depend on how good of a teacher you are, and this the acid test.