Expectations for leadership

[donald1]

Now that I'm getting higher in the ranks in my regular class I'm the senpei and I have to teach others more often. My question is what steps or actions should use to be a good leader and just how much responsibility do the upper rank students over the other students(like making sure there forms are correct or there not goofing around)

 

[lklawson]

Now that I'm getting higher in the ranks in my regular class I'm the senpei and I have to teach others more often. My question is what steps or actions should use to be a good leader and just how much responsibility do the upper rank students over the other students(like making sure there forms are correct or there not goofing around)

Your instructor should coach you on these. There are too many variables and there is too much information to even make a partial stab at it in an online thread. In other settings, teachers go to higher education school for 4 years, Intern, and are required to pass a Certification exam, and then are required to maintain Continuing Education; all to just teach.

This is the sort of thing I was talking about in the Belt Rank Progress thread when I wrote:

"It still bemuses me that black belts and other advanced ranks are expected to be teachers.

Martial arts are a specific skill. Teaching is a different skill which (typically) requires instruction to learn. An effective teacher of martial arts must have two skill sets: Martial arts and Teaching."
​

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[Koshiki]

This is the sort of thing I was talking about in the Belt Rank Progress thread when I wrote:

"It still bemuses me that black belts and other advanced ranks are expected to be teachers.

Martial arts are a specific skill. Teaching is a different skill which (typically) requires instruction to learn. An effective teacher of martial arts must have two skill sets: Martial arts and Teaching." Kirk​

I got thrown into teaching during a period of relative instability and uncertainty of my school's future, at 17, as a first degree black belt. I had a lot of what the instructors called, "Natural Talent," and I was basically always, "karate-ing," as my mother liked to say. Compulsively, and Obsessively, were words used. I prefer to think devotedly and diligently, but ok, whichever. Long story short, I zoomed up through the ranks, passing everyone around me, got a dark piece of fabric a good deal sooner than I wish I had, and got a reputation of being really good and never messing up. (Which was not true, I was just sneaky and fast at fixing mistakes!)

When the Saturday teacher's health declined, I was the highest rank in regular attendance at that class, and the head instructor asked me to step in as a teacher. I've been teaching for about 7 years now, and I have been teaching multiple classes a week for most of that time, and at this point, I like to think I give pretty reasonable instruction. I'm pretty sure I spent about 3 years giving absolutely crud-tastic classes, full of confusing explanations, non-sequential training, lack of control of any children who showed up for class, and just general BAD teaching. Now, I'm willing to say that I had and still have pretty good technique. It takes a long time to figure out how to get that technique across to a single, focused adult student, let alone a mixed class of everybodies and anybodies.

That hectic, chaotic, generally unsuccessful account is also coming from a school where we start having students lead warm-ups at green belt, require they attend lower-level classes at red belt to help out, and where I was used at the co-pilot type assistant instructor for some classes at our probationary Black Belt rank. I can't even imagine the utter destruction of all order and goodwill towards men that would have occurred had I just jumped in cold...

Which is my long-winded way of agreeing completely with mister Kirk, and of saying that teaching is something that you can't just DO, just because you have the material. Certain techniques took me a few years to figure out a good breakdown for teaching them effectively, and that's assuming a one-on-one situation with a student who really tries. Teaching is a skill set of it's own, and it completely changes, whether you have a class of attentive adults, or parents and ducklings, or just children with two hyper-active kids with Asperger's thrown in for good measure.

I would ask your instructor to give you teaching instruction. Maybe let you assistant teach a class for a year or so, gradually giving you more control of the reins. That's how I wish I had started.​

 

[Sukerkin]

Whilst the mechanics of teaching are something that can be learned, there is an art to it that, like a flair for music, maths or language, is something innate. Confidence helps and a facility with words, as does a personality that is geared towards 'aiding' rather than 'commanding'. I didn't consciously choose to be the one to step forward to be the one to help my sensei with instruction, I just had a passion for the art and a big mouth :lol:.

 

[Takai]

Well said Suke. Teaching is definitely something that one would need to passionate about (IMHO). I also agree that teaching is an art in and of itself. I have many excellent practitioners with excellent technique but the couldn't relay "information" to their constituents. They could "tell" but not "teach".

In regards to the OP's question. I think the iklawson nailed it. Go talk to your Instructor. It is their task to teach you and if they want you to teach then they should be very willing to give you guidance. Something as simple as,"What can I do to help the lower ranks learn their techniques/forms/etc?". This shows respect for your instructor, your abilities and the passion to help your classmates succeed.

 

[lklawson]

Whilst the mechanics of teaching are something that can be learned, there is an art to it that, like a flair for music, maths or language, is something innate.

There's a big difference between someone who can teach acceptably well and someone who's great at it. Most (but not all) people can learn to teach with an acceptable minimum level of capability. But to be great at it requires a certain personality coupled with a specific teaching "skill set."

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk