Rank range in class

[granfire]

I am aware most of you don't have a rainbow of colors in your ranks...

Anyhow I filled in for a friend and taught a Junior class the other day. I was a little surprised to see all ranks except the rawest beginners, Black through plain green...the class was on top of that quiet full (we are close to testing)

I don't think in my center we ever have the greens and blacks together...some didn't know their form and a couple of kids were rather big, almost my size...others very small, made it tough to pair for sparring rounds.

I only had 50 minutes and I was all alone (my reason for being there in the first place)

Is that normal, am I just spoiled?

(that I had to spend a huge part of class on discipline did not help either, but I have been told that that was somewhat of a local phenomenon)

 

[Twin Fist]

normally, classes are split, beg, inter, advanced

some classes are so called "free workouts" where any rank can come.

maybe thats what you saw?

 

[terryl965]

This is true almost every school is broken up into beg. int. and advance. Almost all schools have a everyone can come clas or a family class.

 

[kwaichang]

Same here. BB's were "welcome" to come and assist with other classes but advised to stay away from "beginner" classes.

 

[Laurentkd]

We are different I guess. We tried to do advanced classes and beginner classes, but so many students couldn't make their correct classes that it ended up being a mix of ranks anyway. Now we do everything by age. Kids, family, teen, then adult. It seems to work because you can go to any class younger than you, but expect the younger environment. And we don't have any kids (actually parents) saying they can't make the kids or family class because they are held during normal "kid friendly" hours.
We have all ranks in all classes, but we also always have my instructor and me plus at least two other black belts in each class so we split up to work in rank appropriate groups after a full class warm up.
It seems to work for us, but I think we are lucky in the number of adult black belts we have assisting. We also have a black belt class on friday night and the adult classes are always a good work out, so black belts are happy to help during the kid/family classes because they know they'll get their fix later in the night and on fridays.

 

[granfire]

well, I checked the schedule, it was actually the normal Jr class...from green through black. It's a smallish school that underwent many changes in the last couple of years, moving locations and ownership...and the main school lost a few instructors due to personal reasons. I guess you have to make some sacrifices.

We usually have the beginner together, green and blue, brown, red and black. 6-14 y/o, then adult is usually the beginner and green through black, but it's normally not a big class. Naturally the WOW factor on the one all inclusive class...

Personally I don't mind having a lot of ranks, but the age factor is huge. You just can't expect the same things from the 6/7 y/o kids as you would from a 12/13 y/o.

Family class sounds like fun. Not sure if the base here would go for it, Dad's maybe more then the Moms. But our schedule is already pretty full, from 3:30/4 o'clock to nearly 9....there is no more wiggle room, really.

 

[Laurentkd]

well, I checked the schedule, it was actually the normal Jr class...from green through black. It's a smallish school that underwent many changes in the last couple of years, moving locations and ownership...and the main school lost a few instructors due to personal reasons. I guess you have to make some sacrifices.

We usually have the beginner together, green and blue, brown, red and black. 6-14 y/o, then adult is usually the beginner and green through black, but it's normally not a big class. Naturally the WOW factor on the one all inclusive class...

Personally I don't mind having a lot of ranks, but the age factor is huge. You just can't expect the same things from the 6/7 y/o kids as you would from a 12/13 y/o.

Family class sounds like fun. Not sure if the base here would go for it, Dad's maybe more then the Moms. But our schedule is already pretty full, from 3:30/4 o'clock to nearly 9....there is no more wiggle room, really.

If you can find room for it I really recommend the family class. When we started it it was because we had lots of kids in class and lots of parents who just sat on the side at watched. When we just asked them "hey, would you like to try this out too?" lots of them said suprised us by saying yes... almost like they were waiting for an invitation! We also add very little to their child's tuition rate for a parent to join. I think it makes a new kid more motivated to behave and participate because a parent is right there, plus they are move motivated to practice at home and to stick with it because mom or dad is doing it with them. Those kids end up being better too because mom or dad can actually help them at home. It is also just about the only organized activity that a child and parent can do together (just about any other sport a kid is involved in lets the parent coach, but not play).
It is also really cool to see a parent who only started training because of their kid who really end up loving martial arts. A lot of adults end up doing the family class with their child, and the run their kid home and come back for the adult class.

 

[tkd75]

Personally I don't mind having a lot of ranks, but the age factor is huge. You just can't expect the same things from the 6/7 y/o kids as you would from a 12/13 y/o.

Attention spans! That's the biggest problem I've run into with having younger kids mixed in with the teens and adults. The 6/7 yr olds have attention spans of maybe 10 - 15 minutes, even less if they really don't want to be doing what they're supposed to be doing. Next time you find yourself alone in that situation, try to change activities more often. That's worked for me in the past when I've had to teach an open or family class by myself. It keeps everyone guessing!

 

[jim777]

In TKD our classes are always 10th kup to 1st kup, no black belts. In Seido however, there are at least 2 classes a week where the students range from 8th Kyu to 8th Dan, which is a class you need to be ON for You don't want to make a mistake of any kind in that class :lol:

 

[Empty Hands]

We have beginner classes, but the rank is a basement, not a ceiling. Thus all ranks are usually represented, not least because the beginner class is usually the hardest workout. I for one appreciate being able to work with and teach lower ranks while learning from working with higher ranks in the same setting.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

We have most of the kids classes starting between four and six thirty, then the seven thirty class is generally teens and adults. We do have all ranks represented in most classes, which I like; it keeps the high belts working on material from their past belts in front of the instructor, so it is easy to tell who's just trying to learn forms for a test.

Daniel

 

[kwaichang]

test post

 

[Brad Dunne]

We always have had an open classes (white to black belt) for several reasons. Beginners are often paired with the next higher belt so they can be taught and the higher belt gets to reinforce what they have already learned. The black belts take some time to assist if anyone should ask for it and this gives the main instructor an overview of who has the ability to teach, which inturn allows him to let some of black belts actually teach an entire class. We have never had a problem with discipline or overly strong physical encounters, for there are to many eyes watching the process. The beginners learn quickly because their peers, most likely at the same age, has already advanced in a rank and has attained a better attitude than his/her beginning counterpart. All in all, it's worked rather well for all concerned and they have a choice of whatever class they chose to attend, so that another plus.

 

[kwaichang]

Albert Einstein said;
There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and mans stupidity and I'm not to sure about the universe........
GREAT QUOTE thanks for sharing that.

 

[terryl965]

Albert Einstein said;
There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and mans stupidity and I'm not to sure about the universe........
GREAT QUOTE thanks for sharing that.

Yes that is a great quote

 

[granfire]

I like the Dalai Lama one, too....


And I like the idea of family class... tho I have might doubts the average parent would go for it in our market. LIEK ZOMG, IT MAKES YOU SWEAT....sigh... the South....

 

[kwaichang]

another, unrelated quote by "a non o mous" "there are only two people in the world that I trust, you and me, and I'm not so sure about you".

 

[granfire]

I think that was" I trust three people in this world: Me, Myself and I, and I am not so sure about myself and I"

^_^

 

[tko4u]

In the 2 classes I taught tonight, the first one I had a student that I awarded him his white belt in, all the way up to black, and everything in between, yet the second class the lowest belt was a red belt.

 

[kwaichang]

I think that was" I trust three people in this world: Me, Myself and I, and I am not so sure about myself and I"
^_^

ha,ha, well let's not forget:
"Everyone's Crazy Except You and Me ... and I'm Not So Sure About You. ...

and one of my all time favorites:
Westley: You've made your decision, then?
Vizzini: Not remotely! Because iocaine comes from Australia, as everyone knows. And Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
Westley: Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.
Vizzini: Wait till I get going!
[pause]
Vizzini: Where was I?