Re-designing your curriculum

[terryl965]

How often does your school restructure the curriculum and what is done to make it more for today world? What is the sole purpose for doing this? What really drives the Maters to do this, is it for the betterment of the Art and if so why do they not share what they are doing? I am so vurious after having a late lunch with some Master in my area and this subject came up.

 

[exile]

I'm thinking about this myself.

Our school has undergone a bunch of changes and I've basically taken over responsibility for moving us along in our new location. I'd like to alter our curriculum to reflect a still harder, street SD application orientation—Kwan era TKD—but it's going to take me quite a while to work out how it should be done. And the issue of what to teach kids, and how, comes up as well. I'm very interested in what others have to say about all this... I could use the advice!

 

[Kacey]

I suppose it depends on what you mean by "restructure". We are constantly attempting to update our curriculum to meet the needs of the students, and any instructor can add to the basic curriculum we have laid out in our gup and dan requirements book - and the books are constantly being reviewed for errors and needed changes (we are, after all, only human) - but the basic requirements have not changed in some time, just some of the details.

 

[Makalakumu]

The very first step in redesigning your martial arts curriculum is making sure that you have clear objectives on what you would like your students to achieve. Then, you need to build your curriculum around those objectives. This can be a very difficult process especially if you learned an eclectic mix of arts from a teacher, because not everything is going to fit and some training methods just to cooperate well.

That said, I believe that going through this process can be one of the most rewarding things you can do as a teacher of the martial arts. You will feel very goal driven and will be able to explain how everything fits in a curriculum that is designed with the end in mind. Also, when you are finished with this process, you will know that you are delivering a product that is bringing a student to a desired place...and if you learn otherwise, you can always do it again until you get to that point.

This is the missing piece in a lot of KMAs, IMO. I think the history of TSD and TKD in particular is very eclectic and there were somethings that just weren't well understood. The good news is that I am writing about this very thing in my book. Hopefully it will be able to provide a template for people who are considering doing this with their curriculum.

 

[exile]

This is the missing piece in a lot of KMAs, IMO. I think the history of TSD and TKD in particular is very eclectic and there were somethings that just weren't well understood. The good news is that I am writing about this very thing in my book. Hopefully it will be able to provide a template for people who are considering doing this with their curriculum.

And we are waiting eagerly... impatiently... to get our hands on it, John!

 

[Earl Weiss]

Our national Org has an outline of Gup and Dan requirements. This forms the core of the school curriculum. Schools may add to it, but students are expected to know thecore items.

I have it broken down in each area by . A. Stances. B. Hand techs, C. Foot techs. D. Patterns E. Sparring Techs. F. Step Sparring G. Ho Sin Sul. H. Breaking. I. Required Knowledg. J. Step Sparring.

The first Day students get a handbook which has a sheet with their requirements. After passing a test they get the new sheet.

From this you can structure your classes per session such as class 1. A,B,C,D Class 2. BCDE etc. or whatever fits your program. Also, First Monday of the Month is solely Ju Jitsu.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I have the requirement sheets in PDF format if anyone wants to review them for ideas. The sheets are also used for testing with a space for noting the test grade.

Finaly, although our system is set up with 10 color belt levels I found the kids could not absorb the material for a full gup. So I later setup the sheets with portions in Bold face and underlined so for the 1/2 gup level the kids only learn those items . For the full gup they need to know the entire sheet and all prior material. Giving students the sheets also allows us to shift some responsibility to students. They know from Day 1. what will be on their test, and if they feel they need extra help, it is their responsibility to ask. Something they are reminded of in the weeks leading up to the test.

 

[Makalakumu]

And we are waiting eagerly... impatiently... to get our hands on it, John!

I'm sorry that I keep mentioning it, but this is where I have done a lot of research. It's hard to sum it up in a post. I am going to be setting up a beta reading section right here on Martial Talk so that people can sample the material and I can get some ideas. Stay tuned!

 

[Makalakumu]

I have the requirement sheets in PDF format if anyone wants to review them for ideas. The sheets are also used for testing with a space for noting the test grade.

That would be excellent! The best place to start when talking about curriculum is looking at what you have. Then we can start to tease apart the assumptions that hold it together and see if it makes any sense.

 

[Twin Fist]

i added a ton of stuff to my instructors curriculum.

 

[Makalakumu]

i added a ton of stuff to my instructors curriculum.

Like what? How does it flow with the rest of the material? Would you care to share some of the lists you have created?

 

[Twin Fist]

ok, at 9th gup I added:

a blocking set done out of a horse stance. this is done to isolate the arms movements at the early stages of training. Plus to get more time in a horse stance.

a kicking set, consisting of front kicks and back kicks. this is done standing with the feet together, it forces the student to learn balance.

more advanced versions of these sets are required at the next belt level, 8th gup. The 2nd blocking set adds more blocks, the more advanced kicking set has them kicking to angles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xSyBl5fWuw&feature=channel

There is a striking set required at 7th gup, and an advanced version of that required at 4th gup.

I created 3 "combat kata" required for 6th, 4th, and 1st gup respectivly. Combat kata are forms that they learn BOTH sides, the attack and the defense. It can be performed solo, like any other kata, or with a partner doing the attacks.

I changed all the set self defenses

I changed all the set one steps

I added 2 kicks, one from kaju one from Kenpo

and I am still adding to it.

In addition to the self defenses, I also require select Kenpo techniques. 8th gup has 5, as does 7th gup.I plan on having 5 additional techniques at each belt level.

 

[SJON]

My article "Applying a Results-Driven Model" in Issue 1 of Totally Tae Kwon Do is basically about syllabus design. You might get some ideas there, not so much for what to put in the syllabus, but how to structure it at a pedagogical level in order to work towards specific goals.

Best regards,

Simon

 

[Makalakumu]

My article "Applying a Results-Driven Model" in Issue 1 of Totally Tae Kwon Do is basically about syllabus design. You might get some ideas there, not so much for what to put in the syllabus, but how to structure it at a pedagogical level in order to work towards specific goals.

Best regards,

Simon

Do you have a link, Simon?

 

[Makalakumu]

ok, at 9th gup I added:

a blocking set done out of a horse stance. this is done to isolate the arms movements at the early stages of training. Plus to get more time in a horse stance.

a kicking set, consisting of front kicks and back kicks. this is done standing with the feet together, it forces the student to learn balance.

more advanced versions of these sets are required at the next belt level, 8th gup. The 2nd blocking set adds more blocks, the more advanced kicking set has them kicking to angles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xSyBl5fWuw&feature=channel

There is a striking set required at 7th gup, and an advanced version of that required at 4th gup.

I created 3 "combat kata" required for 6th, 4th, and 1st gup respectivly. Combat kata are forms that they learn BOTH sides, the attack and the defense. It can be performed solo, like any other kata, or with a partner doing the attacks.

I changed all the set self defenses

I changed all the set one steps

I added 2 kicks, one from kaju one from Kenpo

and I am still adding to it.

In addition to the self defenses, I also require select Kenpo techniques. 8th gup has 5, as does 7th gup.I plan on having 5 additional techniques at each belt level.

Interesting. How do your requirement sheets look on paper?

 

[SJON]

Do you have a link, Simon?

Sure, you can download it free at www.totallytkd.com.

 

[ACJ]

We just had a 'major' restructuring of our current syllabus. I say 'major' because we didn't change the black belt syllabus, and given that it is one of the major goals of the colour belt curriculum, the material still had to lead towards that same outcome.

Basically we make small changes every term, and bigger changes will occasionally happen about once a year.

Every term we make up a new self defence curriculum. Which can be difficult with the number of goals we are trying to achieve with self defence.

The latest overhaul updated the step sparring component, removed some ambiguity in the kicking sections, and updated the sparring requirements.

It still has a few bugs in it so we are going to be working on the breakfall requirements for next term.

So to specifically answer your questions, we are updating to the real world more by, constantly changing our self defence, building on core ideas and checking each training method's relevancy.

We do it for the betterment of our students and I see no reason why we wouldn't share our ideas.