Stripes, Stars, & Buttons

[WaterGal]

As @Hanzou 's post below mentioned, advancing in the MA's should never be about getting the next stripe or color. It is about learning. Motivating kids through getting another stripe, color, button, etc... especially every few weeks is a big part of what is eroding the quality of MA as a whole. IMHO . It that is all a person has ever seen it is hard for them to understand there is a much better, quality way to learn.

Don't assume that doing things the "old school" way is necessarily higher quality or better. Often times, people are looking at the failures of the "old school" way and trying to find ways to improve on them.

FWIW, I've been teaching TKD since 2012 and this age group specifically for about 5 years. When I started teaching at my old teacher's school, we just taught the preschoolers the same as all the other kids, with the same belts. After Mr WaterGal and I started our own school, we decided to put the 4-5 year olds in a separate class, but to keep the same belts and curriculum, just taught differently. This approach mostly just meant fewer distraction for the older kids (not that that's a bad thing, lol). We went with this approach for a couple years, and had a few kids make a lot of progress, but most of the kids had a high turnover and didn't get very far. Then, a couple years ago, I started doing more research into child development, how other schools taught this age group, other ways to structure curriculum, etc, and we totally revamped the program. Now, our typical retention for this age group is over 1 year. While a few of the kids could probably have advanced a little faster in the old way, for most of them, they're getting a better quality of martial arts education now and staying for longer. Part of that is getting their own belt system, though that's only one part.

 

[Buka]

I think they should take some physical education teaching courses. They don’t need to go all the way through and earn a degree, but a few courses would go a long way. I didn’t think this way until I started my grad PE program.

A lot of MA instructors are simply teaching they way they were taught. The ones with more experience have added their own ways, but that’s a steep learning curve.

There are some excellent MA teachers out there, don’t get me wrong. But anyone who’s serious about their teaching should invest the time and money into a few classes. It’s truly a different way of thinking and approaching teaching. No one would be worse off for it IMO.

Yes, yes and more yes.

 

[dvcochran]

Don't assume that doing things the "old school" way is necessarily higher quality or better. Often times, people are looking at the failures of the "old school" way and trying to find ways to improve on them.

FWIW, I've been teaching TKD since 2012 and this age group specifically for about 5 years. When I started teaching at my old teacher's school, we just taught the preschoolers the same as all the other kids, with the same belts. After Mr WaterGal and I started our own school, we decided to put the 4-5 year olds in a separate class, but to keep the same belts and curriculum, just taught differently. This approach mostly just meant fewer distraction for the older kids (not that that's a bad thing, lol). We went with this approach for a couple years, and had a few kids make a lot of progress, but most of the kids had a high turnover and didn't get very far. Then, a couple years ago, I started doing more research into child development, how other schools taught this age group, other ways to structure curriculum, etc, and we totally revamped the program. Now, our typical retention for this age group is over 1 year. While a few of the kids could probably have advanced a little faster in the old way, for most of them, they're getting a better quality of martial arts education now and staying for longer. Part of that is getting their own belt system, though that's only one part.

I would like to hear more about your system if you have the time. Also curious if you use contracts or do people pay month to month?

 

[dvcochran]

I disagree with you here. Speaking from my own experience as a teacher and a martial artist. I can easily over load the students by teaching them more and more techniques and how does that help them if they don't have the skill sets developed to execute them?

In the long run what good is it to teach aerial kicks to kids and teens, it's when they are young that they can do it. It's fun but what value overall in the big scheme of things. If they quit when they are starting high school or college what good (generally) is it? Will they still be able to do it when they are gone from the arts a few years?

I think this is a problem in the martial arts today. My Yellow belt exam (1st test) in my FMA class, was like a high intermediate in my TKD class. It was to much, but I thought it laid a good foundation. My green belt exam one time took 3 hours to get through. It was a mile wide and one inch deep (so to speak). Now I've gone the opposite way, I've shortened the tests and centered the belt level around a particular skill (generally a Defensive Response) and the students do the same skill in double stick, single stick, and empty hand. During this time the student, if they are ready, they learn the same skill set in double stick but now I'll teach them say classical strikes and apply it to our defensive response (DR) (i.e. the primary block) so instead of just the DR and a hit (the basic response) they will do the DR with side to side striking, up and down, thrusting or what ever. The basic DR (block and hit) is what is tested on, and the followups are what I chose, when the student is ready, to show them. I'll teach them several disarms (at yellow) but they are only required to show one (then more at each level) that ties to the overall main skill set. If they are learning passing then they learn the same skill and apply it to all three weapon groups; double stick, single and empty hand. So I'm trying to show my students depth behind the techniques instead of width.

Your analogy with breath and depth is very good. I too disagree with a 3 hour color belt test. To my point, and several others have said the same, testing is an affirmation of the day to day learning from many, many classes, not a small snapshot of just a technique or two. That is a small P.E. exam, not MA. All belts of a given color should know specific techniques. forms, sparring, etc... That said, each one is going to look very different. This is where I get hung up on the apparent conformity in some of the belt/stripe/star systems. This is also where it is too easy to push kids of all ages through way too fast. Not everyone will be able to do a flying side kick; some never because of physical limitation, injury, etc... This is where the challenge for both student and instructor gets tougher. Conformity goes out the window. But you still have to find a quality and genuine way for the student to have a meaningful and memorable promotion. I never said it was easy.