Being there

[miked]

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-1765 ... eing-there

A click on enclosed link will bring you to an article with my thoughts concerning consistency of training.

I hope this leads to some thoughtful dialogue regarding teachers and students.

Best regards,

Mike DeDonato
Uechi-ryu of Los Angeles
http://www.uechi-la.org
http://www.okikukai.org
uechi-la@ca.rr.com

[Bill Glasheen]

Old time naginata sensei

What a hoot! Kind of like a potty-mouthed, Asian Bobby Knight. The girls appear to be used to his "style." He certainly has them all well trained.

Instructors know that progression in martial arts is slow and is severely hampered when students are not regularly attending classes.

This reminds me of an old Jay Leno joke. His setup was a Cosmo article about the ten things a woman can do to make her man happy in bed. In Jay Leno's words, "If you ask me, it all can be reduced down to one simple rule - Show up!!!"

When I taught karate as a PE class, the Pass/Fail grade was determined by the following. If you missed 6 or fewer classes (3 classes a week for a semester), you passed. If you missed more than 6, you failed. Simple enough. And I can tell you from experience that attendance was more highly correlated with performance (at the kyu test) at the end of that semester than any other measureable factor.

Even my most difficult-to-teach students manage to make it to a dan level if they are persistent and consistent enough. Meanwhile I can't count the number of flashes in the pan that never got anywhere because they couldn't train consistently enough. It breaks your heart to think about it, all while those with heart have "the right stuff."

- Bill

[miked]

Bill,

That old school naginata instructor reminds me of the late Ahti Kaend and Carmine DiRamio: tough and demanding. It surprises me that the old battle axe has kept so many students. I would think she would have run the vast majority out of the dojo by now.


You wrote:
"Even my most difficult-to-teach students manage to make it to a dan level if they are persistent and consistent enough. Meanwhile I can't count the number of flashes in the pan that never got anywhere because they couldn't train consistently enough. It breaks your heart to think about it, all while those with heart have "the right stuff."'

I cannot count ow many times I have seen those with outstanding potential just walk away for reasons that I cannot fathom. Such a shame.

We stick with those who stick with us and that is as it should be.

Mike D.
Uechi-ryu of Los Angeles
www.uechi-la.org
uechi-la@ca.rr.com
310 710-6334

[miked]

Bill wrote:

"When I taught karate as a PE class, the Pass/Fail grade was determined by the following. If you missed 6 or fewer classes (3 classes a week for a semester), you passed. If you missed more than 6, you failed. Simple enough. And I can tell you from experience that attendance was more highly correlated with performance (at the kyu test) at the end of that semester than any other measureable factor."


All you had to do was not miss 6 classes in a 13 to 15 week semester to pass? Essentially, if you skipped about one class every 2.0 to 2.5 weeks, you would pass. How hard is this?

I am curious, did you ever calculate the number of students (as an average percentage) per semester that actually failed?

Please pass along the most hilarious excuse(s) for missing class.

Regards,

Mike DeDonato
Uechi-ryu of Los Angeles
www.uechi-la.org
uechi-la@ca.rr.com
310 710-6334

[Bill Glasheen]

I am curious, did you ever calculate the number of students (as an average percentage) per semester that actually failed?

I would start with about 50 students. I'd work them really hard in the beginning, and suggest that those who didn't want to work out hard drop out early - which they could do without penalty in the first few weeks. Absolutely no hard feelings from me on that account. I suggested that the class wasn't for everyone. That would whittle it down to about 40. Even if I started with 60 or 70, 40 seemed to be the magic number where espirit de corp kept the rest together like a battle-hardened group. From that point forward, I'd only have about one student per semester whom I would fail.

Please pass along the most hilarious excuse(s) for missing class.

Because I was fair like I was and I made it clear that my boundaries and rules were firm, I got no excuses. I made it clear that the activity was as dangerous and as serious as taking a chemistry laboratory class, and so there would be no fooling around. They also had to read a list of "dos and don'ts" and sign a waiver.

Usually there was maybe one student per semester who acted like he (always a guy) didn't want to be there. But the group pretty much looked at him like he came from Mars, so the peer pressure kept him in line.

People really do like boundaries. Kids especially perform better when they have them.

There was plenty of opportunity outside of class for people to "misbehave" like college students. That down time is necessary as well.

In general I find it much easier to teach large groups like this. It's more difficult to get a small group to come consistently or tow the line, because there isn't the same peer pressure and espirit de corp. Even though a smart person can get more out of a teacher in intimate settings, they often don't take advantage of that rare opportunity. Go figure...

- Bill