Patience

The next entry in the green training manual – some basic ideas on teaching (that I need to remind myself of constantly)…

6.10 More on Teaching

As mentioned before, patience is the #1 rule of teaching.  This means be patient with the students you are working with as well as being patient with yourself.  Keep in mind that making mistakes in teaching is no different from making mistakes in training – they are a necessary part of the equation that simply indicate there is room for progress.

Past being patient, there are some other basic strategies for teaching that can come in handy:

1. Simplify.  It is almost always easier to start with a single technique or idea and then if the students are getting it, layer on more information.  Keep in mind if you are teaching something, you’ve probably got a deeper understanding of it than the student does.  This deeper understanding probably took you weeks, months or years to get.  Don’t try to give them more information than they can handle (although if they’re getting it, load them up).

2. Give examples.  If you are talking about strategies or theories, give a concrete example of what you are talking about.  Telling students to angle is good.  Showing them how to angle off of a specific technique will help them make the connection between the abstract and the actual.

3. Clarity.  Be concise with how you explain things.  Less is more.  Too much explanation makes it so the students start worrying more about “if they’re doing it right” versus learning from the drill.

4. Ignore.  This is a particularly powerful tool with children but it works well with adults too.  If a student is engaging in a behavior that is annoying but not harmful or disruptive, ignore it.  Behaviors persist when they are met with feedback.  Ignoring something offers no feedback and thus can sometimes be a great tool for extinguishing a behavior.

5. Big corrections.  Often you’ll see a student doing multiple things wrong.  Pick the biggest error and correct that.  Make sure you watch them do the correction and let them know when they’ve got it.  Walk away and let the correction soak in.

6.  Praise.  Genuine praise goes a long way.  When you see a student make an adjustment to how they are moving that works, let them know.  Be specific.  Don’t simply say “good job”.  Let them know what you see.

7.  Fairness.  If you set standards for the students, make sure you are up to those standards as well.  For example, if you tell students they must have clean uniforms in class, your uniform must be clean.

8.  It’s Structural, not Personal.  When you see a student that is doing a drill incorrectly, remind them of the rules of the drill.  Don’t make it emotional or personal.  Sometimes it can be helpful to state why those rules are there or why you are making the students do the drill.

Be patient.  Teaching is a skill like any other – some people are naturally good at it, others are not but everyone can improve.