Why Can't They
Teach?
Your best student has just earned their Black Belt. Everyone
is ecstatic over the
accomplishment. Your first assignment
for the person wearing the stiff new black belt is to teach Kimono Grab
to a
new Yellow Belt. As you watch, the Black
Belt stumbles over their words, evades the student's questions and
simply
"shows" the student repeatedly how to perform the technique. What
is wrong? The person is a Black Belt, surely they can
teach a simple Orange Belt technique like Kimono Grab.
The fact is, most Black Belts can show a student how to
perform a technique or movement, but do not possess the skills to teach the
technique. Why is this? Simply put, teaching is a science, just like
Kenpo is a science. Until the Black Belt
learns the science of teaching, or more specifically the science of teaching
Kenpo, they will only be good for conducting group-training sessions, not
teaching.
So how do we prepare our premier students to become capable
teachers? We must expand the context of
the learning experience for the student.
The reason that there are so many mediocre teachers of the martial arts
is that they simply teach "procedural knowledge". They show the student how to do the
technique, and then require that the student do it just like they did. They do not explain the context in which the
functionality of the principle is valid.
Nor do they require a demonstration of "declarative knowledge". If you want to find out how much your
student has learned, simply ask them the "explain" to you the
technique they just learned and under what circumstances it would be the
appropriate response.
Deconstruct and
Reconstruct
In order to accomplish a successful learning experience the
instructor must provide the context of the problem. Then offer
the complete solution. Now your student is probably completely
confused. This is where the teaching
begins! You must deconstruct the
component parts of the attack to their smallest identifiable
unit. Then reconstruct those parts so that the student
understands the total nature of the attack.
The same procedure should be followed with the defensive technique,
which will sometimes require the procedure of deconstruction and
reconstruction
to be repeated several times.
Once the student can perform the movement, or demonstrate
"procedural knowledge", the instructor must reinforce the students
"declarative knowledge". The
student should verbally deconstruct and reconstruct the component parts of the
technique over and over until they have constructed "meaning" of the
knowledge offered. Without meaning,
there is no relevance and the knowledge offered is just so much data, like the
New York City Phone book, when you are trying to find someone in Cleveland.
This process should also involve experiential stimuli. The student must physically manifest their
new knowledge by working the components of the relevant principles of defense
on the instructor, or if you are getting as old as I am, a suitable uki. This not only gives the student control of
their learning, but also provides an
intense, credible experience that develops meaning. Intense face-to-face interaction, analysis,
evaluation and performance is the only way to assure a successful transfer of
not only skills, but functional knowledge.
This is the process of "constructing" understanding. This is how you prepare your students to
become quality instructors of Kenpo.
Ted Sumner, MA-ED,
MA-Distance Education, 8th Dan
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