Something I have heard Sensei say on more than one occasion is that here in the US it is considered the teacher's responsibility teach. In Japan it is the student's responsibility to learn.
Something I have heard Sensei say on more than one occasion is that here in the US it is considered the teacher's responsibility teach. In Japan it is the student's responsibility to learn.
Ed Boyd
Ed, that was the model for a long time, but the idea was that through wrote memorization and repetition learning would happen. That changed when Kano Jigoro decided to make judo into an educational vehicle and started rationalizing the teaching process.
However, I agree that the student always has the responsibility to learn. My problem with that phrase is that it I believe that the teacher has a responsibility to teach well. Otherwise the great sorter becomes whether a teacher can attract students who learn no matter how badly the material is presented. I'd prefer to give more students the chance to learn.
Peter Boylan
Mugendo Budogu LLC
Fine Budo Books, Videos, Clothes and Equipment Direct from Japan
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Western teachers typically talk too much though. It also doesn't matter how much you yammer on, your students will copy your movement more than listen to your words. It's kind of a bummer to see your bad habits in your students no matter how much you warned them off them.
Neil Gendzwill
Saskatoon Kendo Club
IME, many people seem to learn better and faster, at first, mainly from hands-on, experiential training. Too much note-taking at the start can be "too much information," when a student needs most to establish basic "wiring" for gross motor movement.
I believe students best hash it out intellectually only after their bodies have started to inculcate the actual mechanisms and movements. However, after a foundation is laid, then note-taking works well to fill in the details and serves as a reminder to them and to basic points, as well.
Cady Goldfield
Thing is how much are students going to get from talking when a lot of what they need to learn has to be done from repetition to instill it as a reflex action to a given situation. When it comes to the competitive side we take the toughest and channel that force. Other arts such as Iaido etc can be taken and taught in a more relaxed manner.
To do it the Japanese way you have to constantly test peoples abilities. So many meetings I have attended in Japan and afterwards ask a colleague about a certain point I was not sure of. It then turns out that the guy I ask actually understood even less than me but wont tell anyone.
Something I have been known to say.
'Less chat, More splat.'
Ed Boyd
Hey Folks!
I wrote about needing to learn to teach, not "learn to talk". There is an awful lot more to teaching than just talking. I think instructors need to learn those other parts. how to create lessons and break down skills for people. Those sorts of things.
Peter Boylan
Mugendo Budogu LLC
Fine Budo Books, Videos, Clothes and Equipment Direct from Japan
http://www.budogu.com
Find my Budo Blog at http://budobum.blogspot.com/
It also depends if you are charging for your lessons to make a profit or to just cover costs.
I teach the way I am taught by observation and repetition (with correction) - which is the standard for our style.
Interestingly, it's not very appealing to a lot of Westerners who equate paying for knowledge.
Mat Rous
The difference with a good teacher. One that knows what he is doing is to look at you and make single correction that cures half a dozen more problems.
After returning to the States from Okinawa and practicing at various dojos I began to assist teaching at the tender age of 24 or 25 as a shodan. By all rights I should have been either Nidan or sandan; had been in Judo for 13 years then; attended Judo activities in Okinawa and Japan (Kodokan and others), been 140lb champ Air Force and other dumb things. Then several years practicing at several Air Force bases and then teaching kids at the largest Judo club in the USA (Kittyhawk) and others.
By the time I made sandan I was just about up to my nose with the stupid Judo politics and crap, so after 37 years of Judo I walked away as yodan. In all those years I had only a few teachers for myself; too busy assisting or arranging clinics and stuff.
So, was I a good Judo teacher? Probably not. Do I care? No.