blindsensei

I hadn't really mentioned those who just don't get it in my last post but there are those who have that problem as well. I've seen plenty of examples of that. ven with that, you can still tell if they want to be there or not. It's not like being a drill instructor shouting "do you want to be here maggot?" will help you find that out, you just have to watch them and look for signs of disinterest. Like I said, one of those signs is continual absence and making excuses each week. One of my favorites was "I was playing too much intendo and now my legs are too stiff to come to class", OK I think coming to class would have done that kid a world of physical ggod but he would rather have stayed home and played his video game. he would not have enjoyed himself, therefore he was wasting my time and his. Actually placing a "senior" student at the head of the class to count and issue warm up instructions is a good method for freeing up instruction time. That also begins to gie individuals time to develop poise in front of others. Now, what I mean about students helping each other is that we, for example, have a series of recommended stretching exercises that we do during the warm up phase of our classes. We like for students to help new students learn these things before they actually do them in the line up so that they will know how they are done. Also we have some of our higher ranking students show newer ones etiquette in the dojo, where the necesseries are like the bathroom, water fountain etc. To me, this promotes an overall friendly atmosphee in the school. In my opinion, a martial arts class is a hard working group of people trying to better themselves but they are a group and a strong group has a good internal support structure. I agree that a strong caring leader must guide the class and give attention to all his students but a new student sometimes feels as though those with more experience are laughing or comparing themselves to them. A feindly hepful atmosphere has always been, to me a sucessful way of keeping more students and keeping them coming back.

I am going to ask that those who have seen my topic participate in the attached poll. i meant for my original poll ro read differently than it does. The questionin the origianl poll is unanswerable in it's current form. The above poll resolves that problem. please add any additional comments you may wish to add. That should give me a good bit of research information. Thanks

Looking at page 1 in the replies, I agree that setting a good example is important. I must say, it is hard to tell a kid "Do as I say, not as I do". On the other hand, I must say that it would be a good idea for insturctors, whether they smoke or not, to encourage younger students not to do it. Lets not preach about it one way or the other in class, except to suggest that a non smoker tends to be healthier than a smoker and so on. Adult students are a different matter. If they smoke, that is their business and none of mine. I have one hard and fast rule about smokers. no one but no one smokes in my dojo. I myself have smoked in the past and I included myself in that rule. My instructor smokes and he does not do so in my dojo. He actually helps me maintain that rule. Also no teacher under my auspices nor I have ever and never will in the future, smoke during class or take time out of a class to step out for a smoke. I have been down the nicotine road and I know that it is difficult to quit. Those things are designed for the purpose of addicting you. Its' obviously best to quit but if you can't or wont for whatever reason, then as a teacher, you should have at least enough restraint to wait until your class is over. When I was a regular smoker, I did it well after class and after my duties in the dojo were done. That also enabled me to cut down and eventually quit. If I was busy with students, I did not have time to take a smoke break and therfore, I needed the nicotine less and less. But thats me. I wis to say one more thing. I do not by any means sit upon a high horse as I write this stuff. If you are a regular smoker, I know it is a struggle not to. I even know that at least some of you are thinking "I really ought to quit this". Then what happens during a quiet moment. Yep, out comes the lighter and that's that. been there, done that. Don't pressure yourself. At least you can say this much. A hard workout will maybe not halt the effects of smoking but you can at least slow them. Do remember though that cigarettes will slow the process of your workouts and you won't get the same results as you would if you did not smoke. i only menathis in good will. Remeber, smokers, I've been there. Non-smokers, never-have, never-willers, please bear with those that have. Its' more difficult than you realize to drop a habit like that one.

I do the following in my classes: 1. I teach calsses where all ranges of rank are included so that I can Accomodate times. 2. I limit my class sizes so that I can give better individual attention when needed. (this may not be an optio for you if you have a great deal of overhead, you may have to take in larger classes to keep your doors open). 3. For the students' sake, I make them start learning to help one another with things once they have been in my class for a while. You can learn a great deal from teaching. 4. If I have to make a choice of who gets the attention (which is also difficult for me), I take interest in the ones who seem to want to be there. If they seem bored, I try to gage that. I have, on occaision, talked to a student who seemed to make excuses for why he was not coming to class and found out he wanted to discontinue his lessons. When I can find that out, there is more room for those who want to be there, thus I can give my attention to them. Just some suggestions. Hope it helps.

Er...Ummm...Hmmmmm Ah...*blushes* Yeah I think AngelaG has a very good point. Disregard the poll as it was done in a hurry to accompany the survey. Where I really need input is the questions in the body of this message. Thanks AngelaG.

I am doing a college paper and MA is part of the focus. I need several people to provide thier input by answering a few questions. No names, not even screen names will be used. I am acquiring statistical data. If you would, just reply to this thread. Thanks very much Questions are intended for those who study Martial Arts formally (IE go to classes, and have an instructor) 1. How long have you been in the martial arts and what is your rank (no disrepect intended fellow Senseis!) 2. What style or styles do you practice? 3. Does your style include forms, katas or some other simmilar exercise which involves preset routines of movements? 4. If yes give a short 1 to 5 word explanation (IE Kata, short sets, puching drills etc) 5. If no, give a brief description of a typical class. 6. Does your training include repetitive drills? 7. If yes, has your teacher ever explained why repetitive drilling is done? and if so, give a breif description. I really would appreciate a bit of participation, I am currently going to post this on some other discussion groups that don't mind surveys so that I can begin to gain some statistical data. Thanks in advance for your help.