Looking for Feedback on my Karate Paper

[Kruczek]

@Dobbersky - As was said, I am not talking about structured writing where you are deemed incompetent for misspelling things. I want my students to go through three steps. Research, Talk, Get Feedback. You are very right when you say that everyone's karate is different - and I also agree that this is ok. By your definition however, a white belt who does it "differently" is fine because he/she is simply doing their interpretation.

If you are not capable of writing (and judging by the fact you are discussing this here with us, I assume you are capable), then by all means verbally discusses it with your instructors, fellow karateka, and even your students. Get feedback on what you know and see if others can guide you on things you may misunderstand. You mentioned the different but not wrong argument. This is true with a handful of things. The history of your style is not a difference of opinions - someone is right and someone is wrong.

Things like "why do we do this" are often speculation, but speculation based on something. When I say that I believe Bushi Matsumura introduced Buddhist beliefs to Karate-Do, it is speculation, but I base it on my knowledge of when things were happening at the time period and who was capable of being influenced by those things.

If you say that Karate primarily developed from sai training, even though the Chinese influence is obvious in the name Tode and the Chinese lack of sai would make this extremely false, then you are misguided and need some peer feedback.

I suggest writing because public speaker is a much greater fear of people than being told your paper was bad. Additionally, publishing your thoughts online opens you up to global feedback rather than just your Sensei. Anko Asato was very supportive of Anko Itosu also teaching Funakoshi because he felt more input on his Karate was better. In this world of business Karate, people call it disrespectful to get more feedback from anyone but their Sensei. Mine has personally been wrong a few times, as have I. It isn't a matter of it being my interpretation of something - I just didn't have all the facts.

I just ask them to explain it and we can work on it with the rest of the class to validate the technique.

I think we want the same thing, I am just pushing for a bigger audience.

Hope that clarifies some things.

[bushido_man96]

My main issue is that Karate to me is about personal understanding, my Idea of Kata, Kumite and Kihon may be totally different to my students' ideas. Am I to "scould" them for thinking "outside the box?". No, a good instructor learns from his students. If they wish to talk and write about Martial arts and what it means to them, I alway let them know about Forums like this one and then its up to them what they wish to write.

Unfortunately, not all instructors are like this.

I agree you all have valid points as does everyone else who has commented on this topic, I think its an excellent topic by the way. Its just that to me I don't think that "Written Papers" are a good media to express what a student "Feels" about his or her karate....

....With regards to writting Essays of say 500 words to say 2000 words, some people have issues putting pen to paper and would not manage any more than say two paragraphs; does this mean that they fail that grade because they are not academic enough to complete the written requirements even though their Karate is picture perfect?

I think you are looking too much into it. Its just another way of testing. My school requires 1st dan testers to write a page paper answer questions like "What does TKD mean to you?" "What are your future plans for TKD?" and things like that. No big deal, really, and, like it or not, its part of the rank requirement.

Another way to look at it is looking at the schools that require things like the 50 man kumite as part of a promotion. If someone can't complete it, then does that mean they fail the grade? Well, most likely. So, there are some things that not everyone will like, but may have to do in order to move on.

[xo-karate]

I've never had to write an essay to get a rank, but I do write to learn. Years a go I wrote a booklet about how to practise karate. I've not written about karate after that but I've used writing as a tool for learning other sports ( like golf

I think that the person writing learns most and if writing has any content, it just might raise a thought in a reader and it might lead to some learning...

I think that we use different tools for learning - and karate can be learned with out writing about it - or even thinking about it - just reacting and drills. This is not my cup of tea - I need to but some mental input just to keep my interest.

I'm doing karate to keep in shape. I have not needed to use it for selfdefence for the last 30 years so self defence is not priority.

[Kruczek]

I think that we use different tools for learning - and karate can be learned with out writing about it - or even thinking about it - just reacting and drills.

You raise another point here though. I am talking about Karate-Do, which is Karate along with the philosophies that go with it.

If you are learning Karate to keep in shape, then yes you are most likely only practicing things that require reacting and physical repetition. In your case, there is no reason to write about it unless you feel like it.

I also agree that the person who learns the most is the one writing, and that is why I suggest we have them write .

You definitely added a new dimension to this argument with the fact that some people study Karate as well as Karate-Do and they have different needs. Thanks for the input.

[Rateh]

In our school we are required to write a paper for every rank starting at white belt. My next paper, going for 2nd degree, has the broad topic of "teaching martial arts". There is no official page expectation but anything less than say 10 will probably be frowned upon. I have never written anything so long in my life. I know plenty about teaching, probably a lot more than any other student going for second degree (10 years of teaching classes, and I run my own club), but I am still apprehensive about the assignment.

On the one hand, yes I think that writing papers can help people think more about their martial arts in ways that they might not otherwise, also those judges on the table who don't know them as well can read their papers and understand them a bit more outside of what they demonstrate physically.

On the other hand, some of us find writing papers hard. Me I can tout off short things, but I feel like I'm just blabbing when I can't get something organized into a nice concise bundle.

[sensei8]

In our school we are required to write a paper for every rank starting at white belt. My next paper, going for 2nd degree, has the broad topic of "teaching martial arts". There is no official page expectation but anything less than say 10 will probably be frowned upon. I have never written anything so long in my life. I know plenty about teaching, probably a lot more than any other student going for second degree (10 years of teaching classes, and I run my own club), but I am still apprehensive about the assignment.

On the one hand, yes I think that writing papers can help people think more about their martial arts in ways that they might not otherwise, also those judges on the table who don't know them as well can read their papers and understand them a bit more outside of what they demonstrate physically.

On the other hand, some of us find writing papers hard. Me I can tout off short things, but I feel like I'm just blabbing when I can't get something organized into a nice concise bundle.

"Teaching martial arts" can be a very difficult task for both the writer as well as the reader because not all black belts can teach!!

[Kruczek]

@Rateh - You are the perfect candidate for this questions then. After doing this for years - do you feel you gain something from writing the papers? Does it force you to expand your knowledge before submitting the paper? If the paper is not perfect, do you feel that makes or breaks your promotion, or as you said, does it offer your graders a better understanding of you before you test.

@sensei8 - But if he can do it, then we know he is a black belt who can teach or at least are more inclined to believe it.

[Rateh]

First, I'm a she

Yes, I do feel I gain something. As much as I hate writing them, it makes me think a lot harder about topics than I would have otherwise. My hardest paper so far was Yin-Yang. We were supposed to write about it not as a dictionary definition, but relate it to our lives and/or our martial arts.

As far as expanding my knowledge, not really. Most of our papers are made to make us look inside ourselves, more than to learn more. Though there are some papers that we are supposed to write about history.

I actually joined this system with a black belt, so most of the papers were useless to me I felt, because I was writing them from such a higher rank then they were made for. The history papers were on things I already knew, but if I was coming up through the system I would probably have learned a lot writing them.

The paper must be turned in before the actual test, so theoretically if the paper isn't in, you don't actually test. With black belt tests the papers are due a month or two before the test and they DO get sent back to the writer to re-do if they are not good enough.

As such when the actual test is happening I don't think about my paper, because I know it already passed.

For my graders, our organization is small, small enough that I could become someone in it. We only have 6 or 7 schools, 3 are in Utah. I want to open my own school and right now I am running a few programs but not a dojang of my own. I would hope that if I have really good papers that it would help me stand out to the testing board. After 3rd degree testing has little to do with physical skill, so that would help in future advancements.

[Wastelander]

My hardest paper so far was Yin-Yang. We were supposed to write about it not as a dictionary definition, but relate it to our lives and/or our martial arts.

In Shuri-Ryu I had some friends who had to write a paper on "Does Chi/Ki Exist? Why or Why Not?" for their black belt tests. Some really interesting thoughts came out of that, but I heard they were tough to write and I can understand why

[Kruczek]

First, I'm a she

Oops lol. Sorry Ma'am.

Well I am glad to hear that I am not totally off base when I say that the writing helps the student learn. I see your point about coming from another style and already knowing the content of the papers. This seems like a great time for a quick oral assessment that would exempt/validate you from the paper.

I do not think the paper being bad would keep me from promoting someone to Shodan. I think not understanding the content of the assignment would. Often they would be similar, but for those karateka out there who are not writers of any sort, as long as orally or crudely in the paper they can prove they understand the concepts - their writing ability itself is irrelevant.