Most rewarding teaching moment so far

[Shizentai]

Tonight the head sensei of the kids' classes at my dojo was out on a business trip and left me (a part-time assistant instructor) and one of my senpai in charge of the classes for the week. When it came time for the advanced children's class only a few students showed up. One of the students was an incredibly shy girl who has a lot of talent, but who often hesitates and doesn't commit to her technique when she is put on the spot. Even after training is finished, I've never heard her say more than two words at a time. I'm sure it doesn't help that aside from her, all of the other advanced children are boys, and have been training a bit longer than she has. Still, for a long time I just wished I was better at encouraging her self-confidence.

Tonight we did a review of several new advanced kata that we had learned over the past several weeks. One of these kata was my personal favorite kata that I had chosen to teach them a month ago (the last time that I filled-in): kanku-sho. I fully expected that after such a long time no one would remember the kata, and when we ran through it briefly, based on everyone's performance I was sure this was the case. However, at the end of class, my senpai asked the students which kata they wanted to do again before we ended the session. Though everyone else hesitated, to my surprise, the shy pupil responded quickly, "kanku sho!" So my senpai asked her if she wanted to lead the class. With large amounts of encouragement from me and the other kids, she finally agreed. Then wouldn't you know! She remembered every single technique and performed it more confidently than any of her peers had to date. She even had pretty good timing actually. After finishing, we gave the nine-year-old a big round of applause and she looked at me with the biggest unquenchable grin, but said nothing, as always.

What a great kid!

So lets hear yours! Most rewarding moments anyone?

[tallgeese]

One of my coworkers who trains with me got into a fight with a suspect a while back and ended up holding the combative individual in side mount after an extended fight that turned into an ugly grappling match. He got control and was able to hold there until back up arrived and they were able to take him into custody.

He was really glad we'd taken the time to really drill position and talk about different options available from there.

[MasterPain]

A girl who used to train with us got off work and was walking to her car. There were 4 guys standing next to her car. This is at a factory and she knew they didn't work there. So she went back inside and found a big guy that she knew and asked him to walk her to her car. When the people saw him with her, they got in their truck and left.

Self defense at it's finest.

[Patrick]

Thanks for sharing that, Shizentai. Great idea for a thread.

Patrick

[Montana]

Maybe 20 years ago or so a father brought his 13 year old son into my class and asked how quickly I could teach him to defend himself.

I looked at the boy and he had stiches over one eye (which was black and blue), and stiches on his upper lip. Worst of all, one of his top front teeth was missing.

The father stated his son was being bullied at a private "Christian" school in town and the faculty wouldn't do a thing about it.

The father said he took his son to a top notch Aikido sensei in town first, but was referred to me by that sensei for faster learning for self-defense.

I accepted the boy as my student and he worked hard, learned fast and everybody was happy. I made sure the father and son understood my #1 rule, and that was that "No student of mine will start a fight, whether physically or verbally, and remain as my student."

About 6 weeks later the father and son came into my dojo for the son's lesson and they were bouncing off the walls with excitement and pride.

I asked them what was happening and the father told me the bully picked a fight with his son again that day and his son had turned to walk away as to not engage in a fight. The bully then turned his attention on a much younger and smaller student, and the boy turned and said "Leave him alone!" and the fight was on!

Long story short, my student cleaned the bully's clock quickly, and efficiently, and did no more damage than was necessary to stop the bully's agression.

The father was called to the school and the son was suspended for 3 days. Both the father and the son were happy as can be andtook the suspension in stride. I was very proud of my student for going to the aid of another and he remained in my class for several years afterwards.

For me, that's what the arts are all about.

[Shizentai]

Wow! Those are some amazing stories! I've only been teaching for a short time now, and thankfully none of the kids I help teach have had to face a real-life violent situation before. Although I will always wish that they never do encounter someone who wants to do them or their loved ones harm, if they ever do, I can only hope that as an instructors, the preparation we have have given them would allow them to handle the situation as well as your students one day.

Ossu!

[bushido_man96]

I can't really think of any one moment that stands out over all the others. I've had many small moments that have made all the time spent teaching worth every moment of it. These are the small rewards I keep looking forward to as I keep moving forward.

[Jeffrey]

The most rewarding experience for me is seeing a student get graded. Second best is seeing those that didn’t get graded return and not give up. I’m simple that way.

[bushido_man96]

Any of those "aha" moments rank right up there, too.

[sensei8]

For as long as I've been doing the MA, I just can't seem to think of that one moment that stands alone. For me to do so, I feel that I'd discredit the other wonderful moments as a lessor thing, when they are, in fact, all amazingly wonderful moments for me.

Forgive me my appearance of avoidance to this great topic.