Playfullness

[MasterPain]

This is another strange idea, in a way, but I feel learning is best done through play. It seems to be true for children, but also holds true for adults. Potty training a little boy? Throw cheerios in the toilet. Why? Because boys think it's fun to pee on things. Teaching a 5th grade math class? Make word problems funny. Because an amused child is an interested child. The teacher who I learned the most from in school was a fun teacher who loved children. He was not the most smartest or the most educated teacher I had, but he taught me to enjoy learning and to think for myself. Thank you Mr. Shinn. There was another one in high school who had elves grade papers, and as a student had ridden his motorcycle through the halls. That guy was awesome too.

Let us, and did I mention I do love lettuce, apply this to a martial arts environment. Both the sense of fun and thinking for ourselves. Now I realize that being attacked is serious business, and in a way should be treated as such. But as I touched on earlier, potty training should be done in a way that is fun for the child, because it works. And if anything is serious business, it's not peeing your pants.

There are a million ways to spar and do randori. I feel they should all be viewed and treated as games. This encourages students to keep coming back. It encourages them to try new techniques that are not part of their A-game, after all they're just playing. It also helps everyone to become friends, which is great. For that matter it helps keep injuries down, because no one wants to hurt their buddy.

In learning, I believe in positive reinforcement ("Good job, way to go. Now take this!") and natural consequences ("you failed to neutralize my attack, so that stick hit you in the face, maybe you should have done this?"). Rote memorization of techniques has its place, but should quickly be followed with "Why do we do it that way?" "Where else can we apply the concept behind this?" The ability to apply previous knowledge to new situations is imperative

to dealing with the chaotic nature of combat.

Here's some further reading. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiential_learning

[evergrey]

Man I hope you come visit my area sometime! We'd get on great, I imagine!

My former mentor taught me that play was a sign of good mental health in adult horses. So it is with humans, too. Some people are more serious than others, and that's fine too, but play can indeed lead to bonding, and fun will make a lesson really stick!

Plus, there's that whole fun = happy thing. It makes people want to come back. It makes people healthier overall. Of course, that doesn't mean "don't respect anyone!" Respect is good too! But you can have a heck of a lot of fun and still respect people in the end.

One time when all the instructors were away, and an assistant instructor taught class, well, he normally is a sub for the kid's class. He asked "hey, wanna play some games?" Our class full of big burly fighters and cops said "YEAAAH!!!!"

Man we had so much fun!

I accidentally might have broken a classmate's ribs. D: But other than that, we all had so much fun!

OSU!

[Groinstrike]

I find this is also a good way to keep people from taking themselves to seriously, which is something i hate!!!!.

Our group, even senseis, are notorious for making outlandish Bruce Lee like noises while kicking the crap out of each other. Also i know of a at least a couple instances where someone has quoted an entire movie scene while he was in a heated grappling match.

On the same token we must get serious on occasion as well. Sometimes you need to put on your Kill-face and get serious about training and learning how to defend yourself from deadly circumstances.

[evergrey]

But can your kill-face be recorded on camera?

[bushido_man96]

I think that is a great idea. When learning is fun like that, it makes it more likely to retain information, and it makes students want to come back for more.

I also want to add that I think there's a difference between having fun and "learning through play," and goofing off. Goofing off is counter-productive, and can be dangerous. Learning through play, however, would still be a constructive and focused process.

Great thread, Master Pain.

[ps1]

If you watch the "BullyProof" series put out by Rener and Ryon Gracie, you'll see they agree with you. They actually emphasize that, especially for kids, the instruction should be fun first! It's the only real way to keep a child's attention and keep them learning.

[ramymensa]

I always learn better when I feel it's fun too. My sense is a very nice guy who'd like to joke and still work us until we drop. I really enjoy each hour spent with him, even if the classes are not easy at all. He makes them fun and enjoyable though, so we're all winning from this.

[WolverineGuy]

Agreed. The tough part is sometimes striking that balance so that you don't tangent off somewhere, and you're still learning.

[tallgeese]

I'm big on the "play to learn" philosophy. So are some waaay better people than me:

[MasterPain]

I'm big on the "play to learn" philosophy. So are some waaay better people than me:

I saw this on your facebook and came here to say the same thing.