What makes a good instructor?

[sensei8]

It appears that we all have a different idea of what makes/is a good MA instructor, in that, I'd say that none of the ideas presented in this thread are incorrect because we've had different exposures and experiences in that area.

[Luther unleashed]

No sensei8, I don't think we a think differently. I agreed with things people said. I just had my idea of what was the biggest things, and a few other said similar things.

I think your right though as to us all having different experiences. I think most of us would agree if we were in a class or at a seminar, on weather the instructor was good or not, for the most part I think so anyways.

[JR 137]

It appears that we all have a different idea of what makes/is a good MA instructor, in that, I'd say that none of the ideas presented in this thread are incorrect because we've had different exposures and experiences in that area.

I think we're mainly picking different parts of the original question to discuss. I think if the original question didn't have as many different things in it, we'd all answer a lot closer to each other than we did. It was s great question because it was very open ended with a lot of different aspects.

Other than my response to the morals...

A teacher must be able to teach! As Sensei8 has said time and time again, not all black belts can and/or should teach. Teachers must have a solid knowledge of what they're teaching. They must be able to communicate this knowledge in a variety of different ways, so that a variety of people with different learning styles can effectively learn from him/her. They must be able to listen to their students, not just verbally but just as importantly (perhaps more importantly) visually; they must be able to see and hear their students' mistakes/weaknesses/flaws to be able to correct them.

A teacher must be patient. He/she must be able to let students learn at their own pace and not get rattled when the students don't understand it and/or need more time than the norm to be able to demonstrate it. If a student or students aren't showing progress, they must be able to change their approach in many ways to get each student on the same page.

A teacher must be able to pick apart the students' techniques and find the flaws, then know how to correct them. Each student has different body types and movement types, so the teacher must know how to deal with this as well.

A teacher must be flexible in what they expect. People have different mental and physical abilities and disabilities. Expecting someone with a knee replacement to be able to do what a 20 year old can do exactly how they can do it is absurd. Expecting a person with ADD/ADHD to have the same focus and everyone else is an exercise in futility.

A teacher must command respect, not demand respect. If he/she is saying "You must respect me!" they'll never get it. How do they command respect? In addition to the above, lead by example, properly motivate different personality types, treat everyone equally (doesn't mean, nor should it mean treating everyone the same), have structure in class, have a solid plan, and be willing and able to change the plan when the situation dictates it. Especially with kids, teachers lose control most often when the students aren't being challenged enough and/or are bored due to many different reasons.

I'm a school teacher. I teach middle school science and have taught K-12 physical education. I guess when I was looking for a teacher, it was far easier to pick out a teacher's flaws and know why their class was the way it was. Same thing for coaches for my daughters. My almost 5 year old had a soccer coach she loved, then moved up to the next level with a different coach and didn't have a shred of interest anymore. It was the coach. He was an excellent coach with an older group, and taught the younger kids the same exact way. They didn't respond nearly as well mentally. He couldn't change his approach. My wife (who's also a teacher, but has no Phys Ed teaching experience) got bored after the 3rd thing I said about why the group wasn't responding the way they did with the other coach - too many solo drills, not enough games, not enough praise, not enough enough competitive games, not smiling enough, having his back to too many kids at once for too long, and on and on.

Thinking about it, when I was looking for a teacher, I was looking for a teacher's teacher. Yes, he's not perfect. Neither am I, and neither is anyone else. He does all the important things right and any weaknesses he has as a teacher are minimal and insignificant IMO.

Then there's personality. 5 teachers can be equally good at the exact same things, but you'll naturally prefer on personality over the others and learn from that person easier.

Sorry for the book I just wrote.

[tallgeese]

That's a great question- and a big one. As others have said, we all seem to be answering different aspects. I'll take a stab at my short list. Let's face it, being an instructor, and a good one on top of that is a tall order and we demand a lot of our coaches. However, we have to have realistic standards that work in conjunction with the high standard of learning we expect.

First up, the instructor MUST love his/her art. There is no substitute. You will instantly tell if they fail at this. It will filter down thru the rest of the items that I think are big.

Next, they HAVE to deeply understand the art. Or, in the case of beginning or intermediate level instructors be on their path to that. Superficial understanding will not do. Modern adult learning theory functions on the "why" not just the how.

They will be able to transmit the information. That means they have a handful (at least) methods across the major styles of learning for individuals. This is very individualistic so it's hard to say they "must" do anything. This is where you'll start to develop the next couple of traits:

They must be likable and the students have to feel like they "fit" in the environment the instructor sets. You'll note, this particular step will depend on personality AND how the student's learning style matches the instructors. That will be a driving factor in how comfortable they feel. Therefore, the way an instructor masters the first three items I listed will drive this. Note that if there is no failure here if an instructor doesn't keep a particular student. The relationship here is specific and should be for optimal learning.

Once we're past here, we become very specific on character that will be a moving target from student to student. Some will demand certain standards, some will not. Outside of felony level, crimes against persons kind of pasts not much will completely disqualify a person. Certainly, individuals that could still be a threat to others is out. But really, that's about it thats REQUIRED. Now, if certain people won't train with someone who....insert whatever personal item here. Then that's their business and no worries. Everyone's scale will slide.

For me, I've trained with great artists who were great people and fantastic instructors. I've also trained with amazing artist who were fantastic instructors and really pretty questionable in personal moral conduct. But I learned a ton of great fighting tactics from them, like serious real-world, holy crap I might die in this situation, kind of tactics. But they met my first 4 criteria.

There's no wrong answer for where you set this bar on the last one, but it really doesn't influence instructional capability.

[tomwalker]

Coordination and communication are the complementary skills of an instructor which makes him great.

[sensei8]

Coordination and communication are the complementary skills of an instructor which makes him great.

Solid post!! Welcome to KF; glad that you're here!!

[Maybetrue]

Good question.

Because i seen 15 year old brown belt kids that teach better than 50-70 year old "head" instructors that are "regional" technical directors of huge global organizations.

[sensei8]

What makes a good instructor? One who can teach, therefore, one who can't, will not make a good instructor!

Sorry, I'm going back to my corner.

[sensei8]

Good question.

Because i seen 15 year old brown belt kids that teach better than 50-70 year old "head" instructors that are "regional" technical directors of huge global organizations.

As sad as that is, it's true! ::sighs::

[sensei8]

Luther unleashed, JR 137, and Alex [tallgeese]...I wholeheartedly concur with each of your posts; solid!!