Students who never seem to get it

[Spartacus Maximus]

Learning and teaching can both be very frustrating. Sometimes no matter how many times an instructor teaches a certain point or technique, a student just never seems to get it despite genuine effort.

How should an instructor help such a person finally achieve what has been explained? What can an instructor do when a student seems to understand but just cannot do it?

[sensei8]

Learning and teaching can both be very frustrating. Sometimes no matter how many times an instructor teaches a certain point or technique, a student just never seems to get it despite genuine effort.

How should an instructor help such a person finally achieve what has been explained? What can an instructor do when a student seems to understand but just cannot do it?

To the bold type above...

How? What? By not ever giving up on a student...ever!! If the student decides, by their own volition, then let that be their choice, and their choice alone!

To teach the student body to the best of their abilities, and then some. By then some, I simply mean that the instructor amends, adapts, redirect, supplement, and whatever else will help the student to understand, to succeed, and to be the best student that they can be.

And if need be, get out a crayon and a piece of paper so that the instructor can draw out stick figures in the hopes that that'll help that student find those AHA moments. Those AHA moments are ALREADY inside of each student, and it's UP TO THE INSTRUCTOR to help them find those important, and yes, those special moments for not just one student, but for EVERY student everyday...every time...every moment...AND every student while on that floor!

Would I, as a dad, ever give up on my children? No...never! Why? Because I love them, and in my eyes they can do no wrong, and for arguments sake, they depend on me to teach them the difference between right and wrong...TO TEACH THEM!!

While my students aren't my children, that's of no conciliate concern because my responsibility is to teach them without any prejudice and/or reservation and/or ambiguity. To do less, imho, is an act of abandonment on my part, and this, imho, is unacceptable no matter how I might want to slice it.

No...my job is to teach...and if I've a student(s) that can't find the door with their own two hands while being lead to the door while taking baby steps in a well light room without any obstructions whatsoever, then so be it! I'll teach that student until that student decides for themselves that enough is enough...no sooner. Teaching is an honor! And with that honor comes responsibilities, and I've sworn to uphold that honor as well as those responsibilities until my last breath.

An instructor can't always have superstar students who are gifted beyond all expectations, and in that, instructors are dealt what they're dealt, and they can't choose who comes to the door, but they can choose who they'd like to teach. And once an instructor decides to teach a student, then by the powers that be, they've an obligation and responsibility to that student to teach to the best of their abilities.

I can either teach or I can't teach! By all that's in me...I CAN TEACH, and I'll never give up on my students...EVER. No matter how thick headed a struggling student might be, I've go to find what will help that student. If I quit on a student, then I dishonor my student, my Sensei, and my entire student body...this is not in my makeup to do so!!

By the stars, if I'm the Sensei, then I better know how to teach, and that includes the even most difficult and struggling student for whatever the reason(s) might or might not be. If not, then I've no business to be the CI/Sensei/etc, and that includes, gracing the dignity and integrity of the floor. The floor that I've sworn to teach with honor and dedication...no matter what might cause me any unmanageable inconveniences, no matter how often or how fewer.

No...my job's to teach!! That's exactly what I'm going to do, and in that, I've no favorite student...no student gets more than any other student, especially those students who might appear to be more gifted than others. So, I MUST teach EVERY member of the student body with my every being, and that's because that's what my students expect, and that's what my students deserve each and everyday from me.

Anything less, is unacceptable, and quite unfair to my students!! There is no turning back, and there's no turning my back on my students...NEVER!!

[Nidan Melbourne]

Usually i find that each student will have that aha moment when i either explain it differently or get them doing the technique differently (either broken down or otherwise).

But many of our students finally get it when they have a different instructor who explains or demonstrates it differently

[Spartacus Maximus]

It certainly takes a very good instructor to be able to explain and re-explain and demonstrate and re-demonstrate without losing patience or hope that one day, that diffcult learner will finally understand.

The student who cannot seem to get it usually is not that way intentionally. It is likely one who is at shodan or a level or two below that. This student is at a point where one begins to understand techniques, yet struggles to do them correctly as well as consistently. At this point a student cannot see progress and doubts about everything learned before. Often this doubt takes over the mind in such a way that the student feels progress is beyond reach.

Do you have such a student? Have you ever been such a student? At what point in your training was it and what helped you through? What made you finally have your "ah ha!" moment?

[The Pred]

I started Martial Arts at 4. Let me say I wasn't the best student. (This isn't to say 4-5 can't be good students. Hell I've seen 5-7 year olds put in more effort than some older kids/adults. But I started hanging around people who knew more kata's than me, and eventually everything that i was taught when I was a kid, just clicked.

[sarah]

The 'aha' moment can often be when a student FEELS something in their body working the right way, rather than when they watch or listen. I suppose that isn't terribly helpful, as without knowing the specifics I don't know what to suggest.

[sensei8]

It took me 6 years and 8 months to earn my JBB! I'm one of those students who just don't get it; struggling over the simplest things. Whether my aha moments were few in between, it was the loving patience from my Sensei that made all of the differences; he never gave up on me, nor anyone from his student body.

[bushido_man96]

Truly mastering teaching is learning how to teach the same thing in different ways, so you can hopefully make a broader range of students understand the same concept. Its about taking different roads to arrive at the same destination.

Sometimes, you have to really make them just work lots of reps to get something down.

Other times, its breaking a technique down into component parts and finding where the issue is, and working that component.

And other times, you may need to have another teacher or peer take a look at what they are doing, explain to them that you know what they need to fix, and ask them how they would do it.

Each of these can help you nail down what it is that helps the student "get it."

Last of all, it just takes longer sometimes for one than it does for another, and we, as instructors, have to be patient with them to really help them out.

[Luther unleashed]

Truly mastering teaching is learning how to teach the same thing in different ways, so you can hopefully make a broader range of students understand the same concept. Its about taking different roads to arrive at the same destination.

Sometimes, you have to really make them just work lots of reps to get something down.

Other times, its breaking a technique down into component parts and finding where the issue is, and working that component.

And other times, you may need to have another teacher or peer take a look at what they are doing, explain to them that you know what they need to fix, and ask them how they would do it.

Each of these can help you nail down what it is that helps the student "get it."

Last of all, it just takes longer sometimes for one than it does for another, and we, as instructors, have to be patient with them to really help them out.

Man I really like the bold typed above. That's what I find myself doing often, trying new ways to explain things. I had a private lesson tonight with a kid, I believe 12. I was blown away how he couldn't answer certain things like what is this technique called, or what part of the hand do you use for this strike? He has been my student since I took over my location from the last program, so in total he has trained about 14 months (12 with me)!

I think the bold typed above is accurate, I also think students become complacent in training and you need to ruffle things up a bit, as a private lesson gave this student a different angle on class. I also thing you have to have a tremendous amount of patience, we all get frustrated, but you need to be able to suppress that quickly with one breath and let it go because you can't teach frustrated. To me that's a huge factor to succeeding as an instructor.

[Spartacus Maximus]

The key for students is to remember that there is no reason to be embarrassed about asking questions. Unfortunately it is much easier said than done and when a student is still unsure about something that has been explained before, there may be some reluctance to admit it or ask for further instructions.