Instructing Tips
Page 9 of 15
Guide vs. Sage. Be a guide on the side, not a sage on the stage. It is better to stand near students while they perform and give them individual help than it is to stand in front of class and tell students what to do.
Know Your Students. When setting up one-on-one exercises, know your students so you may anticipate bad pairings. For example, expect conflict when you pair up a student with poor control with a student with a short temper. The conflict may be good, but it must be carefully monitored. Students must learn to survive conflict, but they will never learn it if they quit the class.
To Deal With Complaints. To hear the last of a complaint, remember the acronym LAST:
- Listen carefully to the complaint
- Analyze the complaint and what may have caused it
- Solve what caused the complaint
- Thank the person for bringing the complaint to your attention
- Rank. Rank is a tool instructors use to guide students through Taekwondo. The belt structure is a rough guide of student proficiency. For beginning and intermediate students it is an incentive to continue their training. It is a way for students to achieve some measure of self-confidence and to gain some perspective on their progress. Since your goal is to help students achieve their potential, you must use belt promotions wisely; awarding when deserved and withholding when necessary. You do not want to discourage students by not promoting them but you also do not want to give them false expectations by promoting them when it is not deserved. Promoting undeserving students cheapens the promotion value to deserving students.