The basis of any successful business is a series of reproducible, result-producing systems. Small and large businesses, including martial arts schools, create and implement systems for accounting, customer services, marketing, etc. You hire staff members to implement those systems and you train them to implement them correctly.
Then, you teach, which is something else entirely. Or is it?
Instructors are charismatic personalities that capture the minds and hearts of students, motivate students to perform and inspire them to attain lofty goals. When we teach, however, what are the systems that make the process reproducible?
“Ah, but…” you say, “teachers are born, not made.”
Great teachers may have talent, but they work at their craft, hone their skills and learn the system.
When you teach, you create an environment in which students learn. Regardless of the subject material, there are attributes of the learning environment, which facilitate the learning process. As a martial-arts instructor, you are accountable for the creation of a learning environment and the lesson content. The level to which your classes satisfy each of the conditions of learning directly affects your retention rate.
“The level to which your classes satisfy each of the conditions of learning directly affects your retention rate.”
There are twelve conditions necessary to create a great learning environment.
Establishing Goals. This must rank as the most important condition. Simply put, if you don’t know what you want your students to learn, then it is impossible to proceed with the teaching process.
Form and Function. Form answers questions of “what” and “how.” Function answers questions of “why.” Your students need specific and unambiguous instructions about what to do and how to do it. They also want to know why they should do it the way you have taught them.
Movement. Learning martial arts is not a static, isolated activity. It’s a dynamic, physical, personal interaction. Your students should experience the full breadth of movement as soon and as much as possible.
Foundation. Build a set of skills that will be the bedrock upon which you can construct a durable edifice of knowledge. Your students will grow in confidence as you present each successive lesson and they apply the knowledge to their journeys of discovery.
Simplicity. K.I.S.S.! It works. Start simple and build from there. Let your students add skills as they learn, don’t bury them in details during the early part of the journey.
Series and Sequence. This is the road map that links the elements that you offer to your students, so they make a cohesive and integrated whole, rather than a set of disjointed techniques.
Transference. Bring it home to your students. Pragmatism is a very powerful motivator. If what you teach can be applied directly to the life experiences of your students, then learning is facilitated. Teach your students in settings that most closely resemble the situations in which your students will actually use the skills you teach.
Meaning, Value and Benefit. When you present it enthusiastically, the lesson content has real value for students. If your students want to be fit, then explain to them the health and fitness benefits of the drills you’re teaching. If your students want self-defense utility, then meaning and benefit is conveyed through the practice of scenario-based drills and the use of a situational teaching paradigm.
Activity. Your students don’t want to hear your stories; they want to write their own stories. A good rule of thumb is 85% do and 15% talk. Your students came to train and learn skills, not sit and watch you perform or listen to you explain how many times you could have been a world champion with a certain technique.
Reinforcement and Feedback. Let your students know how they are doing. Many of us think we are quite good at this one, but do we always reinforce specifically? Immediate? Constructive?
Satisfaction and Enjoyment. This is what closes the exit door and keeps your students returning for more. Create high energy, positive environments where you send your students home “sweaty, smiling and sore.”
Creativity. Students don’t just want to do what you tell them to do; they will naturally tend to experiment. Students love to solve problems during class. Give them that opportunity, and reap the benefits of a higher retention rate.
