The weekend in Poland, both the training and the socials, was quite amazing! And as guests, we were spoiled rotten! It was my first time in the country, and I liked it so much! I now have several new friends, and I've learned much more than I expected. The course itself could in a way be compared to this year's summer school - the program was very basic, and we did the same exercises for quite a while, but instead went through everything very thoroughly. It seems all participants were happy with the course, or if someone isn't, I haven't been told.
The flight back to Helsinki was cancelled, due to technical problems, so we had to stay one night extra in Warsaw, but once we got over the initial irritation this was fine, too. Got one night at a nice hotel just next to the airport and a voucher covering for dinner and breakfast. We went out on town in the evening, to meet up with some other late travelers, and had a beer or five, and lots of fun! And then in the morning a nice, long sleep-in followed by a hot bath and as much hotel breakfast as I could get away with.
One bad thing that came with the course was a damaged knee. I seem to have some kid of an inflammation in my right knee, not sure of the cause but quite possibly it's in the muscle hold in front of the knee. I went to see a doctor soon as I returned home, she wasn't sure of the cause but prescribed me painkillers and sick leave from work. I've been on ibuprofen for 4 days now, also using an anti-inflammatory gel on the knee. So far there's been no major change, just feels slightly better than when it started (in the car, leaving the last session). For this reason, I haven't been training very hard myself this week, not karate and definitely no running, but I've still instructed the beginner's group (twice this week). I miss training properly, and can't wait to go running again! And I'm walking so slow now... The only good part of this is that I'm on sick leave from my work - no way of running up and down stairs with a fucked-up knee. Still have to see what to do about my mother's moving... I hope this will pass soon so that everything can go back to normal!
Visar inlägg med etikett instructing. Visa alla inlägg
Visar inlägg med etikett instructing. Visa alla inlägg
fredag 11 oktober 2013
fredag 1 mars 2013
Things I've learned from (while) instructing
Last night's session was messy. I felt very confident when I got there, having planned a session that I really believed in. But then it crashed. What happened? The demos didn't work, I got so much of both critique and helpful points that I lost all sense of focus, and when trying to adjust the program, me and my demo partner couldn't get along about in what direction to take it. Just to mention a few things.
But I did learn something, or rather some things:
- As an instructor, I need to be more verbal. Just showing people what you want them to do is not enough, even if you would do it correctly. I also need to be more clear about what I aim for, and what I want my "students" to focus on.
- I need to learn to be more clear to my demo partner abut what I want, at least the goal of the session, to make it easier to work towards this together.
- I need to train more myself! My shape (and overall "feeling" for what I do) should be no worse than that of my students.
- If, or when, I know who my demo partner will be, I might just as well also consider that when planning my session. Because the time we can use to go through things (during warm-ups or, when necessary, during exercises) will be limited. And because different things work best with different people. And by admitting this, it should be easier to make use of the powers you and your partner actually have, rather than struggle to make something work that doesn't for the two of you. (I am in no way against challenging yourself, just saying that the session you are just about to teach might not the best opportunity to do this)
Naturally, I also received feedback on my actual karate, but I won't go into that here. Still, wanted to put this down - also as a reminder to myself. The fact that this time was messy didn't put me down (honestly! I didn't!), and I have some new ideas for next time. Will be interesting to, hopefully, try some of them on Sunday.
But I did learn something, or rather some things:
- As an instructor, I need to be more verbal. Just showing people what you want them to do is not enough, even if you would do it correctly. I also need to be more clear about what I aim for, and what I want my "students" to focus on.
- I need to learn to be more clear to my demo partner abut what I want, at least the goal of the session, to make it easier to work towards this together.
- I need to train more myself! My shape (and overall "feeling" for what I do) should be no worse than that of my students.
- If, or when, I know who my demo partner will be, I might just as well also consider that when planning my session. Because the time we can use to go through things (during warm-ups or, when necessary, during exercises) will be limited. And because different things work best with different people. And by admitting this, it should be easier to make use of the powers you and your partner actually have, rather than struggle to make something work that doesn't for the two of you. (I am in no way against challenging yourself, just saying that the session you are just about to teach might not the best opportunity to do this)
Naturally, I also received feedback on my actual karate, but I won't go into that here. Still, wanted to put this down - also as a reminder to myself. The fact that this time was messy didn't put me down (honestly! I didn't!), and I have some new ideas for next time. Will be interesting to, hopefully, try some of them on Sunday.
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