Yesterday was awesome.
I have now been an instructor in my class for a total of just short of a month, but yesterday we had the largest turn out we have had in quite some time.
When I was handed the class, I had some thinking and some working to do. How would my class look? What were the big lesson plans for the weeks? How did my progression look for my students? Was there anything I wanted to add into what we teach that would help people or change the way we do business?
To that end, I wrote out a lesson plan that covers every week between our local competitions, with one week a month being a beginners class where we teach our basics as a class. There are also some weeks added in like snow days in a school calendar so if we have to cancel class or move things around, we can do it without throwing everything off. Each week has a central idea that we will be covering, but they are their own lesson alone, so if there is progression of an idea, it is happening in that week versus happening over several weeks. The best students will be the ones who show up every week and learn it all, but if you have to miss a week or 2, you are not lost when you come back. Some weeks we set out to cover so much material, and we just to not get it all so I have to prioritize what the most important things are so we cover what is central and most important. Added to it is the weeks of basics classes where we just work on what is central to our system so new people and those who have been around for awhile have a chance to work on just the fundamentals.
I have been asked many times when is a good time to start class with no real answer I could give new students except to say that they were welcome to start any week and we would pull them aside and show them the basics. As I was building the curriculum for classes though what struck me was that if I added in 1 week a month doing a class that was just basics it was an easier answer, and something I could have my students tell their friends or family to come and check out if they were interested on those weeks. In the past, we have done this as something that if a new person shows up to class and wants to learn the basics, we teach them basics off to the side. We are still doing that, but this new class is a way of saying, if you are looking for a good week to start, this one is it. We as a class feel so strongly that our basics are so important, we will spend 10 weeks out of 52 teaching just those basics. (Really 5 out of 26 as we repeat the curriculum every 6 months)
Yesterday was awesome. We had 21 people at one point in time, which is more than I have taught in a long time, and of those, 6 or 7 were new or relatively new. Added to that were a few who were interested, but who could not make it last week so may hit the next one in December. As we go along I am finding that I am working on the lesson plans intently, and it is my hope that in so doing I am teaching my students the best way I know how with the materials I can teach them with. I have not been above looking at other peoples lesson plans when I have seen them and gleaning from them big ideas I can work with, even if the lesson does not look the same at the end, and ultimately I am trying to avoid the trap of things being X way no matter what, as if I can't be flexible, I am not teaching my students in the best way for them based on what they need.
In the last month, I cannot say I have lost students. I hope what that means is that they like my classes enough to continue showing up, and with time I can help them reach their goals in class whatever they are. Not everyone wants to teach, not everyone wants to compete in the international stage, and not everyone wants to compete locally. To that end, I have to do all I can to support what it is they want to learn, and the goals they have set for themselves even if that goal is to be able to better fight X person.
I was asked a question in an interview the other day where do I see myself in 5 years? I had a moment of clarity and I realized that I see my lot in life to help develop people. Help them reach their goals and dreams. To me, that is what teaching sword is. Teaching this art is a way to help my students reach their goals and dreams. I cannot give them the will to reach them, or hand them the goal on a silver platter, they have to do that themselves, but I can be an aid when they are looking for some direction. I may not have all the answers but I know where to look to find them, and will do all I can to help them find those answers. If they want it, they will have to reach for it, but I can offer some guidance and some direction if they are unsure or are looking for help.
I help develop people, and to that end, even without a full time job right now, after class yesterday, I feel like I am doing what my calling is to do. I teach, because I can't help not teach, and that is reason enough to do what I am doing in sword.
