Today's Class
Jun. 23rd, 2007 07:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
revenaMy class today was quite good. I didn’t teach anything particularly complex or interesting, and the students weren’t models of attention or proficiency, but everyone was energetic and engaged, and they all left with smiles on their faces. It was a class made up mostly of children, this afternoon, and getting little kids to finish a class happy can be particularly challenging, so I was pleased. The only adults present besides myself were Jameson and a new student who seems to be in his late thirties or early forties, and is attending with his young son, aged six.
This gentleman who is training with his son is everything I could hope for in an adult student training with a child. We often have trouble with parents (either training alongside or just watching) who try to do the teaching for us, or who distract their children, or who get angry either at their children for misbehaving, or at us for directing their children to behave. The way this particular father approaches class with his son is, however, ideal – I wish I could give prospective training parents a hand-out about it.
He comes to every class ready to learn something, and interested in the material. But he is patient – he doesn’t get annoyed with either his son or the instructor when his son’s six-year-old attention span needs a little coddling, or when he can’t learn a technique as quickly or as well as his dad. When his son does something incorrect, or misbehaves a little (and they all do at least a little at that age – an hour class is a long time to be good for) during class, he waits for the instructor to address the matter, but reinforces and gives silent approval to our teaching by letting his son see that he is watching the interaction and not intervening. At break times, and immediately before and after class, he encourages his son to engage in play that isn’t disruptive to other students, and keeps an eye on him to make sure that everything is as it should be.
It’s pretty clear to me that this man does a good job of parenting outside the classroom. His son is very well-behaved, generally, and a good-natured, pleasant child. He takes correction well, and doesn’t get hurt or angry at being asked to do something different than what he is doing. He enjoys himself in class, even when he’s not quite getting the material.
I hope they both will continue to train with us for a long time. Neither of them is particularly adept, physically – but they’re not unusually clumsy or awkward, either. And even if they were, their good attitudes would still make them a pleasure to teach.
This gentleman who is training with his son is everything I could hope for in an adult student training with a child. We often have trouble with parents (either training alongside or just watching) who try to do the teaching for us, or who distract their children, or who get angry either at their children for misbehaving, or at us for directing their children to behave. The way this particular father approaches class with his son is, however, ideal – I wish I could give prospective training parents a hand-out about it.
He comes to every class ready to learn something, and interested in the material. But he is patient – he doesn’t get annoyed with either his son or the instructor when his son’s six-year-old attention span needs a little coddling, or when he can’t learn a technique as quickly or as well as his dad. When his son does something incorrect, or misbehaves a little (and they all do at least a little at that age – an hour class is a long time to be good for) during class, he waits for the instructor to address the matter, but reinforces and gives silent approval to our teaching by letting his son see that he is watching the interaction and not intervening. At break times, and immediately before and after class, he encourages his son to engage in play that isn’t disruptive to other students, and keeps an eye on him to make sure that everything is as it should be.
It’s pretty clear to me that this man does a good job of parenting outside the classroom. His son is very well-behaved, generally, and a good-natured, pleasant child. He takes correction well, and doesn’t get hurt or angry at being asked to do something different than what he is doing. He enjoys himself in class, even when he’s not quite getting the material.
I hope they both will continue to train with us for a long time. Neither of them is particularly adept, physically – but they’re not unusually clumsy or awkward, either. And even if they were, their good attitudes would still make them a pleasure to teach.
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Date: 2007-06-24 09:21 am (UTC)It's not a disruptive thing, obvously, but I find it weird.
Actually, now that I think about it, there is a younger boy who sometimes shows up (I guess he practices at one of the affilaited dojos, because I rarely see him) whose father obviously knows a lot abou Kendo, occasionally coaches from the sidelines.
I mean like, gives the kids pointers during breathers, or--one time--yelling at him to move down when we lined up at the beginning of class. While he's obviously informed and seems to know the sensei, I felt bad for the kid. It made me really grateful that I never shared an interest with either of my parents, much less took part in an activity they were already experienced in.