Teaching Vs Learning Karate 2 - Learner vs Teacher Centered

This is the second post in a series that compares traditional teaching to the learning that occurs in the best karate dojos.

If you've been involved in teaching you know the phrases "sage on the stage" versus "guide on the side". The "sage on the stage" is the old model of teacher-centered learning. In this version, a wise teacher or sensei imparts knowledge through lecture and story-telling to a large audience of eager learners.

The problem with teacher centered learning and lecture in particular is that it is not authentic - it does not match the learning environment with the performance environment. If it did, then we would find ourselves in a self-defense situation able to get out of it by putting our assailant to sleep with a lecture!

Not all teacher-centered instruction is lecture, of course. Other forms of teacher-centered instruction assume that the teacher knows all and the students just need to learn from the teacher.

To be fair, not all K12 teachers teach this way (the best ones don't), and many karate Sensei
do teach this way (and again, the best ones don't).

The best instruction in karate follows the student-centered approach. Sensei's teach authentically by asking:

• What does the student want to learn and how can I capitalize on that motivation?
• What expertise can the I bring to the problem?
• What type of practice is needed that is authentic, but is also ability-appropriate?
• What feedback can I give to affirm progress and adjust performance?

As an example, let's consider the beginning student who wants to learn a little self-defense. As a sensei, I should know the common bullying situations and how best to deal with them such as verbal abuse, shoving, grabbing, or hitting. I would also consider the context and consequences of bullying at school and other places. If I didn't have a theory of dealing with bullies, I would do some research.

I would have a conversation with my students about bullying experiences. I would get them to characterize situations and add one of my own, if appropriate. I would explore the rules of the school and the consequences of those rules. I would encourage my students to have conversations with their parents about bullying if its an issue. These conversations create a student-centered learning context. I find out what's important to them, and then create learning scenarios appropriate to their wants and to their level of karate.

A possible scenario is to defend against the shove. I would explore student notions of defense. Usually these are quite aggressive resonses involving hitting and kicking. Karate principles include "win by not fighting" and "no first attack" so we'd also practice some verbal defenses as well as attack avoidance. We'd pair-up, try some shouting of "no" and "back off" and explain you want to get everyone's attention that you're not interested in fighting. If it ends there, great. If it doesn't, then everyone knows you tried to avoid it. We'd then incorporate "defense by avoidance" such as side stepping a rush or stiff-arming an attack. By doing so, we learn some useful techniques that we can scaffold into an entire learning sequence that builds on knowledge already gained, and progresses as skill and knowledge are developed to increasingly challenging scenarios.

The type of learning advocated here involves some talking and a lot of doing. The talking is to ensure alignment with learners' goals and to create a learning context. The doing is where the learning takes place. To be effective, most of the time in learning should be spent doing. By practicing with a partner, students are able to try techniques, from which they get immediate feedback on whether they understand, whether their techniques are effective, and their learning is completely authentic. Besides those benefits, this type of learning keeps them engaged and enjoying their learning.

In he next post, I'll compare this teaching example to the traditional classroom. In future posts, I'll describe methods of feedback, assessment, and expand on partnering to a full discussion of collaborative learning.