This is the sixth post in a series that compares traditional teaching to the learning that occurs in the best karate dojos.
When my mother went to school, back in the 1940's, she went to a one-room school house. All grades, k-8, went to the same school house. She'd ride her horse from the farm, stable it in the barn next to the school, and attend with kids from all around. They all knew each other well. I can't say they cared equally about each other, but still, something important was going on that is lost in today's age-segregated schools.
Lost in our modern schools, perhaps, but not lost in our best dojos.
When there are many students of various skill levels and ages, all working in the same dojo, the opportunity for collaborative learning is everywhere. Advanced students (sempai) help the less experienced students (kohai) learn kata, demonstrate form, practice kumite, etc.
The traditional sempai/kohai relationship found in some dojos may not be the best model, because it carries the baggage of too much rigid social hierarchy. With a good dose of western egalitarianism, and some good modeling by the sensei, this form of learning can be very productive, because all students can get individualized instruction, and eventually, all can learn their karate better by being required to teach it.
This approach worked well in my Mother's one room school house. Older kids helped younger kids with math and spelling. The younger kids who were more advanced even helped some of the older kids.
The best collaborative learning not only is modelled by the sensei/teacher, but also taught. For those who have not done it before, the sensei should set up learning pairs, be explicit about the interaction, and then monitor the results. Not only is teaching more individual, the sensei is also ensuring that all students are learning. Often, students will listen to each other better than to the sensei. And you know they'll get more attention.
A recent video on teachertube.com mentioned that a student in a classroom only gets to ask one question a week. That changes completely with collaborative learning.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Teaching Vs Learning Karate 5 - Testing and Assessment
This is the fifth post in a series that compares traditional teaching to the learning that occurs in the best karate dojos.
The last post looked at the role of feedback in teaching and learning. An extension of feedback is testing and assessment. Beyond improving learning in a specific case, testing and assessment are meant to be a summary look at a learners progress against a standard for performance. The stakes are higher for the learner.
In a traditional classroom, learning is time based. Tests are given at a standardized time in the learning. At risk is the learner's grade and more importantly, the learner's self-esteem and motivation. In contrast, tests are given in a dojo only when the sensei has confidence in the learner to pass the test. Thus, the testing in a dojo is ability based, rather than time. Ability based testing sets up a learning situation that values competence over speed of learning.
While time-based, high-stakes tests have the potential to harm the learning process, there are some who argue that competency testing, especially when associated with a belt system also can harm the learning process. Both, they argue, shift motivation from the competence itself to an external reward - a passing grade in a course or a specific color of belt.
If done properly and in the right learning culture, belts and their associated testing, can also be motivational. As mentioned, if belt testing is done only after high confidence in the learner's ability to pass, which is developed based on observation of competence in each of the tested components, then the learner has formal recognition of competency for oneself and the collaborative community. If there's a supportive learning community, then the belt, rather than primarily ranking the learner within the community, is an opportunity for the community to collaboratively support the learner on the journey to high-competence.
The last post looked at the role of feedback in teaching and learning. An extension of feedback is testing and assessment. Beyond improving learning in a specific case, testing and assessment are meant to be a summary look at a learners progress against a standard for performance. The stakes are higher for the learner.
In a traditional classroom, learning is time based. Tests are given at a standardized time in the learning. At risk is the learner's grade and more importantly, the learner's self-esteem and motivation. In contrast, tests are given in a dojo only when the sensei has confidence in the learner to pass the test. Thus, the testing in a dojo is ability based, rather than time. Ability based testing sets up a learning situation that values competence over speed of learning.
While time-based, high-stakes tests have the potential to harm the learning process, there are some who argue that competency testing, especially when associated with a belt system also can harm the learning process. Both, they argue, shift motivation from the competence itself to an external reward - a passing grade in a course or a specific color of belt.
If done properly and in the right learning culture, belts and their associated testing, can also be motivational. As mentioned, if belt testing is done only after high confidence in the learner's ability to pass, which is developed based on observation of competence in each of the tested components, then the learner has formal recognition of competency for oneself and the collaborative community. If there's a supportive learning community, then the belt, rather than primarily ranking the learner within the community, is an opportunity for the community to collaboratively support the learner on the journey to high-competence.
Teaching Vs Learning Karate 4 - Feedback and Motivation
This is the fourth post in a series comparing traditional teaching to the learning that occurs in the best karate dojos.
In a traditional classroom, you start a course with an "A" and then complete a series of assignments. Each of the assignments is graded, and the "A" is yours to lose if you don't approach perfection on each of them (90% or above). The feedback you get on each assignment is often just the score, and sometimes a "good job" comment. The problems with this approach are many.
The first problem is that the structure of grading inhibits risk-taking in learning. If you have to perform each exercise nearly perfectly, you attempt only what is safe for your grade. You won't push the boundaries of the exercise to see what works, and more importantly, to learn what doesn't work. Contrast the situation with karate, where failure is actually an important part of learning a new technique. To learn well in karate, you have to accept failure as part of the learning process.
The second problem is the shift in motivation caused by this grading system. Are you trying to perform well because you want to learn something new, or to avoid failure? When grades become the point of learning, you disconnect from your authentic motivation. When you do that, you become prone to losing your motivation altogether, especially if you should slip (the "A" is yours to lose, and once you slip, you can almost never recover).
Authentic motivation is key to learning and its close companion is enjoyment. The type of feedback you receive as a learner can maintain or destroy your motivation and enjoyment. In a traditional course, the purpose of feedback is to assign a grade and often to rank you against your peers. In authentic learning, the purpose of feedback is to improve the learning itself. But authentic feedback is not a rating of performance, instead the instructor uses feedback to
Wrapping up, let me leave you with the thought that above all else, motivation must be preserved. You can't teach students who don't want to learn, or in the case of the dojo, aren't even there.
In a traditional classroom, you start a course with an "A" and then complete a series of assignments. Each of the assignments is graded, and the "A" is yours to lose if you don't approach perfection on each of them (90% or above). The feedback you get on each assignment is often just the score, and sometimes a "good job" comment. The problems with this approach are many.
The first problem is that the structure of grading inhibits risk-taking in learning. If you have to perform each exercise nearly perfectly, you attempt only what is safe for your grade. You won't push the boundaries of the exercise to see what works, and more importantly, to learn what doesn't work. Contrast the situation with karate, where failure is actually an important part of learning a new technique. To learn well in karate, you have to accept failure as part of the learning process.
The second problem is the shift in motivation caused by this grading system. Are you trying to perform well because you want to learn something new, or to avoid failure? When grades become the point of learning, you disconnect from your authentic motivation. When you do that, you become prone to losing your motivation altogether, especially if you should slip (the "A" is yours to lose, and once you slip, you can almost never recover).
Authentic motivation is key to learning and its close companion is enjoyment. The type of feedback you receive as a learner can maintain or destroy your motivation and enjoyment. In a traditional course, the purpose of feedback is to assign a grade and often to rank you against your peers. In authentic learning, the purpose of feedback is to improve the learning itself. But authentic feedback is not a rating of performance, instead the instructor uses feedback to
- enhance (or at least preserve) the enthusiasm of the learner;
- recognize what is done right and should keep happening;
- suggest areas for improvement.
- give the student a complement on a genuine accomplishment to get their attention;
- point out what else it is that they're doing right;
- ask a question so the student becomes aware of an issue and can self-correct any problems, such as "what's your target in this technique?" or "how could you hurt yourself doing this?", and if necessary be more direct;
- if the student is doing everything right, then say so, and give them the next challenge in scaffold of learning.
Wrapping up, let me leave you with the thought that above all else, motivation must be preserved. You can't teach students who don't want to learn, or in the case of the dojo, aren't even there.
Teaching Vs Learning Karate 3 - More Authentic Learning
This is the third post in a series that compares traditional teaching to the learning that occurs in the best karate dojos.
If you've read posts 1 and 2, you may be saying, "wait a minute - karate is not authentic, because my sensei is all into bowing, and ousing, and we punch the air all the time." And if he or she does, you have a point - I concede that not all karate teaching is authentic, and in fact, I'm arguing for much more of teaching in karate to be authentic. You can find plenty of commentary, such as 24 Fighting Chickens and Bruce Lee who make the point that traditional karate is non-authentic.
Let's return to some more authentic and inauthentic examples of training.
Take stances. We spend lots of time learning in shotokan karate about front stance. Front stance is authentic only if your goal is traditional art - then it's used primarily in kata. For any kind of self defense or sparring, kumite stance is used. It is a springy stance alowing movement in any direction and great power. On rare occasions, you might see someone shift from kumite stance to front stance for a finishing blow.
If your goal is self-defense or sport karate, authentic training should be tied to your skill level. You might start with one-step kumite, which pairs people into defender, attacker pairs. Initially, the attacker tells the defender what's coming, executes, and it's up to the defender to get out of the way, parry, block, or counter-attack as appropriate. Still, you might ask, why is that authentic? Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't - it depends on the skill level of the practitioners. If at least one of the karateka is not experienced, at least one-step kumite slows things down so that the less experienced person doesn't get clobbered, and has a chance to develop awareness, timing, and can be comfortable in these simplified situations before moving on.
Sidebar: in an earlier post, I mentioned "scaffolding" where the difficulty of learning situations is progressively increased. Learning theorists sometimes call a goldilocks exercise like this that is not too hard and yet not too easy, a zone of proximal development or ZPD. The goal of every instructor should be to find the ZPD for his or her students. Let's return to the example.
Let's say the students have become comfortable with one-step kumite. It's easy to increase the difficulty while controlling for safety by adding parry-and-counter to the initial attack. In parry-and-coutner, the defender knows what's coming, but has to parry and counter-attack. A more difficult progression is to limit the number of moves to 2 or 3, tell the defender that one of the set is coming, but not which. Good sensei's progress until free-sparring is developed.
Taking authenticity one step further, are folks like Peyton Quinn who developed "Adrenal Stress Conditioning". The dress attackers up in big padded suits, develop realistic scenarios, add screaming and shouting, and then freak the defenders out. The purpose is not to overwhelm them, but to teach them as authentically yet safely as possible. Authentically, because in real life, you often get freaked out, your adrenaline kicks in, and your motor control and vision degrade considerably. "Redman" is a variant that many law enforcement agencies use. If you're not freaked out by one assailant, then they use two. If that's not bad enough, they arm them. You get the point.
Meanwhile, back in the classroom...
Johny is doing times tables and copying spelling words. He's probably wishing he could put his teacher through some authentic red man training. Maybe then the students could start doing some authentic learning.
If you've read posts 1 and 2, you may be saying, "wait a minute - karate is not authentic, because my sensei is all into bowing, and ousing, and we punch the air all the time." And if he or she does, you have a point - I concede that not all karate teaching is authentic, and in fact, I'm arguing for much more of teaching in karate to be authentic. You can find plenty of commentary, such as 24 Fighting Chickens and Bruce Lee who make the point that traditional karate is non-authentic.
Let's return to some more authentic and inauthentic examples of training.
Take stances. We spend lots of time learning in shotokan karate about front stance. Front stance is authentic only if your goal is traditional art - then it's used primarily in kata. For any kind of self defense or sparring, kumite stance is used. It is a springy stance alowing movement in any direction and great power. On rare occasions, you might see someone shift from kumite stance to front stance for a finishing blow.
If your goal is self-defense or sport karate, authentic training should be tied to your skill level. You might start with one-step kumite, which pairs people into defender, attacker pairs. Initially, the attacker tells the defender what's coming, executes, and it's up to the defender to get out of the way, parry, block, or counter-attack as appropriate. Still, you might ask, why is that authentic? Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't - it depends on the skill level of the practitioners. If at least one of the karateka is not experienced, at least one-step kumite slows things down so that the less experienced person doesn't get clobbered, and has a chance to develop awareness, timing, and can be comfortable in these simplified situations before moving on.
Sidebar: in an earlier post, I mentioned "scaffolding" where the difficulty of learning situations is progressively increased. Learning theorists sometimes call a goldilocks exercise like this that is not too hard and yet not too easy, a zone of proximal development or ZPD. The goal of every instructor should be to find the ZPD for his or her students. Let's return to the example.
Let's say the students have become comfortable with one-step kumite. It's easy to increase the difficulty while controlling for safety by adding parry-and-counter to the initial attack. In parry-and-coutner, the defender knows what's coming, but has to parry and counter-attack. A more difficult progression is to limit the number of moves to 2 or 3, tell the defender that one of the set is coming, but not which. Good sensei's progress until free-sparring is developed.
Taking authenticity one step further, are folks like Peyton Quinn who developed "Adrenal Stress Conditioning". The dress attackers up in big padded suits, develop realistic scenarios, add screaming and shouting, and then freak the defenders out. The purpose is not to overwhelm them, but to teach them as authentically yet safely as possible. Authentically, because in real life, you often get freaked out, your adrenaline kicks in, and your motor control and vision degrade considerably. "Redman" is a variant that many law enforcement agencies use. If you're not freaked out by one assailant, then they use two. If that's not bad enough, they arm them. You get the point.
Meanwhile, back in the classroom...
Johny is doing times tables and copying spelling words. He's probably wishing he could put his teacher through some authentic red man training. Maybe then the students could start doing some authentic learning.
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:
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.
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?
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.
Teaching Vs Learning Karate 1 - Overview
In a previous post, I spoke of "Authentic Learning" as creating a learning environment and activities to be as similar as possible to the performance environment. In this blog, I compare the learning that occurs in traditional K12 classrooms to the learning in a typical dojo, and show that even when karate dojos are not perfectly authentic to a learner's purpose, that their methods are generally superior.
In a series of blog posts, I will compare the following areas:
My goal in writing this series is to both influence traditional teaching to be more authentic and to influence dojo instruction to focus on best practices.
In a series of blog posts, I will compare the following areas:
My goal in writing this series is to both influence traditional teaching to be more authentic and to influence dojo instruction to focus on best practices.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Karate as Art
Sensei Lauri Cochran taught today, and during her teaching, she used the phrase "the language of martial arts." That phrase stuck in my head, because I recently was in a discussion about the language of digital media.
Art is a language in the sense it is a communication tool used by us, the humans (well, and some elephants, apes, and maybe other animals, too).
If martial arts are a language, what are we trying to say? In different contexts, we may be saying different things. In self-defense, we're saying "back off or I will hurt you (again)." In sparring and self-defense, we're actually having a conversation with give-and-take. In kata, and if we're good enough, we're reciting the poetry of the masters. If we're masters, we may even be writing new poetry.
Seeing martial arts as a language gives us an important metaphor for learning and expression. When we first start, we're learning the words: this is how you make a fist, a knife hand. Not much later, we're making phrases: combine the fist with a rotating forward movement to make a punch. Soon we're combining phrases into sentences: execute a rising block followed by a reverse punch. And then poems or, for most of us, paragraphs: do heian shodan.
We progress from one-side statements to conversations with our imaginary friends when we imagine an opponent during kata or drills. And finally, in sparring, we have conversations with each other. Like real conversations, there can be give and take, or a whole lot of shouting.
But where's the art? The art starts when When we move from being aware of our conversation to the pooint where we're in the conversation. When we're truly artful we deomstrate through the beauty of our expression what we feel: that's when a kata shifts from a paragraph to a poem.
Art is a language in the sense it is a communication tool used by us, the humans (well, and some elephants, apes, and maybe other animals, too).
If martial arts are a language, what are we trying to say? In different contexts, we may be saying different things. In self-defense, we're saying "back off or I will hurt you (again)." In sparring and self-defense, we're actually having a conversation with give-and-take. In kata, and if we're good enough, we're reciting the poetry of the masters. If we're masters, we may even be writing new poetry.
Seeing martial arts as a language gives us an important metaphor for learning and expression. When we first start, we're learning the words: this is how you make a fist, a knife hand. Not much later, we're making phrases: combine the fist with a rotating forward movement to make a punch. Soon we're combining phrases into sentences: execute a rising block followed by a reverse punch. And then poems or, for most of us, paragraphs: do heian shodan.
We progress from one-side statements to conversations with our imaginary friends when we imagine an opponent during kata or drills. And finally, in sparring, we have conversations with each other. Like real conversations, there can be give and take, or a whole lot of shouting.
But where's the art? The art starts when When we move from being aware of our conversation to the pooint where we're in the conversation. When we're truly artful we deomstrate through the beauty of our expression what we feel: that's when a kata shifts from a paragraph to a poem.
Karate and Authentic Learning
Authentic learning is a method of constructing learning experiences (you can't quite say teaching) that places the learner in the center of situations which as much as possible simulate the performance environment. Arguably, it is one of the most effective learning methods around. It also goes by the name apprentice learning.
Different karate dojos (learning environments) may or may not be authentic.
Before diving in to the question of whether karate is authentic learning, however, we have to ask - what is the performance environment? What are we trying to accomplish? Answering this question is the key to answering the other question -- is karate authentic learning? -- and answering it at the personal level -- is my karate authentic learning?
So, ask yourself, "What do I want to be able to do?"
The reason the question of authenticity is so important can be illustrated by the goal "Defeat a mugger." I'll illustrate with a story.
I began learning karate eight years ago. After about a year, I experienced my first free sparring. Because I had been learning traditional karate-do (the art form), I was very good at jabbing by extending my fist forward, lunging, and pulling my draw hand to my opposite hip. I attacked my opponent (a third-year student) with all my enthusiasm and confidence. I missed. Bam. With my draw hand pulled back to my hip, there was a huge opening around my entire right side, which my opponent's huge fist filled. His fist cracked into my head, drove my glasses into my head, popped the lens out of the frame, and left a half-inch, freely bleeding gash in my eyebrow. I was so stunned (literally) that I spun as I fell to the floor. Less hurt than disillusioned, but that hurt deeply in its own way.
The hurt was the starting point of my answering what do I want to get out of this practice? Do I want to be invincible? Not gonna happen. So what, then? I decided I wanted the following out of my dojo:
So, my recommendation, is to determine what you want out of karate and align what you want with your learning environment. If you're in your perfect environment, your very lucky. If not, you may have to talk with your current instructor to request custom learning, a change of lessons, or even advice on changing dojos.
What you can't afford to do, on the street, is find out that your karate was not authentic. I have a small scar to remind me how lucky I was to lose that sparring match.
Acknowledgements
I was inspired to write this column by the blog http://vickygraboske.blogspot.com
Different karate dojos (learning environments) may or may not be authentic.
Before diving in to the question of whether karate is authentic learning, however, we have to ask - what is the performance environment? What are we trying to accomplish? Answering this question is the key to answering the other question -- is karate authentic learning? -- and answering it at the personal level -- is my karate authentic learning?
So, ask yourself, "What do I want to be able to do?"
- Get a black belt.
- Defeat a mugger.
- Keep my family safe.
- Compete in karate.
- Stay in shape.
- Beat up the bully.
- Be part of a venerable tradition.
- Live through a war.
- Seek perfection of character. (See Funakoshi's Dojo Kun)
- Take down criminals.
The reason the question of authenticity is so important can be illustrated by the goal "Defeat a mugger." I'll illustrate with a story.
I began learning karate eight years ago. After about a year, I experienced my first free sparring. Because I had been learning traditional karate-do (the art form), I was very good at jabbing by extending my fist forward, lunging, and pulling my draw hand to my opposite hip. I attacked my opponent (a third-year student) with all my enthusiasm and confidence. I missed. Bam. With my draw hand pulled back to my hip, there was a huge opening around my entire right side, which my opponent's huge fist filled. His fist cracked into my head, drove my glasses into my head, popped the lens out of the frame, and left a half-inch, freely bleeding gash in my eyebrow. I was so stunned (literally) that I spun as I fell to the floor. Less hurt than disillusioned, but that hurt deeply in its own way.
The hurt was the starting point of my answering what do I want to get out of this practice? Do I want to be invincible? Not gonna happen. So what, then? I decided I wanted the following out of my dojo:
- personal drive
- health
- more safe (rather than a guarantee of safety)
- companionship
- last, and least, some art
So, my recommendation, is to determine what you want out of karate and align what you want with your learning environment. If you're in your perfect environment, your very lucky. If not, you may have to talk with your current instructor to request custom learning, a change of lessons, or even advice on changing dojos.
What you can't afford to do, on the street, is find out that your karate was not authentic. I have a small scar to remind me how lucky I was to lose that sparring match.
Acknowledgements
I was inspired to write this column by the blog http://vickygraboske.blogspot.com
Karate and the Wiki Community
If you're both a karate practitioner and a netizen, you've probably tried to use wikipedia to learn more about your martial art. As far as it goes, wikipedia is pretty good. As far as it goes.
What WP lacks, is depth of subject and proper orientation. WP is about karate not in support of learning karate. What the net needs is a community supported site. A site where we work to gether to capture and even develop new knowledge about learning and practicing karate.
That need is why we, members of the Palmer Lake Shotokan Karate dojo, created a wiki site for collaboratively building up the knowledge we'd like to see about martial arts, and karate in particular. That site is KarateForge - the place where karate can be hammered to our needs.
We're just getting started, but we already have articles on techniques that wikipedia doesn't have. And we cover those subjects from the I-want-to-learn-how perspective. Sure we throw in a little encyclopedic knowledge, but it's mostly about how.
We're also humble. We don't believe we know it all. Come join with us to create the Martial Arts Book of Knowledge (MABOK). Membership is easy and you will never have your email shared with commercial interests.
We're also frugal. We don't think it takes a lot of money to learn karate. We won't charge you a thing for membership.
We're also lonely. If you run a dojo and don't have a web page, come join us. Put your page next to ours and make this the place to go on the web.
If friends are not enough to convince you, think how easy it is to run a school where you can make announcements, refer to articles that you've written, and have lively discussion of the art vs. application of karate.
What WP lacks, is depth of subject and proper orientation. WP is about karate not in support of learning karate. What the net needs is a community supported site. A site where we work to gether to capture and even develop new knowledge about learning and practicing karate.
That need is why we, members of the Palmer Lake Shotokan Karate dojo, created a wiki site for collaboratively building up the knowledge we'd like to see about martial arts, and karate in particular. That site is KarateForge - the place where karate can be hammered to our needs.
We're just getting started, but we already have articles on techniques that wikipedia doesn't have. And we cover those subjects from the I-want-to-learn-how perspective. Sure we throw in a little encyclopedic knowledge, but it's mostly about how.
We're also humble. We don't believe we know it all. Come join with us to create the Martial Arts Book of Knowledge (MABOK). Membership is easy and you will never have your email shared with commercial interests.
We're also frugal. We don't think it takes a lot of money to learn karate. We won't charge you a thing for membership.
We're also lonely. If you run a dojo and don't have a web page, come join us. Put your page next to ours and make this the place to go on the web.
If friends are not enough to convince you, think how easy it is to run a school where you can make announcements, refer to articles that you've written, and have lively discussion of the art vs. application of karate.
Out of Shape? Try Karate!
The first time I did karate was at the invitation of my children's Sensei (teacher). I had been watching my kids do it, and thought, "why not?"
She showed me kihon or basics to perform, such as stepping down block. I was so out of shape, and so tense in my movements that I became winded in just a minute of anaerobic moves. I had not realized just how out-of-shape I had become: my kids were able to do it all morning long, and I could only go a minute.
I vowed in that moment to do something about my life. I joined up and began working out 3 times a week. Not only was it hard for me to keep up, I was also tight and could not stretch beyond finding my shins with my hands.
After a few months, my flexibility improved, and my lungs were transformed. It didn't hurt that I learned to relax during the movements, either. I began to look less ridiculous and to feel comfortable.
I found karate to be an excellent activity for getting from completely out of shape into fighting shape. I attribute that to
PS: If you're interested, find a comfortable feeling dojo in your area. Beware of long-term contracts, and dojos that seem overly formal. Our dojo, Palmer Lake Shotokan Karate has been ideal for me.
She showed me kihon or basics to perform, such as stepping down block. I was so out of shape, and so tense in my movements that I became winded in just a minute of anaerobic moves. I had not realized just how out-of-shape I had become: my kids were able to do it all morning long, and I could only go a minute.
I vowed in that moment to do something about my life. I joined up and began working out 3 times a week. Not only was it hard for me to keep up, I was also tight and could not stretch beyond finding my shins with my hands.
After a few months, my flexibility improved, and my lungs were transformed. It didn't hurt that I learned to relax during the movements, either. I began to look less ridiculous and to feel comfortable.
I found karate to be an excellent activity for getting from completely out of shape into fighting shape. I attribute that to
- Karate is an activity that allows for a gradual increase in intensity and flexibility; I could do as little or as much as was comfortable without hurting myself or holding others back;
- I could feel and measure the change;
- My kids were doing it;
- I always wanted to be assault proof (more on that in a future blog)
- The training environment can be a great social support; in my situation, several experienced students and sensei took an interest in me (thank you Sensei John Reed, Sempai Nancy Alexander, and Sempai Janet Wade);
- and because my life had to change (more on the needed changes in a future blog).
PS: If you're interested, find a comfortable feeling dojo in your area. Beware of long-term contracts, and dojos that seem overly formal. Our dojo, Palmer Lake Shotokan Karate has been ideal for me.
Naruto and the Martial Arts
Naruto is a popular cartoon based on the most popular manga in Japan. Episode 1 gives the basic story. Naruto is a trouble-maker, uses unbelievable ninjutsu, makes some friends and lots of enemies, and has hilarious adventures. It's a cartoon. What can a cartoon possibly teach us?
Behind all the silliness, Naruto has a deeper story. If you can suspend disbelief, Naruto and his teammates practice, suffer, and even sacrifice their lives for the safety of their villages and teammates. They know they're freaks (each has special powers - one is infested by helpful beetles and Naruto by a nine-tailed-fox demon). They learn to ignore the taunts and to defeat the threats.
The spirit is summarized by the theme song of episode 100 that includes the words "we are fighting dreamers" showing the characters as prepared to fight for their convictions regardless of the challenges.
Karateka (people who practice karate), at least those caught by this charming cartoon, are able to internalize this message: believe in yourself, believe in your dreams, train hard, work together, be willing to fight for what's important, and sacrifice, if necessary.
PS: Curiously, Naruto and his teammates train like karateka seldom do - they learn to fight together to defeat an enemy too strong for an individual to conquer. Hmm. How should karateka train for that, and why wouldn't we?
Behind all the silliness, Naruto has a deeper story. If you can suspend disbelief, Naruto and his teammates practice, suffer, and even sacrifice their lives for the safety of their villages and teammates. They know they're freaks (each has special powers - one is infested by helpful beetles and Naruto by a nine-tailed-fox demon). They learn to ignore the taunts and to defeat the threats.
The spirit is summarized by the theme song of episode 100 that includes the words "we are fighting dreamers" showing the characters as prepared to fight for their convictions regardless of the challenges.
Karateka (people who practice karate), at least those caught by this charming cartoon, are able to internalize this message: believe in yourself, believe in your dreams, train hard, work together, be willing to fight for what's important, and sacrifice, if necessary.
PS: Curiously, Naruto and his teammates train like karateka seldom do - they learn to fight together to defeat an enemy too strong for an individual to conquer. Hmm. How should karateka train for that, and why wouldn't we?
Friday, April 27, 2007
Karate, Heroism, and Virginia Tech Tragedy
There are those of us who first come to karate because we believe karate will make us invincible. We believe that learning karate will ensure our personal safety, always. We have this illusion destroyed in our first sparring match with a senior student. If we're not dejected by this and quit, we continue training. We get better. If we train hard enough, we develop to the point where we can beat the average person in a sparring match most of the time.
But life's not a sparring match. Real life can involve attacks from behind, being jumped by a gang, or even attacked by a well-prepared, seriously disturbed individual prepared to die and take as many people as he can with him. So what is the point of karate?
The point for Karate's founder, Gichin Funakoshi, is to "seek perfection of character." Perfection of character includes many things, and I'm certain it includes heroism. Reading the story of Liviu Librescu is as fine a case of heroism as any ever written.
A recent article at CNN.com celebrates the heros of the Virginia Tech tragedy. Liviu Librescu was a professor at Virginia Tech. He was also a holocaust survivor. When he heard shots in the hall, he didn't think of himself - he thought of his students. He barred the door to the hall. It allowed his students time to escape. In the process, two students were wounded, and Professor Librescu was killed.
Karate isn't victory. Perfection of character means doing what's right. It means standing up to danger and taking the needed steps, regardless of the cost. Ideally, we survive. If not, we lived doing the right thing.
Liviu Librescu, I am humbled.
But life's not a sparring match. Real life can involve attacks from behind, being jumped by a gang, or even attacked by a well-prepared, seriously disturbed individual prepared to die and take as many people as he can with him. So what is the point of karate?
The point for Karate's founder, Gichin Funakoshi, is to "seek perfection of character." Perfection of character includes many things, and I'm certain it includes heroism. Reading the story of Liviu Librescu is as fine a case of heroism as any ever written.
A recent article at CNN.com celebrates the heros of the Virginia Tech tragedy. Liviu Librescu was a professor at Virginia Tech. He was also a holocaust survivor. When he heard shots in the hall, he didn't think of himself - he thought of his students. He barred the door to the hall. It allowed his students time to escape. In the process, two students were wounded, and Professor Librescu was killed.
Karate isn't victory. Perfection of character means doing what's right. It means standing up to danger and taking the needed steps, regardless of the cost. Ideally, we survive. If not, we lived doing the right thing.
Liviu Librescu, I am humbled.
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