How I learned to structure classes

 

Probably best to start at the beginning, a very good place to start.

(yes, I have to keep from bursting out in the song. J)

  

Technically that would be at Tom Lewis’  Isshinryu Karate Club in Salisbury, Md.

 

Each class was 2 hours long and the first ½ hour was for stretching and various technique drills.

 

My first class two green belts taught me the Upper and Lower Body Charts, that were hanging on the wall.

 

My second class I was shown the first 4 movement sections of Seisan Kata, then I was invited to spar with a 16 year old female, a decade younger than I was, and a green belt to boot. Of course I showed I had no natural ablilty to spar and she used me as a punching bag especially with continual round kicks to my mouth.

 

The third class was the kicker, Lewis Sensei came out of his office to observe the warmup period. Then he announced “Kata” and settled back to lean against the wall for the rest of the class. Observing who worked out, who slacked off, just what everyone did. As I only knew the first 4  movement sections of Seisan, that is what I did again, and again and again for the remainder of the 2 hours.

 

There was an average class structure. ½ hour of warmup drills, then ½ the remaining time on kata and ½ of the remaining time on kumite and kumite drills.

Of course it varied at anytime. At times self defense techniques would be discussed and worked. We were not lectured on Okinawa. But there were those discussions on where you didn’t want to get hit and why. And at times other things would be sprinkled in.

Very rarely would everyone be there, even the black belts in attendance varied a great deal from class to class.

 Then there would be the evenings when things were very different. Such as times running around the dojo shouting Marine running cadence. Or very occasional classes where nothing was taught. Instead the class broke into teams and a variety of relay races were run the rest of the class.

 This of course is not a complete class structure guide, but enough to give you an idea that things were at times different on purpose.

Then moving I started training with a Tang Soo Do program in Scranton. There the classes were far more structured each class. For one thing there was much more kicking and lots of technique line drills. But of course things were mixed up too. And the workouts could be a very hard sweat.

 Next I trained with Charles Murray. But those classes were intense personal instruction. We did not include a warmup, that was your responsibility to be ready ever time. At most we started slower then as we gradually warmed up increased our speed. Class was 50% kata practice and 50% kumite (with me getting my butt kicked).

 After that I then began training with Ernest Rothrock in Yang Tai Chi Chaun. Later the studies went to some Pai Lum, Sil Lum, Tai Tong Long, Faaz Tzi Ying Jow Pai and various weapons studies (3 section staff, staff, short stick, and tai thi straight sword). Those were all private classes. This started in 1979 and continued ever since.

At times there were clinics on unusual forms for all his students (there I learned mantis, leopard, and some Chin Woo forms). I observed many of his students classes in Pai Lum, many were private classes and some group classes too.

During that period I also trained with many people in many places. Dave Brojack in his Kempo Goju, zen budi kai in Goshin Jutsu, Carl Long in Shorin ryu, Ed Savage Goju Ryu, a Washin jutsu school and many other places.

I often observed how their classes were structured; I observed how they tested their students.

I should also mention here was began a 10 year study program with Tristan Sutrisno. Those classes included many studies in his family Shotokan Karate, intense bunkai of his family approach, Aikido merged with the Shotokan studies, and intense studies in his Tjimade. Classes never included a warm up period. It was assumed that you prepared yourself for every class. Also in those 10 years sparring was never included. But he was superb in sparring. Those skills came from many other things.

Then me.

 

When I began teaching the young, I taught pretty much the same way I was trained in Salisbury and at Charles Murray’s  church youth class. And it was successful, my students learned well. But at the same time I was training with all those other people and wondered if there might not be a better way for my students. So I taught and trained a lot thinking about what I was experiencing. But I never experimented on my students, I did not want to confuse them.

But I was concerned that they were advancing too fast, seeing a need for more power and technique than the current program allowed. For one thing all of them had other things in their lives, and so they should. That is what grows them into adult hood.

When I had to move for a new job, and began my program anew I started over incorporating my new ideas.

To start with I wanted to make their Isshinryu even stronger. I saw no reason to jump them into Seisan kata, I wanted their basic karate to be even stronger before I began that instruction. I selected to begin with several kata to gradually prepare the students for Seisan. First was a variation on Fyugata Sho (my Kata Sho) changed to use Isshinryu technique. Later I added another kata developed on Okinawa for school kids to use for gym class, the kata Kyozai. Then the next step would be Ananku from Shimabuku Ezio Shorin Ryu. The original version I learned from Carl Long used both vertical and twisting strikes. I amended that to just vertical strikes. But there was also some Seisan movement in there. Only after those kata would students begin Seisan. I was in no rush feeling a longer time of study would serve them well.

Then I thought Seisan and the next Isshinryu kata Seiunchin were both so long, students might be better served by a shorter kata between them. I incorporated a version I learned of the Goju Saifa Kata. It was shorter and I thought it would give students a break between the Isshinryu kata. It also served another purpose, as students had learned a variety of kata from Shorin Ryu sources, it made sense to show them a Goju kata, one frequently taught before Seiunchin. Thus not knowing why, the students were experiencing what other styles did, imo useful for the long haul.

Then by the time any student reached black belt, I wanted them to have intimate knowledge about other systems, and also a study for a tribute to those who shared with me.

So the supplemental kata included Saifa from Ed Savage sharing it with me. Supple Dragon from Ernie Rothrock sharing it with me. Nijushiho from Tris Sutrisno sharing it with me. Thus my students would experience an Okinawan school kata, 2 different syles of Shorin kata, a Goju kata, a Pai Lum form, and a Shotokan kata. This would give them some insight into those styles.

But far more important I worked out to have my students expect the unexpected. From the many ways I was trained, from the total accumulation of those experiences I faced every time I trained, I came to realize the best way to stop the student mind from focusing on what they could anticipate training to be, was to incorporate the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle into each class I taught.

In quantum mechanics, the uncertainty principle, also known as Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, is any of a variety of mathematical inequalities asserting a fundamental limit to the precision with which certain pairs of physical properties of a particle, known as complementary variables, such as position x and momentum p, can be known simultaneously.

 

To restate it by the way I was using it. The more you ‘knew’ what the class would be, the less you found it to be what you expected. Thus you had to remain aware, not going on automatic, keep watching and listening to follow what was to happen.

 

Or in simpler terms, I worked very hard to no class was ever like another class. The classes were not about repetition structure. That forced the student to keep their watchfulness to follow each class and in doing so learn about learning.

 

Of course there was repetition, training depended on that, But no two classes following each other were ever exactly alike. I would not answer questions about what was to be covered that evening. Keeping them anticipating and then being surprised. And that was not so hard as there are innumerable things there are never time for.

 

There was a structure or theme being covered. But it was a 4 or 6 month theme, which then would be replaced with a new theme.  I did have things that they would work on, but in such a way they did not really anticipate what those themes were. Suffice it that over the years to black belt (7-9 for youth, and about 4 for adults depending on them of course) I saw that those themes were covered for them.

 

The adult program, or rather the black belt program, was very much structures on the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.  They freely entered to be treated like Black Belts. And that meant 100% each class was different from any other adult black belt test. That was to always force them to keep on their toes. Just as life would demand.

 

And it was made easier as there are infinite things to work on, and no matter how hard you try, there remain other infinite things to also work on.

 

Class is like life, Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, to borrow a Vulcan concept from Spock.