Club, or School?
Are Judo "clubs" really clubs?
In most of the US, the place where you go to learn Judo will likely have the word "Club" in its name, such as our very own Akari Judo Club. There are a few "Academies" and maybe a few (more pretentious) "Universities" out there, but by and large, we're looking at "Clubs". But I was thinking, on the way to my club... Is this really a club, or is it a school?
The Club:
A club is tyically an association of people with a particular similar interest who generally hang out together with some regular frequency. And when they hang out, they usually do something associated with their interest; e.g., a model airplane club meeting would probably see a kit if people putting together model airplanes. They aren't going to *learn* how to put them together, per se, though they will share knowledge and may ask for tips on their current project. Someone new to model building may visit a club to learn more about it, and will probably need someone to give a guiding hand at first. But everyone's kind of doing their own thing. They may have a president (and treasurer, secretary) to handle any necessary administration, but they probably don't have a designated teacher. There's no start and no finish. Members generally come and go as they please - some will be more hard core, some will pay their dues, but only show up every so often.
The School:
A school, on the other hand, is where people go for the express goal of learning something new. Typically, there is one instructor (at a time) with possibly a few lab assistants. Lessons are taught. People showing up to class are expected to be participating in the lesson. Lesson plans are constructed to progress students to new levels (and *typically* the students don't miss many classes, so that the instructor can reasonably progress his folks). The lesson plans will typically target people with a certain range of knowledge/skill level or who desire a specific skill (e.g., beginner woodworking, intermediate ebony whiste carving, etc.) to get them from a general starting point to a reasonably defined end. Progress is typically measured with tests. That sort of thing.
My "Club":
So is my "club" really a club, are we a school, or are we something else? Honestly, when I sat down to write this, I was thinking that we were definitely a school... But now, I think maybe we are a hybrid, and not a well thought out hybrid... We have an attendance structure like a club - lots of coming and going. We have designated instructors, and lessons are taught in just about every class, and there is the general expectation that if you are there, you are participating in the lesson...but the lesson plan thing kind of falls apart because of the attendance issue (the target audience tends not to be there). As a result, lessons *tend* to skew towards the novice. But either way, lessons tend to be too remedial for the advanced, or too advanced for the novice... This may be a part of the attendance issue...
So... that's clearly not an optimal hybrid. I kind of like the club approach. After all, I only teach adults and teenagers, and they are capable of directing their own learning. That would also free up time for me to work on the stuff I want to work on. That said, the people who show up to class have some expectation of education, I think. So the lesson model isn't entirely out of place...
A Workable Hybrid?:
So what about offering classes, perhaps in a series, that target a range of knowledge/ability or a specific skill. Those who fall within that range or want to work on that skill can participate. Everyone else can do their own thing... work on the stuff they were working on from whatever lesson they last participated in, for instance. At my club (er... school?), we generally have at least 2 instructors plus a range of "color belts" to offer guidance. We could publish the schedule of when we want to have particular lessons, and if the right folks don't show up for the lesson, the instructor just gets to do his/her own thing. We could even introduce a forum type thing for people to weigh in on how a lesson went, or what a lesson should be, or when we should offer a particular lesson.
This approach will help us balance our focus on novice vs. intermediate vs. advanced development (which is currently out-of-whack, IMO), which should help with the engagement of the color belts. And getting more time to do their own thing may drive higher engagement... Any thoughts?
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10 comments:
AS one of your acknowledged poor attendance students, I would like to let you know I would SERIOUSLY consider coming back if there were lessons in a series. Some days, I felt no closer to any kind of progression because I had no real target for my practice besides "learn the throws of the second set." Even that target was a problem for me though, because I spend little time outside of class conditioning or practicing like Sam or Thea. Classes (at least when I was going) tended to be unpredictable. It would help raise my comfort level if I knew we were going to build on the things I had already practiced or if we learned new things at my beginner's level.
Hope this is helpful and not weird!
It's DEFINITELY helpful! IN ALL CAPS! WITH AN EXCLAMATION POINT! Of course, that means we'll have to figure out some good series...
"Series" are the best way of teaching and learning judo, but for it to work there has to be more consistent attendence.
Good to hear from you Kat!
As far as the club/school thing, there is no better direct traslation for "dojo".
lesson plans and stuff? yeah, that would be really helpful. It would take a lot of planning and forethought, but make everyone's Judo better (including ours).
The problem of diverse skill levels is the biggest problem with this approach though. E.G. If we allocate three weeks in April to a series that is somewhat advanced, we are putting the beginners in a tight spot. A good structure could do the trick....
This will require more discussion that I would prefer to have over a beer, but I'm in.
Kat, It is nice to hear from you, and I can think of a few good series that'd be good for your skill level.
suggestion: Schlub or Clool?
Yeah, I think the series will probably have to be shorter for that very reason... Enough to get exposure. For the guys not participating in the lessons, they can practice what they learned in the last lesson, or... whatever else they want, and there should be someone with rank that can help them... That's the concept, anyhoo...
What's wrong with just "dojo"?
Posting this email from Ward - I think he's on to something:
In reading the blog post about club or school it occurred to me that there might be a middle ground between what Kat is asking for and status quo in that what if the syllabus could be formatted in a series of “self-study” lessons that would be either weeks or months, imagining that you had the ability to train every day for a week, lets say, at the end of that week a beginner should be able to fall properly and do de ashi barai and know say the first 10 vocabulary words??? Week 2 add in another throw or two…so it might take you 6 months or a year to complete 6 weeks but the stucture would be there so each “student” knew roughly where they stand. Obviously if you’ve been out a month and come back you’re falling is going to be less perfect no matter what belt etc. and its an art that cannot even be practiced without other people so it can’t be learned alone. It’s a big thankless task but I think I may try to do it with the green belt requirements just to keep track of my progress.
It's worth trying.
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