The
Demands of Teaching
Your
students are all healthy and
in fact glowing. They're having fun. They're doing something that
fascinates them. They're gaining new confidence.
But
what about you?
When
you became a martial arts teacher—for real—you practiced a lot,
were fit as a fiddle and exuded confidence. Now it's not so easy.
Every
time you do a form with anyone and start to
gather speed they interrupt with a question or stop, lost again
because they'd never seen it done "like that". When your ongoing
class begins to gain momentum and the interesting stuff is starting
to appear on the horizon a newbie shows up and you have to take
a few steps back to include him. Meanwhile there's the phone, or
clothing and equipment sales or a parent to dance with. Many distractions.
And
certainly in a class of more-than-idle distractions,
there are aspects of the art you could not have guessed. You understood
from the relation to your own instructor that you might be a father
or mother figure to some of the students. Though modern society
is sketchy on the role of such people Ð Cultish? Politically correct?
Litigious? In truth the human psyche needs its mother and father
figures. On the other hand you hadn't guessed so many people had
so many problems and so much to confess. For me there is irony.
As a child I had considered becoming a priest. No, with the present
level of confidence in the Catholic Church, I may be fulfilling
my confessional calling more than in black cloth.
Now,
true, I live in California where women in
grocery store lines loudly discuss in detail their periods with
language that a Polish fishwife would find distressing. But the
Martial Arts instructor gets a particular insight. "I'm from an
abusive family and I'm in recovery but I have borderline issues
about my physicality." And that's before we've reached the office
for the set-up interview.
There
is a sacrifice to the younger generation
when you pass on martial arts. People used to believe that the penguin
raised her children on her own blood. We certainly aren't penguins.
But, legally, the services you sell are known as "intangible" —
those things which cannot be touched. And it's true: what is passed
on in Martial Arts cannot be touched. The drain can be worth it
but it can also be constant. Here are a few suggestions.
Keep
a place in the studio for yourself where you can get away from it
all.
Get
out of that studio for a break once in a while.
Clean
the place, make it a nice area to live in because, at times, that's
what you're doing.
Close
the doors when you practice. And inculcate a healthy respect for
your practice time.
Make
students understand the difference between "on the floor" and "off
the floor."
And
last but very important identify that student who will only "take"
and those valuable ones who have something extra to "give"
to the school.
Mancuso
