Tournaments and Tests!

Recently my sensei and I conducted evaluations for the students. They've been working hard for a while now so it was about time that we had them show off their new skills in exchange for a new, handy dandy belt. Things went smoothly and most of the student did pretty well. Before they went on the chopping block, I made sure to review with the students individually to see if they had any mistakes, thusly ensuring that they would do a good job.

We also had some our students participate in a karate tournament. They all did a very well and most of them went home showing off their well earned trophies.

When students perform well in either evaluations, tournaments, or both, it really reflects their hard work. But most importantly, it shows their sensei's dedication to teaching them to the best of his/her ability. To have a successful student you have to have a dedicated teacher and a hard working student.

(This is Mykaela, she's just earned her first trophy.

She's adorable. :D)

Blog 5 Project Reflection and Working EQ

The Pentagon: 
(1) Positive Statement: What positive thing happen as a result of what you have completed so far?
     - I've learned a lot more about karate than what I previously knew. I learned a bit more about a more traditional style of karate than the one I currently practice and I'm planning to apply it to the way I teach. Also, I'm becoming more used to teaching and I haven't encountered any difficulty with my mentorship or research thus far. I think now I'm well on my way to becoming a good sensei.


(2) EQ Content:  Pick a piece of research or your interview.  How has it helped you improve your understanding of your topic?
     - Well when I did my interview, my sensei actually told me a great deal about how it's like to teach on a regular basis. Also, how it was like for him when he first started, and some of the major issues he had encountered so far. He explained to me a great deal of key aspects that make a good sensei and that really helped me narrow down my topic even more.

(3) What has worked for you so far in the senior project?
     - My mentorship has actually worked out for me pretty good, but what has worked for me the best is my research. So far I've found a plethora of research to use and all of it is really informative. At first I thought that the main flaw in choosing karate as my topic was going to be the lack of research I was going to find, but clearly I was wrong.

(4) What hasn't worked so far?  
     - Actually everything has worked well so far. If anything the only thing that I can say hasn't flowed smoothly is remembering to record my mentorship hours on a regular basis. That's probably because I'm so used to helping out with karate class anyway that I just don't see it as something out of the ordinary. 

(5) Finding Value:  

•  What is a potential question you would like to study this year?  (working EQ)

     - What is the most important factor for successfully teaching a karate class?

•  What do you plan to do for mentorship?  

      - I'm just planning on continuing helping out at my class. That basically includes me showing up early for the  lower belt classes and helping out with the stretching, the actual teaching of the class, or supervising sparring. I've already talked to my sensei and he's more than happy to be my mentor and help me out with anything I may need.