Solidifying Research

This month I mainly focused on solidifying my answers' research, and thusly I believe I might have found my best answer. My three answers are:

- parental involvement,
- background knowledge and adequate teaching ability, and
- being prepared (as in always making sure to bring in the equipment necessary for the activities and/or be prepared for any injuries that might arise during the class)

After beginning the advisory meetings I set myself a goal to try to find more solid research for all of my answers so I could start forming my best answer. A few hours of research reading after, I found that out of all my answers, my second answer stood out as the most solid one. Not only did my research reflect that, but also my interviews. After my 3rd interview, I had a discussion with my interviewee about what she thought was the best answer. Together we found that, while my first and third answer are good, they are not fully essential. We disproved my first answer, parental involvement, by reasoning that a student could excel in karate, even without a healthy level of parental involvement. We also agreed that since karate could be practiced and learned anywhere, then being prepared isn't always essential because a sensei could always just improvise and work with what they have to teach class well.

On the other hand, my second answer is as solid as it can be. It seems to be that both my research and my interviewee tend to coincide in the fact that the most important factor to effectively teach karate to kids is the knowledge and teaching skills of the sensei.

So, all in all, I came to the conclusion that, while parental involvement and being well prepared are very important to running a successful kids karate class, they are not essential. They are simply complements to my second answer. That is why when looking for a good karate class for either kids or adults, the most important thing to do is to pay attention to the sensei in order to know if he really is knowledgeable enough and if he has good teaching skills.

Blog 16: Advisory Meeting #2

EQ: What is the most important factor to effectively teach karate to young children?

Answer #2 Having good teaching skills and background knowledge enables a sensei to effectively teach a class.

Details:

- My 3rd interviewee told me that in order for a person to teach anything, they must actually know how to teach. The skill of teaching is quintessential to actually teach karate to children. A few years back I met a sensei who taught close to my house. I joined his class for a little while and realized that even though he legitimately knew karate, he did not know how to teach. I showed in how his students didn't really understand what he was trying to teach.

- Having a full understanding of karate is the first step to actually be able to teach karate. My sensei/mentor has been practicing karate for almost 20 years and this really shows in his ability to teach. Since he has so much experience and knowledge, he is able to really transfer his skills to the students he teaches.

- If you don't have background knowledge and/or good teaching skills, you are not likely to be very successful in teaching that subject. Both of these skills go hand in had, and without both of them, it would be very challenging to be able to teach karate. Having background knowledge is of karate is not all that helpful if you don't know how to communicate it. Recently, during a tournament, I had the chance to talk to a sensei who was barely starting to teach. He was very knowledgeable and you could outright tell that he really knew a lot about karate. Then I got to watch him review with a few kids before they went to compete and I realized that even though he was brimming with enthusiasm, he was effectively communicating the kids. In other words, even though he really knew a lot about karate, in the end he didn't do the best he could have since he lacked some teaching skills. 

- Teaching is truly an art that can only be mastered with time and experience. You not only need to have patience, but you need to know the right balance between putting your foot down and having the kids do as you say and simply stepping back and allowing the kids to follow what you do. This skill is clearly described in "The Non-oppressive Authoritatian." It basically describes how to be an effective teacher.

The research source (s) to support your details and answer

- Schine, Roberta. "Teaching Karate: The Non-oppressive Authoritarian." Off Our Backs, 9.5 (1979): 25-26.

- Interview 2, and 3

-Caile, Christopher. "Teaching Karate-Do: Interview with Kaicho Tadashi Nakamura, Founder and Chairman of the World Seido Karate Organization." FightingArts.com. Web. 06 Jan. 2014.

- Sang, Kim. "5 Principles of Martial Arts Teaching." Turtle Press. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.

- Fontaine, Sheryl I. "Teaching with the Beginner's Mind: Notes from My Karate Journal." College Composition and Communication, 54.2 (2002): 208-221.

Concluding Sentence

Having good teaching skills and background knowledge enables a sensei to effectively teach a karate class.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

I am planning on taking a First Aid course from an EMT (Jeremy's dad) and getting certified. This will help me be better prepared for any emergency that might occur when I teach. This was suggested to me by both Mrs. Pittman and one of my interviewees. Since this most likely not amount to 30 hours, I am planning on continuing my mentorship and apply what I will learn from the first aid course.

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

I am hoping to be able to present a card that proves that I was certified. I also plan on taking photos, videos, and any other type of evidence I am able to present.

3.  And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

When teaching any topic, especially a contact sport such as karate, the risk of minor injuries occurring is high. I think its important to be prepared for any situation I might face if I teach karate. Having a basic knowledge in first aid might help me be much more prepared.

4.  Post a log on the right hand side of your blog near your other logs and call it the independent component 2 log.
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Blog 14: Independent Component 1

• LITERAL
  (a) “I, Lizzeth Acuna, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”
  (b) My mentor, Fabian Villalobos, aided me in successfully completing my independent component.
  (c) My mentorship log is to the right. =>
• (d) My goal with my independent component was to gain more experience and a better understanding of teaching karate. Throughout the last 3 months, I've consistently gone to my mentorship and observed my sensei's teaching style. Not only have I helped  out in running and teaching the class, but I actually had my sensei assess me in my teaching. On a particular occasion, in mid December, my sensei had me teach all four classes all on my own. He sat on the side and wrote notes on what I had to improve. All in all, I feel that I did accomplish my goal.
• INTERPRETIVE 
  Over all, my main job was to practice my teaching skills. I have a myriad of pictures of me teaching. I also took notes on my sensei's teaching style and way to describe some techniques in particular. And just to be sure, I took pictures of the tournament in which I participated. 
  
• APPLIED
  Actively teaching and constantly getting feedback not only helped me get answers for my EQ, but it also helped understand karate better. By constantly asking my sensei about the techniques he teaches and why teaches them the way he does, I was able to learn a lot more than what I would have expected. For example, instead of teaching a knifehand strike with the traditional shokotan technique, he teaches it with a traditional budokan emphasis because he found that it's more effective. I also found out that there's a lot more similarities in the technique style between different oriental martial arts. Also, since part of my component involved going to a tournament, I was able to unofficially interview a sensei that has studied many different karate styles. He described how the fighting stances tend to vary a bit between the styles, but that somehow a horse stance is basically the same for all styles.  

Evidence

             As part of my evidence I have pictures of me attending tournaments, me helping teach, and of some of my notes.