Meeting Minutes - June 11, 2022

  • Stop asking so many questions of the kids, specifically “who knows…”. Often when you ask questions and have one kid answer the rest can’t hear and few of the others are engaged. When you ask “who knows” you won’t get an accurate answer anyways (just run them through the form and you’ll know) plus it comes across as you are not prepared.

  • When teaching forms, don’t do more than a single rep with the whole class (specifically level 1’s). It causes frustration for the kids who don’t know the form and are being left behind. Get them to go through it together to determine what groups you should create.

  • Don’t explain drills so much. Especially if drills are constantly changing/evolving. You’re losing most of the class. Just get them moving and the rest of the instructors can do the rest. Less yak, more smack.

  • No class should end on a downer or negative note. Class structure should be high energy, followed by the meat, finishing with high energy. 

  • Gauge your classes mostly based on the back rows, or the kids who are less engaged. Running a class based on the most engaged kids all the time will while leaving behind the others only causes frustration. Too much of a gap, break up the class.

  • There should be one person leading the class, the rest are teaching (wandering corrections). If you’re running the class, that should be your main job, all other instructors on deck should be continuously engaging with the kids.

  • Teaching is found in the interactions with the students, not in the drills. You have to connect with the kids. Find talk to them, get to know them, encourage them. Encouragement is a much stronger tool than punishment.