Customer Reviews

Martial Arts Teachers on Teaching

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wiley has collected essays from 26 teachers/practitioners (six men, 20 women)of a wide variety of martial arts. In addition to the essays, the book includes an extensive bibliography of books on and about the martial arts.

The backgrounds of the contributors are as diverse as their martial arts styles, and each has been allowed to develop his/her essay in quite personal and individual ways. The disadvantage of this approach is a lack of uniformity among the essays. For me, though, this is greatly outweighed by the advantage of being able to glean from a single book a wonderful diversity of resources to bring to my own martial arts practice and teaching.

Some essays focus on very practical aspects of teaching: how to begin a karate course in a college or university setting; how to develop self-defense courses for audiences ranging from victims of violence to law enforcement professionals; how to keep drop-out rates among beginning students low; and more. Others address more "theoretical" aspects of martial arts pedagogy (differences in learning style and how to accomodate them; differences between teaching children and adults; etc.); still others describe the effects martial arts teaching has had on those who teach it. I can't imagine a serious teacher (or student, for that matter!) of any martial arts discipline failing to take away valuable insights -- and not just once, but every time s/he returns to the book. This will definitely be a resource I continue to use for years, and I recommend it heartily.

There are some real gems in here. Carol A. Wiley interviews a good cross-section of martial arts instructors and portrays their collective wisdom in an entertaining and fast-paced style. If you teach martial arts, you'll want to read this. Couple cool quotes from the book:

"Kids love to compare and compete, and they especially love calling attention to each other's mistakes. I frequently have to remind them that I am the teacher and their job is to concentrate on their own improvement, without worrying about anyone else's... From the student's point of view, the problem is that the mind is quicker than the body - and the mouth is quicker than the mind." - Didi Goodman Sensei, Chief Instructor, Cuong Nhu Redwood Dojo.

"Traditional schools emphasize self-improvement and self-realization as the primary goal, with "not losing" (in an actual fight) a result of sincere training. Modern tournament schools emphasize being better than others, that is winning (and displaying) trophies. Fun is not the purpose of traditional karate-do; the development of good character is. To the extent that one has ego-centered fun at the expense of others, one has left the realm of self-improvement behind and sown the seeds of self-destruction. On the other hand, training cannot be distasteful. It has the rewards of happiness, fascination, satisfaction, and even humor, and it is on this feedback that the instructor and the club will succeed or fail." - Dr. Elmar T. Schmeisser Sensei, American Teacher's Association of the Martial Arts (ATAMA).

Lawrence Kane
Author of Surviving Armed Assaults, The Way of Kata, and Martial Arts Instruction

You could be completely forgiven for being left confused deciding on which review above best describes the attributes of this book. Talk about chalk & cheese. I hope you'll instantly recognise which of the last two reviews is telling the truth & thus which is the more 'professional' of the two? (N.B: these references are made in response to a negative review on the Amazon.co.uk site)

Just to set the record straight - this book is written by a long standing & widely experienced martial artist & teacher. For someone to have gone to such great expense, time & trouble to gather together & compile such a unique work immediately sets this title in a good light.

We're not just talking about one persons perspective, we're listening to the distilled knowledge & wisdom of 26 twenty six contributors, all from different backgrounds & styles! Some of which are, Kung-fu, H-singi, Tae Kwon do, different styles of karate, self defence, Aikido, Hapkido & Tai Chi amongst many others.

Yes, out of the 26 stories, eight of them are from male instructors & teachers, a ratio of more than 3 to 1 I admit, but so what? What does it matter what gender you are? It's the quality, quantity & usefulness of the information that's important. All of the writers here are experienced & each has a valid perspective on teaching.

In my humble opinion, Carol Wiley has been very 'professional' in her deciding which authors to include & has compiled this book so expertly as the information in this book is going to be a boon for any martial arts instructor of any style.

Her contributors deal with for example how to recognise & teach different types of student, be they a visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learner or whether that student perceives information globally or analytically. The differences & difficulties between teaching male, female or mixed classes & the challenges that teaching children can pose.

Interspersed throughout the book are pictures of students & teachers during their lessons.

No matter whether you've just started your own martial arts club or have been teaching many years, you will fair much better by delving into the hundreds of years of valuable experiences within these pages. Why re-invent the wheel when you can learn so much from other people's mistakes & problems that they have successfully overcome.

The shining beauty of this book is that its authorship is so diverse, not from one style, person or culture.

I found it difficult to put down due to the varied nature of each contributors style of writing & points of view. The variety it offers makes it very balanced on the whole. This is a serious text & there is nothing naïve or `pooh bear' about it. Equally, there is nothing misleading about the title either, `it does exactly what it says on the label'! As for John Graden, it seems strange to me that no one has bothered to expend any time on reviewing any of his books - the silence speaks volumes.

There aren't many other titles around, but you may also be interested in John Graybeals book on The Art of Empowering Children: A Karate Masters Secrets or a very good title by Lawrence Kane called Martial Arts Instruction: Applying Educational Theory and Communication Techniques. Sang Kims book called Teaching Martial Arts: The Way of the Master is about the only other decent book I could possibly recommend.

This book is a very uplifting & positive book full of hard earned wisdom & inspiration.

A facinating look at martial arts by experienced teachers including Helen Nakano, a fantastic naginata teacher who spread naginata to the USA, Elizbeth Kennedy who is a major self defense teacher, and Harvey Kurland a well known tai chi chuan teacher and writer for Inside Kungfu magazine.



Symmetrical Yang Style T'ai-Chi Ch'uan Vol. 1: The First 10 Movements of the 28 Form

I bought this book as a holiday gift for my martial arts teachers. Be forewarned the book has some fairly liberal articles which may offend some schools/teachers. Overall, I thought the book offered some good tips for teaching and working with students, and has a wide variety of articles covering the martial arts from many points of view.