You know, as an instructor there’s nothing better than laying out a structured lesson. Taking a concept from the ground up. You start with something basic then add a little bit to get the students to the next layer/depth of understanding. Then you add another and another and by the end of the lesson – boom!! A fully formed principle to knock the socks of a would be opponent. But you know, it never really pans out like that!
Wednesday nights session for me was the epitome of this NOT WORKING!!! The students were great as always and the concept was pretty cool too. But some how we experienced what I have come to call ‘concept blindness’…
I started with the basic concept… they got it quickly. ‘Cool!’ so onto the next concept, again they got it quickly – most of it anyway. So I pressed on to the 3rd layer of the concept. Great again – at that layer, although for some reason layers 1 and 2 were now not being practiced which is such a shame cos layer 3 really rather depended on those!!! Never mind, I press on to the next layer in the hope that they will catch up and all will come out in the wash – it didn’t, but they were again pretty good at just layer 4????
Reluctantly I deliver layer 5 which as before they did just great. But would have been so much better if they could just manage layers 1 thru 4 as well!!! The lesson for me here is that students always do their best. They don’t deliberately forget things. The outcome of a great lesson is down to the instructor. And if the students don’t get it then, however great the concept, it’s the lesson structure that’s flawed. To conclude…if it really is a great lesson then EVERYONE LEARNS – especially the instructor!!
See you in the dojo !
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