Blog Feed: The Kids' Karate Workbook

Book Review: Instructor Revolution by Kelly Muir

Published on 2012-03-30 00:08:18

We have a new expression in my household: “WWIRD” (“What would Instructor Revolution do?”). It’s a little bit tongue-in-cheek, but also reflects our genuine appreciation for the no-nonsense attitudes expressed by Kelly Muir in her book. Here’s how it might come up: I’ll be doing some reading, or pondering various ways we might streamline or [...] > read more

Being Positive is Not About Being “Nice”

Published on 2012-01-27 14:30:08

“Any eight-year-old can point out someone else’s mistakes.” That’s a quote from my 1991 article, “Learning from Children: Five Easy Lessons for Teachers,” in the book Martial Arts Teachers on Teaching. And, as anyone who works with kids knows, they do it frequently, often calling other kids on mistakes they don’t realize they are also [...] > read more

Making the Connection Between Effort and Reward

Published on 2012-01-13 02:46:21

A young student approached me today to ask when his belt test was going to be scheduled. He’d been scheduled to test before the holiday break, but became ill and missed a week of classes, then a couple weeks more over the holidays… He figured a new test date was due, now that he was [...] > read more

Check Your Holiday Gift Guide!

Published on 2011-11-13 19:50:28

We’re pleased to see The Kids Karate Workbook is now listed in the Century Martial Arts Catalog. It appears in their Holiday Gift Guide, too! As holiday season rushes toward us, keep in mind that a book makes a great gift on many levels. The Kids Karate Workbook helps kids love training (even more than [...] > read more

The “Deck of Cards Class” and Other Tricks for Making Hard Work Fun

Published on 2011-07-03 13:44:27

Instructors: What tricks do you use to make the workout fun? I don’t mean “playing games” so much as making a regular workout seem like a game, or giving it an aspect that keeps kids engaged through many necessary repetitions. The & > read more

The “Mat Chat”: What to Talk About with the Kids

Published on 2011-05-20 22:57:14

Rachel left a note on the “Suggest Future Topics” page, asking this: I have just become a junior instructor and one thing that I am most unsure about is the ‘mat chat’ for the youngest kids class. What topics and themes should > read more

Working with blind or visually impaired students

Published on 2011-04-26 17:14:16

I received an inquiry from Sensei Cris in New Jersey: I’m wondering if any of the instructors out there have worked with blind/visually impaired students. We have been asked if we can teach a six year-old who is blind, and we are exploring the > read more

When Well-Meaning Parents Impose…

Published on 2011-04-21 23:42:39

A colleague sent me this scenario, wondering how all of you instructors out there would have handled it: A little 5-year-old girl walks out onto the mat to start class. She has been in the dojo for 9 months already. Today, her mother follows her, hol > read more

Does your school do public demos?

Published on 2011-04-06 12:48:51

I recently posted on my Facebook page – with pride, amazement, and a good bit of concern – that 53 students from my dojo would be participating in an upcoming demo at a local school. (The final number was 48 — ranging in age from 4- > read more

Martial Arts Values in Everyday Life

Published on 2011-02-14 16:48:39

I came upon this discussion topic in an unusual setting: a book fair dedicated to hand-made, hand-printed editions. I had not expected martial arts to come up as a topic, but in a conversation with one of the book artists, I learned she had a young n > read more

Are You a Facebook Fan?

Published on 2011-02-08 02:52:57

If you haven’t already found our facebook page and become a fan, you might want to have a look. We sometimes post interesting links and discussions that don’t appear here on this blog. Also, if you’re a fan on facebook, you can post > read more

Placebo Discipline

Published on 2011-01-28 15:01:48

The ‘placebo’ in medicine is the sugar pill—the non-remedy against which a real medicine is compared. But the placebo can cure, as well: A certain number of patients will get better because they believe their pill has the power. Though they don > read more

Eleven Martial Arts WordSearch Puzzles

Published on 2010-12-13 03:28:23

Now and then I check the blog to see what searches people are using to find this site. What words do you think bring the most viewers to the blog? Karate? No. Self-defense? No. Bullying? Nope. Teaching martial arts to kids? – Nuh-uh. The search > read more

Kids Karate Workbook featured on Karate Cafe podcast

Published on 2010-11-26 18:33:04

The Karate Cafe podcast recently featured the Kids’ Karate Workbook and author Didi Goodman, in an hour-long interview about the book, how it came to be, and various topics related to teaching and training in martial arts. Karate Cafe was found > read more

Check out the Karate Cafe Podcast!

Published on 2010-11-12 18:47:45

This coming Sunday, November 14th, at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time, 8:30 Eastern, and everything in between, Kids’ Karate Workbook author Didi Goodman will be appearing on the Karate Cafe live podcast to discuss “Teaching Kids: Tips, Tricks and > read more

The Role of Assistant Instructors

Published on 2010-09-29 23:44:48

The most frequently asked question about teaching martial arts to kids is how to maintain order and discipline in class. The answer almost always has to do with disciplinary tools — things like rules and guidelines, targeted praise, push-ups, t > read more

Discipline versus Punishment, and other topics

Published on 2010-08-18 02:11:15

There’s a guest post on the Martial Development blog by Matt Klein on the subject of teaching kids; I encourage you to read it and comment if you have time. It echoes many of the principles and techniques we’ve covered here in various pos > read more

How Good is Good Enough?

Published on 2010-07-06 14:22:56

Back in May, at a symposium on teaching kids organized by Madeline Crouse of Satori Dojo in Pennsylvania, many instructors raised the question, How do you judge the quality of a child’s technique? How good is good enough to promote a child to the n > read more

Symposium on Teaching Children

Published on 2010-06-03 00:48:59

I recently had the pleasure of participating in a mini-symposium on teaching martial arts to kids, organized by Madeline Crouse of Satori Dojo in Pennsylvania. It took place at the annual training camp of Cuong Nhu Martial Arts, IATC 2010, in Raleigh > read more

Does anyone remember Dr. Haim Ginott?

Published on 2010-05-15 00:51:45

I want to continue the discussion of bullying (begun in the last post) with a personal story. But first: Who remembers Dr. Haim Ginott? When I was a child, we’d have The Today Show on during breakfast, before school. Dr. Ginott was a child psycholo > read more

Martial arts, Self-defense, and Bullying

Published on 2010-05-11 15:28:12

Dawn White of Satori Dojo in Phoenixville, PA, raised a timely and important topic over on the “Suggest Future Topics” page — namely, What can martial arts teach kids about how to handle school bullies? Here’s what she wrote: > read more