TEACHING KARATE-DO
Teachers are made not born; certain persons have more ability to be a teacher than others. This is the same as certain persons have talent to play a musical instrument, to be an artist or a great actor. Talent by it self however is just that- raw talent, which must be conditioned, and developed so that a good instructor may someday become an excellent teacher. Some of the best karate instructors/teachers are those who had little initial talent but who worked hard to develop there teaching skills. Learning to teach, just as learning the art of karate-do is a never-ending life long endeavor. Teaching karate-do or any other martial arts is different to some degree than teaching history, mathematics, or English literature. A martial art is a "Military Art" and as such deals with the subject of attack and defense. A student of history, mathematics or English literature who refuses to pay attention, who is inattentive, who fails to follow instructions will in most cases fail the course. For the martial artist or karate-ka to do any of the above may result in either being injured or their causing an injury to another student.

WHAT IS A TEACHER'S RESPONSIBILITY?
A teacher's responsibility is to teach their students, by any and all means at their disposal. Since karate is a martial art, we must suppose that the student is taking the art of karate so that they may better protect themselves or their loved ones in this increasing violent society No two teachers will teach exactly alike, but they may obtain the same results of producing a person who is capable of protecting themselves in a conflict. There is no absolute right way to teach, there are varied methods, some a little better than others. This is what makes teaching such a rewarding experience.

COMMON SENSE, WHEN SIZING UP THE STUDENT
When considering the student make up of the class, consider the following advise from Shojiro Sugiyama, "Ten percent of most classes will be gifted and progress very rapidly with little effort. Ten percent of most classes will have extreme difficulty in performing and understanding the most basic concept; you know the ones we always say have two left feet. Eighty percent of most classes will be those people who will attend class, train hard, learn the art of karate-do and develop their skills gradually with each class. To be an effective teacher you must organize your teaching methods for the eighty percent who are paying the bills." This does not mean you neglect the gifted or the slow, it only means you focus on the majority.

MARTIAL ARTS TRAINING IS CONDITIONING
Conditioning plays an important part in karate training. Technical skill developed over time, muscle conditioning and mental conditioning are equally important. All too often in the past, a good karate technician has been soundly defeated in an encounter outside of the karate school and in some cases crippled or killed. The primary question to this is WHY? I once a young girl joined my school that had obtained Sho-dan from another school and a very famous style. One night in class one of the students issued a loud "kiai" when practicing with her. She immediately broke down and started crying and had to leave class. While her technique was excellent, she had not been properly mentally conditioned, and in a street encounter, her karate skills would have been worthless. Her karate instructor never raised his voice in class. I yell at my students. I want them to be mentally conditioned for the bully, the aggressive attacker who is going to yell at them, to threaten them. I want them to be fully mentally as well as physically capable to defend themselves at the moment of truth.

STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND FRIENDS
When on the karate training area, we are never friends, we are only students and teachers. We are opponents. We must develop this attitude at all times. The opponent must always be before us when in class. If he is not we will never, as Funakoshi Sensei said, "emerge from the dance." After class is over and we leave the training area we may once again become friends. Don't smile when you are scored upon. This is a common occurrence in most American karate schools. If you analyze it, you are smiling because you have just been seriously injured or killed. This is not a thing to smile about.

MOTIVATION BY VOICE AND BODY LANGUAGE
Motivation is a great teaching tool. If you are able to motivate a student they will teach themselves. The problem however is to develop the skill to spot what motivational techniques work on various members of the class. Different strokes for different folks. What works for one may not work for another, and may in fact have a reverse effect? Remember the 80% rule. The instructor's voice is a great motivational tool. Getting into a students face or walking around class, a shove to check balance, a correction, a work of praise, are all techniques to keep your class alert, learning and motivated. Never forget that some people cannot be motivated regardless of what you do.

DISCIPLINE AND PUNISHMENT
Schools with the best discipline seldom have a great amount of punishment.
This is because the students have developed the ability to discipline themselves, follow the rules and work for the schools goals, of producing good karate students. Discipline starts with small items, like bowling each and every time you enter and leave the school or a training area or partner. No hats worn in the school. No jewelry being worn during practice. Specified association patches on the uniform and no other. Good grooming standards. Checking the report cards of the younger members. Punishment is usually push-ups, asking a student to sit down during class, asking a student leave the karate school. Temporally or permanently. One thing that modern American society especially our children need is self-discipline. Self discipline comes by first having discipline imposed from the outside and gradually we learn to discipline ourselves. When speaking to many teachers of young children, their biggest obstacle to teaching is the lack of discipline of the younger generation. This is where a good karate school can assist both the public schools and the students. One basic rule is that if you discipline a young student, or correct a young student during class- try to stroke them before the class is over. "That's better", "Now you are getting it" "gee you do great push-ups" Etc.

THE SLOW LEARNER
This is the 10% we have spoken about. They are a challenge but with some extra effort, and seeing them try hard, they can improve and be very rewarding to the karate teacher.

TEACHING KIDS
Same as adults, but you must like them and it must show. There are two things that know your true being, dogs and kids, you can't fool them. Kids don't mind being corrected even sternly, if it is done for a good reason. They will in actual fact care more about the individual teacher who does get on their case, than one who treats them with kid gloves, when they deserve harsher treatment and know it. Some of the younger students, I am closest to are the ones I discipline most, Remember most kids will try to out maneuver you when ever they can, until they become disciplined to know better.
Many schools have developed games to make learning easier or more interesting for young children, This approach is alright to some degree, but our goal is to teach karate, not a day care center or kindergarten. The parents are paying us to teach karate, not play games.