Variable Skill Level and Attendance Dilemma

 

One of the biggest challenges a martial arts instructor faces is what I call the Variable Skill Level And Attendance Dilemma. Unlike structured educational courses with prerequisites, you can never guarantee who will show up to any given martial arts class. One day you could have all new students, the next a mix of novice and advanced practitioners, some who have diligently attended while others are catching up after an extended absence.

This unpredictable turnout makes it nearly impossible to design a linear progression that builds upon previous lessons in a methodical fashion. If you have students at wildly different skill levels, attempting to move forward with new concepts/skills will leave some behind. However, constantly re-teaching basics prevents advancing students from progressing.

I've experienced this firsthand many times. For example, if teaching a progression of techniques building up to a final goal, introducing a new component becomes problematic if half the class missed the foundational material from previous sessions. Backtracking to re-teach those basics may be necessary for the beginners, but it halts momentum for the advanced students who have already mastered that content.

In an attempt to address this, I intend to and have been putting detailed curriculum outlines, instructional notes, and video demonstrations online as supplemental resources. The idea is students can reference this material to get up to speed if they miss classes. However, this solution is ineffective if students don't take the initiative to review those materials consistently. Furthermore, there's only so much I can realistically expect recreational students to self-study between sessions.

My latest strategy to better navigate this dilemma (based on class 3 experience) is to announce an ultimate curriculum objective for the class in advance, such as achieving proficiency in a particular form or drill sequence - the big picture remains per the article I will have posted on the slice. I'll allow the advanced students to work towards that goal at their own pace with guidance, while I provide more hands-on instruction to the beginner group at a level they can follow. Ideally this allows me to make forward progress with both cohorts without creating too many splintered groups to manage.

For instructors facing a similar variable skill attendance issue, my advice is: Don't get too attached to linear progression plans. Be prepared to revisit and re-teach basics frequently. What I'm learning from the Ecological/Constraint Lead approach are both, the value of the coach is in the adjustment, and that we need to embrace non linear learning. Leverage digital resources and independent study for more committed students if that's in you're ability to create/prov. And strongly consider structuring your curriculum around clearly defined goals students can work towards at their own level, rather than overly rigid step-by-step syllabi.

Accommodating diverse skill levels and unpredictable attendance will always be a challenge for martial arts instructors. But being cognizant of this dilemma, and developing flexibility in your approach, will ensure no students get left behind or held back from reaching their full potential.

This is all part of an open source experiment that I'm doing to try to setup a comprehensive learning experience. I will continue to update that progress here in this blog.