- 05.2024
Hour four of my teacher client from Drum Martial Arts and Fitness in Ireland looked at a range of topics focusing on and leading off children’s classes within the 5-9 year-old range.
We discussed the nature of testing training methods. A key ingredient in my approach (and the Animal Instincts approach) to teaching children is to use critical thinking. Children are naturally curious and often brutally honest. This should be cultivated through activities. I described ways to test pre-emptive striking for example.
We talked about self-checking. This will be a topic worth going through when discussing training teenagers. There is a fine line between being transparent and humble as a teacher, and promoting outright confrontational disruption with students. Our goal is to have sceptics and critical thinkers not pseudosceptics and contrarians.
Discussions on mental health were also covered. A pervasive drive to use positive thinking dominated the 20th century education system with little thought towards personalities. For example, the last thing we want to be doing with a psychopath or narcissist is raising their self-esteem.