Teaching the room: On any given day of teaching jiu jitsu, there will always be massive variations in knowledge, ability and attributes on the part of the attending students. There will be older students, some with less dexterity and coordination, some from a different school – enough variation to make it a real skill to present a class from which everyone present can benefit. How is it possible to teach a class where both a neophyte and a world champion can witness the same move and both walk away with a sense of benefit? The first thing to realize is different people will benefit in different ways from the same class. As I teach a given move, one student may focus on the grip and set up elements and benefit from this. Another may see the tactical set up component and benefit from this. Yet another may learn from the mechanical elements of breaking. Don't try to teach everyone the same lesson – teach the move and let them take home their own lesson. As a teacher, I should be able to teach a well known move in such a way that students of very different abilities can all benefit. Many teachers make the mistake of trying to slog through vast amounts of detail when teaching. Indeed, people often measure the value of an instructor by this rubric. This, I believe, is mistaken – though I know such a view will be seen as heretical by many. Students will quickly forget details when presented en masse. Much better to present the most pertinent details ranked roughly in order of importance. You don't have to teach the move in its entirety in one lesson – if the student walks away from the lesson with one clear and memorable detail that he can apply in live training and which makes a tangible increase in his performance, that is excellent progress for one day – he is a step closer on his path to perfection over time. The very realistic goal of kaizen is perfection over time; not the very unrealistic goal of perfection in a day.
