#59Learning to teach. Teaching to learn.
By Andy | posted on 12 September 2009 | 8 comments
How do you truly get better at something? Through human history we have developed a multitude of methods to educate ourselves in whichever disciplines we desire. Obviously there are techniques that work better than others, depending on the personality traits of the individual doing the learning, but personally I have always found that "hands on" training allows me to understand and comprehend concepts much faster than any other method I've tried. That said, I also feel that given enough time I am also able to learn just as well through simple observation and understanding. Clearly this was a mistake.
In 2008 I had been training with Parkour Generations for a few years at the academy and had naively felt comfortable enough in my abilities to believe that I was at a point in my parkour career to be able to pass my experience and knowledge on to others through teaching and coaching. Obviously I had been taught by Forrest and Dan as well as many of the others in the team and seen how they conduct the classes, so I'm sure I have the ability to do it, right? Hmmm....
I remember my first few classes quite vividly. One word. Disasters. I had suddenly entered a whole new realm of parkour and teaching. All of the training that I had done for myself was a fraction of the experience and understanding I needed to be able to teach it. So many questions had instantaneously entered my brain... The most simplest of things had now become the most complex! For instance... A step vault. Can I accurately explain every aspect of the mechanics behind the step vault? Do I know why we do it that way? Why not with the other foot? Other hand? Which foot do we lead with? Which foot do we land with? Where do the hips have to be? How do I teach a ten year old this? How do I capture the attention of a ten year old to be motivated to do this? How do I break this down for someone with little strength and experience? How do I progress, streamline and offer tips on the same technique to veteran traceurs to help them improve? What's the most likely place people will fall? Where do I stand to spot them? How do I get an entire group, of different abilities, to do this? How do I organise this? How do I make sure they all understand the correct way to do this? What must they watch out for? What are common mistakes? How do I deal with someone who just doesn't understand? What the hell is going on!?!?
Oh dear... I know nothing. My respect for the entire team had suddenly been multiplied by a thousand in a matter of about twenty seconds. I now understood the skill and experience it takes to teach an Academy class of fifty people while answering any questions and queries, reacting to different situations, ensuring everyone is safe, gaining maximum potential out of everyone, allowing everyone to have fun and keeping the classes upbeat and enjoyable!
Through the following year, along with the rest of the team, I have, on a daily basis, been put into many different and varied teaching scenarios which have tested all aspects of my parkour and teaching abilities. Some have gone better than others, but all of these situations have taught me more than I had ever hoped about myself, the discipline and my colleagues. Now I am beginning to feel more comfortable with teaching, but know I still have an eternity of learning to do.
The initial fears and frustrations have now faded away but the simple fact is that the more I teach, the more I learn and the more I learn, the more there is to be learnt. Being someone who thrives on knowledge, I guess this is a pretty good situation to be in. I'm just glad that I am in an environment that allows me to learn in the correct way.
There are a million aspects to comprehend and I think it is imperative to have the physical fundamentals, spirit and ethos firmly cemented into your subconscious by spending time with those with the experience to make sure you are on the right path... otherwise, there is just too much that can be skewed, misinterpreted and misunderstood. For these reasons I'm glad that the new A.D.A.P.T qualification is on its way. It's something that will give developing traceurs/traceuses and athletes around the world the option to learn how to TEACH properly and ensure that parkour, as a discipline, is advanced further in the best way possible for all of us as a community. This, I completely believe, is a great thing.
As for me, I'm just excited to find out what we're all going to learn at class tomorrow. :)
Labels: Experiences, Psychology, Training
About the Author : Andy8 Comments:
Great post man.
As a wise man once said, 'you teach best what you most need to learn'. Teaching is indeed a very difficult skill to acquire, and is as much an art as parkour itself..!
By 
Dan, at
10:05 pm, September 12, 2009
Great post Andy!
Resonates well with me and reminds me of my first experiences coaching.
By James, at
5:30 pm, September 14, 2009
Really really great reading - you put it so good. A lot of people move good - but underestimate what it takes to teach!
Martin Kallesøe - Streetmovement DK
By 
, at
11:45 am, September 18, 2009
I certainly can understand how you feel Andy! Initially I trained on my own then two of my friends joined me but because of the bond we share as friends and the fact they both took their personal development into their own hands alleviated that responsibility or privilege in a way that comes with training (although you do look out for your friends wellfare).
We have had a new member join us recently and yeah I can clearly remember when I had a hundred questions enter my mind and that was with one additional member, I certainly can't imagine how you felt in front of a class of people!It's a learning curve in itself when you begin to teach and I pray I continue to set the right example for this person, so far so good....
Just one more thought I forgot in my comment :P Andy, even though your first training sessions may have felt like a disaster, look on the plus side...
Following your own training and holding sessions you now know what made them a disaster in your mind (i hope...), how you can improve on them next time and so on. You've learnt from what may have seemed like a bad experience!
And you ain't bad at all now mate.. ;)
By Dan, at
9:44 pm, September 25, 2009
Hi,
This is an excellent article. I wonder why i could not found this site before. Thank you so much for sharing such a nice information. I will surely try to keep in contact on this site.
Hey everybody!
I’m "tiger" from a small team in Portugal, called extreme free flow (xf2)
We have been training parkour for a few years now and
what i want to share with you is the feeling about teaching,
We gave some private lessons to friends, workshops at schools, city events, etc. and the most powerful feeling that we had, was trying to pass an idea to someone and wondering if it gets on the other side, as we wanted.
to communicate, to share our knowledge and ideas to someone who never knew parkour, it's very difficult, but gives you a warm feeling inside ;).
For example, when we express through simple childish games and ideas a concept of balance and a concept of motion and we see that we were successful transmitting it, is somewhat amusing. ( IT’S AWESOMMEEE MMAANNN)
But on the other hand, many times we get surprised when another point of view makes so much sense about an idea, a concept, a vault!
We do feel like we learn as we teach especially with the youngsters, they always get you by surprise with their curios minds XD
I just wanted to share this thought with you guys.
Hope that one day we get to train and learn with all of you
Um grande adeus e boa corrida
( a big farewell and have a nice run ) ;)
By Tiger, at
12:04 pm, January 18, 2010
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