by Edward Shelton
Hello, today we have an interesting conversation about teaching and learning. It sounds like a simple subject. I will tell you it can get really deep. When it comes to the game a lot of people give information, but do not teach. It should be clear that just giving information is not teaching. At the same time just hearing, and repeating is not learning. So lets go into some simple precepts to help the teacher and student interaction.
- Both parties must respect their roles
If you hold to the idea that those who do do and those who can’t teach 
you will be a bad teacher. If you think that just getting the right answer you will be a bad student. How we were taught to learn is really poor. Most of us don’t have a good teacher to model from. So we inherently disdain being in lessons because they are boring. Must of us don’t know how teach because we never really liked most of our teachers. When one respects the role of the teacher you must first resolve that the outcome is for your student to reach points of planned growth. The student should respect the information that is given by looking for personal applications. If the teacher seeks just purely to clone themselves then failure is obviously seen. If the student doesn’t respect the teacher’s knowledge and experience then nothing will be retained.
- Where you are going must be clear
Many times we just start in the middle and go to the next horizon or mountain top we see. Many of us do that as teachers because the beginning is boring and feels beneath us. Lets be honest most of us don’t like teaching powers and abilities because it is going over what we already know. No every learns anything starting in the middle. All things must start at the beginning. From there the appropriate pacing must made to reach each way point. If one’s goal was to climb a mountain you wouldn’t start by getting a stick and start climbing. At the same time the path up the mountain dictates your preparations. Many teachers plan is to take their students to the depths of understanding. Other teachers want their students just to have the basic understanding. The student must be active in knowing their long path. From that point of clarity advisers and other teachers will be needed. One teacher is not all sufficient. Even battle revels what the sensei could not.
- Teacher must what and why something is important.
When you look at fighting styles each style has basic principles that important. Boxing has it’s basics in how it develops its punch. The same can be said when teaching a student. How can the student do complex things if their basics are bad. Preparation and foundation planning is essential. Most students won’t understand what is import. Many times the student doesn’t understand why the lessons are going in the direction in which it is going. If things are just spouted out as commands or essential information without greater context it just turns into prideful expository. If the goal is to be a Regional Champion or win a WKO then the reinforcement of the training should be constantly reinforced for those goals.
4. Both parties have to adapt
Law and grace are intertwined. To much law the people crack. To much grace the people have no structure. The curriculum must adapt. The teacher must look honestly at the student and assess their true skill. The student has to be vocal on their growth and failings. Many times the student is to passive in how they are being trained. This is soft idiocy. It wastes both the student and teacher’s time. Both parties should respect each other time. Because, if the time is not respected then goals can slip into the realm of the achievable. Working together realistic progression can be made with both parties giving active feedback while redressing benchmarks.
I hope this article helped you understand a basic teach philosophy. This is not the only philosophy to be used in teaching. It is a basic skeleton of my own teaching philosophy. If you feel like growing your understanding of heroclix feel free to contact me at startingoverpodcast@gmail.com . I charge $15 per hour of training. I also do $5 advanced games.
