“Hey parents!!! They’re doing great! Let’s have a round of applause.”
I’m sure those words are spoken over and over in ATA classrooms around the world.
Undoubtedly, they are connected to the 10 CLASS MANAGEMENT SKILLS and understanding the value of being positive. I was studying Songahm Taekwondo before we had 10 CLASSMANAGEMENT SKILLS, and I’m not sure you would exactly call my early classroom under Mr. Veeder’s guidance as a “negative place.” In many ways it was positive. I had lots of fun. It was all college students. And we laughed often. But the classroom had a serious tone and we did drill over and over and over.
Once we started teaching kids, the idea of being a “drill instructor” was probably not what most parents expected to find in the classroom.
So we moved on to BEING POSITIVE. At instructor camps back in the 80’s we had to do two-minute teaching drills and we were supposed to BE POSITIVE and CHEER ON our students. In fact the term “cheerleader” was often applied to this style of teaching.
As we got more involved with parents, we started encouraging them to “cheer on” as well. I’ll never forget how members of my staff in the 80’s used the phrase “And the crowd goes wild.” It became a regular thing to look at the parents several times during class, and encourage them to clap in response to “how well” their children were doing.
So i need to ask, now that you have this additional background, WHAT IS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ATA CLASSROOM?
Post your response and we’ll chat some more.
