Blog 1 (mentorship component)

Literal (Know) 

Mentor: Song ki Kim and Fourida Dewi-Chandra 

Where: Challenge Martial arts. Rancho Cucamunga

Number: 909 476 8484 

Total hours: 13 hours

1.)  July 6, 2012 (5 hours)

          Already being an assistant instructor in Taekwondo help me a lot with my summer mentorship because it really help me explore Taekwondo with a different paradigm. I was not new to Taekwondo so i had a basic feel of what to do. On July 6 I helped out with a summer program at the Tkd school called "Discipline camp" , and basically it was an overnight event where the students sleep over at the Tkd school and we help teach them what discipline and respect meant in Taekwondo and how it was important in their lives. We also played games that required teamwork skills and so there were three teams of nine and they all competed against one another. This event was was meant to give the kids a positive educational and fun message to them. My duty was to help organize and plan everything and made sure everything ran smoothly. I help separate the students, plan the games, listened to the educational speech that was given and make sure that the kids had a fun and enjoyable night. It was stressful but it was well worth it to see the kids go home with smile on their face. 

2.)  July 20, 2012 

          This day was a sparring day and basically what we did was to teach the students how to play the Tkd Olympic style sport. What I did was lead the stretching and warm up and help put the sparring equipment on correctly and teach them techniques on how to score a point. I taught them that the best defense was the best offense and vice versa. I also refereed the sparring matches that was in the class and help ensure that there was no accidents and help their sparring skills improve. In sparring it required the mind and body to act as one and so made the kids do some drills that would improve their reaction times. Some students may be faster and stronger than the other and so I also helped the students that required a little bit more attention with the specific technique.

3.) July 28, 2012 

          On this specific Saturday morning it was a belt testing event. On belt testing the students test themselves by showing off their skill, talent, and improvement in front of everyone and a set of judges. The judges are usually masters and there was four portions of the belt testing. Forms, kicking, sparring and power breaking. What my duty was on this specific day was that I was lead the entire belt testing and held targets and boards for the students. This meant that I was the one who lined up the students, told them what to do ad pair them up with one another. During belt testing there are usually 50 students that test all at one time and what I had to figure out was how to lead the belt testing and make sure it was running quickly but enjoyable also. And when working with 50 students all at once I had to think fast on the spot. If I made one mistake the entire belt testing would've been ruined. 

Literal (Need to know)

-how should I lead this class?
-how can I make everybody pay attention?
-how can I make this event fun?
-what is the curriculum for today's class?
-how can i make sure thew kids are safe?
-are the kids learning and understanding the technique?
-how can i become a better instructor?
-how can i become a better leader for my students?
-what are ways that i can make this class enjoyable but educational?

Interpretive 

The most important thing that I gained throughout my entire experience is that every student and every person is different in each classes and that not one person can be the exact same. Even identical twins can be different. One may be slower than the other physically or mentally. I also learned that you cannot teach one student the exact same way with another student because everybody reacts differently. I also learned that you must be very patient with your student, no matter if they are a bad child or good child or what not. Also you have to be extra patient with the disabled students. I also learned that you always have to leave off on a positive note with the student because it gives them hope. It doesn't matter if they did the technique incorrectly this day because this student maybe can do it perfect the next.

 Applied 

I chose Taekwondo as my senior project because I was always involved with Taekwondo no matter what. I gained and learned so much from growing up with Taekwondo and achieved so much. So I decided that I can study what I love and love what I study because it seemed the most simplest thing for me to do.