More often than not Martial arts instructors approach the sale of their product thru two different venues: either the self-esteem approach or the self-defense approach. Either way an instructor approaches it to the child, parent, or adult student; an effective instructor can eventually blend the two approaches together in a way where the student not only gains the self-confidence, self awareness, self-respect or to sum-the self-esteem they need, but he/she also gains a defined and unique understanding of the material that they are learning.
All too often, however, Martial arts schools lose students due to their inability to blend the two approaches together. Two different scenarios would go like this: One, either the instructor allows for their students to develop sloppy technique, or have a misconstrued concept of their art due to the fact that the instructor doesn't want to offend or bruise their students fragile psyche. Two, the instructor becomes so focused on the self-defense aspect of the Art that they are teaching that they put that before the student. This student loses motivation quickly due to the lack of encouragement and charismatic touch that the instructor lacks that they simply quit because practicing Martial arts is no longer fun and exciting. The trick to effective Martial arts instruction is truly a blending of the two in a process called the Green Check approach.
To elaborate, the Green Check approach isn't a new way for Martial arts schools to do banking, instead it's an evolution in teaching that focuses on both the students intrinsic needs that he/she looks to gain from the art, but also on the art itself. It's a dynamic approach to teaching that uses classic techniques such as PCP (Praise-Correct-Praise) among other more modern teaching techniques, such as spotlighting (publicly singling out a student's performance) and direct-lighting (individually singling out a student's performance) to give the student both the physical and mental abilities necessary to be not only successful in the Martial arts, but in life as well. But how do Martial arts instructors use the Green Check approach effectively. In order to do it right, the instructor not only has to change how they teach, but also change how the student learns.
I'll give another example. Take the life of a normal ten-year-old boy named Billy. Billy wakes up on a Friday morning to his mom waking him up. Of course this is the third time his mother has come in the room to get Billy out of bed, so she makes a comment like, "I will not tell you again, I am so tired of doing this every day.... Get out of bed now or you will get it," or what have you. Well, Billy goes to school on the bus, and the only thing that he hears from the bus driver is, "sit down!!" Now Billy is at school and he gets his spelling test back from his teacher and it's covered with corrections in red ink. He also receives a book report back also covered in red ink, and a multiple choice test that is the same. Billy leaves school to go home to a list of chores, which include cleaning his room. He does them all superbly but at the end of the day when his mother comes home all she sees are his shoes laying in the middle of the room. Again she says something like, "I thought I told you to clean up your room. Do it now!!!" Even though Billy did, he just took off his shoes afterward. Now it's 6:30 and it's time for karate class, but on the way to karate class, he receives another lecture on how he really doesn't deserve to attend karate class today because his room was a mess and he was hard to get up on a Friday. What's the problem here?
Billy's life is nothing but a red X. He learns what not to do or how to fix something because everyone in his life is correcting him thru what he does wrong. An effective Martial arts instructor can't just be another one of those people who red X everything. They have to be a hero. By teaching with the idea of Green Checks rather than Red X's the instructor becomes just that. But what constitutes a Green Check? The answer: anything that the student performs well or better than the time before. Time for another example, but this time I'll demonstrate how to use the Green Check approach correctly.
So Billy made it to class after all, and in class today one thing that the class is working on is the Horse stance. It's a classic stance found in almost all Martial arts styles. Feet shoulder width and a half apart, knees bent deep, back straight, toes pointing forward, hands up and pulled tight... but Billy, even though he is working hard, just doesn't quite get it. His knees are bent, but his posture is slouching, his feet aren't aligned properly and his body is way too tense to relax into his stance like he needs to in order to make the stance effective. An instructor who is just a part of Billy's world of Red X's would simply walk up to Billy and say, "Don't slouch, straighten your back... fix your feet... bend your knees more." I wonder how long Billy is going to think Martial arts are fun with that approach? But Billy's instructor is really a master of Green Check Fu so when he walks up to Billy, the scenario is much different. He would approach Billy with raised eyebrows and big eyes and say something like, "Wow Billy, your horse stance is really deep, I really like how your knees are bent. But we can make your stance even better by doing one thing. If you straighten your back and relax your shoulders... excellent Billy just like that... oh, and where are those toes supposed to be facing?... exactly, forward just like you have them now. Man Billy, your stance was good before, but now... wow, you have got it going on... your back is straight, your knees are bent... Billy I think you are on your way to greatness here... high five... keep up the good work."
See the difference. Not only did the Green Check instructor correct Billy's technique, he gave Billy praise in the process, thereby achieving the blended balance mentioned earlier; and it can be bet that the next time Billy performs a Horse stance in class, he will be an even bigger success at it because he will strive for the level that his instructor set for him. Not because he doesn't want to be corrected again, which is the approach that he has with the rest of life from home to school; but because he is looking for another high five which he will get because that same instructor cares enough about Billy to ensure that he does. I'll put it differently. Instead of spending his time figuring out ways to eliminate Red X's in his life Billy is figuring out ways to gain more Green Checks.
That is what the Green Check approach is all about. Generating students that seek the positive things that they have and can accomplish rather than students that are struggling to have less negative in their lives. This, over time, leads to the self-esteem gains that Martial arts has to offer, while still maintaining the integrity of the Art itself which compounds on developing more than just an effective Martial Artist, but an effective person.
Michael D. Hamel
Michael D. Hamel is a Third Degree Black Belt in MudoKwan Taekwando. He has been an avid practicer in the Martial arts for well over the last decade, and has been teaching for the last 5 years under Martial Arts America in Pace, Fl. He is currently attending University of West Florida for a degree in Philosophy with a specialization in Religious Studies, minoring in Business Management, and Marketing Applications and acquiring certifications in Ethics, and Sales Marketing. He is scheduled to graduate in Spring 2012.
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