Teaching is a technical skill.

As crazy as it sounds, most schools really do just teach however, or hire people to teach however, and think it’ll be just fine.

And honestly, it usually is.

But fine isn’t good enough at Legacy.

Teaching is not an abstraction. It is a technical skill that requires precise actions at precise moments. Although those actions vary from one student to another.

For the best student experience possible, all Legacy instructors learn & are required to adhere to these exact same teaching tactics. However imperfectly.

Teaching is strangely scientific and artistic. Artistic in that various students demand various degrees of application & teaching technicals in order to thrive. But scientific in that there is always one best action in a given moment for a given student.

The challenge is in identifying that one best action.

But we certainly don’t pretend that every child is the same.

Different things make different children tick. If an excellent instructor looks closely enough, they can identify what that is.

Teaching is a skill that can be improved. But some teachers have a far higher upside that others.

Sort of like singing. Yes, you can improve anyone’s singing skills. But if the voice is just naturally rough…It’s an uphill battle.

We hire instructors with a strong talent for teaching. Or at least a strong potential.

We focus on, and evaluate our instructors on the following qualities:

Captivation
Compliance (following the class plan and content)
Development (actually improving their students)
Efficiency
Enforcement
Enjoyment (giving the students an exciting and fun experience)
Individualism (treating the students as individuals)
Professionalism (proper language & conduct)
Proficiency (actually being good at what they’re teaching)
Positivity
Reliability
Safety

Most of these qualities have somewhere between 25 and 50 underlying teaching tactics associated with them.

Arm’s Length: keep the students that close to you when appropriate and feasible.

Super Simple Language: use the lowest form of wording possible. There’s no need for complex language that isn’t necessary.

Scaling Corrections: If a student doesn’t understand something, don’t just keep barking the same old crap at them. Change your method of correction.

Repeating Phrases: make the students verbally repeat key points, for purposes of engagement & retention.

Proportional Praise: make sure that you do not inflate or deflate the praise you give for a student’s accomplishment. It must match the achievement.

To name a few.

What do most schools select instructors for? Their martial arts achievements. Which can be totally fine.

But for teaching kids, most parents prefer an excellent teacher who’s good at martial arts over a bad teacher who’s amazing at martial arts.

We obsess over our instructors’ ability to teach children. To inspire children. To develop children. Not how many tournaments they’ve won.

That’s not a knock on martial arts accomplishments. We respect that greatly. It’s just less important than quality instruction.