Teacher as Student

Hunter Woodley

 2nd Dan Test Essay

April 2012

   This June will mark the completion of my fifth year as a student of Taekwondo. Over the past five years many things have changed in my life: breaking my leg, graduating from high school, and attending Luther College to name a few. Perhaps the most important change, in terms of Taekwondo, was becoming a Taekwondo instructor for students at Luther. Although I had helped at my home dojang in Edgewood, it was mostly things like teaching the new blue belts Yul-Guk or leading a few classes. While these are of course great experiences, there is nothing quite like having your own class of students who are relying on you for instruction. By teaching Taekwondo at Luther I have learned many essential lessons and developed an even stronger relationship with the martial art.
   When I left home for Luther, I knew that I wanted to continue practicing Taekwondo so I would occasionally go to the gym to work out and review techniques and whenever I returned home I would attend classes. During my sophomore year (I am currently a junior), I began to exchange martial arts knowledge and skills with one of my Chinese Religions professors who knew the Chinese martial art Xingyi. At about this time my girlfriend (who had earned her 2nd brown belt through Jung’s Taekwondo) and some of her friends expressed interest in learning and I had the start of my first class. The summer following my sophomore year, I stayed at Luther as a maintenance worker and continued to work with the religion professor as well as his son and some friends. Due to the increasing number of students I knew I would have in the fall, I contacted the gym at Luther to try reserve a room for us to practice in. In addition to the reservation, I was also offered a work study position where Luther would pay me to teach Taekwondo. While my original goal was simply to reserve a room, I decided getting paid would be nice too so I agreed. A semester-and-a-half later I now have eleven students in my class and they are beginning to progress through the ranks.
   Through my experience teaching Taekwondo I have learned many things, the first of which is that in Taekwondo, one never ceases to be a student. As they say, the best way to learn something is to teach it, and Taekwondo has definitely proven this to me. For instance, when teaching a new technique I find
myself carefully concentrating and thinking out the subtleties of the movement at a level beyond the concentration used when I "learned" the technique for the first time. As I teach I continually notice more and more intricate details of the art of Taekwondo.
   In addition to gaining more knowledge about the movements themselves, being a Taekwondo instructor has also taught me important communication and teaching skills. Every person learns things in a slightly different way and at a different pace. As an instructor I begin to learn about these characteristics and adapt my teaching style accordingly. In order to adapt, one first has to perceive the need to do so, which once again requires concentration. As I teach, I try to observe everyone in the room in order to see what they are struggling with in addition to what they excel at. I praise them when they succeed and help them when they need it. I believe the abilities to perceive and adapt are essential to being an effective instructor as well as being essential during any sparring match. I have found that instructing Taekwondo is one of the most effective ways of cultivating these skills.
   Even after becoming an instructor, I am constantly learning from my students and further developing my understanding of Taekwondo. Unfortunately I will just be teaching at Luther for one more year and then it will be off to graduate school for East Asian Studies. After leaving Luther, I plan to continue practicing and advancing in Taekwondo. Hopefully I can continue teaching wherever I go, maybe even in China or Japan!