Shodan Means Teacher
I’ve said before, my goal is to reach shodan. In some martial arts, shodan means “Black belt.” It also is considered a license to teach.
At Open House last month, my daughter’s teacher asked if any parents would be able to come in on Fridays and play games with the kids during the winter. We have started to talk about putting a Go program together. I don’t know yet if it will happen, but I will update this site on any developments.
In thinking about a program, I went back to the kyu and dan system, which is the same system used in Jujitsu and Aikido in my youth. The difference was that in those martial arts, there are different skill sets associated and taught in each level. You learn basic stances and a Kata, which is like an alphabet of movements that make up the elements of more sophisticated techniques as you progressed.
So now I’m thinking about a martial arts-like approach to teaching Go to children. By breaking up the skills by level and setting up a curriculum, a logical system for teaching could be put into place. We could even award the children “belts”, a colored satin ribbon to symbolize their accomplishment.
Of course this is in the future, since I’m barely a “Yellow belt” at this point. But it’s something to think about.
At Open House last month, my daughter’s teacher asked if any parents would be able to come in on Fridays and play games with the kids during the winter. We have started to talk about putting a Go program together. I don’t know yet if it will happen, but I will update this site on any developments.
In thinking about a program, I went back to the kyu and dan system, which is the same system used in Jujitsu and Aikido in my youth. The difference was that in those martial arts, there are different skill sets associated and taught in each level. You learn basic stances and a Kata, which is like an alphabet of movements that make up the elements of more sophisticated techniques as you progressed.
So now I’m thinking about a martial arts-like approach to teaching Go to children. By breaking up the skills by level and setting up a curriculum, a logical system for teaching could be put into place. We could even award the children “belts”, a colored satin ribbon to symbolize their accomplishment.
Of course this is in the future, since I’m barely a “Yellow belt” at this point. But it’s something to think about.
posted by Woodard at 8:34 AM
3 Comments:
hi. i just returned from a tournament in bangkok, thailand. during my stay there, the organiser introduced a method to teach kids. it is really a fun way to do it.
the kids starts with a 6x6 board with the teacher giving the kid 4 handicap stones. each kid is given a passport book, like the one kids have when they learn say, the piano.
as the handicap stones are reduced, the very beautiful passport will be updated with a very beautiful sticker. the kids starts at 45kyu and step by step, they shall progress until there are no more handicap stones.
if the kid wins non-handicapped games, then the kid will progress to the 9x9 board.
they found this way extremely successful. perhaps you all can think of something along that line?
I am another kyu level go blogger (7 kyu in my local go club). I am starting a go club for grades 1 and 2 at my children's school tomorrow. I will let you know how it goes. I should blog about it as well. If you are interested, the AGA site has some decent teaching resources.
Thanks for the comments, guys! My daughter is in 2nd grade, so the passport idea would br perfect. Thrashor, good luck and let me know how it goes. Thanks for putting a link up for my site!
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