2023-04-05

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Only one student attended the second class tonight, which meant I got to devote my full attention to his improvement. I often joke with students:

The good thing about small classes: Lots of individual attention.
The bad thing about small classes: Lots of individual attention.

And that’s true. When you’re the only one in class, you get 100% of the instructor’s attention, fully dedicated to your improvement. However, you also don’t get any breaks. Sensei is never looking at someone else to make corrections, meaning you have to be “on” 100% of the time. I’m not saying that’s bad, necessarily, but it can be grueling, particularly if it’s not the norm.

But it also cuts both ways. As an instructor, a large class gives you a chance to fix lots of little things. A small class lets you spend more time on each student, but it also runs the risk of allowing yourself to become hyper-critical, which can be bad for student morale. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of thinking, “Ah, I’m going to fix this one thing tonight, no matter what!”, but it’s important to remember to change it up every so often, if only to prevent burnout.