yodaman
Brown Belt
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- Apr 30, 2006
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Just my two cents.
For those of you who dont know, I'm a teacher by profession and by university.
Giving things outlandish names is a teaching technique called strong encoding. When you want a student to remember something it is important to vary the instruction and provide cues that are easily recalled. The "unicorn" is a great example of this (not that I think it was on purpose) and I'll always remember someone calling the triangle with a leg in the "unicorn" although I've never actually heard anyone call it that.
With that being said it's also important to point out that strong encoding is used with the teaching cues, not with the name of a technique. Teaching cues are the important things your instructor tells you to remember while practicing the move like "keep your arm tight, hug his hips, head low", these are all examples of teaching cues. When you give a student more than two or three cues to remember it's very important to name the most important ones something outlandish.
For example when I teach the armbar defense from closed guard I feel that the stack is the most important thing in the whole move and instead of saying "stack your opponent" I'll say "crush your opponents face" (keeping in mind that we talk about being nice to our training partners). So keep in mind, that not all outlandish names are by people who smoke pot or partake in other recreational substances (which I do not).
Also, think of the naming of techniques as highly important from a teaching perspective. If I do not name techniques then how can I produce a curriculum that encompasses all the knowledge of Brazilian Jiujitus? How can I plan a lesson that will take place three or four months from now? One of the reasons this has not been an issue in Brazil (where I currently train) is because they have no set standard, curriculum, or lesson plans...this is maddening and crazy. Very rarely have I been to a school where the instructor has any rhyme or reason to what they are teaching between one day and the next, never mind three months from now.
I have talked about this before on the forum. There is a transition in the way BJJ is being taught. I'm not going to say it's a revolution, becuase honestly the teaching principles are not new, they are just being applied to a sport that everyone here loves. But prepare yourself that we are moving away from the Master/Apprentice teaching style and more to the Teacher/Student and Coach/Athlete styles (which are different also).
So to wrap it up, I think we need to name techniques, I think that goofy names for the cues within the techniques are needed but I laugh at the names just like everyone else. For me it's not about the glory of having my own technique, it's about being able to give that technique to someone else.
The Gerbil
Huh, that's...really well put together. I don't have your knowledge with teaching and admit it, but I definitely agree with the move to coach/athlete style dynamics over the traditional master/apprentice one happening.