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Teaching and Learning through Tae Kwon Do

Over the past twenty years I have had the privilege of training in Tae Kwon Do. My role as a martial artist has evolved in many different ways over those two decades. First I was a student, my focus was on building my skills by strengthening my body and mind through regular training. This was a moment in my training where my focus was on me and only me. I strived to exemplify the tenets of Tae Kwon Do (Self-Control, Perseverance, Courtesy, Integrity, and Indomitable Spirit) in my personal life as well as when I trained. This level of practice, is now what I see as my “self-care” when I need to spend time working on my own techniques or skills. When finding the time to train is difficult or giving all my effort seems like a tall order I always look back at the tenets and I use them as my backbone for pushing forward. Martial arts has given me that drive to push myself and it’s a skill that transfers to all aspects of my life.

As my experience with the sport grew, my role grew when I began instructing and this opened a whole new realm of learning. It was when I began instructing that I realized the skills I developed in martial arts were woven into my personal and professional life. Each class that I lead, I would demonstrate techniques and model behaviour so that my students could see what the expectations are in a martial arts class. As a classroom teacher, every day I model the expected skills and behaviours for my students. Many of the “soft skills” I work on with my students stem from my background in martial arts. I have monthly words that are our “tenets” that we learn about and try to exemplify in our actions and words. Many of the ways that I teach my lessons include movement. This simply comes from my comfortability in teaching students ways to move but it also has benefitted the diverse learners in my classroom as we have many different opportunities to learn in different ways.

Tae Kwon Do has also given me confidence in my ability to set goals, work towards them, and ultimately achieve them. I find that the purposeful practice that comes from martial arts training can be modelled within any goal setting framework and I use it for students often. Martial arts has a focus on achieving small goals, whether its mastering a certain kick or working toward your next belt level. This transfers to focused goal setting for my students in my classroom.

I have realized over the years that the things I choose to spend my time on in my personal life will directly impact my professional life. In turn, the things I work toward in my professional life have a direct connection to my personal life. This may be because I chose a career and a personal life that weave together because I spend most of my time connecting with people and working with people. I choose to believe that my life growing up in martial arts helped me find my passion in teaching and my career in teaching challenges me to be a better martial artist.




Jodie Clease is a teacher at Rocky View Schools in Alberta, Canada. She is a third-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do with Redwood Meadows Tae Kwon Do.


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