Note taking, yes. Useful and helps retain info years down the road. Reflection? After that and at the end of the session (usually while eating later) Analysis? No- that happens and changes on the mats over time but usually when I'm rolling or helping to coach. Info (for me) is a template with which I try to superimpose to my student's current abilities and understanding, both of which are time-sensitive and fluid (improves and degrades over time) so nothing is ever permanent

I mean that I have forgotten more techniques than I have learnt over the years and maintaining training notes help to preserve the value of the class/private lesson/DVD

I do a 'what went well' and 'what could be improved' when thinking about my own coaching. Every session.

I tried that but to varying levels of success, the main challenge being not every class you see the same group of students/skillset so that ambition flies out the window pretty fast

Yes, I see your point. It is difficult to hone in on the specifics of every class, and it does end up being somewhat of a general approach so I tend to focus on such things as: - time management in terms of awareness, not running over etc - class structure - space awareness (injury prevention, mat share with the strikers for example) - dynamics (age, ability, ego etc) - class delivery - standards (gym rules, not listening, effort, focus, punctuality) and importantly, can I improve this and how. I will of course also try and pick apart the individual games of the students that attend but I tend not to write this down - I tend to focus on this in class.

All good practices. Things smooth out with more experience and after a bit more time you will be able to 'wing it' and be able to read a class' energy as easily as any individual and adjust on the fly to keep your classes interesting and relevant. Following a curriculum shared with the attending members also help to manage expectations and paying members see a progression. Your teaching style will also be influenced by the sort of day you've had before stepping on the mat so it's good to have a moment to yourself before 'showtime' and clear off the fog of the day that surrounds us all.

Yes, especially with my job (social work) -

I tried that but to varying levels of success, the main challenge being not every class you see the same group of students/skillset so that ambition flies out the window pretty fast

I tried that but to varying levels of success, the main challenge being not every class you see the same group of students/skillset so that ambition flies out the window pretty fast

Interesting: do you have a lot of students? I tend to see mostly the same people in my classes, so I've not had that problem. Pre-covid, I had about 80 students on the books, so I'm guessing you're at a bigger school? :)

I am actually fascinated by teaching. It's funny when I started I actually was such an awful teacher it amazes me anyone survived the training.. I spend a lot of time analyzing myself trying to find better ways to explain the way I am doing things and moving my body.. My goal is to adhear to the KISS principle

Threaten with a kiss and they have to learn faster? When I was teaching kids I told a bunch of them I'd sit on them if they couldn't focus on rolling during sparring. Worked every time. On trick I like is using disgusting or funny technical cues like 'keep your butt holes in line' (x guard) for example. Seems to be working. Humans are weird.

Yeah, that's very clear. I've been trying that randori-lite same thing myself, and it is indeed a whole different beast from static uchikomi. Some movements that work really well for me in uchikomi don't transfer well into a live situation, but equally some movements I find hard in uchikomi work *significantly* better when there's more dynamic footwork involved. Would love to really dive in and kick up the tempo a bit, but we've got such limited training space at the moment - hard to get things going without accidentally kuzushi'ing each other into a wall.

I am far from a coach but I know that Rob Biernacki has an 'instructor' level on his website bjjconcepts.net which includes a pedagogy section. I plan to take a look at this eventually when I get back to training regularly as I am intrigued by how the website might be laid out, etc.

She's been on the Mental Models thing, I assume?