Toy Story and teaching
Published: Sat, 09/21/13
I said I would write something about teaching Stav and as I think
about it I realise that explaining teaching is a rather big
subject. As well as teaching Stav for nearly 20 years I am also a
qualified school teacher with a few year's classroom
experience, I was a Signals instructor in the Territorial Army
(trained at Warminster School of Infantry no less) and being a
Local Preacher is a kind of teaching as well. I have also done
quite a bit of adult education too. So I should know something
about the subject.
There is the utilitarian approach aspect to teaching, or perhaps it
should be referred to as training, which simply means passing on
knowledge or skills pretty much as a commodity. Teaching basic
self-defence or a trade skill such as how to connect up an
electrical circuit or paint a wall comes into this category. Then
there is the transformational approach of taking a student through
the process of becoming something they were not before, this has to
involve something of the Deshi (Japanese term meaning
house-student) which means something like 'apprentice'.
Then there is the transmission aspect where the purpose of the
teaching is for the teacher to ensure that a body or tradition of
knowledge and skill passes on from one generation to the next. An
interesting example of this are the Story Structure Seminars taught
by Robert McKee. Robert Mckee realised that with the passing of
the big film studios one of the main skills that was being lost was
the ability to structure film scripts so that they actually told a
story. So Robert McKee teaches this skill to anyone who is willing
to attend his seminars. I did one in about 1990 when I was
struggling to complete a novel, by the first coffee break I
realised where I was going wrong and the final result was quite
satisfactory and it is currently available as a Kindle book under
the title of 'The Chapel'. If you want a really
successful example of Robert McKee's teaching being applied
then watch the first Toy Story GGI/Cartoon again, or really nearly
anything by Joss Whedon (who of course wrote Toy Story). Robert
McKee's website is here http://mckeestory.com/
So as a Stav teacher, yes I am teaching skills and knowledge, yes I
am hoping that people who decide to learn Stav will find benefit in
their lives through learning and practice of Stav, but most
important to me is simply to be a means of transmitting a way of
life, for want of a better label, from one generation to another,
the Hafskjolds passed Stav down as a family tradition, Ivar took it
to Japan and brought it back to Europe with the martial aspect
revitalised and I am seeing what I can do to share Stav with
whoever is seriously interested. Part of that process is my new
membership scheme http://www.iceandfire.org.uk/join.html I think
you will get a lot out of it but it is about more than that, it is
about being part of an ongoing transmission which I believe is
valuable enough to be worth developing and passing on.