Lessons from the Mats!
So, I’ve been teaching physics to middle schoolers for over twelve years.
Imagine trying to explain motion and energy to a bunch of 12 to 14-year-olds who are more interested in the next school dance than Isaac Newton.
It’s fun but definitely keeps you on your toes!
About six years ago, I started training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and recently got my purple belt.
I was just looking for a way to blow off some steam and stay in shape, but it turned out to be a game-changer for my teaching too.
BJJ is all about staying calm, thinking ahead, and using your opponent’s moves to your advantage, right?
Well, it turns out those skills are super handy in the classroom too.
There was this one day, for example, when the kids were extra hyper—probably hyped about an upcoming dance or something.
They were chatting non-stop and not paying a bit of attention to the lesson.
Instead of getting loud or super strict, I took a deep breath, channeled my inner BJJ calm, and switched up my approach.
I started using more hands-on stuff to show them what I was talking about, and you could almost see the lightbulbs going off over their heads.
It was just like a BJJ match, where you stay cool and use your brain instead of brute force. And guess what? It totally worked.
The kids calmed down, got into the lesson, and we actually had a blast.
Ever since then, I’ve been using my BJJ mindset a lot in class. When things start to get chaotic, I remember it’s all about balance and control, just like on the mats.
Keeping my cool helps the students settle down too, and we all end up learning more.
It’s pretty cool how training in a sport like BJJ can make such a big difference in totally unrelated parts of your life.
Who knew that learning how to grapple would make me a better teacher? But it does, and I’m all for it!
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