The Power of Teaching SKILLZ

“Instead of training children to meet the expectations of adults, train adults to meet the physical, intellectual, emotional and social developmental needs of children.” – Melody Johnson.

An unmatched level of passion, heart and drive motivates us to support, nurture and guide today’s youth. Whether on or beyond the mats, teaching how children learn best is paramount to their success in not only their martial arts training but in academics, extracurricular activities, and beyond!

At Dauntless Martial Arts and Dauntless SKILLZ, we believe in the power of play, learning, and teaching with purpose. This is why we employ the concepts of Teaching SKILLZ developed by founder and childhood development expert Melody Johnson.

Teaching SKILLZ is a concept born from the idea that we, as parents, teachers, coaches, and instructors, are all called to help foster and nurture the spark of learning within our children. Their beautiful minds, bodies, and spirits are constantly scanning, detecting, experimenting, and testing, seeking new information that overall supports their age-appropriate stages of physical, intellectual, emotional, and social development.

On the mats, there are 8 specific science and psychology-based Teaching SKILLZ that we are actively and interchangeably engaging in with our ninjas via age-specific game-based drills. They include:

- Healthy Competition

- Choices

- Prompting Good Behavior

- Trickery

- Up the Rep

- Neurobics

- Intrinsic Motivation

- Extrinsic Motivation

For instance, say our ninjas are enjoying a Teamwork drill in Basic SKILLZ with our instructors. The class is evenly divided into two groups. We are actively setting the stage to apply the concept of Healthy Competition, a tool in which students step up their game when faced with a challenge in a fun, supportive, and team-focused environment.

When our Pediatric Ninja Specialists prompt Teaching SKILLZ like Healthy Competition via game-based learning, we are not only creating an experience for our students to thrive in learning how to work together as a team, but we are also laying the groundwork—the foundation of connection with our students in the way they learn best.

From the concepts of Choices to Neurobics, Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, and everything in between, instructors are employing strategies of support on the mats that are actively equipping our ninjas to practice standing up for themselves confidently. As our children grow and develop, they will face numerous situations and challenges where the use of their strong voices will be critical. Learning in a safe, respectful, and supportive environment how to speak one’s truth is so important and something that we believe in supporting our students every step of the way.

If you would like to learn more about how you, as a parent, teacher, and/or coach, can use the concepts of Teaching SKILLZ beyond the mats, reach out to our Dauntless SKILLZ Team! We LOVE helping families thrive and are honored to support our community in the journey of raising SKILLZ Strong Ninjas.