Sean’s become more and more interested in fencing ever since he took a few classes with Piedmont Park and Rec last summer. He’s now an enthusiastic student of Maestro Harold Hayes at the Pacific Fencing Club in Alameda. I enjoy going after work to admire Maestro Hayes’ teaching style, imagining how it might translate to the kid’s aikido class. Within a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, he establishes clear boundries of respect (a genteel pause while looking directly at an errant student brings things back on line quite nicely), while gently raising the bar or humerously challenging the student’s confidence. I’ve come to visualize in his methodology an embodiment of Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development: tolerance of the student’s incorrectness while continually maintaining a position just beyond their level of achievement.

Max, Carl, Sean, and Rebecca

Sean, Rebecca, and Carl with Maestro Hayes

Sean lunges at Rebecca