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Empowering Students and Building Confidence Through Martial Arts: PBL and SEL | E212
Former educator Matt Eyler shares his inspiring journey from the classroom to the dojo, revealing how martial arts became a beacon of hope and resilience during the turbulent times of the COVID pandemic. In our conversation, Matt opens up about his unique teaching approach, which intertwines character education and self-regulation with martial arts, creating a nurturing environment that promotes personal growth and leadership. You'll hear how his passion for martial arts from a young age guided him to address students' emotional and social needs with newfound effectiveness.
Martial arts offers more than just physical self-defense; it’s a powerful catalyst for self-esteem and confidence. We explore stories of students who transformed from shy individuals to strong, self-assured leaders. Through engaging activities like affirmations and positive body language, Matt demonstrates how martial arts equips young people with tools to navigate life's challenges without turning to violence. This episode highlights the broader impact of martial arts training on personal development, showcasing its potential to reshape how individuals perceive themselves and interact with the world around them.
Our discussion takes a deeper dive into integrating character development within academic settings and the role of martial arts studios as community partners. Matt shares insights on how schools can enhance social-emotional growth and academic success by collaborating with local resources. We provide practical advice for educators seeking to foster meaningful partnerships that enrich educational environments. Tune in to discover how martial arts not only builds physical strength but also cultivates courage, resilience, and leadership skills that extend far beyond the dojo.
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Welcome to the PBL Simplified Podcast. I'm your host, ryan Stoyer, chief Inspiration Officer here at Magnify Learning, and fired up to have another guest episode lined up for you. We've got Matt Eiler, who has a martial arts studio, and you're thinking how does martial arts and PBL connect? You're going to find out today, but I do want to check in, just in case it's your first time here at the PBL Simplified Podcast. You are in the right spot if you want to talk about project-based learning, and if you go to pblsimplifiedcom that's pblsimplifiedcom you can get a whole series of YouTube videos. Whether you're a teacher, we've got a set for you. Or if you're an administrator, we've got a set for you. Just a great place for you to get your precursor course on project-based learning and jump in there. And then, if you have some questions or you've got comments based on that, you go to pblsharecom and we might just share them here on the podcast. So thanks for joining us.
Ryan Steuer:I'm going to jump into our conversation now with Matt Eiler. Matt is a former general and special education teacher, so he knows our world, but now he's using martial arts to create positive minds and strong bodies. His work not only had a positive impact on his martial arts studio but the public education system. So he is looking at a whole rounded child that he, an adult, that he's working with. It's not just martial arts, it's character education. It is, you know, how do you regulate yourself? A lot of the things that we talk about in the classroom. Matt's doing those. So I think we're gonna have a great crossover conversation here. Listen to what he has for his goals If you go to his website and we'll have it in the show notes. But for the leadership team, it says one of our goals at Trinity Martial Arts is to raise up the leaders of tomorrow. That is why you will find many high-ranked students at our school assisting with the training of younger, lower-ranked students during class. These students are part of our leadership team, taking on the role of junior instructors, so they not only train themselves but attend professional development as well, where they continue to grow their skills as martial artists, teachers, students and individuals.
Ryan Steuer:And now you know why Matt is on the podcast because we love professional development. We think it's for all ages and he's crushing it with some mentorship and the work he's doing in the studio. Matt, thanks for joining us today. No, I'm happy to be here. Hey, would you tell us before we jump in I get to the first question tell us a little bit about your studio in New York, kind of where you're at, and maybe even why you started, would be awesome, because you've got kind of this ethos that it's not just about learning you know this new skill set of martial arts but you really are training and I assume it's a little bit different. Usually the higher ranked belts are not necessarily training with the youngers, but you've got this really neat mentorship program. So tell us a little bit about your studio.
Matt Eyler:Yeah, absolutely so. I mean, I started martial arts when I was about 10 years old, so I've been doing it. It'll be 24 years this fall that I've been training. I started for the same reason that a lot of kids start martial arts. You know, I got bullied. I needed improved confidence, needed better physical fitness. My parents enrolled me and it was really impactful in my life.
Matt Eyler:I ended up being at the martial arts studio, sometimes five, six days a week, just because that's where I wanted to be. And from a young age I also knew that I wanted to work with kids. You know, you ask a preschooler what they want to be when they grow up. They want to be a firefighter, a policeman. Well, my answer was always I wanted to be a teacher, from the time I was like four or five years old, and it never changed.
Matt Eyler:So when I graduated high school, I went to college for education. I have my bachelor's in mathematics, with a general and special education certification one through six, and I got my master's in reading instruction and I taught for a couple of years in New York City and then about seven or eight years in upstate New York, about two hours north of the city, and really, really always loved working with kids, um, but I always had this background of martial arts as well, and eventually, one of the things that I got frustrated with with education is a lot of the not the education, the academics part of it, but a lot of the red tape, um, and a lot of the background things that teachers have to deal with. And some teachers are excellent at dealing with those things. I was not, and so I was very frustrated by my inability to get my students to the level where I wanted to, because there were all these socioeconomic and emotional needs that weren't able to be met in a six, seven hour day in the classroom. So when the COVID pandemic happened, obviously schools were shut down and I kind of took it as my opportunity to exit teaching.
Matt Eyler:Around. The same time, during COVID, my instructor, who was in his seventies I had been working for him part-time he decided to close up shop and and retire and he said hey, listen, I have this school of X amount of students. Would you like to take my students, take my supplies and open up your own school? And that's what happened. We opened up in September of 2020.
Matt Eyler:We started with about 60 or so students who had come from my instructor's school and COVID was just in New York was very, very restrictive and we had a lot to work around, which was fine, but we made it work and we just celebrated our four-year anniversary of being open this past September and now we've multiplied the number of students we have several times. So we are growing, we are successful and now I am able to meet those emotional and social needs of my students in the context of martial arts. But I constantly have parents telling me and teachers because a lot of our parents are teachers saying how much they see the impact that our martial arts and character development curriculum are having on them in the classroom in their other activities, and so it has been a very fulfilling part of my life and I'm really enjoying what I'm doing now and my teaching background has helped a lot with that and I think that we're still on the same team with teachers in a lot of ways.
Ryan Steuer:Yeah, congratulations on the success of your studio.
Ryan Steuer:And I think you nailed it right there at the end. Right, it takes a lot to really impact the next generation, right? We can't do it just from the classroom and we can't do it with organizations just outside of the classrooms, right? So we're working together and it sounds like you've kind of found your sweet spot right Of how you interact with learners and how you're equipping them. Can you give us a little bit more about your story? So, on the podcast, we always start with the first question is what is your why for the work that you do? And here we're really trying to get to kind of ground zero, like what is it that drives you? Where's the passion at? So what's the why for you and your work?
Matt Eyler:Yeah, I mean I taught in both. All the schools that I taught in were Title I schools, low income, 95% of the kids were on free reduced lunch and I got very, very frustrated with the fact that I was trying to and I taught mostly special education, self-contained classrooms and I got very frustrated by the fact that I was trying to teach academics but there was a lot of other components that were not being met. I mean and teachers know this, we've had these conversations about you can't, yeah, you can't. You can't learn if you're hungry. You know you can't learn if you know you're. You don't have parents at home that are fulfilling those emotional needs or mentorship and things like that.
Matt Eyler:So you know, a lot of the things that teachers are frustrated with I was frustrated with, and so my why with opening the martial arts school was obviously I care very deeply about martial arts, I love self-defense, I love the competitive side of it. It's all great, but I wanted to create an atmosphere where students were not only learning a skill that I care deeply about, but were learning social and emotional and mental goals right, things that would help them be successful in other areas of their life. So in our martial arts studio. We are constantly relating what we do with martial arts to academics, to other sports and activities, to how they have create relationships with their friends, family, neighbors. And you might think that, well, what does that have to do with punching and kicking? But you know, just like project-based learning, where you're giving them a task in order to learn something, we're doing similar, the same things, where we are giving them thought experiments during their learning to think about and talking about how they apply to areas outside of the martial arts studio.
Matt Eyler:And that was really my why for doing this is I wanted to create an environment where students could have those needs met to better them in academics. So, you know, in a lot of ways I left teaching but at the same time, I see myself as a person that is partnering with teachers and we've done a lot of that in our community. I've gone in and read stories to the kindergartners at my local schools, I do self-defense seminars for Girl Scout troops and other community events. You know we're very involved in our community and so, like I said, you know I left teaching in the role of teaching, but we're still very much involved in that role of equipping students.
Ryan Steuer:Yeah, and I think you did a great job of that. And just as a couple more questions, I'm going to really hone in on that community partner aspect where you're really tying into schools. I think that's important, I think our listeners want to hear that. But even in your opening story you kind of talked about this idea of maybe being bullied when you were a kid, and bullying is obviously a big issue in schools and I think there's a lot of different ways to come at the problem. Like most of our problems in education, there's no one solution. Right, it's not like well, okay, here's the answer. And so there's one that obviously there's reporting, there's protecting, but you went on the edge on the side of like equipping and empowering a learner so that they're not bullied, like can you talk to that a little bit more? Am I right on that idea that you're building up learners so that they're not bullied? How does that work?
Matt Eyler:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, where to start are we? Character development is a big part of what we do and some of those character traits that we talk about are confidence and courage and those kind of, like you said, empowering character traits. And a lot of times people think of martial arts. They think about like you know, like Cobra Kai. They think about you know, and there are schools out there like that. We are not one of them.
Ryan Steuer:I'm assuming that it's not like the answer to bullying isn't a crane kick, is that right?
Matt Eyler:I mean as much as you might want to, that is not the solution. And so a lot of what we talk about with martial arts is doing martial arts in a way that is so confident, in a way that is so strong, in a way that is so positive, empowering, that they never have to use their martial arts. Right, they have created this self-esteem and built up this staircase of positivity and they're at the top of it now and now. They have this big foundation and structure that, even when they are bullied, even when they are put in a situation which might be uncomfortable or even dangerous, right, they have the tools to handle that. And the tool of punching and kicking is the last one you pull out of the toolbox. Um, you know it is and we can, we can have conversations. I know administrators, right, obviously don't ever want to see that and I understand a hundred percent why, um, but that is why we equip students with so many tools before the punching and kicking comes out.
Matt Eyler:So some ideas that we talk about, for example, in martial arts, we are very loud. Not only do we yell when we punch and we kick, but even when students are talking, we encourage them to talk in a loud voice. We encourage them to make eye contact A good example of this. Every class we start with what we call our student creeds, which are kind of like mantras that we have the students repeat at the beginning of every class very positive framing. And we'll have students come up and volunteer to say them in front of the class, and just that in itself is practicing. All right, are you standing tall? Are you looking at your audience? You know?
Matt Eyler:what I don't think they can hear you, do you think you can be even louder than me, right, framing it in that way? And the kids just think it is like, oh, I don't get to be loud at home, I get to be loud here. This is great, I get to scream like a crazy person, um. But they don't realize that they are practicing good habits of how they speak, how they stand, how they carry themselves, um, and I've seen students transform from kind of like that clark kent to superman. You know, clark kent's got the glasses and it's kind of hunched over and very soft spoken to. All of a sudden, the glasses come off, they stand up straight and they've got this very bold voice, um.
Matt Eyler:And so it is teaching skills like that in the context of martial arts that translate into their social development outside Um. And so it is about empowering them to be confident enough in their abilities that they say when someone else tries to knock me down, you know, it doesn't matter what they say or what they're doing, I'm secure enough in who I am that I don't have to engage in that behavior, and that's a very hard thing to do. There are lots of adults that struggle with that as well, but we're trying to combat and equip that for our students, you know, in that atmosphere where bullying is a real problem.
Ryan Steuer:Yeah, I mean we talked to leaders on the podcast about affirmations, right, and you guys are yelling them out loud and I'm sure your, your students, don't even really fully understand, probably like the benefits of that right Like yelling. I'm confident, I am strong. Right, that's a big deal. You're doing a great job.
Matt Eyler:Yeah, and we make it fun too, like I right, that's a big deal, you're doing a great job. Yeah, and we make it fun too, like um, yeah, I'll say like I'll have a student say like, oh, I can't do that and I'll be like you know, oh, did you just? Did you just say a bad word? Like what?
Matt Eyler:no, I didn't what you said, can't, like you know you shouldn't be saying that you know, like, that's a terrible, that's a terrible word, um, and so it'll little ways. There are always opportunities, even when we're doing something like a combination punching and kicking drill, where we can put that emphasis on their mentality and their positive framing and it becomes so much more than just kicking and punching. It comes the way they look at themselves. That starts to change.
Ryan Steuer:Yeah, that's so good. Can you think of a learner Like? You kind of mentioned it kind of vaguely, but can you give us a specific student? That was kind of clark kent the superman, like somebody who would have been a pretty good target, you know, for bullying and we can see those right. As educators, we kind of know like I'm going to watch out for this kid over here. Can you give us an example of a kid that was kind of in that position and now they're in a different spot?
Matt Eyler:yeah, I mean, I have, I have a lot of them. That's a very recurring theme in martial arts and I'm not the only martial arts instructor that does a great job with that. You know, when martial arts schools advertise, a lot of times they advertise confidence and skill building like that and it's not just a lot of fluff Like those. I've experienced it as myself as a student in martial arts that change. But I have a student, you know, just off the top of my head recently, who has always been a quiet student. He is meek, he is petite, you know, very thin, gangly kid, smart kid, but very soft spoken and awesome martial artist, though, like amazing kid, really tries hard, super flexible, can kick above his head, great spar. And you know, just in the classroom, in the social setting of school, was getting bullied and picked on and didn't know how to carry himself. And so he's been with me probably about three years now, maybe a little bit more, and we've seen that evolution where you know he realizes like, hey, I can do this tough thing in karate. Like you know, master eiler that's what they call me master eiler is giving me this drill where I have to do three kicks without dropping above my waist level and you know what I can do, that like I'm doing it. Um, what else, what else can I do? And I say that all the time, like what else can you do outside of karate?
Matt Eyler:And just recently I had his mom come to me and she said, hey, I want to let you know, like, um, there's this kid in school that's like constantly picking on him. It's been years like he's in, he's in seventh grade now and this kid's been giving him a hard time. It's like third, fourth grade. And I was like, oh my gosh, did he, did he get in a fight? Because, like there's a way to handle that, I don't want to encourage that, but like I want to know, kind of, where they're at. She goes, no, no.
Matt Eyler:The kid came over to him and said get out of my seat and lunch. And, um, my child looked at him and said no, I'm not going to, and kind of stood his ground and then he was able to get the appropriate teacher saw, and he was able to handle that conflict the appropriate way. But she looked at me and said like he would never have done that a year ago. You know, two years ago he would have complied and been like, ok, yeah, sure I'll, I'll get out of your seat because I'm not confident enough in myself to. I don't have enough strong feelings about myself to say, hey, I'm worthy to sit here. And you know, that's what we want students to say. We want students to say humbly, no-transcript.
Matt Eyler:And so I was so proud of this student for doing something that didn't involve any martial arts but, at the same time, use so many of the skills that we're learning here in martial arts. And I have countless stories like that. That's just the most recent one that's come to my mind. And you know, the student, he's still. He's still quiet, he's still meek. You know, he's still definitely got room for improvement. I say to my students all the time what's the biggest room in the whole world? The room for improvement. It's, it's. He's on that path. He's made so much growth and he's working his way up that, that staircase that I was telling you about, um, and I hope that you know one day, uh, bigger, bigger challenges than a kid telling you to get out of his seat, you know, are going to come and I hope he feels empowered to handle those challenges.
Ryan Steuer:Yeah, I think we forget that. You know the, the voice we listen to most often is our own inner voice, right? So it's like how, how strong is our inner voice? And even once you get past bullies in eighth grade, like you're still going to have your inner voice talking to you. So in education, we are constantly I think constantly is the okay word Like we're fighting apathy in the classroom, right?
Ryan Steuer:And we say we fight apathy with authenticity, with project-based learning, right and in your world, you know, I don't know, maybe this is not an issue, but it from the classroom side. We might look and say, well, martial arts seems like fun and it's cool, so you don't have any issues with, you know, apathy or engagement. But is that true? And, and if you don't have that problem, why is that?
Matt Eyler:Yeah, no, I think I mean it looks different, right? Um, uh, we were talking a little bit before you pressed record about the different aspects of martial arts. Right, we have the art part, which is the breathing and the movements and the beautiful kicks, and we have the sport part, which is the competitive side, right, the sparring, the fighting. And then we have the self-defense side, which is very practical, like you know wrist locks and grappling and that type of thing. You know, trinity means three. We do all three of those things sport, art and self-defense. And so there's always aspects of our curriculum that students resonate with more than others. We have some students that love the sparring, right, they love to put on the gear and they love to go at it. And then we have some students who say you know what, I'm not really interested in that. I just I do this for exercise, I want to breathe, I want to move, um. And so, you know, we have that apathy where, you know, there are certain things that kids, you know, resonate with more than others, and they say, hey, you know, I'm not really into this, or you know, I don't really like this part of it, um, and so what we really try to do is have students see the value in doing those activities right. So, for example, if you don't like sparring, right, you don't like the competitive side of it, but you really like we call them forms, which are the movements, the patterns, but you really like the forms, you know. We talk about how, like hey, you know what, if you are able to kick really fast in your sparring match, that's going to strengthen your legs so that you can do a better job with your form. So we're giving them a task in one scenario that's going to promote learning. In another scenario it's kind of like how you know, with your standards in education, right, even if you're doing a math lesson, there are reading standards that are being met right, and so we point to those so that students are able to grasp onto those and say like hey, you know what. This may not be my favorite thing, but I'm still engaged in my learning in this aspect, you know, obviously being a business and not a public school, right, if students really don't want to do martial arts, they are free to go right, and as a teacher, I want to invest my time in the students that want to be here. You know, I'm never for forcing a kid to do something they don't want, like, obviously kids have to eat their broccoli, like kids have to, you know, go to school. But I'm very realistic Martial arts isn't for everyone.
Matt Eyler:You know, I've had students come to me and say, hey, listen, martial arts, you were a great instructor. I love it. But I'm really into football and I'm going to do football. And I say to them like, hey, as long as you're doing something with your time right, as long as you're not sitting home on the couch, that's fine.
Matt Eyler:But there are moments where a kid does need to be encouraged and sometimes being, like you said I love that word authentic, being real with them and saying like, hey, here's what the goal is, here's how I want to help you, here's what we're trying to achieve. And you know, maybe you have a goal that I'm not aware of. Oh, I didn't know that you wanted to go to that tournament next month. Oh, let me help you get there. And we're constantly having those conversations about goal setting and directing our students towards those goals so that their learning of martial arts is very streamlined, right, and they're able to achieve those goals, because we're constantly reevaluating them and supporting them in that and the character development aspect of it is one part that supports the physical learning in martial arts.
Ryan Steuer:Yeah, I love it. So you don't have just magical engagement either, right so, but there are tools and there are skills that you use right to bring engagement. You know what I would pull out like? We kind of use this wording of like letting kids know the why of what they're doing right, and it sounds like you've got some of the same ideas. So, as an educator who's now steeped in martial martial arts, you've got your own studio. What are some lessons that our listeners are PBL movement makers? What can they take from a martial arts school like you and how can they bring that to their school or their classroom?
Matt Eyler:Yeah, I think the biggest thing that I want to drill home to people and this is part of the reason that I wanted to step out of the world of public school education was there are so many needs that need to be met of our students that are not found in our math, reading, science standards, right, and we need to be thinking about how to encourage students in a way that is going to help them outside of the classroom and by helping them outside of the classroom, is going to help them with those math and reading and science and social studies standards. And what I mean by that is looking at a student and saying you know they have social and emotional needs. You know they have, for example, that student that I was telling you about earlier who gets bullied. He is dyslexic, right, and so a lot of his anxiety comes from not being able to read at the level which his peers are able to read out. Now, as a martial arts instructor, I'm not teaching him how to read that is out of my depth of what I'm doing here in the classroom but by meeting his needs socially and emotionally and creating that confidence and creating that positive thinking now when he goes into his classroom and gets his speech and language services for dyslexia. He's coming with a positive mind framing of.
Matt Eyler:You know what Master Eiler said said he was so amazed that I did those three jump kicks in a row without dropping my leg. What else can I do? You know, I'm I'm now empowered to meet this challenge that I face, and so I would encourage teachers, when they are looking at their standards and planning their lessons, to try to put a bigger emphasis on the character traits that they are building. And I know a lot of schools have character development programs and those are great. But the schools that I was in I often felt like those were an afterthought. Not all schools absolutely, like I'm not speaking for everyone, but it was kind of like oh, this is our character trait of the month and oh yeah, teachers, the month is over.
Matt Eyler:Who do you select as your your character trait winner of the month? Like, did you actually talk about that all month? Right, if your character trait was courage, did you talk about the student who raises his hand in math class, who is normally never raises his hand? Did you try to exemplify the kid that you noticed going above and beyond on his science project? There are ways to incorporate those social and emotional and character development lessons and needs into our academic structure. And so, just like you look and write the standards on the board for what you're doing for science, I would encourage people to take those character traits especially if you already have a character development program in your school and try to always have those at the forefront of your mind and point out where you see those and try to teach those in the classroom and I know teachers are juggling a million things. So here I am, saying like here's one more thing you should be doing, am saying like here's one more thing you should be doing. I know it's not easy, but if we can shift our focus and our thinking of how we teach to a supporting those needs, I think that our academics are going to rise.
Ryan Steuer:Yeah, I think you give a, I think you give a good point and you know even from your, your vantage point now, which I think is a unique one, just again, that's why I wanted to have you on the podcast is you don't have magic engagement because you have a martial arts studio, right, there's still pieces that you have to tie in, and punching and kicking isn't enough, right. So it's character development. So for our classroom teachers and you're right, a lot of schools do have character development, and a lot of times it's like is this really what I should be doing right now as an English teacher? And I think what you're saying is yes, and as we plant the seeds of courage and whatever those character developments are, it actually enhances our academics, right, Because now we have learners and we're meeting their social, emotional needs and they're actually ready to learn in a different way. So that's a big deal.
Ryan Steuer:I want to touch on one other piece I think is really important, because you talked about the idea of you get out in the community so that your martial arts studio is not just in your four walls, even. Right, you're getting out into the schools, so we're always asking people to connect to a community partner to have their PBL unit connect to somebody outside of the school and you would obviously be an awesome community partner. You get the heart of this work Not all community partners do. But let's say that somebody finds they're in your neighborhood and they find you. What's the best way for them to reach out and connect with you? And generally, I guess, if you're a classroom teacher, how would you be as a business owner now be most receptive to a reach out? Is it an email, a phone call? What's the first ask? How should we start that conversation?
Matt Eyler:Yeah, I mean, we're very modern at my school so we have a phone, but 90% of my new clientele comes through email and social media. It comes through SEO on our website and social media engagement. So those are probably the best avenues to reach me. We are I am my wife is in communications. We are very active on social media. I love social media as a platform.
Matt Eyler:I know a lot of people, you know, think it's toxic and I understand why, but for me it has been a great avenue to share with the community about what it is we are doing and engage in some problems that parents and teachers are facing.
Matt Eyler:So we are constantly doing posting on Facebook, not just information about our classes and not just information about martial arts, but talking about the issues that kids face, such as why, such as bullying, and why martial arts is so beneficial, and reaching out and partnering with people in that way. And, like I said before, not everyone is going to do martial arts. Right, martial arts is not a good fit for everybody. I don't want everybody to do martial arts, but I do want them to have these tools and be equipped in a way that helps them find success, and you know the things that we're putting out on social media, the ways we're reaching out to our community. That's just one avenue that we're doing that. So you know, if anyone's ever interested or wants to collaborate or just wants to pick brains or, you know, do anything like that, find us on our website at training martial arts and whycom. There's a contact form, our emails on there. Or you can find us on Facebook, instagram, tik TOK at training martial arts and why.
Ryan Steuer:Yeah. So there's a lot to pull out there. So, in general, if you've got community partners that are active on social media, reach out to them via social media, right, because that's what you're used to. And then I also just heard Master Eiler say hey, if you reach out to them on TikTok or some other social media, he'd love to connect. So I mean we all know that at this point, right Zoom is an option for classrooms, for businesses, we all have to be on it and, uh, so you can connect with anybody, even if you're not connected geographically.
Ryan Steuer:Now, if you are in the hudson valley region of new york, right, like geographically, there, you, you now have a, you know where to go for martial arts help, right, our community partners, and I think we've also, you know, just kind of given teachers, hopefully, a new insight.
Ryan Steuer:That's kind of what I was hoping for with this episode as well. Is like, if you have that kind of meek student that struggles because I know, you know I had a bunch of them in the classroom and it's like I would talk them up, right, but I had like 48 minutes with 30 kids, right, so how much can you do? It's like, maybe just a quick suggestion, like, have you thought about martial arts? And my guess would be the response would be like no, that's ridiculous, I'm a small, meek little kid. It's like, no, that's the point, right, I think that's the point. So, before I've got one more question for you, matt, but, um, but before we get to that kind of this point we just kind of stumbled on just now is like, who do you think who is that perfect kid for you? Like, who's the avatar that you think should be coming to your martial arts studio. Do you have one?
Matt Eyler:Yeah, I mean, the great thing about martial arts is we service all different types of people. My oldest student is in their 60s. We start with students that are three and four our youngest. I have students that have mobility issues. I have students that have learning disabilities. I have students that are on the spectrum, right, just every walk of life. We have men, we have women, we have boys, we have girls. It's all different types of student.
Matt Eyler:But what I would say is that you don't have to bring anything in the table to enjoy martial arts. Right, you don't think, well, I'm too heavy, or I'm not fit, or I'm too quiet, or I'm too not strong enough. Like, a good instructor will work with you and set those goals. You know I've had, I think, of some of the students that I've had over the years. I've had students that were deaf. I've had students that you know had limb differences. You know there's ways that a good instructor can work with you and as long as you're willing to learn and engage, you're going to be great at martial arts. You're going to be great at martial arts and a good instructor will support you in finding what your goals are and help you to be engaged.
Matt Eyler:Now, that being said, you know, the students that I've seen the most growth with that mean the most to me as a teacher, and I'm sure a lot of teachers will agree with this have not been my superstar students. I have students in my school who are amazing competitors. You know. They travel for competition, um, they're always winning first place golds and I love those students and they're super fun to work with and super fun to teach. But the ones that really bring a tear to my eye and the ones that I go, man, I'm so proud of them, are the students that come with nothing and then gain everything. And so, as long as you're willing to learn and engage, um, and try new things, and you have an instructor that's willing to help you reach those goals, you're going to you're going to be golden in martial arts.
Ryan Steuer:Yeah, I love that's such a great answer and one I maybe wouldn't really have expected, but really any of your learners that are sitting in a seat right Could be great martial arts right.
Matt Eyler:Yeah, absolutely.
Ryan Steuer:So find a good martial arts studio in your area. If you're not sure if they're great, reach out to matt and he'll help you out so last, last question. So imagine you're in front of a room full of teachers and principals who are pouring their hearts and souls into their work every single day. They truly desire the best outcomes for all of their learners. What parting advice do you have for them on their pbl journey?
Matt Eyler:I mean there's so, there's so much. I think if you have teachers and educators and administration that's the word I was looking for who really deeply care, then they need to make sure that they're caring about the whole student. You know we get hung up on academics and test scores and those absolutely have a place. I'm not saying that those aren't important, but really engage the student on a deeper emotional level. You know we have character development programs, but really think about if those are effective and if those are being actively taught. Or are they just another checklist that we have in our school? Because there's so many checklists we have to meet, it's hard to meet them all. And thinking outside the box, you know, like, for example, I hear a lot of teachers talk about like, oh, respect is our character development trait of the month, that's great. But if you've got a student that is very, very respectful but doesn't have any endurance, right, Maybe that is the character trait that you want to work on, right, Maybe they give up too easily, Make that your character trait.
Matt Eyler:How can you teach that? How can you develop that in your lessons? You know, look at your students needs. Look at which a lot of teachers already do, but look at their needs, not just academically but socially, and try to incorporate those into your lessons. And if anyone has questions about that, I know it might be weird to ask the martial arts guy for help with that. Might be weird to ask the martial arts guy for help with that, but I've been where those teachers are. I know how hard it is and now I'm finding different avenues to engage students and they're going back into their classrooms in a positive way. So if anyone just wants to chat and have a conversation and pick brains about like hey, I'm having trouble with this or have a student who's struggling with this, how do I incorporate this into a math lesson, to a reading lesson, into a read aloud or into recess, I'm willing to chat about that because I feel strongly about incorporating those things into the classroom so that we have greater success academically as well.
Ryan Steuer:There you go, and now you know why we had Master Eiler on the podcast. If you were wondering how martial arts and PBL fit together, that's it. We're trying to educate the whole student, the whole learner. We're not just trying to master standards or perform really well on a standardized test. Granted, that's part of it, but we want our learners to be super successful after they leave us. Matt, thanks for being with us on the podcast and sharing what you do we appreciate it.
Matt Eyler:Yeah, no problem at all. I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much for having me.
Ryan Steuer:All right. Pbl Simplified audience movement makers You've got a whole new avenue here for community partners. I don't know that I've ever recommended a martial arts studio as a community partner, but I highly do now, right, so reach out. They're doing more than kicks and punches. Right, they're trying to equip our learners fully and they're open to the work. That's why they're doing the work. We're on the same team, so make an easy outreach. If it's somebody that does a lot of social media, reach out that way. If it's not, maybe you just show up or send a text, or right, but go ahead and reach out.
Ryan Steuer:So thank you for joining me on this leadership guest episode with Master Eiler, combining martial arts studio and PBL. Go out and lead inspired. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the PBL Simplified Podcast. Lead Inspired. Player in search, project-based learning and PBL Simplified popped up. When they see those reviews, they know that high quality, visionary leaders are listening, so they tune in too and they can find their way into the PBL journey. Thank you so much for leaving a review. Thank you so much for listening. I appreciate you.
