Category: being a better colleague

Series: White People Homework (12) Bad Behaviors

A quick look at school behavior programs.

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Our current institutions are in dire need of systemic overhauls, and education top of the list. Please read and keep Ilana Horn’s thread and work close to your work and research. I am. If you’re a teacher who’s work in a school during the past ten years you may have heard or read, or even supported some of the behavioral management programs. And the trend is to have a white man create, package and sell these programs. This post is going to upset some educators and colleagues, but the intent is to provide information and background, with the hope of impact being you change and help change your own classroom policies, know how to push back, and keep districts accountable.

Here are some I’ve encountered, and others I’ve read:

Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess: I read this book on my own a few years ago, and it didn’t sit right with me. I am already a creative teacher, and I found the ‘pirate’ thing gimmicky. He also fan-boy’d Tony Robbins, and yeah. No. Thanks. So, I put it aside, and moved on. I am kind of repulsed by a grown man who wears a pirate-style bandana on his head and a black t-shirt. I tried to go through the #TLAP hashtag on Twitter and can’t find precise criticisms, but a whole lot of fans who gush over this work. But the criticisms tend to run toward this: It’s teacher-centered. And since 80% of teachers are white women, that’s problematic.

PBIS: PBIS stands for “Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports.” It’s based on a Tier System. Every school I’ve worked in (now at three) has used PBIS, or when I’ve gone in for interviews have been asked about my knowledge and expertise with this system.

It’s a glorified “Change your clip” chart. And these are only my observations, because life at school goes so fast, any chance to discuss and create a sustainable method falls apart. The problems with PBIS is it’s a token economy: it rarely gets to the place for students to get to internalized positive behavior motivation. I have witnessed years of students ‘gaming’ the token system, too. One year in particular, kids kept the tickets that were intended to be traded for prizes and snacks, hoarding them as the treasure or trading them on the open market. It was actually quite genius. Students know inauthentic, tokenized systems of oppression. And the more important factor which lead to lack of success and meaningful change: there wasn’t the support for students. The physical, real-time qualified adult bodies to support students. My dream: instead of school safety officers we have a counselor and adult support for every 30-50 kids, including classroom teaches, counselors, and administration. We don’t overcrowd schools in the first place. We don’t use harmful, hateful violent curriculum (looking at you, programs that use racist, colonized canon). And we stop the systems that promote meritocracy. PBIS is that.

https://www.pbis.org/

Teach Like a Champion: see the above thread for #TLAC. Also: these articles, please:By Layla Treuhaftali, The Power of Pedagogy: Why We Shouldn’t Teach Like Champions

This School Year, Don’t Teach Like a Champion by Ray Salazar

“To some white eduinfluencers who are starting to speak up” by Benjamin Doxtdador

https://dianeravitch.net/2015/09/21/peg-robertson-eviscerates-teach-like-a-champion/

“To be honest, after reading over 100 pages of the book (there will be a follow-up blog when I finish reading the entire book), I have to say it’s incredibly shallow and simplistic – yet the scary part is the dictatorial demand to keep everything shallow, uniform and simplistic. And as mentioned above, Lemov’s beliefs about “teaching like a champion” are beginning to co-opt what true educators really understand about teaching, child development, and engaging learners. This book is a great primer for reducing learning to uniform and robotic student behavior which is easy to “track” (Lemov’s word – not mine) and manage, in order to get the results that you want. And the results that they want are high test scores. Lemov is clear in stating that this work is gauged via state test scores.

https://dianeravitch.net/2015/09/21/peg-robertson-eviscerates-teach-like-a-champion/

“Fast LLama” by Doug Curry http://www.fastllama.com/free-resources – sat in on his trainings. Cute, and he’s congenial, but same stuff.

Second Step: I’ve been through two districts with this and both times they don’t have the money to purchase the support materials. And it’s hokey.

So what to do instead?

Read.

Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond https://crtandthebrain.com/about/

Troublemakers by Carla Shalaby

Article about Troublemakers: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/05/the-power-of-the-troublemaker/525159/

Work with experts on understanding ACES, trauma-informed teaching, etc.

The End of Police in Schools

What do you think of some of these ideas? https://ctl.iupui.edu/Resources/Classroom-Management/Tips-for-Handling-Disruptive-Student-Behavior

What are the goals?

Every parent want their child to be able to go to school and feel free to learn, free from obstructions, bullying, racism, distractions, and fear. They want to know when their child comes home after the school day they have friends, healthy relationships based on mutual respect from adults, have grown their brains, bodies, and joy. And we humans are messy. We have bad days. We experience grief, anger, frustration, and a hundred ways to express these emotions based on our upbringing, context, culture, and desires. We get stuck with labels. I don’t have the answers. Every year I’ve made mistakes. I do know there are better ways to do this. I was a troublemaker in school.

And I still am.

Series: White People Homework: White Teachers (7)

I will try to write this as simply as I can. But it is long. Push back as needed.

My first job, and one where I stayed for twelve years, was a middle school located in South King County, Washington. Being at a school for that long is an honor: I became part of the teaching and family community, and being a consistent, collaborative voice was one of my greatest joys. I am still a fan, mentor, supporter, and friend of many former students who have families and lives of their own. It’s not unreasonable for me to understand since I spent more time (and often money) on my students, putting my own sons at equal or second distance through the love of my job that I would gather years’ worth of memories, notes, and communal shared respect and love. I did, however, notice a change or shift, and it’s taken me the past two years of reflection to recognize what may have been happening. I noticed during about the last two years I was there, that Black male students were hurt. So much so, often power struggles escalated to the point of being concerned for my and their safety (not from me, but from other safety officers).

From 2019-2020 (I left after the 2017-2018 school year, and may have changed the average years of teaching)
  • There are a few key points to share:
    • There were few BIPOC teachers on staff at any point in time
    • We did have occasionally BIPOC assistant principals and principals, but mostly white women in administrative roles
    • We had teams, and then we didn’t. These teams, when functional, (and the ones I was on were functional) were one of the best supports for students in our cohorts we had–hands down.
    • A cross-content team worked together to contact parents, confer with students we felt were in academic or emotional danger, and provide supports and shared expectations. The teams were comprised of white, Hispanic, Black, female and male teachers by default.
    • When we didn’t have teams, as in the last two years I was there, we had little or no support. And the support we did have was limited. We had a team of white women administrators, and that’s a story for another time.

Anyway, I began to notice Black male students were struggling. Many students were, but two in particular had a very difficult time. None of my solid classroom engagement strategies or “management” (which is a problematic word) seemed to help. And even though the current administration dabbled in culturally-relevant teaching and offered what I’m going to term as “CRT Lite” any change of substance or conversation was nonexistent.

During the penultimate year, one student of the two seemed to hate me. He was from another district, and he complained to his mom and other community advocates that I was racist or picking on him. And that was his truth. So one of the family volunteer advocates, a Black woman in the community who knew him and other BIPOC students well, asked if she could come in and observe me. Now, if I had chosen, I could have said no and had admin and union support alike. But that’s not who I am or my practice. She said she was there under the pretense of observing him. She observed me in my class a few times, and then in a quiet voice, told me, in honest surprise, that I was a good teacher and was ‘helping him.’ Well, yes.

Keep that in mind when I share this next part: the next year, my last year in that building, we had one student who also really struggled. But his story, and his actions are traumatic and painful for himself and others. My admin wanted me out, and they got their wish. I moved to another district, a building with mirror demographics of that school I was leaving. I thought it would be great: the admin practically leapt across the interview table, hired me on the spot, and off I went. I got a call from another principal in the district and when he heard I accepted the position at XYZ school, just scoffed and said, “Good luck!”

This school was in a challenging transition. They had a young, white principal who hadn’t received her admin credentials yet. She had been a teacher at a charter school for about three years. School discipline reform, much needed and long overdue, was still in its shaky beginnings. We had a restorative justice person who was forced out of the building mid-year. There were many highlights, one of which I was introduced to Zaretta Hammond’s Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. However, I didn’t have anyone to collaborate on this new learning with because my previous colleagues who shared neuroscience and education work were still at my previous school. This loss of institutionalized knowledge and feelings of isolation grew. And I didn’t realize how much losing connection with my previous school’s community would affect me: but more importantly: how this loss of connection affects students.

Through that year, I had some traumatized students. Behavior is communication. And I realized, just now, that what they saw in me was a threat. A very real, present threat: another white woman teacher, just like every other white woman teacher they’d had. I was the enemy. And they treated me accordingly, and they were justified. They were justified because unless I worked very hard to check my privilege, power, and bias, they were not going to feel safe to learn.

Some facts:

  • The school’s population is almost 900 students in a building designed for maximum capacity of 600.
Important: I could not find data on BIPOC educators.

They came to me with having been shamed, humiliated, and judged by white lady teachers for nearly all of their schooling. Many BIPOC students have to fight all their lives to be heard, respected, and receive equitable and rigorous education. They came prepared to fight, and their movements, actions of leaving classrooms, was their way of expressing what their words couldn’t say. And if they did use words, it was often expletives and tears. They carried in their young bodies the harm of white teachers from day one. How could they see me, Mrs. Love, when I was just another middle-aged, white face? The same race as the president. The same race as police and their principals and the security following them through stores.

This isn’t easy to write. And I have a big ask. White teachers: please–do this internal work. It’s not comfortable, and it’s never ‘done.’ Fight for decolonizing curriculum. Fight for inclusion. Fight on behalf of your students and their families and never, ever expect a reward, thank you, or pat on the back. Do not fall into the savior trope. And yes: take it personally. Because if your student is screaming at you they have the fierceness and bravery of more lifetimes than you can ever imagine. This does not mean you need to dissolve your own dignity or self-respect. But please; do not give the ‘respect’ lessons first: self-respect and dignity matter more. Black lives matter.

Human Rights Aren’t a Political Agenda. Why Don’t Public Schools See It That Way?

And finally: we need to flip the table. I am angry that Jane Elliott’s work wasn’t in my teaching Masters coursework. That work on social justice isn’t the first things we work on as future and current educators. That we don’t confront the questions of if we’re teaching predominately white students or Black and students of color, how is it the same, and what matters?

Jane Elliott

Resources:

Series: WPH Know your history (5)

Kimberly Jones’ “How Can We Win” speech

Kimberly Jones, co-author of I’m Not Dying With You Tonight

https://www.firereads.com/im-not-dying-with-you-tonight.html

Rosewood Massacre

Tulsa Massacre

#1619 Project

And Nikole Hannah-Jones won a Pulitzer this year for her work on the #1619 Project.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/pulitzer-prize-winning-journalist-nikole-hannah-jones-on-protesting-and-democracy/

Series: WPH: Teach Your Children Well (4)

We have an opportunity to change. Right now. No more waiting. Right. Now. We teachers have a responsibility and moral directive to change. Every piece of literature, every writing assignment, every single assessment and classroom “management” piece must be viewed through the lens of equity, justice, and culturally relevant teaching. This series will touch on many of those ideas and practices. This is just a start.

Every parent wants the best for their child. No judgement, buts, or exceptions. And if a white parent is teaching their child racism, prejudice and bigotry, it’s up to us, teachers, buildings and districts, to correct this teaching of hate and ignorance. That’s our job.

The fact of the matter is Derek Chauvin went to school, Amy Cooper went to school, so did Gregory and Travis McMichael, and William Bryan. Their schools failed them, as they have done to much of white America, for all of history. And by extension, they have failed the rest of us, with deadly consequences.

Edweek

Again…this is just a start.

Series: WPH: Militarizing Racism (3)

What is our history and current situation of militarizing police?

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A man was murdered by the state in broad daylight, with witnesses. And maybe, this time, most of us in the United States finally, finally realize that we have gone over the edge of the abyss. While many of us screamed over the injustices, for others, cruelty was the point. We’re not there yet. We’re not anywhere near a place of peace and equality in our nation. When we address the militarization of our police we must address the grip of fear instilled in us by Republicans. They’ve used fear and the military force to keep us silent. Privilege benefits from the silence.

The Trump era is such a whirlwind of cruelty that it can be hard to keep track. This week alone, the news broke that the Trump administration was seeking to ethnically cleanse more than 193,000 American children of immigrants whose temporary protected status had been revoked by the administration, that the Department of Homeland Security had lied about creating a database of children that would make it possible to unite them with the families the Trump administration had arbitrarily destroyed, that the White House was considering a blanket ban on visas for Chinese students, and that it would deny visas to the same-sex partners of foreign officials. At a rally in Mississippi, a crowd of Trump supporters cheered as the president mocked Christine Blasey Ford, the psychology professor who has said that Brett Kavanaugh, whom Trump has nominated to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, attempted to rape her when she was a teenager. “Lock her up!” they shouted.

The Cruelty is the Point by Adam Serwer, The Atlantic, October 3, 2018

In a recent interview, Ben Carson had the audacity to parse out that it wasn’t “tear gas” that was used. Listening to him support Trump was too much. He got so many things wrong. But in the Cabinet of the Damned, Carson played his role well: he’s Black, a doctor, and is brought out to play some role I can’t describe. The naive, innocent voice? The gentle portrayal of Trump? It certainly isn’t a role any other Trump supporter can play, not even his complicit, birtherism wife. She really doesn’t care, do you? Well, Carson does:

“I am very disappointed with the fact that people have used this as an excuse to vandalize and tear up the neighborhoods of the people who are so vulnerable and are least able to afford such things,” he says. “And, you know, I understand the anger and the wrath, but I do not understand why they can’t see that they’re hurting the very people they purport to be standing for.”

Ben Carson, Here and Now interview https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/06/03/ben-carson-protests-coronavirus

Carson: it was White Nationalists. He needs to read Langston Hughes.

Resources:

https://theconversation.com/militarization-has-fostered-a-policing-culture-that-sets-up-protesters-as-the-enemy-139727

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/06/03/president-trump-can-send-military-police-americans-is-doing-so-wise/

White People Homework (1)

White People: Do the Work

As a follow up to this post, The Racist in the Classroom, I offer these resources that may help you grow and learn. Growth is uncomfortable. Growth can be filled with shame, guilt, and cringe-worthy memories. But maybe that’s just me. And I understand and accept what Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi said (paraphrasing) –this work is never done. It’s continual growth and learning. And warning: you might lose friends. You might get trolled by white ladies like this one:

This is the fifth conversation in two days where a white white woman has taken on the mantle of trolling. Circular arguments and bad-faith responses, never directly answering the question or topic at hand.
https://twitter.com/MatthewACherry/status/1267642329168400384

https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/bryan-stevenson-on-the-frustration-behind-the-george-floyd-protests?fbclid=IwAR2pzRQc39JzrF0Sdxp2OmDdnT82I2nu3HRJD92dCmawcYBBjywgBfugQP0

National Museum of African American History and Culture Releases “Talking About Race” Web Portal

Here’s the next places on my journey:

  • Finish reading White Fragility: at this point I’ve pieced together too many excerpts and need to do a deeper reading
  • Readings and study with critical race theory
  • Work with Monise S. on our indigenous studies
  • Work to find a multitude of resources to support my students and organize them to promote engagement, curiosity and purpose
  • Create curriculum for staff and students: some have already been doing this work, and some are just starting on their journey. I’ll meet them where they are.
  • Dig deep into STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING by Dr. Kendi
  • Share a post-a-day about a resource or voice that must be heard

First assignment: understand Trump’s use of sacred religious texts and teachings to prop up and disguise his racism and violent, anti-democratic acts. Two places to start:

Do not use this to justify or state “Well, African countries had slaves, too.” Knock it off.
Understand your history of your own nation.
For ten people who want to read these books, and I know you personally, email me and I’ll buy you a copy. I’m not buying these for trolls, white supremacists, or other bad faith actors.

Little birds.

Whereby I make the Internet angry.

Again.

Well, that was a hefty miscalculation on my part. For many reasons, others on Twitter took my tweet to mean I think journaling is bad. But Twitter is the telephone game x1000, and between my hyperbolic phrasing, and perhaps the exhaustion on my and others’ behalves, we’re just all on edge. And as Joe pointed out, my “all caps” is classless. His response may be “man code” for “watch yourself, young missy,” questioning my teaching credentials and all. I was reminded of David Spade’s recurring receptionist character on SNL, “and YOU are?” And my response to this educator, and others whom I upset, is Emily Dickinson’s poem:

I’m nobody. A frog croaking. A bird singing. Just thinking about stuff and worried about my students.

And my colleagues: you are more than welcome to tell me you don’t agree with me. I just asked us to think and reflect, but I didn’t say it ‘nicely.’ My mother’s philosophy is “never apologize, never explain,” so I’m going to try that now. I tend to be a people pleaser to ease my anxiety, so while I try to buck up and find some courage, not sure how successful I’ll be.

We all come from a wide variety of teaching experiences. We all have something to offer. And who we are for our students may not translate or scale to what we need to be for each other. If I am not the colleague who want to converse or exchange ideas with, that’s completely cool. Often, I don’t have a lot of patience or time for you, either–and that’s okay.

Many teaching practices we did before our buildings closed down were brilliant, creative, rich, meaningful and nuanced. And many of our teaching practices will continue to sparkle and connect.

But many weren’t. There were, and are, inequities, bigotry, racism, poverty, classism, political domestic threats toward some immigrant students and families, lax oversight and accountability, bad faith ed reformers, poor practices and shaky scripted curriculum. Oh, and that state standardized testing, which as it turn out, was an educational albatross.

And I had this random thought, that maybe, just maybe, in our exuberance of trying to stay enthusiastic, engaged, and hopeful, that assigning journaling about the pandemic wasn’t a good idea. To quote, the “WORST.” And I did apologize for my hyperbole. As a choice, ungraded, an idea, no, it’s not a bad idea at all. Helping student writers frame their daily journaling is a great boost. What we may be grieving for, however, is much broader and painful than we care to admit.

We are not physically “there” to catch the body language, emotion, or stress our students are feeling right now. We’re not. And as much as we can duplicate some learning experiences or catch them before they fall, we are just not there. That is a big part to why teaching is emotional and psychologically exhausting — we are aware and watchful for our students’ responses. So now we are bereft of that role, and have a new exhausting role. And he’s right — we are all just trying to do the best we can. That does not excuse us from bad practices or lack of reflection, before the pandemic and now. Nor after.

If we assign something to be graded that may cause additional stress or trauma we are doing harm. And no justification, teacher ego, or defensiveness will change that.

Many people in the thread came to the conversation with breathtaking ideas, kindness, gentle pushback, questions, thoughts, and those are the next focus. Like this wonderful teacher:

Keep journaling, keep thinking. And allow writers to have their thoughts. I’ll have a talk with my inner editor next time.

The luxury of whimsy, part 2

Is anyone else wavering between love and loathing during this moment in history? Love for what people are doing, sharing, and taking others into consideration? Simultaneously loathing how others are just “business as usual’ – the business of trolling, mean-spiritedness, and sniping? Time to separate the treasures from the trash, and understand I don’t have to put up with the second.

A reminder to myself that all I can do is support myself, my family, and my students. That’s all I’ve ever been able to do, and some things don’t change. I’ve been providing LMS classes for years for students (Learning Management Systems) first through Moodle, then Canvas, and now Google Classroom. (Canvas is far and away superior, but oh well. Not my current district’s platform, so I’ll make do.)Best Practices:

Best practices:

  • Make sure grading is equitable as possible: develop assignments that foster growth, allows for mistakes, and mastery of learning
  • Update my grade book as soon as possible. Yes, it is annoying when students turn things in late. (And never mark down for late.) But you do not know what is happening at home. You do not know what some parents do if their child’s grades slip. Save your judgment for something else. Even if the child is acting rude or entitled, so what? You can respectfully let them know what your schedule is for updating grades. Remember, their brains are developing.
  • Support them with other content areas: no matter your content area, you can help make connections to all the other content areas. This is so true for ELA/SS teachers. Find out what students are learning in math, science, their electives, and even PE! There are abundant cross-content connections and curation opportunities

best practices for online teaching and learning:

  • See all of the above
  • Use the Digital Tools as best you can, and take this opportunity to learn something new! My new learning includes Zoom, Google Meets, etc.
  • Things I will bring to the forefront: Actively Learn, ThingLink, and my YouTube Channel.
  • We are inundated with resources now, and I use this blog as a means of keeping track. However, I think Wakelet may be a great resource for this time. Here is a Wakelet I put together for Art History: https://wke.lt/w/s/GyP0bN

I’ll end this post with a promise to myself to share a schedule next. There is nothing like a binder and color-coded tabs to make me feel some semblance of control.

Smithsonian Educational Resources

Finding a Book When You’ve Forgotten Its Title from the New York Public Library

The luxury of whimsy (part 1)

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Routines of comfort

How do I describe the (odd and inappropriate) envy I feel right now when I read colleagues who teach in other schools/districts about the connections they’ve made with students during the COVID19 crisis? Please don’t misunderstand me: I am joyous that students are reaching out to their teachers at this time, that students want to continue learning and keep connecting with their teachers. At least five of my friends have posted ways their students have connected with them. They instilled a love of learning before the pandemic.

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My students this year know I love them, and want the best for them. But they were already on the academic fringes of school, and my concern is that they will be forced to levels of stress that will send them to places, emotionally and physically, where I won’t be able to reach them. I teach in an alternative high school, whose mission is to provide credit recovery as its first priority, and other experiences or creative endeavors may have been a luxury. I love my teaching assignment and district this year –and my colleagues. I am new to the building in many ways, including being the first ELL teacher. They’ve never had a full-time ELL teacher, and it’s difficult to assess how many of my colleagues have delved into SIOP work, but the wonderful part is it doesn’t matter: they are loving, caring, open-minded and seek collaboration. My heart is full. But that is during “normalcy.”

And things are far from normal.*

Time for some magic. And emails. And magical emails.

But now: what to do for my students who many not reach out and connect?

Resources: what my students are currently doing now…

ELA

I have a Google Classroom set up, along with other ELA teachers in my building. I sent them all home with books of their choices, notebooks, a letter, pens, pencils, etc. And yes, a consumable workbook. It nearly broke my heart when one girl asked if she had to do the work on paper and not in the workbook. Think about that for a second: we expect our students to learn but as practice don’t give them the resources?

https://foreshadowya.com/issues/12

My Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf8jj_d1xZNNagCZ6psPemg?view_as=subscriber

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Science

https://twitter.com/weatherchannel/status/1239914344625954816?s=20

Math

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/geometry

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/geometry/hs-geo-foundations

History

The US History teacher has a comprehensive Google Classroom set up, with weekly notes and Power Points. I wish we had more time during my ELL Study Skills class to dive into topics more deeply, but alas, we don’t. https://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html

Family and Consumer Sciences

https://www.familyconsumersciences.com/

https://www.internet4classrooms.com/ct-fcs.htm

Art & Jewelry

https://www.skillshare.com/browse/Jewelry-Making

There are many artists such as Mo Willems who are providing interactive doodle time and art lessons. I may need to do a separate post about this.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/03/16/social-distancing-free-virtual-tours/5060244002/

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/all-the-museum-exhibits-symphonies-and-operas-you-can-enjoy-from-home

*Except for President Trump’s continued and overt racism.

Dodgeball.

My thoughts on coaching and leadership. Image from https://www.sookenewsmirror.com/sports/emcs-hosts-community-wide-dodgeball-tournament-in-sooke/

via GIPHY

https://twitter.com/mrskellylove/status/1210982093729124352?s=20

Let me translate my tweet according, as read/heard through some men’s ears:

“You are all sexist pigs and your coaching pedigree isn’t worth a damn.”

During this Twitter exchange, many great ideas bounced back and forth, and some garbage takes, too. I think most of us ended up shaking virtual hands and walking away, except for one man who blocked me after he posted a gif of a comedian with a “stupid” look on his face. Not sure what his point was, but he’s a administrator of a Christian school, so perhaps he’s working on his faith but trolling teachers on Twitter. I am being snarky, but this illustrates how fragile and serious many of the men on this thread took my requests. Many educators spoke up, too, and I want to highlight their views.

All I was saying is coaching is not the only thing that makes a great administrator/leader. In fact, I would like us to put it as a far tenth on the list.

Let me be clear: a sports coach, dance coach, cheer, or anything to do with athleticism has my respect, with this caveat: some coaches are the worst bullies, pedophiles, creeps, abusers, and predators out there. And so are teachers. And principals and vice principals.

Leading me to my point: how often are sports/coaches held to idolatry and adulation? Can we Northern Americans name a day when some kind of sport isn’t in the forefront of many people’s minds? We go from season to season, marking the calendar off with football to basketball to baseball back to football. It’s so pervasive in our American culture, it is the ‘fish don’t know they’re wet’ analogy. They can’t know. For some, their time coaching defines their ability to make others move in one direction, and according to Dr. Johnson, it seemed a great place to start if one wants to move into administration.

And I say hogwash.

Whether or not coaching experience makes one a better leader or potential administrator is such a tired, cliche question. It’s unoriginal and unimaginative.

https://twitter.com/EnglishTeach07/status/1212068078139461632?s=20

And Jess summed it up. The message in the thread repeatedly told me that given the choice between someone with coaching experience and someone without, they’d pick the one with every time.

This gentleman tweeted the same reply in different ways about three times.

And this gentleman tweeted reams of responses:

https://twitter.com/KirkMango/status/1211738134096035840?s=20

When I let him know he missed the point, he dodged and ducked.

Perhaps some examples are in order? We all have these stories and backgrounds. I am not unique.

  • Had a 12 lb. baby on Christmas day 25 years ago and went back to work after 4 weeks because I couldn’t save up anymore vacation time. He was 16 days overdue, and was in the hospital for a week after I gave birth. I had to go back and forth to the hospital experiencing a lot of physical pain, and still had to go back to work without getting a chance to heal. My husband was doing freelance at the time and not making much money, and I was the sole steady earner. Can that go on my resume as someone with grit and stamina?
  • When I was getting my teaching certificate I had two small children and an underemployed husband, and I worked at Starbucks part time over 20 hours a week, and took on a 35-credit load per semester. Does that count as ‘leadership?’
  • I volunteered as an art docent for my son’s first grade class and without any coaching or teaching experience help twenty-five little 7-year-olds make things.
  • The teachers running the GSA Clubs, Anime, Minecraft, Robotics, Board Games, etc. all get points, too.
  • The teachers who have 125-150 students, every year, five to six classes per day in secondary, make sure each and every one is noticed, stacks of feedback and preparation to ensure each one is getting the best education available.

One of the worst and most heartbreaking tweets was from a teacher who was passed over for a job because she wasn’t a coach, too. They hired inexperienced (male) teachers over her. Think about that: sports/coaching are so heavily entrenched in our society blatant evidence of athletics over academics cannot be overstated.

I repeat: coaching is not the issue. Of course being a good athlete, working on a team, etc. has value. But saying it has value is said constantly, in media, conversations, at schools, etc. To the victor go the spoils, and if you’re involved in any kind of athletic pursuit, that level of power becomes heady stuff.

https://twitter.com/mrskellylove/status/1211029680842629120?s=20
https://twitter.com/MikeCline8/status/1211472585415782400?s=20
Thank heavens for friends.

We are a long way from putting academics, activities, dance and art over sports.

Sports are embedded in American schools in a way they are not almost anywhere else. Yet this difference hardly ever comes up in domestic debates about America’s international mediocrity in education. (The U.S. ranks 31st on the same international math test.) The challenges we do talk about are real ones, from undertrained teachers to entrenched poverty. But what to make of this other glaring reality, and the signal it sends to children, parents, and teachers about the very purpose of school?

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/the-case-against-high-school-sports/309447/

And don’t get me started on the equity issues. Okay, too late. I’m started. Athletics are expensive. Parents of privilege have the means to travel with their sons and daughters, but it still puts a strain on most families’ finances. I have zero opinion or judgement about how parents spend their time with their children. That is not my thing. My only wish is that kids who want to play, can, without the stress of finances or time being taken away from their families. Years ago, at my previous school we didn’t have a soccer team and one of the fears was because many of the (suburban/White) kids had been playing since they were three and would create a disadvantage. Literally an unleveled playing field. (We didn’t have a good field for them to play on, either.)

Open Goal Project focuses on competitive soccer — a niche that executive director Amir Lowery said needed to be filled immediately in the D.C. area when the nonprofit formed in 2015.

Some groups are doing good work: kids need to play, have respectful coaches, and trying to mitigate the high cost of sports. https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/27356477/kids-playing-enough-sports-culprit-cost

One of the talking points that irked me the most was “no one is saying other contributions aren’t important” and then saying “but given all things, being a coach and having coaching experience makes one better suited for the job.”

via GIPHY

That is the point. Being imaginative requires a certain amount of foolishness and courage. The men and women colleagues I’ve known who’ve gone into administration have not been coaches. They’ve been superlative colleagues: collaborative, informed, focused and intelligent. They seek answers and ideas. The makings of a true leader.

Featured image from: https://www.sookenewsmirror.com/sports/emcs-hosts-community-wide-dodgeball-tournament-in-sooke/