BLOG FORMAT
Due to my undiagnosed ADD, I chose a profession that demanded planning so I could keep some sort of focus. In the same way, I would like to organize my blog in separate categories for each day of the week. I started with Monday Musings, and now it is Tuesday for Teachers unless you like my aforementioned title better. As noted many times (and for the last time), I spent 27 years, half my life, teaching at the secondary level. If I can help out any current or former teacher, in or out of the classroom, it would be my pleasure, but I assure all my readers that these posts will come from my experience as an educator, and are not exclusive
Before I broach today’s topic, I have to strike while the iron is hot. I am planning to write entries focused on sports and sports issues either Saturday or Sunday – I love alliteration- but I have to briefly discuss my early morning viewing.
U.S. Unsynchronized
Like many in this country, and around the world, I have been riveted by the Women’s World Cup Tournament. For those who don’t know, the games are being held in Australia and New Zealand and being broadcast at 1:00, 3:00 and 6:00 AM EST. Luckily, the United States’s first two games were played in the morning and broadcast at night. Unfortunately, their pivotal group stage match took place at 3:00 this morning. I set my alarm for 2:45 but couldn’t sleep. World Stage. Game of Consequence. A Team That Had Yet to Find it Identity, it’s mojo. I was all in.
I wish I had stayed tucked in bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in my head.
I know there is plenty of discussion about the team’s behavior during the National Anthem and clearly the programs of other nations are closing the competitive gap. I also have followed the storyline about how the team is constructed of polar opposites. Youth and maturity. Very few players in between.
Now, all of these topics demand their own exploration, but as a coach, I just want to share a couple of observations:
- The U.S. first half game plan did not work. It was the same game plan in the second half – Bad coaching
- There were two substitutions in the starting line-up, one was Rose Lavelle, a true starter. One in-game substitution when it mattered even though the team seemed out of sync and fatigued. – Bad coaching
- I have coached youth soccer and spent my last breath discussing switching the ball and getting to space, and yet, the players constantly put the ball into crowded space. – Bad coaching
- The individual skill level on display, especially on first touches showed a lack of preparation – Bad coaching
- Lastly, the way the Coach handled the criticism of the commentators showed little accountability – Bad coaching
At several points during the game, I found myself rooting for the more driven, more inspired Portuguese women. If the team isn’t playing for their country, for their coach, for each other or playing to win, what are they playing for? The announcers said, they needed a wake-up call. Let me know when they get one, so I can set my alarm, accordingly.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Now, everything is cognate, so maybe, it was a week of hearing about athletes getting paid or offering to be paid exorbitant amounts of money (Jaylen Brown, Justin Herbert, Mbappe), that got me thinking about the “essentiality” of these jobs. Then, I thought about the CT state legislature denying teacher union requests to grant additional back pay for service during the pandemic. I thought about how hard my partner works as a registered nurse, and I thought about why these two professions are experiencing desperate shortages.
Now, you can read as many articles as you want about the reasons for these shortages. I will reference two later in the piece. I would not have the audacity to speak for the nurses, nor do I know every teacher’s struggles, but I can surmise that many of the common complaints have to do with a lack of respect coming from various angles.
During my first day of class, I ask my students to list five reasons they should respect me. Invariably, I get the typical, “Because you’re the teacher,” “Because you give us grades,” or my favorite, “Because you’re old.” Out of the mouths of babes.
All nice attempts, but no quite. 5 reasons. Talk amongst yourselves.
JK. Don’t want to tax you. Here is the list:
I have experience
I have your best interest in mind
I have not lost it (this one is always dicey)
Quid Pro Quo (say it in your Hannibal Lecter voice)
I am a human being.
If you want to know the explanations and rationale that come from these precepts, just let me know, but the core is clear.
Respect is, “deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements.” OR
“due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights, or traditions of others”
Without respect, the teacher has little armor and no credibility. The students must give the teacher a chance to elicit something from them based on their abilities, or at least understand why they are sitting in their seats. They need to respect the necessity of learning.
Oftentimes, they don’t.
(Tune in tomorrow for the gripping conclusion of this post, and the first installment of Hump Day Happenings – a round up of the week’s most compelling stories)
Love and laughter.