Recently, I have thought about what do I want my legacy to be. Will I be remembered as a Coach that happened to teach, or a Teacher that happened to coach? Being effective in both areas is possible, increasingly though in our hyper competitive athletics the time it takes to run a successful program has become a time consuming beast.
Though I love spending time with students outside the walls of the classroom working with them towards a common goal in a shared passion like sports, my first concern is about the work that they and I are doing between the first and last bell of the day. This fall my role as a Teacher-Coach has been solidified with my teaching in one building and coaching in another as the focus of my time and energy is toward what accounts for 98% of my salary. This perspective that I have gained has been useful in reflecting upon my career to date and where I want to take it.
The classroom has always taken precedence, however it feels like this shifted further by not being connected directly to players on a daily basis.
Really interesting comment about the perspective of coaching kids at a site other than the one in which you teach. As a teacher, I usually enjoyed having coaches in the same building because it helped us work together on supporting academics (some conversations were admittedly driven by eligibility, but many were just about how to join forces for success on and off the field).
ReplyDeleteSo, I found myself wondering about the peer & player relationship aspect. If you coach in the same building in which you teach, do you think that it's easier to make connections with a wider group of peers who also work with your students/players than if you don't coach in your building? Or maybe, in the end, that doesn't really impact how kids succeed in your class anyway. And, do you notice a difference (as a coach) in not being connected directly to your players on a daily basis? Are your relationships with kids basically the same, even if you're not seeing them in the halls or your classroom?
I just have always heard that the preference is to have coaches who are also part of your faculty. It's intriguing to consider that there are instructional benefits to a different approach.
I have always enjoyed the extension of relationships with students who are athletes as well and like the accountability that being present in a building can bring with it. My feeling about being in a new building has allowed me a to reflect about who I am as a professional and what I want to be known as/for. Not a condemnation of coaches, but question if we always higher the best candidate because of their ability to teach versus a sport they coach.
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