Nocking the Arrow

Is there anyone alive that wouldn't like to make themselves better? I had the opportunity to speak to our student body about   Internet Safety . After covering material on cyber bullying, digital footprints, and intellectual property, I decided to share some perspectives on self-improvement through becoming a school and community contributor. The inspiration for this presentation came while I was home from school, sick in bed, and had just watched the Angela Maiers TedTalk, "You Matter" . I consider it a must-see for educators. There are others that contributed to the themes shared in this presentation; Stephen Covey , Carol Dweck , Daniel Pink , John Wooden , Boyan Slat , and Kid President . The main points were... Build a personal learning legacy for our school, and the world Adopt a growth mindset so that personal challenges are viewed as opportunities to grow and learn (learners vs. non-learners) Recognize and use personal gifts for the betterment of others...

In my educational world teaching and coaching involve the same processes. The people that impacted my own learning most significantly were coaches. Could it be that great coaches were ahead of their time with respects to instructional best practices? Let's take a look at ten coaching practices that thankfully have found their way into the classroom. http://www.coachwooden.com/files/PyramidThinkingSuccess.jpg Standards-based Grading - coaches aren't concerned with arbitrary measures of success such as letter grades. Great coaches identify a requisite set of skills that are necessary for advancement and success. Promotion and achievement are based upon clearly identified levels of skill mastery.  Authentic assessment - coaches are looking for their athletes to demonstrate their skill mastery under game-like situations. The best coaches incorporate game simulations and competitive, game-like drills into their practices. Winning coaches will use the contests as assess...