We Need Two Honorable Paths to Graduation

Why is our educational system set up with the premise that every student is going to a four year university? This year I began my first year as the Associate Superintendent of our school system. One of my duties is to oversee our system's special education programs. A major requirement from the Georgia Department of Education is to write a 20+ page plan of how we are going to improve the graduation rates for our students with disabilities. We must examine local barriers to success. Things like access to the general curriculum, attendance, and discipline data. All of that is absolutely fine with me. BUT, we also need to have a serious conversation about the barriers that the state has placed not only for students with disabilities, but students who wish to pursue something other than a four year degree.

There is a need to provide two honorable and valuable paths to high school graduation. Why must every high school student be required to take four theoretical math classes in order to graduate? Currently, students must take at a minimum Coordinate Algebra, Geometry, Algebra II, and Applied Math Analysis. What about the student who plans to run their own poultry farm, or HVAC service? Would it not be just as honorable for them to take Accounting and Principles of Finance instead? This way they would actually learn about how to manage their money, the positive and negative power of interest rates, how to make needed investments, and how to depreciate their equipment. Could a student not substitute an Economics class that focuses on things like the Gross Domestic Product and instead take a Business Law class in order to learn about contract law? Is this not an honorable substitute? At the moment, our country has over 3 million skilled job openings. Openings for welders, truck drivers, electricians, plumbers, etc. Isn't it time that we take a step back and re-evaluate what we are doing?

Let me provide an example of how our requirements are actually causing students to drop out.

Here is a typical schedule for a ninth grade high school student on a 4 X 4 block.

Fall                                                                             Spring

1    Biology                                                                                    Civics

2    9^th Grade Lit                                                                          Coordinate Algebra

3     Elective                                                                                   Elective

4    Elective                                                                                   Elective

If this student fails Coordinate Algebra and Biology his 10^th Grade schedule now looks like this:

Fall                                                                             Spring 

Biology                                                                                   World History

American Lit                                                                         Coordinate Algebra

Physical Science                                                                    Geometry

Elective                                                                                   Elective

Does the above schedule offer the student a better chance of succeeding this year than last? ABSOLUTELY NOT! This pattern repeats itself throughout the next two and sometimes three years. Often by the time students are in the 11th grade they are so far behind in passing classes that seemingly have no bearing on their future, they simply give up. 

There is one prominent person in our country who wants to change this and that's Mike Rowe, the host of the TV Show, Dirty Jobs. Please take a moment and watch the first seven minutes of the video below.

I know what you are thinking. We have CTAE classes in which these types of skilled trades can be learned. You may also be thinking that we have now opened up dual enrollment for high school students to attend technical schools in order to gain access to learn these trades. YES and YES, all that is certainly an exciting step in the right direction! Our next step is to provide some honorable and valuable alternatives to some of our academic classes for those who absolutely know that a four-year college education is not an option. Especially, our students with disabilities.

Our current governor speaks of revolutionizing education in Georgia (once the election year is over... hmm). I would tell him, let's truly do something revolutionary and let's do something that no other state in our nation has the guts to do. 

The 12 Absolutes of Coaching

There aren't too many days that you get to read something profound and thought-provoking. I don't mean something that makes you say to yourself, "That was pretty interesting." I'm talking about something that stays on your mind the whole day because it causes you to look at  something in a whole different light.

Today our system's athletic director forwarded me a PowerPoint from a workshop of one of the most successful baseball coaches in the state of Georgia, Tony Wolfe. Our head baseball coach attended the workshop and shared the presentation and I think every coach in our system has probably read it. I'm going to share this wisdom with the Twitterverse. I'm not sure if all of this is Tony Wolfe's, but I'm giving him the credit. Here are the 12 Absolutes of Coaching from Coach Tony Wolfe. Read them, think about them, and take them to heart.

Tony Wolfe

Head Baseball Coach

Buford High School, Georgia

@bhscoachwolfe

#1 Great Assistant Coaches

• Model chemistry for the team
• Have roles and are allowed to do them
• Connect with players in a way that the head coach can't
• Have area(s) of expertise
• Are the engine that drives the team
• Are independent thinkers, but loyal followers
• The best friends you will ever have in coaching

#2 We Are Really Coaching Kids

• I started coaching baseball in 1983 but I learned over the years that I am really coaching kids.
• We get into coaching because of our love for the sport. To continue to be around the game after our playing days are over. But in time, you realize your love is really in coaching kids, not baseball.
• A great coach can coach anything, because he is coaching kids, not the sport.
• Teach/don't expect. Correct/don't criticize. Have more confidence in them than they have in themselves.
• We all have a coach that hooked us, made us love the game forever. It wasn't because he taught us the game, it was the impact he made on us.

#3 Be Significant, Not Important

• I spent most of my life wanting to be important, but through God, I learned to try to be significant!  It is not about Me!  It is about making an impact on others.
• Along with backwards thinking about baseball and kids, my goals were backwards.  I wanted to win everything- championships, coach of the year awards, fame, accolades.  Slowly, I learned that impacting kids were much more significant than trophies, awards and fame.  The greatest gifts are relationships, experiences, memories.  Are you making your players better people, people of substance?  Are you growing their character, their maturity?  Do you value them?  Will your relationship last when the games are over?  What would our worst players say about us. We have more impact on our players than anyone else.  

#4 Don't Let Ego Get in the Way

• Ego will always get in the way of leadership.  Anger and embarrassment come from ego. 
• As a young coach, I put too much of my identity in the results of my team.  I took it too personally.  Coaching is what we do, not who we are.  Pride can be a great motivation, but ego can also destroy connections, disrupt vision, and create a negative environment.  Control your emotions!  When we are embarrassed by our team’s play we create a negative culture.

#5 Work the Problem

• From the movie “Apollo 13”. 
• In a crisis, don’t let emotions over-rule your thought process.  Find a way, solve the problem.  There is a solution to every problem, it is our job to find it.

#6 Focus on What Your Players Can Do

• “Focus on what your players can do, not what they can’t do.”  (Jim Carter- GHS 1978)
• Too many times we focus on the negative parts of a player’s game.  Focus on what each player can do and use them accordingly.  We have gotten great results from players who had glaring weaknesses, by focusing on what they did well and then putting them in situations to be successful. See the strength, not their weakness

#7 Prepare Your Players for the Path

• Prepare your players for the path, not the path for your players.  Nothing ever goes as planned.   “We don’t rise to the occasion, we sink to the level of our training”
• Prepare your players to adapt, improvise, and adjust, to overcome.  Too many times we try to prepare the path for our team with an easy schedule, routine practices, and controlled outcomes.  Players have to be disciplined, and mentally tough, because something will always go wrong at a big moment.  Try to prepare your teams for everything that can be thrown at them, especially end of game  situations.  Have emergency plans that you have covered in case of injury or ejection.  We practice our emergency plan several times a year, especially as we enter the playoffs.  Prepare your players to be tough, disciplined, play-makers.  “Do they have enough bullets in the gun?  Are they trained to adjust and over-come on the fly?

#8 Be a Leader

• Rules without relationships will lead to rebellion.  Are you a leader, manager or ruler?
• It is easy to lead when things go well, but how we handle the bad times determines our true ability.
• Use unemotional discipline.  Love them through the period of discipline.  Have an end and a second chance. 
• Never miss a chance to lead (includes discipline). Consistent enforcement of rules. 
• The right words are as important as any physical punishment or loss of playing time. 
• Lead, don’t manage.  Display the poise and class you want your players to have.

#9 Invest in Your Best Players

• I coach good players better than the bad players.
• You can’t win without your best players playing well.  The problem is many times they are the hardest to coach.  You have to find a connection with them.  You have to find the right buttons to push to get the most out of them.  They want to be great, not just good.  Convincing them that you can make them better is the key.  Treat each player fairly, not equally.  Don’t let them get bored, demand they become leaders, teach them to be selfless.  Don’t let their talent and ego scare you.  Give them ownership of the team.  Responsibility makes them invest more.

#10 Sponge Theory

• Soak it all in, Pour it all out
• We ask our underclassmen to soak in everything they hear and see.  We want them to be seen more than be heard.  Learn everything you can about the game, your position, leadership, work ethic, team and family.
• We ask our seniors to pour out everything they have learned over their first 3 years.  Your legacy is what the guys behind you learn and continue after you're gone.

#11 Build a Growth Team

• We all need to grow as a leader and a coach!
• No one achieves success alone.  Surround yourself with people who make you better.  I  have learned so much about coaching/leadership from so many different people.  Sometimes nuggets come in the 5 minute conversation at lunch duty.  Most times, it has nothing to do with my sport.  Spend 5-10 minutes with other leaders and you will walk away with something new.  Have a group of people in your daily life who have leadership roles and you will become a better leader.

#12 Practice With the End in Mind

• If your practices are not preparing you for the end of the season, it is a waste of time.  Practice fundamentals that win in the playoffs.  Practice with tempo needed to win in the playoffs when things will be faster.  Practice with pressure, because your team will feel pressure in the playoffs.  Have emergency plans, because something will go wrong in the playoffs.  Practice what you repeatedly do in playoff games.  

Coach's Wolfe's last slide is something every teacher, leader, and coach needs to take to heart.

You have to go out on a limb to get great fruit.

Nehemiah 6:3  “I am doing a great work and can’t come down”

You are doing a great work!  Don’t let losses, bad parents, bad attitudes, bad umpires, keep you from your work.  Your impact is too great, your opportunity to change lives is too great.  It is God’s team and He has put you in charge of it.  

Get Yourself in Gear...And Stay There

In regards to a school year, the time between January and Spring Break is the longest of the year. It seems it will take forever for the next day off to arrive. I'm convinced this is why so many people love snow days. An unexpected break that falls from the sky. This is the season that educators can lose their drive. Stay motivated by these steps offered by Brian Tracey.

1. Get serious about going all the way to the top, to be the best at what you do. 
2. Hang out with the right people: winners who have positive attitudes and people with high aspirations who are progressing toward their goals. Avoid toxic people.
3. Take care of yourself. Eat healthy, exercise and get lots of rest.
4. See yourself as the best. Visualize yourself as the very best. All improvement in your life begins with an improvement in your mental pictures.
5. Use positive self-talk. Practice telling yourself, I'm the best, I can do it, and I love my work. Talk to yourself, envisioning the way you want to be, not the way you happen to see yourself at this moment.
6. Get going. When you have a good idea, act on it quickly.