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| Ben and Charlie Blackmon (Rockies All-Star, 2014). Coors Field, 2013. |
I am a huge baseball fan. Living within 90 miles of a Major
League Baseball team has helped nurture this love. Going to a stadium fills me
with nostalgia and a sense of being right where I am supposed to be. Watching a game on television gives me a different perspective, one I do not get watching the game
live. I get to hear the background stories and the comparative statistics. I
get to re-watch close plays and know instantly if someone is hurt or what
records that person might be approaching or breaking.
One of the most admirable elements of a professional
baseball player is his drive to always be better. A 162-game schedule every
year provides multiple opportunities for improvement. Professional baseball players
are the best of the best. They have proven themselves at every level of the
game, consistently performing in many different areas. Baseball players have to
achieve and maintain a respectable batting average, fielding percentage, and
on-base abilities. Off the field, they need to uphold an image to which children,
families, and individuals can look up to and admire.
And they don’t do it alone.
There is a manager to handle line-ups and strategy. There is
a bench coach. A first base coach. A third base coach. A hitting coach. An assistant
hitting coach. A pitching coach. A bullpen coach. A strength and conditioning
coach. There is a head trainer and assistants to aid with injuries and
prevention. Take a moment and think of the best baseball player you know. That
person, who probably holds numerous records and is in the Hall of Fame or will
be one day, has been coached.
This notion of wanting to be better tomorrow than today does
not begin nor end in baseball. It exists in every aspect of life. Teaching is
no exception. Some schools and districts are fortunate enough to have school-based
coaches on staff. Schools want to improve student achievement, and students are
not likely to perform higher until teachers perform higher.
In the introduction of Taking
the Lead: New Roles for Teachers and School-based Coaches, authors Joellen
Killion and Cindy Harrison (2006) say the following: “To make deep changes in
teachers’ instructional practice and content knowledge, educators need both
opportunities for continuous learning focused on improving student learning and
overall school success rather than individual success, grounded in the realities
of practice, and located within school as close to the classroom as possible;
collaboration with peers; regular feedback about their practice; and
opportunities to examine their beliefs related to teaching and learning” (p. 8).
Higher education and teacher preparation programs provide an
initial framework for teachers to begin examining their practice. Without
students, it is simply that: A framework. Once that framework is tested with
time issues, schedules, meetings, colleagues, and students, teachers need
support.
School-based coaches can provide timely, relevant, shared professional
learning. Teachers put together an approximate 185-day schedule every year. Each
day of that schedule includes planning, implementation, flexibility,
imagination, creativity, and countless interactions. The setting may be the
same, but the people in it – because they are human – fluctuate daily.
One of the greatest developments and advancements in education
are school-based coaches. Just like baseball players, even that best player you
thought of earlier, teachers should seek to be better tomorrow than they are
today.
And with the right support, they can be.
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