Sometimes we educators caught up, overthinking ways to do the right thing for kids.
Doing research, making plans, preparing lessons. Teaching, reteaching. Giving tests, grading tests. Progress reports, parent phone calls, team meetings, report cards, extra help.
These are just some of the ways teachers, in "typical times" think they need to "do school".
But these times are far from typical. And now's the time to move away from "doing school".
But one thing remains important: Doing right by kids.
Yesterday, I saw this. Not as a former long-time teacher. Not as a veteran school administrator.
I saw this, as a dad.
I'll explain.
My youngest son, an eighth grader, is a member of the school soccer team. This is the first school team he's played on in these "typical times". His coach, a longtime teacher and coach, has clearly enjoyed working with the kids, now that school is reopening, and school events are returning.
At practice recently, there was what appeared to be a near impossible "trick shot", one of those you see a fan take at a game where the outcome is a ridiculous amount of money or a big prize.
Positioning himself for the trick shot, my son boldly announced to his team, "This is going in!"
To which the coach confidently responded, "Yeah right".
My son replied, "How much do you want to bet I get this in? If I do, what do I win?"
And the coach replied, "I will take the entire team to Cavanaugh's for dinner."
You know what happens next, right?
The 13 year-old shoots...and he scores. He makes the impossible shot.
Everyone cheers, and the coach smiles.
They're going to Cav's. Later that week, a group of 15 teenage boys walk into the local pub with their proud coach, ready to feast on chicken wings, burgers and fries, pizza, washing it down with sodas. The sweet taste of victory.
Later that evening, when my son returned from the team dinner, I asked who he sat with, to which he replied, "Casey. And Coach."
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For the rest of the night, into the morning, I couldn't stop thinking of his beaming smile. My son was long over hitting the impossible trick shot. His smile was because of his dinner, and who he sat down with at the table.
In a time when our children have had less than a typical experience in school, and many adults are looking to get "back to normal", the story of this teacher-coach often goes unnoticed and even underappreciated.
However, this dad of a teenage kid who is having his first "normal" year of middle school, this simple gesture has had a profound impact. A teacher-coach widely known as a warm demander, in the classroom and on the field, did something simple that we should all do:
He showed kids his human side.
He modeled the meaning of being true to your word.
And he did right by a group of kids.
Ten, twenty, or thirty years from now, when this group of kids is asked about their favorite middle school memory, there's a good chance this small gesture will become the fondest school memory of a group of eighth grade boys, when they look back on being 13 in 2021.
Thanks for that, Coach.
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