Some teachers seem to always be able to achieve the impossible.
Regardless of the academic records of their students when they come into their classrooms, these same children leave with levels of achievement once thought to be impossible.
The same can be said about coaches. Regardless of the skill levels of their athletes at the beginning of the season, they manage to bring their teams to amazing heights.
What is it about these teachers and coaches that allows them to do this?
Is it their innate skill? Is it a particular methodology that they use? Is it their personality, or is it something more?
Three things seem to be needed to achieve this type of result.
One is that teachers and coaches need to be competent in what they are doing.
This, however, is the least important of the three.
It is more important that they see their students and athletes not only for who they are, but for who they are becoming. Effective educators are able to help young people believe in their potential and then work hard to achieve it.
In order for the young people to buy into this, the educators have to live this philosophy.
They need to be working to improve themselves on all levels.
They know that they will not get the best out of their students unless they are expecting the best of themselves.
This is why professional development is vital in education. In order for our schools to be effective, our teachers need to be continually growing.
This is also one of the reasons why teaching is such a great joy. One is always learning, and it is often the students who educate the teachers.
There is little more exciting than listening to a student and saying, "I never saw it that way. What a brilliant insight!"
Finally, teaching is about relationship. It is said, "People don't care what you know until they know you care."
The trust that a child shows an educator is sacred. A great mentor taught me many years ago that the most important thing to do is to create happy memories in the life of each child. When children know we care, when they feel good about themselves and what they are able to achieve, they are happy.
School is about more than getting good grades, and sports are about more than winning.
They are about what Carol Dweck calls achieving a growth mindset. When we see ourselves and everyone else as a people in a state of becoming, we bring out the best in ourselves and each other.
It boils down to what basketball hall of famer Bill Walton said about John Wooden, his university coach, "The real competition he was preparing us for was life... He taught us the values and characteristics that could not only make us good players, but also good people."
Each person is a hall of famer in their own right.
The art of teaching is watering and nurturing each individual seed progressing on the path of greatness.
