Passion Lies in a Variety of Places
I am an absolute believer that a teacher should be involved in some sort of extracurricular activity in their school. Since I teach a class that is mandatory for all students to take, there is no guarantee that the student actually wants to be there. However, clubs and sports are optional for most students. (Some students may be forced to participate by their parents, but that's an entirely different blog topic!) Working with a classroom student outside of the classroom and in a sport/club that is their passion introduces you to an entirely new person sometimes.
Build a Bridge
This is also where we, as teachers, can build a bridge between the classroom and the playing field. It is no secret that some of a school's most talented athletes will never see the playing field due to academic ineligibility. This can be for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the athlete just requires structure and encouragement? It is possible that the hustle and bustle of a home doesn't create an environment that is conducive to academic focus? Or is it simply that the child does not have access to the technology necessary to research and complete assignments for the 21st century classroom? It is my contention that some of that at our school can be remedied through a program we call PASS. PASS stands for "Preble Athletes Scholarly Studies." The goal is to create a year-round program where athletes on sports teams can get assistance with the academics at a time and place conducive to their schedules.
We Are Starting Small
Since I coach track and field in the spring, we are going to focus primarily on that schedule. Most track and field athletes participate in either football or cross country in the fall. We are going to open our LMC (Library Media Center) every Tuesday and Thursday night from 7:00 until 8:30 during the fall sports season. This would change to after school during the winter months since the majority of track athletes do not go out for a winter sport. The goal is to create a quiet and structured environment for athletes to focus on their work. In addition, having a teacher there will be able to offer basic support for all content areas, and specialized support in at least one. Peer mentoring/tutoring will also be implemented by encouraging some of our athletes who excel in academics to join us and help teammates who may be struggling in a particular area. Finally, our LMC is well supplied with a variety of computers/laptops/printers/etc. Athletes would have access to all of that as well.
Athletic Supporters
Drumming up support has been the easy part. The coaches all seem to love the idea since they want to see their athletes be successful in the classroom. (The myth that coaches only care about sports is antiquated and quite inaccurate. It has been my experience that coaches thrive on athletes that reach their full potential in every arena: academic, athletic, and personal). We are blessed with an incredible administration at our high school that 100% support this program. We have even had an offer by an assistant principal to come in at night and help in content areas in which she is proficient! Finally, I will be attending fall sport parent meetings to present the program to the parents. In addition, social media (Twitter/Facebook/etc) has been a great tool as well to get the word out.
Data
How do we know if we have been successful? Hopefully this will be the easy part. We have the ability to track the number of academically ineligible athletes for each 6-week grading window. The ultimate goal is to have zero students ineligible. WHEN we hit that, we will look back in time to see the comparable data for years past and show our athletes' academic growth!
The Future?
How do I envision this program evolving in the years to come? Ultimately, it would be ideal to have both after school AND evening hours available every day of the week. In addition, we would need to encourage content-area teachers to join us during the evening hours to assist athletes in their subjects. Expanding the idea of peer mentoring would also be ideal.
Revisit Your Thesis Coach Kline!
School boards and taxpayers do not allocate millions of dollars a year for sports teams simply to win championships. It is clear that there is a direct link from the classroom to the playing field. Because of this dovetailed relationship, it is critical that our student athletes are given the tools to be successful in all areas of their life. The PASS program hopes to take advantage of the passion for competition and apply it back towards academic and personal success. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. (Blatant coaching quote as we break our huddle). :)
Feedback
Please comment below with your thoughts and let me know if you have a program like this in your school. In addition, any other thoughts on eventual expansion would also be welcome!
