Always a Coach

Some of my best memories are coaching high school sports.  I coached for 10 years and the above picture was a highlight for me.  My high school varsity basketball team played on the Golden State Warrior's court against another high school team.  The players had the opportunity to dress and hang out in the locker room, and then come in before the actual NBA game that evening and get autographs and watch warm-ups.  It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many of them.

Since my own high school years, I loved coaching people in any way I could.  From working at summer camps teaching rock climbing, to white water rafting, to teaching kids to water ski and wake board, I always enjoyed coaching and teaching.

As a high school teacher, I was always working to coach students not only in sports, but in life and the life skills of budgeting, responsibility, and relationships.  Once I became an administrator, I loved coaching teachers.  The model I always employed was as a coach, not a boss evaluating the teacher. Whether it was coaching how to implement technology, classroom management, or curriculum, I always focused on the tenants of a good coach: 1) build teamwork and trust,  2) support and praise, 3) hold the bar high and have clear expectations.

As I have moved to a level where I can work with principals, teachers, and office staff, I still adhere to the coaching model.  I constantly want to motivate and support growth and excellence.  As I've worked recently to support technology infusion in schools and tech tools to support positive school cultures, I'm coaching and facilitating school leaders.  I love to coach adults and kids, and when I reflect on the most effective mentors I've had; they were coaches to me, not dictators or "bosses" or people who worked in silos and on islands.

I was always most proud of my sports teams I coached when the received the "sportsmanship" awards.  The many wins and trophies we acquired were great, but the recognition for being highly respected athletes and teams who conducted themselves professionally meant more to me.

I see myself as always a coach each and every day.  Both at work and at home with my own kids, I strive to teach and coach about life, to motivate to be the best we can, and to be winners in the game of life.

Are you a coach?  Do your friends, co-workers, and employees see you as a coach or something else? Reflecting on what a coach is and isn't helps your own analysis of where you are.  In the end, simply thinking about how you work with people is a great starting point to answering the question of "are you a coach".

Lessons I Learned Growing Up In Another Country

I love the shocked look I get on people's faces when I tell them I spent the first 8 years of my life growing up in Sri Lanka, a third world country off the southern tip of India.  For three of my formative years, my brother and I were the only caucasian kids in the area we lived in.  All of my friends were locals who had dark complexion compared to me.  They didn't speak English, and I spoke Sinhalese--the local dialect.  Skin color, language, and socio economic status didn't matter in my world, and I literally ran around in just my underwear most of the year as it was 90 degrees year round with a high humidity.  

At one point, our only car was hit by a train, and so our entire family of four rode around on my dad's motorcycle.  My brother rode on the gas tank in front of my dad, my mom behind my dad, and I rode on the luggage rack on the back of the fairly small 250 cc motorcycle.  This picture shows a typical day for my brother and I as far as our attire.                                                                                                                                                                   I never attended formal schooling while overseas, and enjoyed being a true "island" boy.  Life consisted of playing all day, exploring, and adventures with my family.                                                                                                                                         It was a rude awakening when I moved to the USA.  Forget that we moved from a tropical paradise to freezing Michigan.  My life was rocked by the fact I was "weird" to many kids around me.  I ate strange food, I dressed funny, I talked very funny, and I had no clue about the yo-yo toys, transformers, etc.  I really had no toys growing up.  We just played outside and made do with very little.  Because I was 8, I was thrown in 2nd grade and survived and learned to read.  My brother unfortunately who was thrown into 1st grade struggled to learn to read with no prior education, and repeated 1st grade.

As an EL student, I quickly learned to assimilate as social acceptance was key for me.  Emotionally, I was stressed going to school as I had no concept of what it was.  I had not had that level of structure and had never sat in a seat that long in my life!

There were many lessons I learned from my experience growing up, but here are a few takeaways I apply daily in my life, and the life of my students (whether kids or adults):

• An appreciation for playing outside and enjoying kinesthetic learning.  
• Resilience: I was made fun of for being "different".  I couldn't control that I had an accent initially, and couldn't control that my mom packed weird food and I dressed in different clothes.
• A love of people of all walks of life and from different backgrounds.
• Kids aren't used to sitting in chairs all day, and when they start school we suddenly demand hours of sitting in the same seat.  To this day, I'm a huge proponent of kids laying/sitting on the ground, soft seating in schools, and lots of movement in classrooms.  As an adult, I can't stand to sit for extended periods of times, and my hope is I don't force others to do so either.
• To not waste anything.  Growing up in a very poor country, I learned to appreciate and be grateful for everything I had.  As a country, our kids grow up taking so much for granted.
• Traveling to gain an appreciation, knowledge, and love for various cultures and peoples.  I was always blown away as a teacher by students who had never been out of California, and even some who had never left the Bay Area.
• Living a life of service.  Growing up watching my parents be missionaries and give of themselves, live an extremely modest life, work long hours to serve others embedded in me a will to give back.

As educators, we have the ability to teach kids acceptance, resilience, service, conservation, and an appreciation for all we have each and every day.  Even if you didn't grow up as I did, our students come from so many different walks of life, family dynamics, tough home lives, and situations we don't always know or see, we owe it to them to ensure ALL students are supported in whatever way they need to be ready to learn each and every day.  My experiences shaped my passion to find out every kid's story and find a way to help them strive for success.  What shapes your passion for serving kids?