Psychology
in
the
Schools
Volume
26,
ApriI
1989
THE TEACHER AS “COACH”: A WHOLE NEW BALL GAME
THOMAS
N.
DORSEL
Francis
Marion
College
A
comparison is drawn between the coach’s situation on the playing field and the
teacher’s situation in the classroom. Several advantages that accrue
to
the coach are
examined and suggestions are made as to how such advantages might be translated
for classroom implementation.
As a longtime sports fan and participant, I have been struck by what seems like
a distinct advantage that coaches have over others who are involved in the field of educa-
tion. First of all, coaches have a motivated clientele. Players eagerly try out, and then
struggle enthusiastically to remain on the team. Second, coaches do not have any prob-
lem with cheating. Players cannot cheat their
way
into football stardom because coaches
use direct measures of performance
-
players have to
demonstrate
their ability. Third,
both coach and player are on the same team, pursuing the same well-specified goal. It
is much easier for two people to get somewhere if they both know where they are going,
and
if
they are both helping each other to get there.
Educators involved in more traditional classroom situations (i.e, math, history,
psychology) often face
a
contrasting state
of
affairs. To start with, the clientele are not
always motivated. They may be in a required course, or are just taking an elective to
fulfill
a
credit-hour requirement. Second, cheating can be
a
significant problem. Tests
are often of an indirect nature (multiple-choice, short-answer), from which we infer
certain abilities, and which unfortunately lend themselves to the test-taker’s receiving
help in one form or another. Third, even though this is certainly not always the case,
teachers and students at times give the appearance of being on opposing teams in a game
where the objectives are not always
so
clear. In the worst scenario, students and teachers
may reflect an attitude of actually being out to get each other. This state
of
affairs is
hopefully rare and probably indicates a “burned-out” teacher who should consider a
career change or at least a sabbatical.
Perhaps teachers could benefit from looking to their coaching counterparts for some
ideas that might improve their “win-loss” records. An initial adjustment might involve
getting on the same team as the students. Perhaps one could introduce oneself as the
history coach or math coach
-
the person who is there to help them win this semester.
Students already entertain a favorable concept of what a coach is:
a
friend, an expert,
a cheerleader of sorts -someone who truly wants them to win. Tell them explicitly what
the goal is for the class and the plan for achieving it. Follow this with
a
rigorous prac-
tice schedule, just like coaches do, Practice might take the form of outlining chapters,
building personal study guides, practical exercises performed in class, practice tests (scrim-
mages, if you will!). The skills practiced should relate directly to the explicit course ob-
jectives that are spelled out for the student at the beginning of the season (whoops!)
semester.
Tests, like big games, should ideally be of a direct performance nature. English
teachers probably come closest to doing this by requiring extemporaneous writing samples
Send reprint requests
to
Thomas
N.
Dorsel, Dept.
of
Psychology,
Box
F
7500,
Francis Marion College,
Florence, SC
29501-0056.
209