It wouldn’t be honest to say I’d actually like to be back in the classroom. I love my job, and there are a great many things about public education today I know I wouldn’t like even a little bit. But I can honestly say that after all these years, I still very much miss teaching.
I miss the energy and excitement created when students are really involved in what they’re learning, and their intense curiosity and unending desire to know why. I miss the constant learning I had to do myself to be prepared to take them on day after day, and to make sure my classes were worthy of their time and efforts.
But most of all I miss the sharing. Sharing of ideas, of opinions, of frustrations and personal challenges, of triumphant moments and disappointments. I miss the sharing among colleagues of new teaching ideas, laughter, great books and survival strategies.
Which is why I always enjoy the fall UIL Student Activities Conferences. I get a chance to interact with coordinators and academic coaches, share information and most importantly, see them learn from each other.
At the two conferences we’ve already held, many of the coordinators in my sessions were brand new or had only a year or two of experience. So folks created an email list (which we then sent to all those who contributed), providing a way to contact others in the area when someone has questions or needs help.
People are always willing to share methods they’ve developed over time to make their job as coordinator easier and their efforts more productive. From criteria for earning a letter jacket, to great suggestions for recognizing academic contestants, to strategies for recruiting new coaches and/or students…you name it, someone in the room has an idea that has worked for their situation. Others take those ideas, tweak them some when needed, and voilá! – they now have more time to tackle other issues.
The camaraderie, generosity and willingness to share are wonderful. If you’ve never attended a SAC, you’re missing a great opportunity to learn from some of the best. And if you’re a novice, there’s the comforting reassurance that you are not alone in your bewilderment, that all of us were there once, and that the survival rate is truly remarkable, despite the work load.
But we have to do more than teach each other if we want to gain and maintain the support that the UIL academic program deserves. The value of these programs, unfortunately, remains one of the best-kept secrets in the state. We will never get the media coverage that athletic events garner, but that’s not surprising.
Contests such as accounting and ready writing are just not spectator sports. Although the excitement and energy level at the beginning of a number sense contest can match that of a high rivalry sports event, people won’t purchase tickets to stand around and watch the fun.
We should, however, make a concerted effort to see that members of our boards of education and our administrators understand the time, energy and practice that students and teachers commit to preparing for academic competition, and the wonderful learning experiences those contests provide.
We need to strive for recognition of these young people, both within the school and within the wider community.
As Charlene Strickland, chair of the Department of Communication at Hardin-Simmons University, UIL Regional Director for Region II-A and longtime UIL speech consultant states in the Making a World of Difference with UIL Academics DVD, “We’re talking about the people who are going to be our scientists of tomorrow. They will end up being our teachers and professors. These are the people who will become our CEOs, our entrepreneurs, and the leaders of our country. These are our academic students, and their coaches, who need to be given the spotlight.” Each year, National High School Activities Week is celebrated nationwide to increase public awareness of the value of interscholastic activities. Created in 1980, President Reagan and the US Congress in 1983 offi cially set aside this annual week of recognition.
This year October 16 is National Fine Arts Day, which is traditionally expanded to include all state association sponsored academic programs. Why not use this day to honor your local participating students and their coaches? Include parents if you can.
Your academic competitors might be featured on a ‘wall of honor’ with photos, past awards and other information. You might plan an appreciate breakfast for all your academic coaches. This could be the week that the UIL academic team is responsible for the break-through sign for the Friday night football game. Or be recognized at half time.
Both athletic and academic teams, as well as fi ne arts groups, are a vital part of the school community, and they deserve support and recognition from each other. It is certainly a great time to have media coverage of any of your former studentcompetitors who are attending college this fall with the help of a TILF scholarship.
Get creative, get approval, and go for it! Then teach the rest of us. Let us know what you did and how it went.
Of course, the most important teaching we do is for our students. And through UIL academic contests, we can help them recognize and then develop potential and talents they might not even realize they have.
I know this sounds like a broken record, but they learn so many critical skills beyond academic knowledge: teamwork, perseverance, commitment, time-management, sportsmanship. They learn that hard work pays off, but that even with the best intentions people do sometimes make mistakes. They learn the importance of being prepared, which includes knowing and following the rules.
If we’re good role models, they learn to win and lose with grace and poise. They learn that the real measure of success is not the result of any specifi c contest, but the degree to which they have grown better, academically and otherwise.
In the few minutes I try to snitch each day to read, I recently came across something that really refl ects a part of my philosophy about teaching and education.
Alfi e Kohn, author of The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing, wrote in the Sept. 6 issue of Education Week, “We might say that education is less about how much the teacher covers than about what students can be helped to discover …”
He was making the point in a very different context, but it struck me that that is exactly what UIL academic competition is all about.