Basketball and Benchmark

Snow days can do crazy things to an administrator’s mind. Tomorrow will be our 3^rd snow day, bookending a weekend.  So, actually I am on day 5 of limited access to friends, colleagues, and school.  When this happens it leads to an opportunity to reflect and make connections. 

My reflection came this weekend doing something I have loved since I was a child.  As a little girl growing up in Northwest Arkansas, my dad took me to the Razorback Basketball Games.  This was a tradition, and something I now share my family.  Yesterday, while enjoying the game with my oldest daughter and my husband, I reflected on how the school year is much like a basketball game. 

Have you ever noticed how the momentum builds gradually over the course of the game?  Players obviously want to win, but I don’t necessarily see them play with the same intensity the entire game.  You see, in Razorback Country we call it the “fastest 40 minutes of basketball”.  The inference is that when you play the Razorbacks the pace will be intense the entire game.  Well, there are times of intensity.  Yet, usually when the game starts everyone is mellow.  As fans we sit back and take most of initial game action with a lackadaisical attitude.  Oh, we clap, cheer, and sing the school songs during time outs, but we are not highly engaged.  Yet, in the last few minutes of the half, or, especially, the last few minutes of the game, we are highly engaged and excited, as are the players.   

As educators, we tend to do the same during the course of our game . . . our school year.  We start off the year strong, but with a lower intensity.  Again, we celebrate successes and plan for success, but not always preparing with intensity for the final outcome (state test).  Certain times during the year (conferences, nine weeks, semester), we also increase our intensity.  Yet, you can really see everyone get engaged, focused, and intense during the few weeks leading up the to the state accountability assessment (Arkansas = Benchmark).  Why don’t we all (players, administrators, teachers, students) play/prepare with same fervor the entire game/school year? 

Yes, there are other similarities:

• Players watch the game tape to reflect and make adjustments, while teachers reflect on their lessons and student data to plan for future instruction.
• Players and teachers have that final goal where they are evaluated in the public eye, leading to being ranked. (game score & test scores)

And differences:

• Teachers teach every child that enters our school doors; coaches recruit and pick players – even to the point of who plays at what time.
• In a basketball game there will be a winning/losing team.  Yet, in education, all the students can win with a strong education.

Yet, I want to make sure that I encourage everyone to have the same intensity all year.  I want my school (teachers, students, and parents) to approach each day, week, month with the same fervor that occurs in the last few minutes of the game.  If we played with the highest engagement, focus and fervor, what would happen in our games?  what would happen in our schools?  Just imagine . . .