Coaching Leads to Transformation

Coaching is a hot word in education right now. It's not surprising since it's good stuff. However, I wonder about the different styles of coaching. A good coach has style, right? I mean, take a look at sporting coaches like Vince Lombardi. I don't even watch football and I know his name. So why was he so great? Here's why - he found a way to bring out the best in his players and work the team.


And what about personal trainers? My daughter has quite a few for her gymnastics and they get her to do things she didn't know she could do!

And then there are Reality TV coaches. Yes, I know some of it is staged, but some of it isn't. Here are a few:
Supernanny, Stacy and Clinton from What Not to Wear, Jeannie from How Do I Look? Niecy Nash and Mark Brunetz from Clean House, Ty from Extreme Makeover and Jillian from The Biggest Loser.

All of them are experts and take proven techniques, fit them to the people, scaffold the learning and then leave. Yes, leave. Transformation has occurred and what really blows my mind is that it only takes a few days to completely change a life!

Is coaching sports or personal training different from coaching teachers or students? Can we learn something from sports or Reality TV show coaches? What if we try different styles of coaching in schools?

Fannie May Chocolate and Second Life Schools

What do Fannie May chocolate, TV, 3D worlds, science, inner city schools, and universities have to do with the future? Allow me to explain.

I was eating Fannie May chocolates, a favorite in our household, when a bunch of connections occurred to me.

I recently learned the term that explains one of the reasons I went into teaching. It is called social justice. In my graduate class, I discovered that not much has changed in education since I started teaching, over 20 years ago. This is where the TV show comes in. I wonder about combining the media industry with the education industry to transform schools. I just have not thought about how it can be filmed yet and the right idea has not come to me yet.

Anyway, I am the Gifted and Talented Coordinator in my district and I am currently planning a Science Summit. I started to research topics in science that might be of interest to our students and relevant to their future.  I researched "future jobs in science" and found this article by Popular Science: 10 Best Jobs of the Future.

It's incredibly interesting! I mean vertical farming, forecaster of everything, fetus healer! I think the kids will love talking about these.

Then I started thinking about an article I am reading for my graduate class about black males and how they view themselves in school and it reminded me of research that Peggy Sheehy did from her experience with students in Second Life, a 3D virtual world. She found that students create their own identity in that world and how they interact with others may be different that how they interact in a face-to-face situation. There was something about the 3D environment that nurtured this ability.

Yes, Black Males Are Different, but Different is Not Deficient, by Christopher Emdin

Peggy Sheehy on Exploring Identity in Second Life
Peggy Sheehy on Exploring on Body Image

That led me to think this. What if a group of inner city students had "school" in this different environment? What if they were allowed to be who they wanted to be? What if we gave them the freedom to create their future by providing them with rich examples of what future jobs could be for them? And we provided them with the nurturing to imagine themselves in their future with experiences such as the I-imagine: Taking My Place in the World Project from Bernajean Porter.

Then what if we "filmed" this 3D environment and showed it on TV? It would be real life, but it could still protect the identity of the children.

Do you think this can get the attention of George Lucas?