After Sunday's track meet, as testing goes forward, and after revisiting "Lean on Me," with our students, I wanted to share this -- taken from Michael Josephson's "Character Counts."
Six Ways to Be a Model Coach
1. Everything you say or do makes an impression on kids. What they don't see, they often sense.
2. The measure of character is how you act when you think no one's looking. You'd be surprised at what kids know, hear about, and discover by accident. Behavior speaks louder and more persuasively than anything you can say. You never know who's looking.
3. Only a fraction of young people will play sports beyond high school, but most will become parents, employees, and citizens. By building their character, you'll give them and the rest of society a permanent gift.
4. Setting rules is important because young people are especially vigilant for unfairness and hypocrisy. Too many adults (and pro athletes) are selfish and undisciplined because rules weren't enforced or didn't apply to them when they were young.
5. When the game's on the line, so is integrity.
6. If you're not sure how to handle a situation, ask yourself:
• What would I tell my child to do?
• What would I do if my child was looking over my shoulder?
• Do I want my character judged on this decision?
• How would I feel if my decision was reported on the 6 o'clock news?
• If everybody did it, would it be a good thing?
• What would my role model do?
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2 comments:
Thank you Ms. Carr for this posting! I think it is essential that we as educators move our students towards academic proficiency and good character. We as adults model that behavior directly and indirectly in our interactions with students and with each other as professionals.
We have reached the mid-year point and we must ask ourselves:
How will my lessons help students move towards academic proficiency and character growth?
How do I model for students what it means to be respectful, caring, and responsible?
I think it's important for us as staff members to be professionals and display a unified, supportive attitude towards each other. I've heard some negative comments made within earshot of students and I consider that practice to be very destructive to the cooperative atmosphere we're trying to maintain.
We're up against a number of potent influences in our culture that undermine our assumptions about how people should treat each other within our families and our communities. Our students see and experience a callous disregard for other people's feelings and personal safety. They revel in depictions of violence and intolerance and take pleasure in the misfortunes of others. What used to be the aberrant behavior of a few is now the norm and our children are inured to suffering they cause and witness.
We may be able to change their attitudes if we can provide some immediate and substantial benefit for students who are being nice and/or supportive to each other, maybe a prize or privilege of some kind. We will need all the creativity and persistence we can muster to counteract the venomous media streams and corrosive images pervading our popular culture.
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