In the last millenium (1994 to be exact) I volunteered to be a coach for the GCC with WHRO-TV and CII. Competition was fierce with teams being pulled from the eastern seaboard of Virginia to the Eastern Shore back towards Petersburg. As all good coaches do, I had my teams of three students each stay after school to practice, get critiqued (and slammed, as they would say) and stretched. We’d drill and drill and drill and drill and by the day of the meet, my students were mentally fried.
This routine happened year after year, and year after year, the private schools would win as did the great big city to our east. Being the good coach, I’d say, “Hey, we did our best,” “We’re here to have fun,” ad nauseum. Deep inside, though, I was frustrated. “Why does everybody else win and WE DON’T?!?”
Irritated, the next year our team had only one practice for two hours and they were instructed on the day of the meet, “You guys are to have fun, relax, and try your best–don’t even worry about placing! Just enjoy it!” And truthfully, I did NOT care.
At the awards ceremony on the campus of ODU, the auditorium was standing room only. I sat there with the students, smug, and would say, “See that school over there? They’ll win third.” I was right. Grinning from this prediction, I said, “That private school over there is winning next–they always do.” Bingo–second place! When the judge started prepping and winding up to announce the first place winner, I bent down to gather my materials, pride, and jacket and wanted to exit before the parking lot was full. Tuning the announcement out, I kept on with my mission. Suddenly, the parent beside me whacked me over the head, screamed, and said, “GET UP THERE! THEY’RE WAITING FOR YOU!” I came up fast to avoid the blows, nearly knocked myself out hitting the chair in front of me, and said, “What are you doing?”
You guessed it–my students won first place.
I wonder what we do to students as we prepare for the state tests in May. Are we so frenzied in making AYP, pass rates, and what-not, that we exhaust our students? What would happen if teachers caught their breath and gave some down-time before the Big Week? I tried that the same year as the Computer Challenge, and guess what? My students scored 15% higher than I predicted. We had a week of fun review games, study sessions outside on blankets in the school yard, and other sundry activities that were not drill-and-kill.
It’d be interesting to hear feedback on this. Do we drill students so much that by testing, they’re wiped out and are unable to think?
