What I Think About Athletics at My School

I am a big sports fan! Football, basketball, and tennis are my favorite. As a former high school athlete, I think that athletics are an integral part of the educational experience. Although I can never know for sure, I am rather confident that I would not have accomplished many of the achievements that I have made so far had I not participated in basketball as a junior high school student. Because I was so shy, my junior high school coach had to literally drag me onto the court the first time she called me into a game. I went from having to be dragged onto the court in seventh grade to being a captain of the team my junior and senior years. My growth as a basketball player was not limited to the basketball court either; it spilled over into other areas of life as well. Many high school athletes receive similar benefits from athletics—leadership, self-confidence, discipline, etc.—which is the reason I cringe at the thought of schools without athletic programs. While some people may see athletic programs as unimportant auxiliaries, I see them as necessities.

Many students only perform in school because they know that they have to in order to remain eligible and have an opportunity to play a sport in college. Although I would rather students value education independent of athletics, I have come to the point where I can appreciate a student’s motivation to do well in school no matter where that motivation may come from. The truth of the matter is that athletics pays the way for many young people to receive a college education. That can’t happen if the student doesn’t have the opportunity to develop his or her skills through a high school athletic program.

At my school, the administrators and teachers value a vibrant athletic program. Basketball is king at my school. Everyone wants to be on the team, and the team members are like stars in the local community. The team’s fans are very loyal and are willing to travel near and far.

Unfortunately, from my observation, many of the students do not show the same commitment to other sports as they do to basketball. Very few students will even come out for sports other than basketball. I won’t even use the term “try out,” because many of the teams will suit up everyone that shows up given the small number of students that elect to participate. It is actually quite disturbing given the considerable amount of talent present in our student body. All too often, students who have signed up to be on a team will miss practice because they “had to work” or just because. The commitment isn’t there, and the performance is sub-par as a result. I know that the coaches of those sports are disappointed given the considerable amount of time and energy that they put in. For these sports, the coaches face the same puzzling question on the playing field as they face in the classroom—how to motivate children to do their best under every circumstance and in every situation.

Absent Students

If I were to compare the grade each of my students received each term to the number of days the student attended class, I am sure that almost all of the F’s and D’s were earned by students who missed more than three days of class each term. Some of my students have particular patterns of absences. Some are absent everyday; others come to school about once a week; and still others come every other day (only on A or B days…I guess they have a class or two that they like on one of the block days??). Then there are those students who come to school everyday but are absent from my class because of school events or activities. Those students are just as disadvantaged when they miss class as the students who choose to stay at home for the day because they don’t want to get out of bed.

So, what can I do to help students pass when they are not in class? Although I give the students the assignments that they missed while out, few of my students are able to read the textbook and learn what they need in order to work the homework problems. I do incorporate a mini-lesson of the prior day’s lesson in every class period, but that is usually not enough to help the students who were absent to catch up (especially the students who instead of missing only one day at a time miss several days or even weeks at a time). I also offer tutoring during my planning periods and after school, but very few students take advantage of that. The result is frustrated students who are behind and don’t know how to catch up, as well as a frustrated teacher who has no clue how to structure the class so that students can miss class and somehow still catch up upon their return to class. (Suggestions are welcome on this one.)

This is an issue that is particularly on my mind right now being that state tests are quickly approaching, and I know that students will need to miss class to make sure that they are fully prepared for those. There are many students who are straddling the fence between passing and failing. I know that if I keep the class structured as it is, and those students miss several classes, it will be unlikely that those students will be able to raise their grades. So far, I have been more flexible with homework assignments – telling students a week in advance when all homework assignments for the unit are due instead of taking up homework everyday. This way, when students miss class, they still have several days to learn the material and complete their assignments. For one of my classes, I am going to assign several online lessons that students can complete without my assistance. I definitely think I am going to try to restructure this term such that more of the learning is independent learning. Teaching definitely becomes much more challenging when the ideal setup for student success – the student’s actual presence in the classroom – is no longer a given.