Here is a post from Roch Kubatko;s blog. What continues to amaze me is how Buck has set an environment that self regulates. The veterans sit to the front of the meeting. While in school teacher's usually assign seats would our best students pick the ones up front? Secondly, again he talks about self-regulating. Do our best students regulate the behavior of other students? Would they say we do not write on the bathroom walls? We do not cheat? Is this possible to get us all working together to make the school house the best it can be? Do teachers try to cultivate this climate in their classrooms? or should they? Finally, do we as teachers want to be challenged? Do students feel free to question our motives and what we assign? Let's have an honest discussion
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RASOTA, Fla. - You probably figured out a long time ago that manager Buck Showalter is on top of everything. Nothing gets past him, including the little things that mean more in the big picture.
A few days ago, Showalter noticed how the first row of seats for a team meeting was occupied by guys like Matt Wieters, Jason Hammel, Darren O'Day, Jim Johnson and Pedro Strop. That's leadership.
Here's another example:
Kevin Gausman, taking part in his first major league camp after being the fourth-overall pick in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft, stepped off the mound during a drill last week on one of the back fields at the Ed Smith Stadium complex. Apparently, that's the way Gausman did it at LSU. Apparently, that's not how the Orioles do it, and Johnson immediately pointed out the mistake to him.
"J.J. said, 'No, get back up there. We don't do that. You've got to do it this way.' Matter of factly, nothing mean," Showalter recalled.
"Believe me, Gausman doesn't need much adjustment. But it's good-natured. It's not hazing. It's 'Hey, you're wearing our uniform. Let's go.'
"This isn't the kind of team that sits in the back row much. When you say, 'Does anybody have any ideas or any questions,' they're going to put a hand up, and I appreciate that environment, that they feel comfortable talking. I invite 'Why?'
"I'd like to have a good reason why I do things a certain way, and if you've got a better way, we tweak it. Most of it comes from players' suggestions, because they're the ones who have to play the game."
Adam Jones has emerged as the most vocal leader in the clubhouse, and if you read his tweets, you pretty much find daily examples. But there are quite a few guys who are taking on that responsibility, much to the delight of their skipper.
Asked whether there's a different vibe in camp this spring, Showalter replied, "It would be easy to say, 'Yeah,' but I told some of our people before that I had a good feeling with our guys last year at this time. I don't see anything to make me feel any different.
"I don't think anybody is that good to sit here in February to say this is happening, so that's going to happen for seven months. They're human beings, it's human nature. You just assume the position, see where it takes you.
"I trust them. It's a group that's very easy to trust
We all have to trust one another for self-regulation to work. The administration has to trust us and not undermine self-regulation. Our colleagues have to trust us that we have the best interests of the school at heart. The students must trust that we have their best interests at heart. We have to trust students to do the right thing. We have to be open and honest with everyone involved. This takes time and will cause discomfort for some, but if it develops successfully, will pay great dividends. We have to start with a group of us who trust one another.
ReplyDelete1. I do believe that the best students will sit either in the front or the middle of the classroom because it is the easiest place to learn. However if their friends were sitting in the back I think they would join them in the back.
ReplyDelete2. I don't think students self regulate as a team would. As a baseball team the orioles are dependent on each other to win each game, so they check up on each other typically. For students mostly all they care about is their individual grade so they will not check up on each other, unless it depends on them making the grade cut for a sports team or club or something.
3. I don't really understand why students write on the bathroom walls, it's just a pain to those who have to clean it and it doesn't really benefit anyone.
4. I don't think students would lie to other students and say that they don't cheat as a whole or adults that they trust. But if an administer asked if students cheated they would probably lie and say they don't to make themselves sound better.
5. I think WR1 is trying to get the school to work together to be the best, but some kids aren't jumping on. I think it's possible, but even more possible if you start with freshman and incoming 8th graders to get them on board early.
6. You can tell with some teachers that they try to have the highest average test scores, for example on an AP exam because it makes the school have better rankings and get more resources.
9. I do believe what is happening with the orioles could happen in schools if students and teachers displayed the same passion for learning as players and coaches and buck do for winning. They are proving to the city and baseball world that the underdogs can work very hard and rise and do well despite what the critics say. Typically I haven't seen much rise, students on top stay on top and students on bottom stay on bottom. This isn't true for everyone, as some people can rise, but as a whole it's staying like that. If they displayed more passion and caring they could improve.
Thanks for taking the time to put your thoughts down in words. I think that even though school is an individual thing right now that we would get better results if we all worked together to make school the best it could be. We need to work hard to help each other and to make sure that our school stands for something. When you apply to colleges Dulaney has a good name which helps you get into some places.
DeleteI have seen kids pass others during my years of teaching. This year I have seen some kids really improve and move from average to really strong. I have also seen some weak kids become strong. There are many reasons for that.
I don't follow baseball at all and don't usually watch football, but after watching the Superbowl this year, I've noticed an amazing thing that few things like sports can do. Sports are incredible at bringing people together regardless of differences. When you see schools with big football or lacrosse cultures, the general student body seems to have more school pride as well. I like that WeR1 and the student forums are trying to develop a similar pride in Dulaney because it is a great school, but I think universal pride in academics is a lot harder to achieve because it's not something our culture really emphasizes; yes there is pride in success, but unlike with sports, success academically tends to be more centered on individual pride (eg. grades) and doesn't foster a team or entire society's pride. Like Allison said, a lot of the appeal and effectiveness of sports is driven by the goal of winning, so maybe if we had a concrete goal in schools that people were as passionate about, we could see more teamwork in trying to reach that success.
ReplyDeleteI think that self-regulation can only begin to be realized if an environment of teamwork is first established with a concrete goal in mind which will in turn foster a sense of pride that can intrinsically motivate self-regulation. In addition to trust, a mutual sense of respect is crucial with any type of teamwork--having open teacher-student discussions about teaching methods, assigned work, etc. will definitely cultivate respect.