What Keeps You Coming Back?

Recently, I was getting ready for the start of another school year. We all go through the same basic checklist: lesson plans ready for the first week, storeroom all set to get the equipment out, office put back together, and new supplies put away and ready to use. You may have even purchased a new pair of sneakers to start the year!

But let’s get to the deeper question. What motivates us to prepare every fall to begin a new school year? Why do we keep coming back year after year? Whether you are a rookie just starting out or a “seasoned veteran” who over the years has seen things come and go in education, why do you keep coming back? Why don’t you take a better paying job somewhere doing something else? Why don’t you retire the minute you are able to?

My guess is that we all got into teaching for very similar reasons. We wanted to help kids. We all liked being active in some ways ourselves and wanted to use that love of movement to teach kids the same appreciation.

We all enjoy working with kids; at least that’s what we tell ourselves. Back when we began as undergraduates we all said that we loved working with kids. It didn’t matter whether they were elementary, middle school or high school kids. We found our best fit and planned to take the world by storm, teaching our kids how to love physical activity as much as we did.

While still in college, we all thought that pretending to be a kid in our undergraduate activity classes was realistic enough at the time. Let me at it. I’m ready now. Student teaching will seal the deal we thought. Whether it was for a quarter, or an entire semester we knew that we were ready to go. We had seen it all, right? Of course in reality this was just a small taste of what we were getting into. But it didn’t matter. All we needed was for someone to hire us and they would see that we would be the best hire they’d ever make!

Most of us found our dream job, either right out of school, or after working somewhere else first. We figured it out as we went. We made some mistakes along the way but also had some pretty good ideas too! Some of us still use a few of those original “great” ideas today. We were now on our own quite possibly for the very first time. I remember feeling as if I had the world by the tail. I was living the dream!

Now many years later, I think about what keeps me coming back year after year. What is it that prevents what I do from simply becoming dull and boring work and instead a richly rewarding profession? Although your reasons are likely different from mine it’s a topic worth thinking about as we all prepare for another school year.

For some of us, it’s the reaction we get from a student when they finally discover that they can do something new. Over the years I’ve had many of these and they are pretty powerful both for the student and for us teachers. It’s easy to see the excitement in a child when they finally figure out a jump rope and can keep it going. The smile on their face, or the volume of their screams tells it all.

We need to remember to pause at these moments and realize what we’ve helped that student do. Yes US! Without our help and encouragement, that particular learning may never have happened at all. Or even if we think our students would have eventually got it on their own anyway, would they have felt as much excitement as they did doing it in front of us or their friends in class? Probably not. That’s a big deal. Being able to persist at learning something and then being acknowledged for it right away is critical. It lets our students know that what they just learned is important and worthy of praise. It wasn’t simply something to check off on a “to do” list.

I had a student recently like this. Back in 2nd grade Reilly cringed when we brought out the jump ropes. He did struggle with them, but more importantly he seemed to have decided that he just couldn’t do it. His entire body language screamed “I CAN’T DO THIS.” Success started slowly with first getting him to swing the rope over his head and jump once over it. Then onto jogging while turning the rope. Along the way he would struggle and huff and puff, letting anyone near him know that he couldn’t do this. Once in a while he got it; two, maybe three jumps in a row. You could see that he wanted to smile about it; the corners of his mouth would even sneak up a bit. But he was also struggling with the idea that he had convinced himself that he couldn’t do this. So, he wouldn’t let himself smile especially for me. Also in his corner was his classroom teacher, Mrs. Franey. She would hear about his struggles and would always encourage him to keep trying, telling him he would eventually get it. Now poor Reilly was getting hit from two sides now. He had two teachers checking on him.

In 3rd grade, we moved into “jump rope clubs.” These were different skills that the students could try on their own and if they got one, they would “autograph” a poster on the gym wall. Some were harder than others, some they could do on their own, and some they needed to show me. Well, Reilly stuck to the skills that he didn’t have to show me. I would see him checking out the kids showing me the tougher skills but he never came over. He stuck with what he could do. I figured that was OK for now. He was at least working on it on his own and starting to see some success with the rope.

4th grade brought jump rope routines. Each student had to create, practice and perform a jump rope routine for me. Each routine had to have four different jump rope skills, last four beats each, then smoothly flow from one skill to the other. Finally, the entire routine had to repeat. The classes had one day to put together their routine and practice it. The next class was where they got to perform it for me. When the 2nd class came around, I gave the kids the option that if they wanted to, they could go first. Well, guess who was in the group that wanted to go first? That’s right, Reilly! He not only flew through his routine without any mistakes, he also asked if he could add more to his routine and go again! Of course he could! Once I finished with everyone else’s routines, he and anyone else that now wanted to could go again.

Reilly’s journey with a jump rope is one reason why I come back each year.

Here’s another story. See if you can relate to this one. Kayla is one of my 4th graders. She is very tall and a bit awkward for her height. She is a quiet kid that doesn’t appear to let a whole lot bother her. She always tries hard but isn’t always as successful as others. Our 4th grade curriculum requires our kids to be able to control an object on the move and then smoothly transition into an appropriate shot. That could be anything from soccer, basketball, hockey or lacrosse. You could probably also include bowling with a 2-step approach and release at the pins.

We were involved in learning how to dribble a basketball and smoothly flow into a layup. While making the shot would be great, we were primarily concerned with connecting the dribbling to stepping into the layup. This combination of skills is challenging. Kayla was having trouble stepping correctly so her left foot (she is right handed) was her last step. We call that the “1-2 step,” and it’s the last two steps you take before you shoot or release something.

Kayla was someone that I could give a task to, watch for a moment to give some feedback, watch again to check progress, then leave to attend to the other students. I would always know that she would keep working and not get discouraged enough to get distracted. As I was making my rounds of the class and before I got back to Kayla, she came up to me all excited. She had figured out the footwork and wanted to show it to me. As I was congratulating her on her persistence, she told me that she thought of it differently than how I originally explained it. She said that she thought of picking the same side knee up as her shooting hand when she shot the layup. She described it as being a puppet with her shooting hand and same side knee tied together.

The excitement she showed was genuine! She was really proud of herself and I was glad for her. What struck me was that she had the ability to see a problem (her footwork) and see a solution from a different angle. Instead of thinking the way I explained the skill; left footsteps last, she came up with a different way to still be correct. By thinking of hooking her shooting arm and same side knee together like a puppet, she was able to cement the learning of this skill.

To see one of my students try a skill, struggle initially, look at it differently and still learn the pattern correctly was wonderfully rewarding to me as well. I’d like to think I was doing something right with her. And that’s another reason why I come back each year to teach!

Finally there’s Brian. He is a quiet kid who at first liked to stay in the background. He would always be involved and try his best. He had pretty good skills, but never seemed to need to be the one who got the attention.

I have a group of 4th graders who comes to me before school each day for some type of exercise in the gym. We call it “Exercise for Excellence.” I use this time to connect physical activity and physical fitness to their academic performance. I always tell them that getting sweat trophies with me (those beads of sweat on their faces), or hitting the target (their target heart rate zone) will help their brains work better once school starts. The students think of this as a way to jump-start their academic day.

Every Friday morning is “Capture the Flag Friday.” The gym is set up for the game and they join teams as they show up before school. I did notice that as the year went on, Brian got more and more bold about crossing to the other team’s territory to try to get a flag while others would hold back. The game is set up so if you get caught, there are no jails; you just need to run back and touch the end wall on your side to re-enter the game. He was a player that the others wanted on their team. He was fun to play with. No matter if he got a flag or got caught, he always had a smile on his face that was infectious.

Brian’s mom is a TA in my building. At the end of the year, she gave me a card expressing her feelings on how she saw her son grow emotionally as a result of being in my class. How Brian was excited to tell his friends that he had Mr. Winiecki for PE again! I had a hard time reading it without getting choked up. As a parent myself, her words really hit home with me. I hoped that my own children had a teacher or two that had the same effect on them. It showed me that I really did have a positive effect on a child’s life while they were with me. When I saw her in the hallway one day I told her how her card had touched me.

As teachers, we all hope that we have a positive effect on our students, but rarely do we know for sure. Getting a card like this sure told me that I do indeed have a positive effect on my kids at school, even if I’m not told about it often. It’s one more reason why I come back year after year!

I’m sure that all of you out there have your Reilly’s, Kayla’s, and Brian’s in your classes. As you start out this new school year, remember that you have the potential to have such a tremendous effect on all of your students. Keep a look out for those special moments that remind you just why you come back each fall ready to take on the world, just like you did for your very first job. I hope you feel that way each day as a physical educator; living the dream that it is.