Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: Middle School coaches need to provide strong leadership. If the coaches don’t do the leading, then others will. I am a teacher, and that means everything I do must be guided by educational principles. That’s what being on a Middle School team is all about, yet most parents know very little about this Middle school concept and how it influences this team. Here is a brief explanation.
In the 1880’s the most common type of school configuration in America was an eight grade elementary school and a four grade high school. Leading educators of the day felt that young adolescents wasted too much time in the last years of elementary school, and that a new system should be implemented that would allow more college prep courses at an earlier age. What came next was the Junior High School, many consisting of grades 7-9, which mimicked the structure of the High School.
The idea was to offer a more rigorous curriculum and combat high dropout rates by encouraging students to stay in school past grade eight. Many good things came from the Junior High School, but, over a period of years, changes were called for. It was felt that the Junior High School missed the mark by being too much like a High School and that the unique needs of the young adolescent weren’t being met.
Eventually today’s Middle School was created to try and provide an environment and a curriculum that would allow young teenagers to grow and learn in a more age appropriate fashion. The Middle School was geared to respond to the developmental needs of the students it served. A broader range of introductory, or, tryout courses were introduced to enable young people to develop their interests and abilities. The way students and teachers were organized was changed to allow interdisciplinary courses of study and to provide younger adolescents the more secure environment they needed to flourish and gain confidence. The originators of the concept even wanted to do away with interscholastic athletics, replacing them with intramurals. Now, even I wouldn’t go that far.
The point is that Middle School recognizes younger kids shouldn’t be treated like older kids. If younger kids shouldn’t be taught like older kids, should they be coached like older kids? Should a Middle School athletic team have exactly the same goals and use the same methods as a Varsity team? The answer is no, and it’s my job to resist any influence that would take us down that wrong path.
So what should our goals be, and what methods should we be using to attain them? And what things must we always be wary of? These are the subjects of future issues, and I look forward to laying out my vision for you. I welcome your responses.
[...] Chapter 2: The Middle School [...]