Home Court Teaching Philosophy

913 Words2 Pages

Philosophy of Teaching Your team is down by a couple of points, with just a few minutes to go in the game. At this point, anything can happen. Have you ever been to a game where the encouragement of the home crowd, the coach, or the teammates, to one another, have made the difference between winning and losing? When I was playing volleyball in college, I remember our coach teaching us about momentum and how the team with the momentum would come out on top. If our team was struggling, we had a choice to make, and it started with encouragement. One word, comment, or gesture from one another, even the crowd, could make all the difference in the direction we were going. This change did not only potentially affect our attitudes, but …show more content…

Before the contest even begins, the home team already has the advantage. It is the same in life, and in the classroom, as educators, we are responsible for our “home courts”, and the momentum we create with students, and potentially build upon. As educators we need to step outside the box and realize that our “home courts” consist beyond the classroom. Our “home courts” include, the hallway, cafeteria, the office, the gym, before and after school activities, games, clubs, concerts, and even detentions and seizing those opportunities to connect with students. The key to effective teaching and momentum building, is connection. Trust plays a huge role in these relationships. In order to have the “home court advantage”, we need to take advantage to connect with students on a deeper level, outside the classroom. It is truly my passion as an educator to try and understand what makes my students tick. I …show more content…

Give me your most difficult student, and I will start to strategically dig. An educator is able to turn facts into insights when you dig deeper. I do this, by looking for opportunities to connect with all students via their interests, so I pay attention and talk to them a lot outside of my classroom. I take as many opportunities as I can throughout the school day to get to know them better, and I am constantly reminding them that my door is always open. I can attest to story after story about students who, because relationships were built outside of class, felt free to take risks to try new things inside of class. I have a story about a couple of students who I would always see rapping and tapping in the hallway and classroom. I had a conversation with them at lunch one day about their interests and they briefly rapped for me until embarrassment took over and they stopped because so many people were watching and listening. I assured them I appreciated their gifts but would really appreciate it if they would use their skills to create a rap about nutrients and the all the food groups, for the class to learn to remember key facts. They were thrilled, and from that point

Open Document