Todd Stanley 
Table of Contents
After three grueling days it had come down to this- a unique teaching pedagogy I noticed in a game of kickball. Starting with 24 teams on Tuesday, through a series of half hour games where scores bounced back and forth like a ping pong ball, it had been whittled down to these two teams. And they were very different teams.
One of the one side was Mr. X’s homeroom class. It was chock full of athletic kids, some of which were bigger than my 50 year-old self. I had watched them tear through team after team in the preliminary rounds, scoring sometimes 8 runs in an inning. Mr. X stood in the field with his students, instructing them to cover this base, get the ball in, and other directions that were barked out like a military sergeant.
Mr.X ruled the field with an iron fist and if you didn’t follow a direction he had given, he would let you know about it by getting in your face. He gathered the team together after any tough inning and gave them a pep talk to get them back on track. He was taking this very seriously and he seemed to want his team to succeed very badly.
Leadership- A Unique Teaching Pedagogy
This also was a reflection of the classroom where Mr. X taught math with the same demeanor. He stood in front of the classroom and directed instruction on the white board, delving out step by step how students should approach a problem. Students stood in rows like good soldiers, waiting to get their next orders before moving forward. Everyone marched in step, working at the same pace and finishing at the same time.
If you didn’t do as you were told you were put in your place immediately and I had heard Mr. X often chastising a student outside of the classroom about not doing what they were supposed to. It was a well-oiled machine and Mr. X’s results on the state test showed that he grew these students if he had to carry them across the finish line himself. It was a very teacher-centered way of learning.
A Reflection of Teaching Style
On the other side was Mrs. Z’s team. This team was made up of the gifted students. In the few games I had seen them play, she had never even so much as stepped a foot on the field. If I heard her talking to her team, it was making sure they were all aware of the order they were kicking and done so in a very low voice. When they were on the field, she wasn’t telling them where to go with the ball. She had a very laissez faire approach. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about them. It was the fact that she trusted them to do what they needed to for themselves.
This again was a reflection of what I had seen in Mrs. Z’s teaching. You walked into her classroom and it did not look like a typical school classroom. There were couches, lounge chairs, bouncy balls, and other non-traditional furniture. There was not any discernable rows to be found, seat were pointed in any which direction, and there was not even a teacher desk. When students were doing their school work, they were doing so independently of one another.
Example from the Classroom
One student might be working on his math, another ELA, and yet another science or social studies. I have never walked into the class and seen Mrs. Z standing in front of the class giving directions. Instead she sat at a kidney-shaped table and spoke with individual students or small groups. Students were given a week’s worth of work on Monday and then they set their own pace, sometimes working with others, sometimes by themselves.
When students finished a task, they simply decided for themselves what they were moving on to next. There was some guidance in the workflow, but for the most part it was student-centered with students working autonomously and making decisions for themselves.
Self Reflection- A Unique Teaching Pedagogy
This ability to think for oneself and to act without being told showed up on the kickball field. Even though Mr. X’s team was far more athletic, they couldn’t act without him telling them what to do. If there was play that was too quick for him to give direction on, the students did not know what to do themselves and at times seemed paralyzed at having to act on their own. They often threw the ball around, allowing runs to score, rather than having a plan.
Mrs. Z’s team on the other hand definitely had a plan. They knew what to do at a moment’s notice. If a ball was kicked to anyone, they knew what to do with it without any direction from Mrs. Z.
I wish I could tell you that Mrs. Z’s team who could learn for themselves and act independently was able to overcome the more athletic team of Mr. X who directed the entire game like a conductor. And so I will. The game ended up tied at the end of the thirty minutes and we had come up against the end of the school day. Students would need to go inside to get their things and get on the busses to be taken home. It was decided they would play the next day in extra innings.
A Story of Direct Leadership
Mr. X’s team was first to bat. The first kid, who looked like a linebacker on a high school football team, crushed the pitch and ended up on second. The next three batters all then repeated the same action. In trying to follow Mr. X’s direction, they flubbed the kick and flied out to the pitcher resulting in three outs and a change of sides.
Mrs. Z’s team started the inning with a single. The next batter, a student who was not known for his athleticism, kicked the ball on the ground right to the first baseman who tagged him out. But the first baseman got overzealous and tried to get the runner going to second, resulting in an overthrow and the player advancing to third.
Now a ball on the ground or one that found a hole in the defense would win the game for Mrs. Z’s team. Mr. X realized this so he ordered his pitcher to walk the next two batters to get a force at home. He didn’t consult with any of his students, he did not consider any of their opinions. He simply ordered the two walks. Neither one of these kids who got the free pass looked as though they could have put a good kick on the ball, but regardless they occupied second and first.
In Conclusion on Kickball & a Unique Teaching Pedagogy
The next batter, one who looked like he had spent time on a playing field before, kicked the ball on the ground to the second baseman. With Mr. X’s shouts directing the second baseman to throw home, he was unable to get it to the plate in time and Mrs. Z’s team scored the winning run. A celebration erupted as the trophy was now theirs.
I couldn’t help thinking as we left the playing field how each of the team’s played like they were taught in the classroom. And the team that had benefitted most was the one who had learned to think for themselves and didn’t require the teacher to tell them what to do.
I thought about how this would also serve them well as they moved on to the junior high in just a week’s time, how it would give them an advantage when they got to high school and college, and how someone who could take initiative would be much more attractive to a potential employer. Mr. X had prepared his kids for the next day of learning. Mrs. Z had prepared her kids for life.
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