Wax on, Wax off

Is it possible that essence of coaching is revealed through the 1984 movie The Karate Kid? If you have not seen the movie in a while rent it or just search You Tube for the training scenes. While watching the movie on AMC I noticed the following:

The essentials taught to Daniel:

• Wax on, Wax off
• Paint the fence
• Paint the house (side to side)
• Always look eye
• Whole life has a balance

Mr. Miyagi’s words of reflection:
“We make sacred pact. I promise teach karate to you, you promise learn.”
"No such thing as bad student, only bad teacher."
"You trust quality of what you know, no quantity."

For some this is just an ‘80s feel good movie, while others see this as a make someone else feel good movie.How could you see this movie in a different way? What would this look like in a school setting?

Does Data Judge or Inform?

Last weekend the Miami Dolphins lost to the New York Jets starting off the season 0-1. As a coach, it would be difficult to establish an improvement plan with just this information. To improve performance a football coach and the players should analyzing player stats, play selections, practice time, and situations trying to find an edge to get better and to eventually win a game. Reaching the Super Bowl does not happen by focusing on the Win/Loss record or the trophy, but on the players.

If there is a need to improve and evaluate, Action Research (AR) provides a structure to analyze performance data and would be able to explain beyond the Win/Loss record of a student. As a classroom teacher AR provides background information to distinguish between mastery and adequate performance (Sagor, 2000). Taking the same attitude of the football coach into the classroom means to constantly analyze data to look for edges in students, working to try to help them improve, no matter what the objective.