The Game of School: A TRICK PLAY!!!!

“Spread, 98, first play” 

When I was in charge of the offense for the JV football team that was always the call I sent into the huddle for the first play.  Clever name huh?

‘Spread’ meant that our players were to line up in the spread formation, 2 WRs on each side of the field, QB in the shotgun, and a RB to the left of the QB.  ‘98’ told our line to block as if it were a sprint out to the right, and ‘first play’ indicated the entire pattern of what everyone else was doing. 

Upon alignment, the slot WR on the left side would come in motion, and the QB would call for the snap.  The ball was handed to that slot as if he was going to run a sweep play to the right, but just as he received the ball he prepared to lateral it back to the slot WR on the right.  The right slot took a jab step forward, and then made a loop around as if he were going to execute a reverse, and would catch the lateral from the original ball carrier.  In the meantime, the QB took about 5 steps back after the handoff, and the RB remained by his side as a bodyguard to block any oncoming defenders.  When the slot received the lateral, he would then take a few steps and toss it back to the QB, who would then set to throw, and then would pass it to the original ball carrier who had continued to run down the sideline after his first lateral. 

(deep breath) WHEW!  I hope that made sense.  As confusing as it sounds, is as confusing as it looks to everyone except to our players.  Our players LOVED it and believed in it!  It was a trick play that they took pride in knowing that it was always going to be our first play, no matter the scenario (we fumbled on our own 8 yd line one time, lost the ball, and I’m sure everyone in the stadium was thinking rather negatively about me at the point, but we had committed and I never wanted the kids to lose their excitement for our team). 

Just like many other trick plays, the play typically worked and if it didn’t, it was our execution, not the defense that stopped us.  The reason trick plays are so often celebrated on Sportscenter, provide a jolt of energy to a home crowd, or leave the defense wondering what the heck is going on, is that they are ‘risky’ plays that go against the normal style of play that people have become accustomed to seeing. 

So what is my point here?  I have just completed the first week of the second semester teaching my health class, and just like “spread, 98, first play,” I have instituted a trick teaching style that I plan to commit to in my classroom. 

I spent much of my first semester dissatisfied with the progress my students were making.  To stay with the football analogy, I continued running the same old offensive plays, and getting the same old results:  the kids who were good at playing the game of school, succeeded, the kids whose talent was not “take notes, participate, fill out this worksheet, memorize this for a test” struggled. 

I was one of those kids that was good at playing the game of school.  Fortunately, I was involved in so many extra-curricular activities that my school experience was a success.  I see too many talented and/or brilliant students that don’t get to experience success because they are involved in zero activities, and are bored to death by school.  BIG PROBLEM!

Enter Twitter (follow me @Coach_Morrison3).  Many people believe it is just a way to follow celebrities and see what they had for lunch; false (this is a whole other post).  The professional learning network (PLN) that I have developed by using the site, has led me to countless articles and first-hand experiences over the past 6 months that have allowed me to develop my new teaching style. 

Calling it a teaching style may even be misleading.  What I am doing in my classroom is running a trick play that creates a culture of student-led, project-based learning.  The students are choosing what they want to learn, and I am becoming more of a leader and facilitator to each individual student’s needs, rather than just a presenter of information to a group of passive receptors.  My professional guidance is to lead them to what they need to know, using their curiosity of a specific wonder as a guiding force. 

Week number one was outstanding (I’ll share details soon)!  Each day I saw a new light come on in a different student.  They were entering uncharted territories just as I was, and it was a struggle at first.  But, as I continue to establish the culture of the room as open, free, and one that encourages failure, not punishes it, more and more students will get it. 

I am looking forward to using this blog as a way to share the successes (and failures) that I encounter along the way.  I know we will lose a fumble, or miss a handoff from time to time, but I am committed to what I believe to be an exciting, innovative, fabulous opportunity for both myself and my students, just as I was committed to “Spread, 98, first play.” 

Take care,

Coach Mo

P.S.  That group of JV players unofficially “won the league” with a 4-1 record in league play.  Only once did I feel like we had the most talent on the field, and I firmly believe that the culture of belief that the players and coaches created together made the kids believe in themselves enough to overcome any deficit.  They were a tough, hard-working, extremely coachable group of young men and I could not have had more fun coaching them!