Reflections from the Field: How Coaching Made Us Better Teachers

Eric J. DeMeulenaere and Colette N. Cann- The coaching metaphor first entered the educational literature over twenty-five year ago when Ted Sizer urged classroom teachers to model the pedagogical relationship between coaches and athletes. Yet, since then, educators have rarely drawn direct lessons from the athletic arena for their practice... until now. DeMeulenaere, Cann, Malone and McDermott, in this groundbreaking analysis, explore the implications of athletic coaching for improved pedagogy. They offer concrete lessons and suggestions for best practices in the classroom. "Reflections from the Field is quite simply a tour de force - one of the most powerful books on teachers, teaching, and learning I have read. Compelling, useful, and emotionally inspiring, it should be read by every pre-service teacher, teacher-educator and practicing educator in the U.S." -From the Foreword by Sarah Michaels, Co-Author of Ready, Set, Science!, Professor of Education at Clark University "Reflections from the Field is an invitation to meet a set of teachers who are reflective practitioners, relationship-builders, and also, not coincidentally, coaches - they know how to improvise, how to nourish and challenge, how to recognize the uniqueness of each and power of all, and how to dance the dialectic between thought and action. This vivid kaleidoscope offers an opportunity to see how it's done." -William Ayers, Author of To Teach, Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois, Chicago (retired)