Q:  What is the most common first name of social studies teachers throughout Kansas?
A:  Coach

We all know the old cliche that social studies is the content discipline for those educators who don’t want to teach PE but also don’t want to teach a “real” subject like science or math.  We can imagine their idea of a perfect lesson: assigning students text to read out of the book, followed by a worksheet of basic, low-level questions, and ending with a full-length movie while they plan their next practice. We expect them to play favorites with their specific athletes and put all of their intellectual time and effort into their respective sport.

I’m not convinced the cliche is entirely accurate.

Perhaps I was fortunate during my time at the University of Kansas where my core group of prospective social studies teachers took a relatively strong interest in the content area we were studying.  Some of us were coaches, some of us were not.  Yet nearly all of us were able to engage in thoughtful debate covering a wide range of serious, intellectually stimulating topics.  So I did not really face the coaching cliché until two summers ago. Continue reading “Coach” should not be an insult. Take pride in all aspects of being an educator →