| Making
Choices - by Tom Winiecki, Mott
Road Elementary School, Fayetteville, NY
Are athletes role models? You will hear people on both sides
make compelling arguments.
People on one side will say that, since athletes are in the public
eye so much, they should be role models. Many people, young and
old, are drawn to them because of their abilities. The argument
goes that they should take advantage of their status by sending
positive messages to the public.
Others will argue the opposite. People like Charles Barkley will
say that athletes should not be role models, parents should. They
have the most direct contact with their own kids, so they should
be the role model.
The way I see it, both arguments are right. Parents are, in fact
the first person that their children look up to. As a father of
two myself, I am always aware of what I say and do in front of
them. I know that they are like sponges.
This does not absolve athletes. They, have the same responsibilities
as a parent, or teacher to show those after them a positive example.
We as teachers want to use as many means as possible to reach
our students. The print media offers us just such means. This
is where I got the idea for our "Making Choices."
"Making Choices" is a collection of newspaper and magazine
articles that my students or I find. They have nothing to do with
who won, or lost a particular game. They have everything to do
with how the athlete or coach acted on, or off the field.
"Making Choices" is found in two places in our school.
First it is posted on a bulletin board outside the gym. The second
place is on our web
site.
The "Making Choices" display is full of articles about
positive things that happen in the world of sports. For each story,
I try to explain it to my students in terms that they can understand.
For example, one of the articles posted is about Jake Porter.
He is a student at Northwestern High School in Ohio. He has a
condition called "Fragile X" syndrome. This condition
leaves Jake with some mental and physical limitations. While he
is a member of his school's varsity football team, he is unable
to have any contact, which may result is serious injury. He did
have a "special play" that he ran in practice where
he got a handoff and immediately would kneel down. During a game
against Waverly H.S., Jake's team was going to get beat. Near
the end of the game his coach called a timeout to let Jake run
his special kneel down play. The Waverly coach saw what was going
on and motioned to the Northwestern coach to let Jake score. His
defense would get out of the way. While Jake's coach only wanted
Jake to "take a knee," The Waverly coach insisted! As
a result, Jake scored a touchdown and cheers and tears filled
the stadium! The final score was not important and will soon be
forgotten. The feelings from this event will never be lost! The
choice that was made here was what was important, and a positive
lesson can be learned by all.
"Making Choices" contains articles that shows poor
behavior, both on and off the field. These stories are explained
the same way. One example is about a local high school football
team that had to dismiss some of their players right before the
playoffs for vandalizing property. These players were starters
and were sorely missed by their teammates. The choices that these
players made cost both them and their teammates!
In my discussion with my students we talked about the fact that
rules are for everyone, whether you are a "star" or
not. No one should be allowed to break a rule, just because he/she
may have more ability than someone else. I asked the kids what
would happen if I made a rule for class, then promptly went into
the gym and broke my own rule? Would you listen to me if I told
you to sit out for breaking the same rule? They all say "of
course not!" Now I know they understand. We've now taken
something they have seen on television and brought it to their
level of reality and understanding.
Another example was about members of a college football team
that were stabbed while they were at a bar in a bad part of town.
They were all hospitalized with their injuries. They also missed
games because of the injuries. Their coaches told them not to
go to this place, because it was in a bad part of town and bad
things have happened there before. The players decided to go anyway.
The players want to be considered adults. They now have to make
"grown-up" decisions. They decided to go against their
coaches' advice. They got hurt as a result.
We talked about this one in the context of the kids ever having
had their parents tell them that they couldn't have something,
or go somewhere? Again, everyone's hands went up. They may not
have liked it at the time, but parents know best. I get the chance
to reinforce the fact that they should pay attention to their
parents. They have their best interests at heart.
Again, the kids have all been in these situations before. As
long as I take the events from the articles and put it in a context
that the kids can understand, I've got my message across.
We are not trying to create the next Michael Jordan. We are just
trying to create healthy movers for a lifetime. The fact is, our
students look up to these athletes. As a result, we should take
advantage of this and use it to teach traits like fairness, compassion
and teamwork. Through this, the kids see what they can learn from
other people's actions. More importantly, through bringing the
stories to their level of reality, they begin to see that they
are also role models. Their friends are watching what they do
in certain situations. They see the influence that their choices
have on other kids!
If you have any questions about these activities, or anything
else we do, visit our Mott Road Elementary School web
site or contact me directly at twiniecki@fmschools.org |
