Brett Ledbetter Follow Up

This past week for our professional development leading into the new school year, we were blessed to have Brett Ledbetter come to talk to us about the importance of building character in our kids and athletes in helping maximize the ability of our teams.  The link to his power point can be found here: please click here

We were asked to answer survey questions about his visit, and below are the questions and my responses so that I can remember to ignite commitment, get kids to their sweet spot, frame struggle as development, and measure commitment level of out athletes.

How do you ignite commitment levels inside the classroom (or with teams)?
We try to identify what the individual goals of each of our kids are, we try to give them the road map on how to achieve those goals, and we give constant and consistent feedback throughout the process on how they are moving towards those goals.  It is cliche, but we understand that the relationship with the kid/athlete is very important, so we make sure that everybody in our program has a meaningful relationship with at least one coach on our staff.  We also identify which kids we need to monitor more closely and talk about how we can do more and be better for them individually.

How do coaches/teachers undermine their athletes/students from getting in the sweet spot?
One way is coaches/teachers don't have high enough goals for the student.  Another way is the coach/teacher tries to push the kid without building the relationship first.  Its hard to push these kids into their sweet spot without first having a relationship.  Also, its important for these kids to hear and understand the why.  They don't always automatically understand that you are trying to get them to their sweet spot; they just think you are being mean. 

How do you frame struggle as development?

In my classroom with the subject that I teach, struggle is a way of life for my students.  They have always struggled with Math, which is why they are in my class.  From day one, we acknowledge the struggles that they have and we own it.  But we also talk constantly about how important it is to fight through the struggles.  We talk about how everybody has struggles in their life and stuff that they don’t like and stuff that they aren’t good at and that sometimes those things are the same.  But we also say that we have a job to do, and that job is to show up and do the best that we can, and if we do that over the course of the year, we can celebrate by passing the STAAR test.  We don’t run from the struggle in the classroom because we can’t.  We are going to face it every day.  We treat it as part of the process and something to learn and grow from and through.  If we can get through this struggle, we can get through much more as they get older.

Being in such a tough district last year in athletics, we talked about it all of the time.  The number one way we frame struggle as development is telling them that struggle is development and that you can't grow to your full potential without struggle.  Struggle is the biggest part of getting out of your comfort zone, and getting out of your comfort zone is the fastest, most effective, and most sustainable path to growth.  Communication is the way that we frame struggle as development while also communicating with our students and our athletes that we care and that we will give them the tools to be successful and that we will go through the journey with them.

What are the signs you can tell someone's commitment level? 
We can tell how committed someone is a few different ways.  Of course, if they are willing to come in early or stay late is one way to measure commitment.  Also, if you see growth in areas that you have identified as weaknesses and you can tell that they have been working on improving those weaknesses, that is a sign of commitment.  Being willing to spend time outside of school or practice is a major sign of commitment because it takes more than practice or class to become the best that you can be.  The questions that they ask is also a way to measure commitment.  Committed students and athletes will ask questions when necessary because they want to know how they can be better and they want feedback.  However, its important for the coach to create and environment where the student/athlete is comfortable and confident enough to ask questions.  Eye contact and engagement in class and practice is also a major indicator of commitment.  Are they focused, engaged, and attentive in instruction?  Are the locked in?  How locked in are they?  Those are ways to measure commitment as well.