What I learnt from Tennis

When I was younger I played a lot of tennis. From the age of 7 to 16, along with basketball, it was the sport I spent most time playing. While I loved playing tennis, looking back, all I seem to remember was a lot of politics, sitting around waiting to play and very early Saturday and Sunday morning matches.

Over the January holidays, I watched on TV bits and pieces of the Australian Open tennis Grand Slam that takes place every year here in Melbourne.

In one match the player had won the first two sets and then lost the next two sets.

The commentators were talking about how the player was ‘choking’.

They explained that when a player ‘chokes’ (in the tennis context) they usually do one of two things.

They either try to do too much...

or they are too worried about doing the wrong thing.

This really resonated with me as I thought about my own teaching of maths.

I remember very clearly trying to do ‘too much’  in my classroom.

I was running four different activities per day, five days a week. I was coming up with 20 activities plus five ‘teacher’ groups. This was an enormous amount of work.

I also clearly remember trying to come up with new games all the time as I was worried my students would get ‘bored’ with the same 'old' games.

As I talk about in this blog, I have now come to realise that it is actually important to allow students to repeat the same game over and over so they are able to reach the point that they are working on their fluency, reasoning and problem solving skills, rather than constantly learning new games.

I strongly believe less is more in maths teaching.

Which brings me to the other way tennis players 'choke'... being too worried about doing the wrong thing...

Again I have been there!

In my classroom I was constantly worried that I was not doing the 'right thing'.

One of the downsides of being a caring and conscientious teacher is you constantly doubt and question yourself.

You desperately want someone to tell you how to do things in the 'right way'.

In today’s education climate, there is even more debate around this which I think is making teachers question themselves even more.

The Explicit teaching  vs Inquiry teaching debate causes teachers to worry that they are potentially ‘harming’ their students by doing one or the other.

For me, the simple answer is: the more you know the better you do

So, this week I encourage you to keep reading, asking questions, doing what you are doing but aim to constantly be making small tweaks and trying new methods and routines.

We can all improve our practice- but just take small incremental steps. You know your students better than anyone- keep them at the centre of everything you do.

Remember don't try to do too much and don't worry so much about not doing the 'right' thing! 

Teaching is one of the hardest jobs there is! You will never get it 'right'! All you can do is keep working on your 'game'!

Have a great week!

Ange:)

PS: I vividly remember being 6-0 up in the grand final of a tennis tournament a losing 9-7. Some may call this 'choking'- and they would be correct!

Just wanted to put this out there and let my dad know that I see the irony of writing this blog given that 'memorable' day in my tennis career.

Dad... no need for you to text and remind me about this occasion- it is seared into my memory!