Coaching to Success-

Check out the YouTube video on the right entitled "Coaching to Success" which YouTube entitled "National Anthem Went Wrong". This young girl had been chosen by popular vote to perform in the NBA finals. When the unthinkable happens, it is a coach who comes to support her and helps her succeed. Observe also that the coach is inviting the entire community to participate in this girl's success. We need to create this type of culture in our school if it is not there. We all succeed when we help one another along.

The effective use of Accelerated Reader in the library and the classroom yields similar benefits from this same model. Using personal goal-setting, the teacher/librarian becomes the coach to help each child succeed at his/her goals. A student's goals are based on accuracy (85%+), frequency (points), and difficulty (book level). Coincidentally, these are the same goals the coach in this video uses out on the court to prepare his team for the finals.

Watching this video made me think about all of our struggling readers and what it must feel like to read textbooks above their reading level each and every period of every day. These students want to be better readers, and with a little coaching using independent reading, we can get them there.