Comments on: A Field Guide to Avoiding Toxic Teachers/Coaches

By: Philip Simmonds

Philip Simmonds — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:54:25 +0000

In my experience the bad coach is a necessary evil in the development of elite athletes, the athlete knows the coach is poor and reacts and starts to own there development, particularily from age 9- 12.Bad coaches are usually short term and when they get a good coach they take a qauntumn leap.

By: Jim Grove

Jim Grove — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:47:02 +0000

I love your reference to the Courteous Waiter – I cringe when I think of the “cool guys” who have taught a couple of my children. The kids learn nothing and they develop an entirely false sense that they have accomplished something by the end of term. I taught remedial English composition classes at community college to kids who were distraught after failing their proficiency exams, after having cruised through high school with cool English teachers who gave them straight A’s for everything they did. These poor kids couldn’t even write an intelligible sentence. College was a rude awakening for them.

By: liz garnett

liz garnett — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:42:58 +0000

The funny thing is, each of the types of behaviour you list are useful in small quantities – they only become a problem if they dominate a coach’s behavioural repertoire. It’s not a bad thing to be nice to people – especially if they are beating themselves up about their performance – but it’s a problem if you choose being nice as a replacement for challenge. Likewise, a spot of inspirational eloquence can be useful in the process you refer to as ignition – again it’s only a problem when over-used. Even taking time away from the team to think about strategy can be useful in its place.

And I think this is why these three types of behaviour are so dangerous – they allow you to delude yourself you’re doing a good job. You think: X can play a role in effective coaching, I’m doing X, therefore I’m being effective.

By: djcoyle

djcoyle — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:51:32 +0000

Hey Maureen, Thanks for sharing that. Reminded me of some of my writing teachers. Nothing like having a fake deadline to create a bit of urgency. I think I sweated more for those than for anything since.

By: Maureen Anderson

Maureen Anderson — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:00:58 +0000

My favorite teacher was Vince Staten. I took his feature writing class when he was a columnist for a newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky. Our task for the semester was to sell an article to a magazine. What a novel idea, I kept thinking–a class where the point was to get a job.

Vince gave me an A- on my first assignment–a piece about telemarketing–and lots of constructive criticism. “The lead is, I’m sure, appropriate for the audience,” he wrote in part, “but it still is kind of dull.”

He called me at work the next morning to ask if I’d help with a book he’d just sold to a publisher. What a thrill! I learned so much about being a writer by working with him. He was fun, he was honest, and most of all he was making a living doing what I wanted to do.

The best teachers, I think, are excited about their work…and share their enthusiasm.