Granny Shot

I recently heard the story of Rick Barry. Rick was an NBA player in the 1970s and is probably most famous for shooting free throws underhanded or what we might call a “granny shot.” Rick shot at just under 90% from the foul line in his career and in his last three seasons, he led the NBA in free throws and shot just under 95%. To put that in perspective, Rick would only miss 9 or 10 free throws in a season. LeBron James shoots at around 74% and misses about 100 free throws a year. 

So why don’t people shoot free throws underhanded? For one season, one of the greatest basketball players ever tried it. Wilt Chamberlin was an amazing player down low, but when he stepped to the line, he was awful. Wilt shot at 40%. So for one season, he had nothing to lose and gave the underhanded shot a try. He was incredibly better and even had a game where he made 28 out of 32 free throws. His percentage that season went to 61%. After that season, he stopped and went back to shooting overhand and his percentage went back to where it was before. He did it because he said, “it made him feel like a sissy.”

Sometimes we, as people, do things that don’t work because they feel right or we perceive them to be the way we should do them. Even when that is incredibly wrong. I see teachers do it and it’s hard to break a habit. I see students do it when their reputation or sense of self-worth seems to be out on the line. One on one, most students in my office can tell me exactly where they screwed up. They know what they did was wrong when they got a write-up. Yet, I’ll see the same kids multiple times because they only know one way to react. In a sense, they step to the free throw line and miss, knowing that they are doing the wrong thing, but they just can’t stop because of how they look to themselves and to others. 

We tell kids all the time not to worry about what others think, and while that sounds like good advice, it’s really not. Most people are not capable of truly not worrying about how they are perceived, especially most teenagers. If we as educators don’t keep that in mind when addressing issues with them, we are ignoring a biological fact. If pro players that are considered some of the best ever do not have the confidence to ignore their image toward others, we simply can’t expect a 15-year-old to do that either. Being better means that we have to take students and their image into account and appeal to a better image. That involves changing their mind about themselves and how they think others should see them. Unfortunately, that’s a lot harder and doesn’t happen as quickly.

Making Do

This week, I got caught up in politics again. The State Superintendent's announcement of a bill to reroute instructional supply money was one of those things that I just couldn't let go. I spent a lot of time speaking and exchanging emails with elected officials related to this bill in addition to my communications with you as well as my contacts via social media outlets. I have very strong feelings against this bill and I want to do all that I can to voice my opinion that it is bad for schools, bad for teachers and bad for students in the end.

In my discussions, I found myself several times mentioning that teachers and schools currently do not have enough money, but we usually find a way to "make do." "Making do" was a phrase that my grandmother used often. She grew up as the second of seven children to a sharecropping family that found ways to make do every day. They were poor, but because they had always been poor, they didn't know much different. Several years ago, she wrote down her experiences into a book that serves as a chronicle for my family as well as a description of life in poverty.  The central message is that while they suffered from all of the regular ills of families in poverty, they had one another and did always find a way to feed and care for the family.

Teachers, no matter where, become masters of making do. While there are times when some of you do ask for things beyond the normal classroom supplies, I usually learn about your needs when I see a problem or hear about it second hand. Your own reluctance to ask is a symptom of working in a job that regularly understands that there are financial limitations. Instead of asking, you make do. Just like in my grandmother's story, you learn to use the human resources around you to support yourself and the work that you do instead of tangible materials.

In my talks with one senator yesterday, he mentioned several times that education is 56% of the state budget and that much money needs some clear oversight as to what is being done with it. In Greene County, 100% of the state instructional supply money goes to schools. The county adds a considerable amount of money to that because what the state sends is not enough. We hear a lot of rhetoric about wasteful spending from legislators that make claims against schools in general based on "things they hear" from different people. I was clear with those that I spoke with yesterday about what we do with our funds and how you make great teaching happen.

Teachers are caught in the middle of this argument (and ironically were never consulted for the bill). Instead, they should be the ones given the input and voice on this matter. It is their pockets that extra items are paid from. It is teachers that make do when they have to. For that, I want to say I appreciate you. No matter what the outcome of this or any other bill may be, thank you for making do for all students.