Dear Meridian Community,
It has been a joy to coach and learn from your students this year! As you know, in my role as a specialist teacher, I get to work with the entire school. Each grade has its own approach and framing to the lessons I teach; however, some things are universal across all grades. I have found that bringing in current sports events through Athlete of the Month, the Olympics/Paralympics, or guest speakers engages students of all ages. Recently, the Super Bowl presented an opportunity to do such a reflection served up on a silver platter. After the game, I found myself stirring with excitement as I noticed a lesson we talk about in the Meridian gym come to life on one of the biggest stages in the country. No matter your relationship with football or sports, I hope the lessons the game provides serve you in some way!
Team making is one of the most controversial things I do on a daily basis. For one reason or another, students are experts at pointing out why a given team arrangement may not be fair or balanced in terms of skill, and we have a lot of conversations about trying to form teams even if they seem unfair at first. I don’t have to be a football expert (and I’m not one) to know that the Seahawks, with a previously doubted QB and a relatively new head coach, were not seen as the best team in the country at season start. A question I would ask the students: How would the season have played out if the Seahawks had seen they weren’t the highest-rated team and had immediately given up? Time and time again, players in post-game interviews on Sunday night spoke to the secret sauce of the team being how they came together this season in a special way. The word ‘together’ pervaded not just in one interview, but almost every single one that I heard. Bad Bunny’s performance, upon which many a dissertation could be written, echoed this united message. I hope our students graduate from Meridian taking away a similar lesson: The other teams may have many skilled players, but the ability to positively bring people to work hard together, with their individual skills recognized and valued, is the winningest skill of all.
Thanks for reading, and go Seahawks!
In gratitude,
Coach Caroline
