Fly Eagles Fly: Lessons from Doug Pederson
The Super Bowl was last night and while I have boycotted watching football all year, I caved and watched the game. While I’m not a Philadelphia fan, I quickly became enamored with their coach, Doug Pederson. Pederson, who backed up Hall of Fame QB Brett Favre as a player, demonstrated some things during his Super Bowl win against the Evil Empire that is the New England Patriots that every teacher should remember.
Believe in your people
Whether in the classroom or on the football field, it’s essential to believe in fact that your people are capable of success. It’s always disheartening to hear teachers explain reasons why their students aren’t successful rather than explaining how they can put their students in the position to be successful. You can’t win the big one unless you believe in your people.
Nothing better epitomizes this than the incredible 4th down call that will probably go down in history as the gutsiest in the history of football. You don’t call a reverse pass back to your (backup) quarterback if you don’t have a insane belief that your players can pull it off…especially when playing the Patriots.
Be Aggressive
You know what goes with believing in your people? Being aggressive. It’s easy to be conservative and avoid taking risks with your curriculum or your pedagogy. It’s far more difficult to create a culture in which you dedicate yourself to “pushing the ball” down the field. To move the needle, you’ve got to be a bit more creative, giving students an opportunity to move and position themselves to be great. You can’t be great being conservative. Let loose the dogs of war.
Excellence is a Habit
Nothing on the field was accidental. Every nuance of the playbook was practiced. Every block, every route, every cadence was scrutinized and analyzed. You can’t believe in your people or be aggressive without a plan. the Eagles played like a team that was doing what it was built to do. Excellence is a habit.
Expecting greatness from our students without having a plan is a non-starter. The road to the Super Bowl begins on the first day of training camp. The road to success in our classrooms begins far before the end of the school year. All the hard work lays the ground work for the creativity, innovation, and championships.
