[ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 11 | June 27, 2016 | ISSN 0975-3036]
This year, I’m retiring from coaching my middle school’s award-winning speech and debate team. It has been an amazing 12 years of laughter, tears, frustration, and pride. I look back at my students, at both those who have won trophies at the state and national level, and those who merely learned how to raise their hand in class without allowing a tremor to tip off their fears.
I think about my first year as a coach when I insisted that the grade point average (GPA) be dropped as a factor in deciding who could join the elective. I think about my last year as a coach and the over 150 students who applied to join the team.
We’ve put traditions in place from year to year that have built a community that has helped students find a smaller family within our larger school population. We brought together students in special education with students in honors, and with English language learners.
The shared experiences we created in this class brought them all together, and in the world of middle school cliques, it’s very special to be involved with a group that can break down the walls between lunch table groups. As you can see, I loved it. I still do