Every Player Should be a Coach

One of the biggest changes in my life over the last couple of years is my transition from a follower to a leader. Not in that vague interpersonal kind of way, but in real and tangible ways. Just a couple of years ago I was the student sitting in classes. Now I'm the teacher planning and executing lesson plans. Not too long ago I was still a part of my college improv team, taking direction from the leadership there. Now I'm teaching and coaching old and new improvisers.

I can say, without a doubt in my mind, that I've learned more being a leader than a follower. I've learned more about US History in three years as a teacher (see my series on learning by teaching) than in four years as a student. I learned more about economics in three years as a blogger than in four years as a student. I learned more about comedy in my years at the Dirty South Improv Theater than I did in my four years at Mock Turtle Soup. But this is not just the experience of one person, it's supported by research.

Author Dan Pink points to three experiments where "subjects were more likely to come up with the answer on behalf of another person than for themselves; the farther away the other person was imagined to be, the more likely the participants were to come up with the correct answer." But here's the catch, I couldn't have done one without the other. My years of history and economics classes were vital to my current teaching. My years of improv workshops were vital to my current coaching. The transition between a player and a coach is tough, but let me assure you, it you want to be great, it's worth it.

This was cross-posted at the The College Improv Resource.

Learning by Teaching: The 1918 Spanish Flu

In light of the events in Japan, this may be the most under-learned natural disaster in history:

The pandemic lasted from June 1917 to December 1920, spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. Between 50 and 100 million died, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history. Even using the lower estimate of 50 million people, 3% of the world's population (1.8 billion at the time), died of the disease. Some 500 million, or 28% (≈1/4) were infected.

Compare that to the 9 million that died in WWI, the largest war in Western history at that time.

Learning by Teaching: The Newburgh Conspiracy

Teaching has taught me more about history and economics than college ever did. Here's an example of something my US History class just covered:

The Newburgh Conspiracy was unrest in 1783 among officers of the American Continental Army resulting from the fact that many of the officers and men of the Continental Army had not received pay for many years. Commander-in-Chief George Washington stopped any serious talk by appealing successfully to his officers to support the supremacy of Congress.

Instead of taking on the kingship offered him he made a speech:

Washington then gave a short but impassioned speech, the Newburgh Address, counseling patience. His message was that they should oppose anyone "who wickedly attempts to open the floodgates of civil discord and deluge our rising empire in blood.". He then took a letter from his pocket from a member of Congress to read to the officers. He gazed upon it and fumbled with it without speaking. He then took a pair of reading glasses from his pocket, which were new and few of the men had seen him wear them. He then said: "Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country." This caused the men to realize that Washington had sacrificed a great deal for the Revolution, just as much as any of them. These, of course, were his fellow officers, most having worked closely with him for several years. Many of those present were moved to tears, and with this act, the conspiracy collapsed as he read the letter.

I hope the Egyptian military is reading my blog.

Learning by Teaching: AP US Essays

After my AP US Exam was given, we had about a month left before taking the state exams. So I assigned some research papers. Here are some things I learned while grading them:

• President John Quincy Adams had a foreign born wife.
• The infamous Peggy Eaton affair may have cost South Carolina its only possible president.
• The orignal plan was to kidnap Lincoln and use him to end the Civil War.
• The Union threatened to declare war on any nation that supported the Confederacy, which Britain and France almost did.
• In 1869 Wyoming became the first state to give women suffrage, apparently to encourage more single women to move there.
• The NAACP was started by a group of white people.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. was born Michael Luther King, Jr.
• Ronald Reagan added more trade barriers than any administration since Hoover.