Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Manny Parra.
Manny has loads of natural talent. He had lots of success at lower levels, but something went wrong. For some reason, he just stopped performing up to his capabilities. For a while, people said he was just struggling with the transition. As his struggles continued, they questioned his focus. They thought that maybe he just wasn't motivated to succeed. They said his attitude was causing him to waste his talents. As a middle-school teacher, this sounded familiar. Replace poise on the mound with behavior in the classroom, training with homework habits, and the fastball with reading ability, and you've got a generic script for any number of parent-teacher conferences.
Manny was frustrating. I knew he could do it, and I didn't think he was a bad guy. He was trying! Then I read this article. This was my introduction to the world of sabermetrics- the advanced study of baseball statistics. I'll save you the read and summarize by saying that the author of this article broke down the mystery that is Manny Parra with every imaginable statistic. He looked at Manny's performance and dissected every possible part of the game to figure out what was going wrong. Then I thought about my students who had been labelled with a "bad attitude" or "lack of motivation". How was I analyzing their performance? What was I doing to solve that mystery? I decided I had to start applying a sabermetric approach to education.
That touched off an obsession with measuring everything I could. I broke every assignment into little pieces. Where was it worked on? What skills were used? How was the student behaving that day? What day of the week was it? What trends was I seeing? Was I seeing them from everyone?
It was beautiful, except for one major problem- I teach Language Arts. My last math class was an algebra class my freshman year of college. My only experience with statistics outside of MLB box scores was looking at one WKCE or MAP number and saying either "Oh, good," or "Uh-oh." Microsoft Excel to the rescue!
Fast forward a few years, I've had a great time finding tools to find effective solutions to problems large and small. And to bring this post back to the original point, that's why I enrolled in an Instructional Technology course. I want to learn about better tools and better methods to solve problems in the classroom. And I want my students to do the same. I don't want to simply assign Power Point presentations, then say, "Look! They used computers! They're ready for the future!" I want them to realize what is out there, and actively seek the best solution to their problems.
And if they learn that batting average is overrated, that's just gravy.
Hi Ed,
ReplyDeleteWhat a fascinating analogy of comparing Manny Parra's career to the success/failure of our students. As a SABR member for over 20 years, I find the study of baseball history to be most fascinating. I am not really into the stats but understand how stats measure the ballplayer. In the same way, stats measure our students. However, I agree with you that there is so much more to our students than their numerical test results. Just like Manny Parra, students come into their classrooms/assessments with a history and background. We, as teachers, need to find out as much as we can so that we can help our students learn and grow. Obviously, much of that is measured by numbers/stats.
This past semester, I had a tremendously talented student who failed most of his classes, including one of the two he took with me. I sought to learn as much about his background as I could. Issues at home proved to be his downfall. In addition, he had focus problems that made it very difficult for him to focus in conventional classroom settings. He proved to be very successful in the Computer Applications class he took with me. His love of technology and comfort in a computer lab allowed him to be successful.
Your blog allowed to think about this student in a similar way as to how I think about baseball. As an electives teacher, I am not as concerned about standardized test scores as a core academic teacher might be. In baseball, I am not big on analyzing stats. I lean more towards focusing on the ballplayer's background and his overall career.
Thanks for providing this innovative way of evaluating a student's performance while always keeping in mind their background, history, strong points, and issues.
I guess I never pictured Bill James as teaching icon and I've never really thought about stats for students. We should give them academic cards. On the front the kid could be reading a book and you could look on the back and see how attendance percentage for 3rd grade compared to 5th.
ReplyDeleteWe sit and pick apart every aspect of a ballplayer by the numbers, but I've never seen it done for students. (not that I have spent much time looking) It's not like we don't have databases and gradebooks full of numbers and demographics. I guess the only numbers I ever see people concentrate on are GPA and ACT (or SAT). That's kind of like just using batting average and wins for a pitcher. It's only a minuscule part of the story. My question is what academic stat would be the equivalent of OPS for a batter? Easy to comprehend and calculate, but highly indicative of success.
Rob, do you ever spend any time at Brewerfan.net? They have pretty good stat community for the Crew in their forums.
Hey Zac, I dig the idea of making cards for students. "This is his '02 4K card in mint condition!"
ReplyDeleteThe measurements I usually use are curriculum-based measures, mainly reading mazes. They're not perfect, but they're easy to make, easy to grade, and can be given to the whole class at once. I only have one real year under my belt with those, but it was surprising how similar the students' paths were. They all seemed to peak and dive at roughly the same times. It kind of put the frustrations of February in a new light.
I don't know exactly what an OPS-type stat would be like, maybe a combination of reading, writing, and math CBMs. I shudder at the idea of a BABIP-type stat applied to multiple-choice tests and activities.
I've stopped over at Brewerfan a few times, but I usually lurk over at Brew Crew Ball.
And Jim, that's pretty cool that you get the opportunity to view students in a different light. That's what I always worry about with budget cuts- that students will miss out on the chance to find the place they excel. And a student's history is very important. That's why I really like the idea of programs like SIMS. It must be frustrating for students to deal with multiple teachers all trying the same approach with them when it's failed in the past.