"A friend sent me a copy of a new book about basketball coach Don Meyer. Don was one of the most successful college basketball coaches of all time, apparently. It's quite a sad book--sad because of his tragic accident, but also sad because it's a vivid story about a misguided management technique.

"Meyer's belief was that he could become an external compass and taskmaster to his players. By yelling louder, pushing harder and relentlessly riding his players, his plan was to generate excellence by bullying them. The hope was that over time, people would start pushing themselves, incorporating Don's voice inside their head, but in fact, this often turns out to be untrue.

 

 

"People can be pushed, but the minute you stop, they stop. If the habit you've taught is to achieve in order to avoid getting chewed out, once the chewing out stops, so does the achievement. It might win [ball] games, but it doesn't scale and it doesn't last. When Don left the room (or the players graduated), the team stopped winning."

 

 

 

 

One of the most significant differences between Thomas Jefferson Education and other classical styles of education has to do with the belief that people, especially children, learn differently at different ages.

 

Thus, there are different phases for learning certain lessons. When the The 7 Keys of Great Teaching are applied with the Phases in mind, it's like hitting the sweet spot - less stress, greater outcomes!