What Teachers Can Learn from Sports Coaches

“What’s the difference between great teachers and great coaches? In this compelling book, Nathan Barber proves that you can’t be one without the other.” Annette Breaux

“Nathan Barber draws on the wisdom and experience of some of the best teachers in sports and translates that wisdom into best practices for your classroom.” Kim Mulkey

What Teachers Can Learn from Sports Coaches: A Playbook of Instructional Strategies (From Routledge/Eye on Education Publishers) The strategies used by winning coaches on the field can bring success to classrooms, too. In What Teachers Can Learn from Sports Coaches, you’ll discover that the athletic arena and the classroom have more in common than you think. Author Nathan Barber demonstrates how many of the principles of coaching can be used by teachers to motivate students, build community and enhance teaching.

Strategies in the book include:

• Communicate Effectively
• Make Work Meaningful
• Embrace Technology
• Build a Winning Tradition
• Teach Life Lessons
• Seek Continual Improvement

Teachers, administrators and coaches from any and all grade levels and subject areas will find valuable insight into and wisdom related to some of the instructional strategies today’s greatest coaches use to build great players and successful teams.

For months, I personally collected wisdom from some of the greatest coaches in the US and some from around the world. Included in the list of coaches are Olympic medalists, NCAA national champion coaches, state champion coaches, national team coaches, and all-time winningest coaches. Additionally, the two forewords have been written by nationally-known educational guru Annette Breaux and two-time NCAA champion coach Kim Mulkey. I will release more info soon about the other amazing coaches who contributed to this book. The editors currently are working on cover art, advance praise and book reviewers. (If you are interested in providing a blurb or doing a book review, please contact me.

The book already is listed at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, as well as on Goodreads. (The current cover art and prices are simply placeholders and do not reflect the final art and pricing). To get the most recent updates, you can Like my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter. As the release date of August, 2014, gets closer, I'll share more information about this project, about my journey from blank page to final draft, and about the fascinating insight into coaching and teaching I've picked up along the way from some amazing coaches. This project will spawn a number of articles, blog posts and more.

Thanks for your interest in What Teachers Can Learn from Sports Coaches: A Playbook of Instructional Strategies.

Updated 3-22-14