Mr. Eric Saltsman
Integrated Arts and English Teacher
For the Toronto Raptors, the summer of 2018 was one to remember. The team pulled off perhaps one of the most unlikely heists in the history of the league by landing superstar forward Kawhi Leonard from the San Antonio Spurs. The momentous occasion marked the first time in history that the Toronto Raptors had a top-five player in the league on their roster, and it was a clear moment when management decided that they were indeed planning to go “all in” on the 2018/2019 season. The cost of such an acquisition? None other than the franchise’s all-time scoring leader DeMar DeRozan.
Why was this trade so important? It taught us one very important thing about not only the Toronto Raptors or the San Antonio Spurs, but about professional sports in general: no one is above the team. And in that way, we can draw a remarkable parallel between professional sports and modern-day schools. When an organization is committed to winning, as both of these franchises are, and when a school is committed to the success of their students, they will exhaust every possible option to make that success a reality.
DeRozan had dedicated his life to the game of basketball. Originally from Los Angeles, Toronto became his second home and was the only city he had lived in since being drafted by the Raptors as a 19-year-old out of the University of Southern California. Toronto embraced its home-grown all-star just as much as he embraced the city around him. With DeRozan the team reached new heights: new regular season win totals year after year, a trip to the conference finals, and, a first place finish in the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately, the DeMar era would forever be known as a “failure” by many because of the team’s inability to overcome one of the greatest players the league has ever known in LeBron James. And so, DeRozan was shipped off because it was the only opportunity the team had to reach new heights.
As teachers, we also have our “all-stars” in the classroom. There are undoubtedly students who stand out in every class because of they have the whole package: high grades, excellent social skills, and, overall, display an ability to make a teacher’s life easier. Though, just as a professional sports franchise cannot hang their hats on one or two of these individuals, so must a teacher realize that the success of a subset of students in the classroom is not enough. If we have a “failure” in the classroom then we have to take a step back and ask ourselves if we had done what is possible to keep this from happening. A true championship calibre team needs all of its players to be firing on all cylinders, no matter the role they play. The Toronto Raptors organization did not derive any pleasure from heartbreaking defeat year after year, and a teacher (hopefully) does not derive pleasure from marking an assessment with a less than satisfactory grade. Rather, in both cases, there simply are no winners.
The unfortunate part in all of this is that, similar to professional sports, schools can be stats-driven. If students do not perform, they can be “shipped out” (or “counseled out”) to other schools. Or, more devastating to a school environment is when a student chooses to leave via “free agency” because they did not feel like they had the best chance to succeed in their current environment. In each scenario, the school and the league in question can act as a revolving door for their personnel. Every year there are first year “rookies” walking into a school or stepping onto the court for the first time. Additionally, there are graduates entering into the swan songs of their school careers or athletes who are reaching retirement. And with every Autumn a new school year and a new season is afoot with new possibilities. And every year begins a clean slate for students and players alike. Past performances are forgotten and new expectations arise.
Although he was acquired in a trade, Leonard willingly chose to the leave the San Antonio Spurs. He left an organization that boasted five championships and an unparalleled run of successes over the past two decades, as well as leaving one of the game’s most well respected and admired coaches. A place where every player on the team got what they earned, no more, no less. Why? Because, no matter how talented, no one was above the team. Yet, in this particular case, it is worth asking the question as to whether or not the team did all they could to protect their greatest asset?
Leonard felt that during an injury-plagued season of 2017-2018 the Spurs did not do what they could to ensure that Kawhi had what he needed to succeed. Now, Leonard has found himself in a more habitable situation with the Raptors. He has redefined the term “load management,” as the Raptors organization has prioritized managing the the superstar’s workload to best ensure that he has been given everything that he needs in order to be successful. And, although the man has never been known to emote, some may dare say that he has been quite happy north of the border.
So how does that translate into our school analogy?
Think of Kawhi as a promising student with learning challenges. This is actually the norm. At his last school, his teachers told him to play through the pain. Now, in his new environment, his teachers have worked to understand how he performs best (and worst) and have planned their teaching accordingly. (This is not to say that teachers should always teach to what’s “easiest” for a student, nor should we avoid challenging students to work through their “weaknesses,” but ultimately we consider what it is their students need to be successful.) And, if that’s what it takes for Kawhi and other students to reach their potential, isn’t it worth the investment? Meanwhile, where was this treatment for DeMar? Was he challenged properly in order to be successful? Perhaps some of his individual challenges were never acknowledged because he was able to push through and rely on hard work to carry him through. While this is often a benefit to a student, and gives them an opportunity to demonstrate resilience, this can also come with a cost. Was he given a fair shake to reach his potential or was he brushed off to the side because he was able to achieve personal success all the same? 
In a school environment, prioritizing the success of all learners can be accomplished through an approach called Universal Design for Learning, or UDL. Rather than creating a standardized system in the classroom and hoping individual students will succeed, or attempting to differentiate instruction for struggling learners on a case by case basis, a UDL approach attempts to design curricula and class environments around an expectation of diversity from the ground up. This approach sees difference as normal and attempts to allow each student to build on his or her unique strengths and learning styles with as few barriers as possible.
Some examples of UDL approaches in education are providing multiple assignment options, designing flexible work spaces, offering regular individualized feedback and the use of diverse resources such as digital and traditional media to be used by all students. More than any of these specifics, UDL is a mindset that adapts the classroom to students in thoughtful ways, and because one of the primary goals of UDL is to reduce the stigma around learning differences, all of these teaching approaches are offered to all students
As with sports, the goals of any classroom should be straightforward: The name on the front of the jersey should always count for more than the name on the back. In any classroom every student should be given to opportunity to feel that they are a part of something bigger and more important than themselves and that their contributions are integral to the success of the school as a whole. It’s also true that every school is different, every student is different and every year is different. The Kawhis and the Demars of the world will come and go. While we will inevitably get some things right and some things wrong in our attempts to reach all learners, as long as we can truly say that we did all that we could to maximize every student’s potential, then we’ll know we’re playing the game for the right reasons.
