If there was ever a day to just do a walk-through on my class, I'd have to say today was it. Recently we've been learning about the industrial revolution and today we were working on the assembly line. To begin the activity I liked to give a little shout out to my main man Henry Ford for inventing the assembly line. A process which is still used in factories around the world. Albeit streamlined with robots and stuff... we still use em. Not only that, but the manufacturing prowess that we had developed from the early 1900's until that scuffle with Hitler's boys gave us the upper hand in a hot contest. In the end it allowed the old US of A and her allies to send those krauts into obscurity. Now look what their known for - click here. ummmm yeah. So thanks Ford!
Also lets not forget the invention of the 5 day work week. Atta boy Henry!! There's lots of reasons to be a Ford fan besides the fact that they make sweet trucks. So keep it up you "Found On Road Dead" turds. If it weren't for Ford, you'd be working on Saturdays instead of suckin down Fruit Loops and watching Transformers. But I digress....
So we get started and the class is split into equal teams. These teams will be responsible for making cars from outlines on paper. There will be a person to cut tires out, a person to cut the car body out, a person to fold the body, a person to assemble with glue stick and a person to paint/inspect the cars. The team will also have a supervisor who's responsible for cleaning the area, motivating the team, assigning jobs and making sure work is moving along appropriately.
Once work begins, the cutters are working furiously to get the parts moving down the assembly line. People in the back are yelling for the parts to get to them so they can finish the car. Supervisors are lashing out at the team, goading them on toward success. All the while you've got me looming. I played the part of the factory. At the time in the early 1900's the factory was a living thing to be feared. It was loud, obnoxious, smelly, hot and on occasion would take your limbs. I played this part by implementing a little classroom torture.
First I opened the windows but shut the blinds. On a day like today, that just meant the room was going to be dark and hot. Then I got the factory sound going. Now at this stage alot of teachers would probably have some industrial sound track to play. In lieu of such a thing I decided to play multiple Youtube videos all at once on top of one another. To make matters worse I picked dastardly classics like Mmm Bop, The Macarena and William Hung singing Take me out to the ball game' . But even that wasn't enough. To really put the cherry on what would turn out to be a very annoying and overbearing soundtrack I chose to add in this atrocity which can't be truly appreciated until about minute 4... so fast forward, I guess.
With the overhead speaker blasting something like what I imagine hell sounding like and the students sweating and yelling at one another all while working at a feverish pace, the puzzle was nearly complete. But we do need to factor in the whole losing limbs thing.
As an aside here, I want to take another minute to remember Adrian Cane. He and I basically put the ideas for this thing together back when we were up at Round Rock. But when we were there we did it even bigger. We had steam engines in the room! It was great. I'm taking this aside now because this next little element was all his idea. RIP dude... haven't forgotten you. And as long as I teach the industrial revolution, I probably never will.
So to simulate losing a finger, I walked around the room with a roll of masking tape. At complete random I would chose someone to get 2-4 of their fingers taped together. Or if I really wanted to get them, I'd take their thumb. Let me tell you, a kid trying to use scissors with their off hand because their dominant one is all taped up.... pure comedy gold. At the end of the day the smarter students were all trying to unionize and go on strike for unfair treatment. And that's the cool part. That's where History Alive gets it. It isn't just about making kids jump around and be silly all in the name of a more exciting classroom. It's about getting them in a similar situation until they can make a connection with the people who actually experienced it. It isn't always easy with 13 year olds... but today I think I did.
Oh and by the way, on a day which would have been perfect to have a surprise walk-through... I got one. God is good.
Overheard @ WoRMS
Question imediately after I explained the above described activity.
Kid1: Mr. S, I was thinking about it and I think I figured out my parents anniversary is tomorrow and...
Kid2: (cutting off Kid1) So when I was at lunch I saw this Coke bottle sitting in the road and...
Me: (cutting off Kid2) Enough... woog.
Kid1: So when I was 7 I knew all the words to Stairway to Heaven.
Kid2: I'm not sure if I should think that's cool or scary.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Time to get back in the game...
Well I'm not sure I could say I was ever in it but today I decided it really is time to get back into working out again. I think it's so funny how often people do this. Think about working out, plan to, plan doesn't work out, plan to later, forget about it for a while, think about it, plan for it, actually do it, get sore, decide to take a break for a little while because it can't be good for you to work out again so soon, make it back a month later.... the saga goes on and on. At best, alot of people wind up working out consistently for something like 2 to 6 months. So here I go.
I think something that inspired me a little bit is a cool new work out program a friend of mine is involved with. I haven't gotten the chance to talk to him about it yet but what I gather from the website is that it's a pretty non-standard regimen. You can check it out at their website entirefit.com. You'll get it when you get there but the workout's all about tires... get it, en-TIRE-fit. Anyway I didn't mean for this to become an ad for these guys, but I will say the fact that something cool like this exists has inspired me to get back to the grind and try to get myself beefed up.
Today I worked out at school for the first time in a while. It went well. Funny part about it was when I decided to do the aerobic fitness test the kids all have to do. It's this weird little thing where a tape recording gives you a set amount of time to run across the court. As the test goes on, the time you have to get down the court gets shorter. The fastest kid I saw ran 94 but he was waaaay above everyone else. Since I'm fairly out of shape and I'd just worked out, I set my goal at 20. Aaaaand I almost died. But I did it. Now let's just see how long it takes to get back in game.... Again.
On a related note... if you remember the Farmer's pushup challenge that I brought up back in January, I did it... for a while. Once I got up to about 70 pushups, I just got tired of doing it. But I will say that there may just be something to that "little bit at a time and you'll get there" thing. I don't know about picking up a cow, but I think you might concievably be able to do 365 pushups by years end by simply doing one more everyday.
Overheard @ WoRMS
Kid:Mr. S did you know it's Earth day today?
Me: Nope
Kid: Well it is... I figured that's why you wore that green shirt.
Me: Nope
Kid: Well actually with that green shirt like the trees, your jeans like water and your brown shoes like dirt... you really went all out for today. You ARE the Earth!
Me: ooooook
Me: Alright so what industries do you think were affected by Spindletop and the mass production of cars?
Kid: Well I bet the bicycle industry didn't like it very much
Me: Woog
I think something that inspired me a little bit is a cool new work out program a friend of mine is involved with. I haven't gotten the chance to talk to him about it yet but what I gather from the website is that it's a pretty non-standard regimen. You can check it out at their website entirefit.com. You'll get it when you get there but the workout's all about tires... get it, en-TIRE-fit. Anyway I didn't mean for this to become an ad for these guys, but I will say the fact that something cool like this exists has inspired me to get back to the grind and try to get myself beefed up.
Today I worked out at school for the first time in a while. It went well. Funny part about it was when I decided to do the aerobic fitness test the kids all have to do. It's this weird little thing where a tape recording gives you a set amount of time to run across the court. As the test goes on, the time you have to get down the court gets shorter. The fastest kid I saw ran 94 but he was waaaay above everyone else. Since I'm fairly out of shape and I'd just worked out, I set my goal at 20. Aaaaand I almost died. But I did it. Now let's just see how long it takes to get back in game.... Again.
On a related note... if you remember the Farmer's pushup challenge that I brought up back in January, I did it... for a while. Once I got up to about 70 pushups, I just got tired of doing it. But I will say that there may just be something to that "little bit at a time and you'll get there" thing. I don't know about picking up a cow, but I think you might concievably be able to do 365 pushups by years end by simply doing one more everyday.
Overheard @ WoRMS
Kid:Mr. S did you know it's Earth day today?
Me: Nope
Kid: Well it is... I figured that's why you wore that green shirt.
Me: Nope
Kid: Well actually with that green shirt like the trees, your jeans like water and your brown shoes like dirt... you really went all out for today. You ARE the Earth!
Me: ooooook
Me: Alright so what industries do you think were affected by Spindletop and the mass production of cars?
Kid: Well I bet the bicycle industry didn't like it very much
Me: Woog
Monday, April 20, 2009
and now... The rest of the story
Alright, so picking up where the last blog left off...
Workout Wednesday:
So on Wednesday I have the guys go through this cycle that combined body weight exercises with cardio. I kind of modeled off this personal training cycle that the wife used to go through before we got married. Here's what we did.
Keep in mind they do this with no break in between. They also have to do them on command and with correct form. If they break from the group in any way, I start over at zero.
First the guys get into position and do 25 push ups. Then they get with a partner and do 25 sit ups. After both partners go, they get into position and do 25 squat jumps. From there we line up at the goal line and the partners become groups 1 and 2. In the following exercises group one would go then, if they did it right, group 2 would go. First, 15 yards and back bear crawls. Second, 15 yards and back forward crab. Third, 15 and back duck walk.
After they finished, the group would go right back to push up position and we would cut down to 20 of each of the first exercises. Then go on to the last three just as before. Then with the time left we went on and did 15 of each. Only once did we ever get through all 3 cycles . It sounds like no big deal I know. But believe me, it aint easy. These young fellas were sweating it up and getting stronger all the time.
Throw Down Thursday:
On Thursday the guys would build on the score that their teams started getting on Tuesday. We would throw a bunch of different things at them from tug of war to pass and punt competitions. This was never really a tough day but the guys did have a forum to show off their new found strength and conditioning.
Football Friday:
Part reward for a tough week finished and part competition, on Friday we played touch football. This was their last opportunity for a team to get enough points to win for the week and get out of half the running on Marathon Monday.
Anyway so a long winded explanation sure, but I was really proud of this set up because it allowed me to mesh together a group of guys that others had had trouble with. All of a sudden instead of fighting to outdo each others' stupidity they were fighting together and working hard. They were taking responsibility for what they did and becoming faster and stronger in the mean time.
So where are we now on the coaching thing? Well who knows really. I've put in to be one of the coaches next year but nothing has been made official yet. I will say that I'm really excited that it's even a possibility. This year has shown me just how much I like the whole coaching thing. I also think I'm better at it than I am at most other things. So the long and short of it is that I hope I will be, I think I might be, so stay tuned to find out.
Last but not least: PROJECT THUNDER MAKER
Some of my regular readers that read about my teaching, coaching etc. may not know or care much about the following topic. But as work progresses, there will be updates.
So what is Project Thunder Maker? It's where you take and already beastly truck and simply... make it more beastly! Some of you may have never had the pleasure of encountering Green Thunder. I am sad for you. Here is a picture.
You can't read the sign in front of it, but it says "for low emissions vehicles only" haha. I'm pretty sure I've never talked about Green Thunder in the old blog o rama so here goes. It is a 1977 Ford F-150 with a 460 (7.5 Liter) V8. It's 4wheel drive, rides on 33" tires and currently has a bone stock drivetrain. From the very beginning, I have loved this awesome truck. Originally I bought it after a great deal of searching for something that could sort of fill a want for muscle bound motors and wrenches turning in the garage. I sought out this particular era of Ford since my dad had owned a '79 F150 with a 400 in it. Finding this truck was a dream come true and working on it has been a blast.
In the past year (I bought it in February of 08) I've done lots of little things to it. I've swapped out the power steering with the help of my dad. I've swapped out the carb for a 770 Truck Avenger with the help of my buddy Seth. And I've swapped out the weather stripping with the help of Miller High life.
But now with a little influx of cash, the real project Thunder Maker has begun.
To be honest the whole thing started with some leaky valve seals. These are things that keep the oil at the top of the engine from draining down into the combustion chamber. Since they were leaking, the motor was burning some oil. And as anyone who's ever hung out around Green Thunder when I start it up can tell you, it makes for a smelly and smokey show when the oil gets to burnin. So obviously this is an easy fix. $12 part, valve covers off and bang your done. But lets not over simplify something easy. Instead, lets make it difficult and fun!
With money in my pocket and big dreams for big horses, the project began. And what had started as a lowly valve seal replacement had now snowballed into a whole engine build! So I budgeted and started shopping.
Truthfully this project had been slowly in the works for sometime. This explains why I have headers, a Comp Cams Extreme 4x4 262 camshaft and a new MSD ignition setup all hanging out in my garage. But hey, I'd rather just say it started recently... makes me sound like more of a go getter. Anyway so here's how it's gone so far...
First I went ahead and got a good deal from Craig's on an engine hoist and stand. It was a monster drive to get it, but it was worth the 100 bucks or so that I saved over buying it new and boy does this thing perform! Nothing like having 2 tons of lifting power in your garage for a job like this.
Second, I found a shortblock+. I call it shortblock+ because most short blocks don't come with anything except a crank and pistons inside the block itself. This came with a weak cam as well as water, oil, fuel pumps. It also has a front sump pan on it which does me no good but it helped with transport. Anyway, I got this thing off Craigslist from a guy that had more money than sense but... that's a story that would take up too much space, and this story is running long already.
Anyway so the first step was getting it out of the truck. This process was hampered at first because the guy I got it from gave me the wrong bolt sizes on the back end.. like I said, no sense. Side note: Luckily he wasn't the one who built it. Instead it had actually been put together at a machine shop and bored 30 over. So now it's actually more like a 466. So when dad was in town over Easter, we finally managed to get the thing out of the truck and onto the stand.
During the process I wound up getting some iron D0VE-C heads that had been throughly worked over and endowed with some massive Super Cobra Jet valves. We're talking 2.25 on the intake kids... that's manimal sized. With the help of my buddy Seth we got the new cam in and we've got it all set up to put the heads on. More on that soon...
Anyway we're really having some good times putting this thing together. I can't wait to get it in and put some power to the road. Although I have to say with this HEAVY artillery under hood, I kind of feel sorry for my back tires....
OVERHEARD @ WoRMS
Kid: Mr. I dare you to shave your beard on the last day of school...
Me: I'll think about it.
I think this leads me to ask you, the readers...
1. Have you ever seen me without it?
2. Should I?
Let me know on FB or on here what you think. Hopefully we're all caught up now and I can actually start doing daily updates again. I miss ya kids. Later.
Workout Wednesday:
So on Wednesday I have the guys go through this cycle that combined body weight exercises with cardio. I kind of modeled off this personal training cycle that the wife used to go through before we got married. Here's what we did.
Keep in mind they do this with no break in between. They also have to do them on command and with correct form. If they break from the group in any way, I start over at zero.
First the guys get into position and do 25 push ups. Then they get with a partner and do 25 sit ups. After both partners go, they get into position and do 25 squat jumps. From there we line up at the goal line and the partners become groups 1 and 2. In the following exercises group one would go then, if they did it right, group 2 would go. First, 15 yards and back bear crawls. Second, 15 yards and back forward crab. Third, 15 and back duck walk.
After they finished, the group would go right back to push up position and we would cut down to 20 of each of the first exercises. Then go on to the last three just as before. Then with the time left we went on and did 15 of each. Only once did we ever get through all 3 cycles . It sounds like no big deal I know. But believe me, it aint easy. These young fellas were sweating it up and getting stronger all the time.
Throw Down Thursday:
On Thursday the guys would build on the score that their teams started getting on Tuesday. We would throw a bunch of different things at them from tug of war to pass and punt competitions. This was never really a tough day but the guys did have a forum to show off their new found strength and conditioning.
Football Friday:
Part reward for a tough week finished and part competition, on Friday we played touch football. This was their last opportunity for a team to get enough points to win for the week and get out of half the running on Marathon Monday.
Anyway so a long winded explanation sure, but I was really proud of this set up because it allowed me to mesh together a group of guys that others had had trouble with. All of a sudden instead of fighting to outdo each others' stupidity they were fighting together and working hard. They were taking responsibility for what they did and becoming faster and stronger in the mean time.
So where are we now on the coaching thing? Well who knows really. I've put in to be one of the coaches next year but nothing has been made official yet. I will say that I'm really excited that it's even a possibility. This year has shown me just how much I like the whole coaching thing. I also think I'm better at it than I am at most other things. So the long and short of it is that I hope I will be, I think I might be, so stay tuned to find out.
Last but not least: PROJECT THUNDER MAKER
Some of my regular readers that read about my teaching, coaching etc. may not know or care much about the following topic. But as work progresses, there will be updates.
So what is Project Thunder Maker? It's where you take and already beastly truck and simply... make it more beastly! Some of you may have never had the pleasure of encountering Green Thunder. I am sad for you. Here is a picture.
You can't read the sign in front of it, but it says "for low emissions vehicles only" haha. I'm pretty sure I've never talked about Green Thunder in the old blog o rama so here goes. It is a 1977 Ford F-150 with a 460 (7.5 Liter) V8. It's 4wheel drive, rides on 33" tires and currently has a bone stock drivetrain. From the very beginning, I have loved this awesome truck. Originally I bought it after a great deal of searching for something that could sort of fill a want for muscle bound motors and wrenches turning in the garage. I sought out this particular era of Ford since my dad had owned a '79 F150 with a 400 in it. Finding this truck was a dream come true and working on it has been a blast.
In the past year (I bought it in February of 08) I've done lots of little things to it. I've swapped out the power steering with the help of my dad. I've swapped out the carb for a 770 Truck Avenger with the help of my buddy Seth. And I've swapped out the weather stripping with the help of Miller High life.
But now with a little influx of cash, the real project Thunder Maker has begun.To be honest the whole thing started with some leaky valve seals. These are things that keep the oil at the top of the engine from draining down into the combustion chamber. Since they were leaking, the motor was burning some oil. And as anyone who's ever hung out around Green Thunder when I start it up can tell you, it makes for a smelly and smokey show when the oil gets to burnin. So obviously this is an easy fix. $12 part, valve covers off and bang your done. But lets not over simplify something easy. Instead, lets make it difficult and fun!
With money in my pocket and big dreams for big horses, the project began. And what had started as a lowly valve seal replacement had now snowballed into a whole engine build! So I budgeted and started shopping.
Truthfully this project had been slowly in the works for sometime. This explains why I have headers, a Comp Cams Extreme 4x4 262 camshaft and a new MSD ignition setup all hanging out in my garage. But hey, I'd rather just say it started recently... makes me sound like more of a go getter. Anyway so here's how it's gone so far...
First I went ahead and got a good deal from Craig's on an engine hoist and stand. It was a monster drive to get it, but it was worth the 100 bucks or so that I saved over buying it new and boy does this thing perform! Nothing like having 2 tons of lifting power in your garage for a job like this.
Second, I found a shortblock+. I call it shortblock+ because most short blocks don't come with anything except a crank and pistons inside the block itself. This came with a weak cam as well as water, oil, fuel pumps. It also has a front sump pan on it which does me no good but it helped with transport. Anyway, I got this thing off Craigslist from a guy that had more money than sense but... that's a story that would take up too much space, and this story is running long already.
Anyway so the first step was getting it out of the truck. This process was hampered at first because the guy I got it from gave me the wrong bolt sizes on the back end.. like I said, no sense. Side note: Luckily he wasn't the one who built it. Instead it had actually been put together at a machine shop and bored 30 over. So now it's actually more like a 466. So when dad was in town over Easter, we finally managed to get the thing out of the truck and onto the stand.
During the process I wound up getting some iron D0VE-C heads that had been throughly worked over and endowed with some massive Super Cobra Jet valves. We're talking 2.25 on the intake kids... that's manimal sized. With the help of my buddy Seth we got the new cam in and we've got it all set up to put the heads on. More on that soon...
Anyway we're really having some good times putting this thing together. I can't wait to get it in and put some power to the road. Although I have to say with this HEAVY artillery under hood, I kind of feel sorry for my back tires....
OVERHEARD @ WoRMS
Kid: Mr. I dare you to shave your beard on the last day of school...
Me: I'll think about it.
I think this leads me to ask you, the readers...
1. Have you ever seen me without it?
2. Should I?
Let me know on FB or on here what you think. Hopefully we're all caught up now and I can actually start doing daily updates again. I miss ya kids. Later.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Where've you been all these months?
So you're probably wondering, where's Spur been? Or actually you probably haven't been wondering but who cares. Some days I wonder where I am and have been. Before I started writing this blog tonight I looked at the date of the last entry... woah nelly it's been almost 4 months! Needless to say, time to get back in the blogger saddle. Hope you packed a lunch Alice... this one's gonna be a long one.
BABY:
First and foremost I want to talk about our sweet little baby Reese. This girl is absolutely unbelievable. Those of you who have only seen birth pictures of her will scarcely believe the little lady that's hanging out with us now. This Thursday will mark her 12 week "birthday" and man is she changing fast. Before she was born everyone kept saying, "You'd better drink it all in because they grow up SO fast." I'd heard this before but never realized just how true it is until now.
Oh the places she's going. Well not really, she can't get anywhere yet. But she is slightly less blob like when she's sitting still. Her feet and hands are constantly moving. These days she has started trying to talk alot too. It's a little eerie. I don't know why. Just think of something you're not used to hearing make language type sounds all of a sudden start saying Oooooooo. Like if my cat did that I'd be real weirded out. The baby does it and I suppose it's all part of growing up but still. We've had a long time of hearing the usual crying, farting and retching. Anything else is a little out of the ordinary.
Not only is she trying to make letter sounds, she's also started laughing and smiling constantly. A week ago or so her Gigi was over helping out. We were all standing around in the bedroom putting laundry away or something and Reese starts outright laughing. It was the craziest thing. Those of you who have kids probably remember this moment with your own and you know what I'm talking about. Anyway so she's just staring at Gigi and literally belly laughing. It was a cool moment. Unfortunately it has yet to be replicated since no one knows what an infant thinks is humorous.
As far as being tough to deal with in the normal baby ways, she really hasn't been. For the most part she doesn't cry much. She usually enjoys taking a bath. She has always slept through the night. And she just really like to make eye contact and smile. If you can't tell... we're pretty dang pleased with her.
Lately I've gotten to start feeding her. I say 'gotten to' because I am really stoked to be a part of her feeding process. Before it was all in the wife's hands and I could do little to help. Now I take on multiple feedings everyday including the 11:30 PM and the 6:30 AM. And on that note can I say, I've become a pretty big coffee fan. Off the top of my head that's all I can think of. If there's anything you want to know specifically about the babe just put it in the comments and I'll definitely add to the blog.
Next topic: Teaching
Alright so first year teacher stuff.... not so bad, at least for me. It's funny that I'm writing about this today. There's so much that has been going on today that has made me become very reflective and in turn very thankful concerning my first big year in teaching. Let me expound on this a little....
So when I look through my mind's eye and gaze back into the past, I look around the room at all the young student teachers in my cohort. So much passion, dedication, and drive to be good educators. Thinking back on all the folks that used to sit with me in that class, I can't help but think... Why me? Why am I having such a good year? Has it had it's ups and downs? Absolutely. But in the end, the hand I've been dealt is a much much sweeter one than many people.
First off let's start out with the fact that I got a job. I don't keep in touch well but I'd feel safe saying that a quarter and maybe half of our cohort didn't even get jobs as teachers.... woof. Second, where are these jobs? Many wanted to stay close to Austin, few did. Off the top of my head there's maybe a couple around here, but everyone else left... sometimes with disastrous results.
Which brings me to the fact that for whatever reason, I got the long end on a whole bunch of sticks... and it actually makes me feel really bad. You see at my school I have something that I feel is extremely important to a teacher's success, support. I have a mentor teacher who is fantastic. I plan with her, I go to her in emergencies, I can count on her for sound advice and she has been the proverbial shoulder to cry on in more than one instance. From my conversations with my friends, none of them have that. Then there's another lady I work with who takes care of making sure that students' special educational needs are met. Those of you who are teachers will understand when I say, "This lady and her IEP fulfillin ways are a God send." Without those two incredible women, I'm not sure what I would have done this year. I just find it sad that the others haven't had the opportunity to thrive that I've had.
And now nearing the end of the year, I wonder how many of us will still be teaching next year. I know some are contemplating grad school, others are being let go, and one need only search my previous blogs to see the ultimate in downtrodden school years. Obviously I'm talking about Adrien, a man who given the opportunity that I've been given may well have become teacher of the year but more importantly, would probably still be with us.
It's all just a sad thing. Folks losing sleep, losing their hair, losing their sanity all over something they at one time felt driven with a passion to do.
Anyway, this topic has really got me down so I'm moving on.
Coaching:
So this coaching deal has really taken off since last I wrote. At one time I used to wonder how any amount of money could be worth giving up my off period to take on such a lousy bunch. They were unruly, they didn't work hard, they were overall just a sorry bunch. I'm using the past tense here because I guess it was sometime around Christmas and the baby being born when I said... you know maybe these kids aint turds, maybe I've just got a shit attitude. And I did...
With that realization, I set to work on what would be the reawakening (or maybe just awakening) of our off-season program. It didn't need to be football based because half the guys I was working with played no football. It needed to be fun, challenging and engaging all at the same time. I knew if it wasn't, it would fail like everything else had. And the solution came through an exercise in alliteration that took us through every day of the week:
Marathon Monday:
This day is pretty simple. Running and more running. We run what I call a gasser which in our program I defined as starting from the inside edge of the track run across the field to the other inside edge, back then over and back again. Four trips across the field. Originally I did this when I played football. The only difference is that we used the football sidelines. Using the track edges the kids are running close to a hundred more yards per gasser. If everyone runs them and finishes through the line everytime, we run 8 of these. Then we run 8 one hundred yard sprints. It's a tough day, especially if one isn't giving much effort. Wanting to instill a team mentality, I simply don't count one if people screw around or don't do what's asked of them. Sure enough, they rally together to get the running done right.
Tire Pull Tuesday:
I had almost forgotten this game, but remembered it just in time to make it part of the new program. Any of you that read this who went to Temple will remember going to church camp. What some of you younger pups may not remember is that the games up there used to be brutally violent. One that sticks out in my mind is the one where kids raced across a field with trash cans on their heads. The kicker was that they crossed paths right in the middle with another team. So every now and again someone would get absolutely destroyed and never see it coming. Another game we played was a fantastic game called tire pull. With athletics I decided to play the game much as it had been played at camp. Split the teams into even numbers of all sizes, number them of 1-10 on each team. Call a number and whoever gets the most tires back to their side wins. It's a blast.
To be continued....
BABY:
First and foremost I want to talk about our sweet little baby Reese. This girl is absolutely unbelievable. Those of you who have only seen birth pictures of her will scarcely believe the little lady that's hanging out with us now. This Thursday will mark her 12 week "birthday" and man is she changing fast. Before she was born everyone kept saying, "You'd better drink it all in because they grow up SO fast." I'd heard this before but never realized just how true it is until now.
Oh the places she's going. Well not really, she can't get anywhere yet. But she is slightly less blob like when she's sitting still. Her feet and hands are constantly moving. These days she has started trying to talk alot too. It's a little eerie. I don't know why. Just think of something you're not used to hearing make language type sounds all of a sudden start saying Oooooooo. Like if my cat did that I'd be real weirded out. The baby does it and I suppose it's all part of growing up but still. We've had a long time of hearing the usual crying, farting and retching. Anything else is a little out of the ordinary.
Not only is she trying to make letter sounds, she's also started laughing and smiling constantly. A week ago or so her Gigi was over helping out. We were all standing around in the bedroom putting laundry away or something and Reese starts outright laughing. It was the craziest thing. Those of you who have kids probably remember this moment with your own and you know what I'm talking about. Anyway so she's just staring at Gigi and literally belly laughing. It was a cool moment. Unfortunately it has yet to be replicated since no one knows what an infant thinks is humorous.
As far as being tough to deal with in the normal baby ways, she really hasn't been. For the most part she doesn't cry much. She usually enjoys taking a bath. She has always slept through the night. And she just really like to make eye contact and smile. If you can't tell... we're pretty dang pleased with her.
Lately I've gotten to start feeding her. I say 'gotten to' because I am really stoked to be a part of her feeding process. Before it was all in the wife's hands and I could do little to help. Now I take on multiple feedings everyday including the 11:30 PM and the 6:30 AM. And on that note can I say, I've become a pretty big coffee fan. Off the top of my head that's all I can think of. If there's anything you want to know specifically about the babe just put it in the comments and I'll definitely add to the blog.
Next topic: Teaching
Alright so first year teacher stuff.... not so bad, at least for me. It's funny that I'm writing about this today. There's so much that has been going on today that has made me become very reflective and in turn very thankful concerning my first big year in teaching. Let me expound on this a little....
So when I look through my mind's eye and gaze back into the past, I look around the room at all the young student teachers in my cohort. So much passion, dedication, and drive to be good educators. Thinking back on all the folks that used to sit with me in that class, I can't help but think... Why me? Why am I having such a good year? Has it had it's ups and downs? Absolutely. But in the end, the hand I've been dealt is a much much sweeter one than many people.
First off let's start out with the fact that I got a job. I don't keep in touch well but I'd feel safe saying that a quarter and maybe half of our cohort didn't even get jobs as teachers.... woof. Second, where are these jobs? Many wanted to stay close to Austin, few did. Off the top of my head there's maybe a couple around here, but everyone else left... sometimes with disastrous results.
Which brings me to the fact that for whatever reason, I got the long end on a whole bunch of sticks... and it actually makes me feel really bad. You see at my school I have something that I feel is extremely important to a teacher's success, support. I have a mentor teacher who is fantastic. I plan with her, I go to her in emergencies, I can count on her for sound advice and she has been the proverbial shoulder to cry on in more than one instance. From my conversations with my friends, none of them have that. Then there's another lady I work with who takes care of making sure that students' special educational needs are met. Those of you who are teachers will understand when I say, "This lady and her IEP fulfillin ways are a God send." Without those two incredible women, I'm not sure what I would have done this year. I just find it sad that the others haven't had the opportunity to thrive that I've had.
And now nearing the end of the year, I wonder how many of us will still be teaching next year. I know some are contemplating grad school, others are being let go, and one need only search my previous blogs to see the ultimate in downtrodden school years. Obviously I'm talking about Adrien, a man who given the opportunity that I've been given may well have become teacher of the year but more importantly, would probably still be with us.
It's all just a sad thing. Folks losing sleep, losing their hair, losing their sanity all over something they at one time felt driven with a passion to do.
Anyway, this topic has really got me down so I'm moving on.
Coaching:
So this coaching deal has really taken off since last I wrote. At one time I used to wonder how any amount of money could be worth giving up my off period to take on such a lousy bunch. They were unruly, they didn't work hard, they were overall just a sorry bunch. I'm using the past tense here because I guess it was sometime around Christmas and the baby being born when I said... you know maybe these kids aint turds, maybe I've just got a shit attitude. And I did...
With that realization, I set to work on what would be the reawakening (or maybe just awakening) of our off-season program. It didn't need to be football based because half the guys I was working with played no football. It needed to be fun, challenging and engaging all at the same time. I knew if it wasn't, it would fail like everything else had. And the solution came through an exercise in alliteration that took us through every day of the week:
Marathon Monday:
This day is pretty simple. Running and more running. We run what I call a gasser which in our program I defined as starting from the inside edge of the track run across the field to the other inside edge, back then over and back again. Four trips across the field. Originally I did this when I played football. The only difference is that we used the football sidelines. Using the track edges the kids are running close to a hundred more yards per gasser. If everyone runs them and finishes through the line everytime, we run 8 of these. Then we run 8 one hundred yard sprints. It's a tough day, especially if one isn't giving much effort. Wanting to instill a team mentality, I simply don't count one if people screw around or don't do what's asked of them. Sure enough, they rally together to get the running done right.
Tire Pull Tuesday:
I had almost forgotten this game, but remembered it just in time to make it part of the new program. Any of you that read this who went to Temple will remember going to church camp. What some of you younger pups may not remember is that the games up there used to be brutally violent. One that sticks out in my mind is the one where kids raced across a field with trash cans on their heads. The kicker was that they crossed paths right in the middle with another team. So every now and again someone would get absolutely destroyed and never see it coming. Another game we played was a fantastic game called tire pull. With athletics I decided to play the game much as it had been played at camp. Split the teams into even numbers of all sizes, number them of 1-10 on each team. Call a number and whoever gets the most tires back to their side wins. It's a blast.
To be continued....
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