More than Words in action

Things that stunned me today:

1)  Embedded in Disney/Pixar's masterpiece Up is a 5 minute vignette put to music that tells the story of two people who fall in love and live happily ever after.  The entire story was explained to the audience...WITHOUT WORDS!  It is, to me, the most beautifully put together 5 minute love story in the history of moving pictures (yes Titanic was great...but it was flipping 3 and a half hours long!).  The story was told with visuals, colors, and music.  The audience knew when to feel happy, sad, and everything in between.  Bravo John Lasseter, yet again!!  Watch at your own risk, a tear is almost certain.

2)  The Rally to restore Sanity:  The Daily Show's John Stewart put on a show for a LOT of people in D.C. today.  Was I the only one who felt he would make a great politician?  It was like watching Man of the Year all over again.  Funny?  Yes.  Point made that T.V. is the reason we all fear each other?  Yes.  

3)  41- 0.  Whoa.  What in blazes happened to the Huskies?  I have nothing to say more than I am stunned.  Totally stunned.  I was in Columbia MO last week when MIZZU beat the top ranked team in the world.  I saw fans who believed in their team.  Today...not so much.  There's always the apple cup.  Which reminds me of a joke:

How do you keep a Cougar out of your yard?  You put up an endzone!!  

4)  Seven hours of my life has been put into reading and homework in the past two days.  Scarily, I plan to hit the library in the morning to continue working on two more projects.  The orange juice has already been ordered (Second inside joke of my blog). 

5)  Blogs.  I spent a good portion of today reading blogs about....reading AND writing.  I am stunned at how people are so surprised by how they feel when they write their thoughts down on paper.  I'm one of them.  Write it down, then read it, then write more of it, then read it, then write it a third time and you have yourself a masterpiece.  Unfortunately the writers of Biodome stopped after three tries.  They needed a couple hundred more tries to help that movie out.  Took me years to get over the nightmares.



6)  Nucleation and Mentos!!  You've all heard of it yes?  Well even if you haven't your students are sure to tell you about the Coke bomb they built over the summer.  Be ready for them by watching the segment below from Mythbusters (One of my favorite shows).  You are Welcome.

7)  I just realized how many videos I put in my blogs.  Frankly, that stunned me enough to make it to #7 on today's list.

8)  National Park reservations.  Specifically Yosemite.  You get to reserve campsights up to 6 months in advance.  I am planning a week long trip to Lower Pines over spring break to climb Half Dome.  Reservations will be made at 7am on the 15th of November.  Be there or be square!!  Half Dome was made famous by Ansel Adams himself in his 1927 picture called "Moon and Half Dome".  

9)  Finally today I am stunned by the amount of candy I have already eaten and Halloween is tomorrow.  Darn Nestle Crunch bars....ummmmm rice crispy chocolate.

Today's Funny: 

A couple was invited to a swanky masked Halloween Party. She got a terrible headache and told her husband to go to the party alone. He, being a devoted husband, protested, but she argued and said she was going to take some aspirin and go to bed, and there was no need of his good time being spoiled by not going. So he took his costume and away he went.

The wife, after sleeping soundly for one hour, awakened without pain, and as it was still early, she decided to go to the party. In as much as her husband did not know what her costume was, she thought she would have some fun by watching her husband to see how he acted when she was not with him.

She joined the party and soon spotted her husband cavorting around on the dance floor, dancing with every woman he could find. His wife sidled up to him and flirted enough to get his attention

She let him go as far as he wished; naturally, since he was her husband. Finally he whispered a little proposition in her ear and she agreed, so off they went to have a private moment.

Just before unmasking at midnight, she slipped away and went home and put the costume away and got into bed, wondering what kind of explanation he would make for his behavior.

She was sitting up reading when he came in and asked what kind of a time he had. He said, "Oh, the same old thing. You know I never have a good time when you're not there."

Then she asked, "Did you dance much?"

He replied, "I'll tell you, I never even danced one dance. When I got there, I met Pete, Bill Brown and some other guys, so we went into the den and played poker all evening. But I'll tell you... the guy I loaned my costume to sure had a real good time!"

Cheerio

The Blog where I talk about Oprah

About two hours ago I my brain consisted of one steady streamline of thought...STRESS.  After returning from a family adventure in the Midwest I see the amount of work piled up in front of me that has accumulated from missing two.....YES ONLY TWO....days of class.  So like most people would do in this circumstance, I ran.  I ran so far away.  I just ran, I ran all night and day.  I couldn't get away.  Then I wrote.  I wrote three pages of an assignment that simply asked me to write.  I did, I conquered and now ladies and gentleman....let's blog!  If you didn't already have the song running through your mind, click below.

Things your school kids will love:

1)  Caves!!  Want a field trip that is informative, adventurous, and always 100% predictable?  A cave is your answer.  No matter the time of year, time of day, the weather outside, or even how the stock market is doing, a cave will be 45 degrees and dark...period.  The only thing that could possibly go wrong is an earthquake or some sort of volcanic activity, and who wouldn't forget something like that?  Just keep that part out of the parental permission slips.

2)  School Spirit.  In my current school I teach 7th graders math.  They seem to hate coming to school each day.  Then they met me, a person who saw what Shorewood High School did with their students last year.  Now they understand how awesome I truly am, AND they want to come to school everyday.  Get the kids involved people..Shoreline did!!



3)  Bicycle racing.  If you have ever wanted to use the word "doping" in your classroom I highly encourage you to take up a unit on bike racing, even more so if you teach math.  Average speed, steady rates, total distance, drafting, and don't forget doping.....PLUS you get to use a word like "Pelaton"!  All you have to do is say the word, tell the class it is a french word meaning platoon and you will be Mr./Mrs. Cool for the day.  Oh yeah, and this will be math they will remember too.  Check out the Bike glossary from of Wik...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_bicycling

Things I learned while in St Louis:

4)  Writing is the way to our souls.  Anne Lamott is a fabulous writer who tell us how to pour our emotions onto paper and filter through our thoughts until we hear ourselves saying what we really want to hear..."Did I really just pay $25 to get my bag onto this plane?"  No matter how deep my thoughts seemed to get, the turbulence on the plane (tough to write when the plane is bouncing all over) and those darn bag fees really made it hard to see my inner self, unless of course this is as good as it gets...?

5)  If you are going to video an event that will mean something to someone....use a tripod!!  I didn't even think of packing one as it would have cost me another $25.  So I prepared my camera to record forever the beautiful walk down the aisle for two of my dearest family members...this is when I realized I have the shaky hands.  Not just normal shaky hands but what some might describe as a 4.3 on the Richter scale shaky hands. 

6)  Family is pretty darn cool to have around.  If you haven't already come to this realization, and your family doesn't have a restraining order against you, then take a moment and thank them for being part of your family.  Then take them to Meramec Caverns and tell them the story of Jesse James.  Random, but predictable.

Things that I think will interest you:

7)  The Life Aquatic.  A movie that I detested the first two times I saw it.  It had fragmented story lines, slowly developed characters, and unrealistic scenes.  Then something happened.  I heard someone quote a line from the movie..."He's got the crazy eye", and I was hooked.  I went back searching for the scene and was forced to listen to the music, hear the dialog, and see the scenes in their individual elements.  I had to break it down in order to build the movie the way it was intended to be seen...as a random conglomeration of music, people, adventures, and family that in the end means nothing but somehow leaves a smile on your face.  Check it out, but prepare yourself to about 9 hours to allow for three viewings.

8)  Amtrak sleeper cars.  About three feet across and 5 feet wide.  Two seats that convert into a bed and a table that folds back into the wall somehow fit into this 15 square foot space.  Although if you take a train across the country there is no way to resist their miniature beauty. 

9)  Oprah in Yosemite?  Ladies and Gentleman, I, for the first time in my life will take the plunge and watch an episode of Oprah.  The woman has never visited a National Park before until now and I want to be there to see her reaction to the most beautiful place on earth.  Once I see the reaction, I will forget the whole thing ever happened...Oprah who?  Check out the article below, it is a great read about race in our Park system by Shelton Johnson, the only permanent African American Park Ranger in the country.  You might recognize Mr. Johnson from the "National Parks" series by Ken Burns.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/10/29/shelton.johnson.yosemite/index.html?hpt=C2

Funnies for the Day:

 Is there another word for synonym?

Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice?"

Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all?"

If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2?
Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday

Cheerio

Wanna Get Away?

Three thirty in the morning, not a soul in site; the city's looking like a ghost town on a moonless summer night.  In 6 hours I leave for a family wedding in St. Louis.  Over the past 8 hours I have accomplished more than the army does by 9am.  School work has been brutal, but for the first time in my entire educational career I am ahead of the game.  That my friends is cause for celebration.  So ladies and gentlemen...Let's Blog!!!

Things that make me go "Are you flipping kidding me?":

1)  Obama is back in town.....and who has to catch a flight in the morning?  On top of all this they decide Thursday the 21st is the perfect day to shut down the D gate security gates while they install the new body scanners.  Arg.  Don't believe me?  I wouldn't either, but it is true.
http://www.komonews.com/news/80974022.html?cid=3031&mr=1&pid=80974022&pollpg=y&t=a

2)  "But mommy it is a perfectly clear night out there and yet the Doppler is showing rain all over the place.  what gives mommy?"  Great question Tommy.  The answer goes to the birds.  "That's not the only thing going to the birds mommy...!!"  Believe it or not, it is said those odd readings on the Doppler appear because the super sensitive radar is picking up the traveling habits of migrating birds.  Are you flipping kidding me? Maybe on this one.
http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/search?q=bird+radar

3)  The Barenaked Ladies sing in the bathroom?   First of all, if you are not familiar with that name then I suggest to check them out (otherwise this will seem really odd).  One of the best Canadian music groups of the past century has posted on YouTube most of their songs...as sung by the two lead singers in a bathroom.  Are you flipping kidding me?  Nope, this one is real...and its fabulous!!



4)  The Green Comet is here!!  Tonight, right now in fact, is the best chance to see this comet discovered in 1986 by an Australian astronomer (Australian astronomer?) named Malcom Hartley.  I just went outside to see it.  It looked pretty darn bright as I stared at it for a couple minutes, but it turned out I was just looking at a reading lamp in my neighbors window.  Fearing a stalking issue I quickly ran back in to finish the blog.  If you don't run the chance of staring into your neighbors house tonight, I highly recommend checking it out.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/photogalleries/101019-green-comet-hartley-2-103p-space-science-tonight-pictures/

5)  Justin Beiber is charged with assault?  hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.  You have got to be flippin kidding me?  Nope....and MTV is bringing the goods on this one.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1650413/20101020/bieber_justin.jhtml

I'm tired y'all.  Central Time Zone here I come.

Cheerio



Literacy Blog #3

If you wish to not ever have to feel down about becoming a writer, then I recommend skipping the preface (pronounced prefice) of the book Bird by Bird.  It is disappointing because it really is the best part of the book thus far.  Over 30 pages in length, the preface gives in great detail the live story of the author Anne Lamont.  You fully understand by page xxxi why is such a good writer and why you spent hard earned money to read what she has to say.  So why on page xxii did she have to write, "So in addition to writing furtively at my office, I wrote every night for an hour or more, often in coffeehouses with a notepad and my pen, drinking great quantities of wine because this is what writers do; this is what my father and all his friends did.  It worked for them, although there was now a new and disturbing trend - they had started committing suicide."   What the heck is that?  A total reading buzz kill is what I called it.  If emotion is what she wanted then that is what she got, but in the preface?  I mean the story hasn't even started yet!!  It's like "Redemption", the two hour movie that preceded the 6th season of 24.  Only much, much more disturbing. 

Beyond this minor reaction the past couple days has taught me a bit about assessing the reading and writing abilities of a kindergartner.  The techniques are fairly normal but highly effective.  Check the kids ability to sound out letters, words, and rhyming abilities.  Have him/her write sown some samples and check for the position of the letters.  On top of all of this stands the emotion behind the assessment.  Our child was happy as can be until it was clear he wasn't sure how to pronounce a certain word.  He would become very quiet and sit back in his chair.  It took a lot of prodding to even get a response but once he did the smile came back to his face and so did his confidence.  I find it disturbing that it seems this is the age when these emotional reactions can grow out of control and get the better of us if there is no encouragement for the students to overcome the fears at this young age.  It makes me feel good that we are able to push him through it and after two weeks he is smiling at the end of each "assessment".   Go me!!

Literacy Blog #2

Pictures!!  You have to love pictures.  As a child that's how I would rate a book.  If it had lots of pictures then I wanted to read it.  As much as I hate to admit it today, I haven't really changed.  Don't get me wrong here, I read WAY to much for my own good nowadays, but if I were offered a book with pictures to read I would easily choose it instead.  So I was intrigued when reading chapter three of Word Identification Strategies by Barbara Fox, when she discussed the "environmental cue strategy".  This is when kids associate meaning with the signs, package labels, and logos in their everyday surroundings.  In other words, PICTURES!!!   My daughter is 4 years old and every time a Costco truck drives by us she says "There goes a Costco truck!!"  But when we write out Costco on a piece of paper she had no idea what it means.  IT is easy to see she recognizes the logo.  When we read books she is the same way.  She knows the title of every book by the picture on the front cover.  The weird thing is EVERY child I know at this age seems to use the environmental cue strategy to learn language.  So my question would be how does a child learn language when confronted with books and stories with no pictures?  Would it take longer to learn?  Would the child pick it up quicker because the focus is not on the pictures and surrounding visuals? 

An example was given of a child holding up a picture of a race car given to him by his father that had the phrase "Gentleman, Start Your Engines" across the top.  The child would yell the phrase even though he couldn't read the words.  He associated that phrase with the picture.  I wonder how long it takes a 4 - 5 year old who is associated words/phrases with pictures to move onto actually understanding the letters on a page?  When do they start "self-monitoring" and "self correcting"?  Or as I like to ask my daughter..."When are you going to grow up?"  I think it is absolutely amazing a 4 year old can hold so much information, but yet can't pick up Lincoln Logs when she is done playing with them:(

Cheerio

Ok.......GO!!!

There are some times when you think "There has got to be a different way of doing this!"  That idea has been my thought filter over the past week as we get deeper into the School quarter wrestling with thoughts of Fibonacci, Piaget, Fox, Wiggins & McTie, mixing with lesson plans, unit plans, field trip plans...not to mention lunch plans, tuition plans, and for me a HUGE family event 4 days away in the great city of St Louis.  I'm a little stressed man.  So ladies and gentleman, grab yourselves an orange juice and let's blog!!

Three things that will "hippen"? you up:



1)  O.K. Go!!  The most creative music video group in the biz.  Their music is alright, but their videos are pure genius.  On top of that, the junior high kids get a kick out of attempting to duplicate the videos.  A couple years back they made a video choreographed on tread mills!  Even your grandmother would like these guys.  Plus, you can now gain the respect of your class by knowing what a Rube Goldberg machine is.  Lucky you.

2)  Have a Portable hard drive with you at all times.  Even if you don't use it, need it, or or even know how to use it;  simply having it in your possession walking around the school gloating to students "I got 500GB right here" just commands respect.  Even more so if you follow that up with "Whatchoo got...320?".  Watch out though as the student might pull the nirvana of responses and zing you back with "Mine?  Oh its one terabyte."  There will be a hush over the room like in the movie Twister when poor Bill Paxton's wife asked about the F5 tornado, but all you have to do is say "Your face" and walk away.  Once again, no more problems.

3)  Matt Harding.  The guy who dances around the world in videos titled "Where the he** is Matt?"  He took a creative idea from one of his travel companions and turned it into 32 million views on youtube (not much money, but views man!).  He used the universal language of dancing and invited people from around the world to join him, and they did!  If I ever need inspiration I spend 4 minutes and 29 seconds watching this.  Far and away my favorite youtube video.  Enjoy.



Three things about teaching:

4)  The debate between tracked vs. untracked classes.  I had heard of tracked classes but wasn't fully aware of the impact they have on the school environment.  Upon looking it up online, I really had to filter out all the "track and field" classes that are out there.  Finally I turned to my good pal Wik E Pedia.  He offered me this definition:  "Tracking (also called streaming) is separating pupils by academic ability into groups for all subjects within a school."  Of course I said.  Then I read on while I refilled my orange juice.  Check it out.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracking_(education)

5)  The Wing Luke Asian Museum:

     A fabulous museum in the heart of Seattle's China Town.  The staff has done a great job of taking the history of this four block radius and capturing it for school kids to see and hear for themselves.  Artwork, stage shows, original apartments, and HUGE amounts of historical facts are waiting to have a group of kids come and enjoy their bounty.  Plus I got to experience, for the first time in my life, a Spring Roll.  Not just any spring roll, one from "Green Leaf", the famous restaurant that puts a little crunchy thing in the middle of each roll.....yum.  The Staff at the museum are top notch and made us feel totally at home.  An experience I will remember for some time.  http://www.wingluke.org/

6)  http://www.blackpast.org/  In one of my classes we are putting together resources for information about different cultures around the world.  My group is focusing on African Americans and we quickly found the website listed above.  From historical figures to current sports stars, this website has information covering anything you might need to help run a lesson or unit on this subject. 

Three totally random things:

7)  Fantasy Basketball 2010 is about to kick off!!  Just like the WSOP (you all know what that is now right?), a stats heavy classroom would be in number heaven following a fantasy sports team.  Even if you weren't into the sport, the math behind all the calculations is intoxicating.  If you haven't owned a fantasy team before....well...that's just not cool man.  I would have put this in the "hip" section but playing fantasy anything really does have the opposite effect.

8)  Team America - That is one weird movie...and one great lesson for all of us trying to get a step up in the world.  You need to have a montage!!  Sell yourself in 1 minute to anyone, just get yourself a montage.

I won't even link the video.  This one you'll have to work for yourself....but get yourself a montage!!

9)  Celine Deion is about to have her twins early next month at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach Florida.  This is just a precaution that came about when it was mentioned to the hospital staff the Mrs. Deion was playing her songs to the unborn children through the womb.  The staff quickly called The Deion household and said "Those babies are going to want out ASAP, you might want to get in here."

Funny for the day:

A doctor and a lawyer were talking at a party.

Their conversation was constantly interrupted by people describing their ailments and asking the doctor for free medical advice.

After an hour of this, the exasperated doctor asked the lawyer, "What do you do to stop people from asking you for legal advice when you're out of the office?"

"I give it to them," replied the lawyer, "and then I send them a bill."

The doctor was shocked, but agreed to give it a try.

The next day, still feeling slightly guilty, the doctor prepared the bills.

When he went to place them in his mailbox, he found a bill from the lawyer.

Cheerio!

Something Tells Me I'm Into Something Good

Click here for today's soundtrack.

I've been around long enough to know when things seem to be going your way, enjoy it while it lasts.  Today was one of those days.  Below are the top 10 things that will define October 12th, 2010 as one of the best days of the year. 

1)  I woke up at 6:43am, exactly two minutes before my alarm went off.  I rose from the mattress, looked out the window at a sunny morning and realized I was actually awake.  Not the normal dragging myself into the bathroom awake, but wide awake and ready to get going!!

2)  At 8:38am, while getting out of my car I randomly crossed paths with an old family friend I hadn't seen in several years.  It was great to see him in good spirits after all these years, and it helped realize I was beginning to enter the "zone". 

3)  Since our class this morning was at the elementary school I spent all of September in there was a chance I was going to run into some of the kids I helped teach but only three weeks prior.  To my utmost surprise, half the class met me at the front door with HUGE smiles and even HUGER hugs.  It blew me away but confirmed I was in fact in the zone.

4)  An awesome classmate of mine and myself met a special kindergartner that we will get to work with for the next four weeks in the area of reading.  He had the biggest smile, the biggest heart, and sooo much excitement.  In fact he was so excited that he had to go to the bathroom halfway through our short time with him.  It turned out to be one of the best 15 minute periods of my life.  A story that will be retold for years to come for its randomness, awkwardness, complete irony, and the best ending you could have asked for...a child with a gigantic smile on his face and a sense of pride that he made it through what had been in the past a rough experience.

5)  I saw almost everyone in my Cohort laugh today.  As a class we are getting pretty slammed when it comes to expectations and workload, but today we let the pressure ease a bit and allowed for some light hearted moments that made the three hour classes a little bit easier to sit through.  For the first inside joke of my blog...I will never think of Camilo Villegas the same way again!! 

6)  In the afternoon I dropped off the best carpool known to man (even the conversation today was great) and went to pick up my daughter.  I was greeted with "Daddy!!!" and a huge hug.  That by itself confirmed I was still in the zone.  It was time to spend an evening with the best person in my life!!

7)  Some friends joined us for dinner in Kirkland where we planned to eat at the famous Jalisco's....which was GONE.  A restaurant that has been around my entire life had closed up shop.  The first big blow of the day forced us to walk over to Taco Del Mar and right into the Two for Tuesday specials!!  We spent two hours eating lots of great food under a straw hut with Hawaiian music playing on their sound system and more great conversation.

8)  Marina Park!  Imagine it, a clear night with not an ounce of wind with the city of Seattle in the distance capped by a quarter moon.  My daughter wanted to throw rocks into the lake, so to the beach we headed.  While we sat on the beach and talked a group of people lit up a pair of Poi Fireballs and started a Hawaiian Dance.  What an awesome thing to see, especially for my daughter!!  It was truly a perfect evening.

9)  Netflix streaming can be seen anywhere that has an internet connection.  Our friends just signed up and wanted to see if they could stream Netflix from any computer.  They pulled up their account on our home computer and within 30 seconds we were laughing together watching the Basketball episode of The Office, season 1.  Highly recommended!!

10)  For me the greatest thing about today was that I recognized the moment as it was happening.  I've had enough life experience to help me keep the ride going for the entire day.  Now, because of my assignment to Blog each day I get to solidify my thoughts in this digital safe for as long as I want.  Thanks Day!!  I won't forget you.

Today's Funny:

Cheerio

Web 2.0 Reaction

One of the best short videos I have ever seen.  Hundreds of visual examples are shown, hundreds of points were made, and it all tied into one simple idea..."We need to rethink ourselves".  The technical mastery of this video my itself makes you excited about what will be able to accomplish in the years to come.  The music behind the visuals was perfect for the effect.  The message was spot on.  Don't get comfortable people, keep evolving.  Keep updated and rethinking who you are, why you are, and what you are...then someday you will be the "Machine".

Literacy Blog #1

I write today as if I were sitting in a cafe close to an elementary school where grown people sit with kindergartners and pour their hearts and emotions into their words as they attempt to create emphasis and effect for the students who listen intently.  I write today to explain my thoughts of how I got to this point of preparation for my own attempt to read to a child in the primary grade a book called "Duck on a Bike".  I write today to fulfill a mission to complete every assignment on time and in good standing.  If this format looks different next week, you can assume I achieved one of the two.

Knowing our task is to read a children's book to a kindergartner, I had to figure out how I was going to go about performing the task.  I knew I wanted a fun book that had a lot of visuals but still had a storyline beyond what you might hear from a Preschool teacher.  To help determine which book will be suitable I enlisted the help of my four year old daughter who is attending preschool.  We stopped by the library and began reading every children's book we could find:  What Color am I?, Pam's friend the pillow, War and Peace, and much much more...when finally on book #22 my daughter couldn't keep the smile off her face or her enthusiasm below 1000 db.  She absolutely loved the book "Duck on a Bike" by David Shannon.  I knew right then that if she loved it at age four someone a couple years older must think approximately the same thing...I hope.

Now that I had the book in hand, I needed to get some idea of how to read it for the most effect.  Luckily our preparation conscious professor prepared us with a reading titled "Reading to Kindergarten Children".  One of the main points was to modify the inflection of your voice to create effect, but also to stop and elaborate on points we feel the children might need more understanding.  There are a couple places I have already noted I will need to stop and explain, or check for understanding by asking questions.  Following the story, ask questions to open up the dialog.  "Is this a real or fake story?  Why?"  The reading gives a great table that lists out 15 guidelines for a successful classroom reading to your students.

I write this now feeling fully prepared to enjoy my time with the little ones in the morning.  Now if I can only remember to take the book with me.

An Old Sheriff is Back in Town

After taking my first weekend off from blogging (my weekends last about 5 days) I return with a plethora of information that has been stuffed into my head via a number of sources important to my current life. In order to truly hear what my fingers have to say I invite you to click on the video below. Science has shown that whatever a person is doing when they listen to a Sheriff song, they will perform with more passion, understand in more depth, and retain 100% of the information experienced during the duration of the song. The sole side effect is that you will want to marry the very next person you interact with. Let the blog begin:

Three Things to keep up with the youth of today:

1)  You must understand the youth of today.  They are physically lazy and if you are going to use tech be aware of their lazy tendencies such as LARGE PRINT ON THE SCREEN because kids tend to lean back in their chairs when they read a computer screen.  Want more?  If so then you must not be a teen.
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2005/02/66514

2)  http://www.icivics.org/   We were informed this past weekend at a Social Studies Conference for teachers that kids...get this....like to play games!!  Not just any games, but highly interactive ones.  Not just highly interactive ones, but ones that allowed the player to build points and become a more powerful player.  Not just games that allow you to earn points and become a more powerful player....well, yes just that.  ICivics has come up with a way to take what surveys say is the core of the child video game blitz and create several games with these intrinsic qualities, but with the US government as the subject matter.  Want to memorize the 27 amendments to the constitution?  Play yourself a little bit of "Do I have a right?" and you will be well on your way.  64% of students who were introduced to this game at school continued playing outside of the classroom.  Now that's smarts!!

**Sheriff break** - wait 15 seconds while you restart the song and get back into the mood

3)  The WSOP!!  Or better known to the young math geniuses as the World Series of Poker.  A mega event in which thousands of everyday people pay $10,000 for a shot at millions and instant celebrity.  If you ever teach probability in your math classes, here is a great way to relate to your kids.  Also mention the November Nine and how happy you are that the "Brat" was knocked out again this year and they will think you are soooooo cool.  If they don't think so, then just reply with "Your face" and there will be no problem.

Three things I learned about Teaching:

1)  Unit Plans are the easiest idea in the world to come up with, but the hardest thing in the world to accomplish.  Collaborating with others, connecting one central theme to 6 different subjects, putting them all on a timeline and then coming up with one "Enduring Question" that will last with the students forever???  That's a lot to ask, but man are the benefits awesome to watch when it works well.  Luckily ehow.com has put together a nice generic step by step process for the novice (NOT).
http://www.ehow.com/how_2099500_create-unit-plan-outline.html

2)  Social Studies is complex.  Very very complex.  I always thought is was called HISTORY.  But alas, it covers several topics that I love to talk about (Maps, traveling, economics, etc), love to teach, and love to experience.  Now only if we could get more than 50 minutes a school day to do it!!

3)  A great way to organize your thoughts about a lesson plan is to write it up using what is called an OTSA.  It clearly helps you define the Objective of the lesson and  the Assessment strategy.  Then takes you step by step through what the Teacher is going to ask of the students and what the Students actually do.  Pretty slick if I may say so myself...and it is my blog so I guess I'm saying it to.....myself?

100% random things I learned today:

1)  Another Hollywood couple separate!  Monica from Friends and the guy who plays Jack in The Land of the Astronauts split up after 11 years together.  They obviously hadn't been introduced to Sheriff (feel free to restart the song again here.

2)  The San Francisco Giants are heading to the NLCS.  This is big news of you are a true Seattle baseball fan as one of own, Tim Lincecum, who attended Liberty High in Renton is the Ace of the Giants staff.  If they win the World Series, free IHOP pancakes for everyone!!  What's that?  No?  Oh, alright.

3)  Deion Branch of the Seahawks has been traded back to wence he came.  In return, the Seahawks accept a 4th round pick.  Funny, I didn't even know he still played for the Hawks.

Funny for the day:

The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.



Junior High; man I wish I could go back.

First day in the DYAD.  Below are four things I learned about Junior High today:

1)  Why in the world was I such a nervous wreck back when I went to Junior High.  The simply comeback of  "Your face" can take you all the way class president nowadays.  Yes, someone could have told me this little secret a tad bit sooner.

2)  Six Periods of school stuffed into 5 and a half hours.  Teaching five classes of Math a day and then get one prep period.....dream job?  Right up there with the guy who got to hold Janet Jackson's you know whats on her self titled Album back in 89. 

3)  Classroom management.  Beginning next week I'll be able to truly test how well I am at harnessing the energy of 30 junior high students into one math lesson.  I have seen mixed results from both myself and my master teacher with classroom management techniques.  Wish me luck.

Random events about life:

4)  The sun moves south as the morning progresses.  I spent 20 minutes putting up large amounts of paper blocking the morning sun from hitting the board at 7:50am.  By 8:30 the sun had moved about 30 degrees HORIZONTALLY across the sky.  The students walked in immediately asking why we decided to block the sun from hitting the side of the classroom.  "Good question" I said, "This is a Math class, not geography."


Funny for the day:

We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up!!

Cheerio

A three hour tour....a three hour tour??

Day 2 in the college classroom with two classes measuring over 7 hours of assimilating knowledge into our brains.  Ouch, there wasn't much room to begin with.  Today was the busiest I've been all year, although the most productive I have been as well.  Punctuated by a free training at the LSWD headquarters concerning teaching students reading.  The speaker was Michelle Vallene, founder of http://www.learnerslane.com/.  Lots of good techniques were offered to help connect with a range of students.  My favorite...the Brain Gym!!

Teachings for today:

Lessons about Teaching

1)  The Fibonacci Sequence!  Everything you ever wanted to know about circles that doesn't deal with Pi....but Phi.  Not Phi Kappi Pi or "I Felt a Thi", but just plain Phi.  1.618 will never be the same.  Read about it here:  http://www.mathacademy.com/pr/prime/articles/fibonac/index.asp

2)  A cool game that will help students visualize numbers, work on strategy, and much more is the mathematical wonder game called "Closest to 100".  Not to be confused with Bob Saget's

3)  A great resource for best practices in the math classroom is a book Written by Jo Boaler titled What's Math got to do with it?  You know the Pointer Sisters gave their point of approval.  Check it out.



Hip things for Kids:

4)  Jack Johnson.  The kids, for some insane reason, just love Jack Johnson.  Never head of him?  There is a reason for that.  He is a singer/songwriter with a laid back way to his music.  It helps soothe the soul when you have 18 credits worth of classwork to prepare for and hundreds of other responsibilities on your plate.  But then again, orange juice also soothes the soul under the same circumstances.

5)  Comics!!  Comic Con is always great with the kids (and some adults).  In fact that is where Triumph the insult dog made his debut.  (I'll let you look it up on Youtube).  Beyond all the clutter and underneath all the wannabe comic writers stands Jeff Smith and his mega comic book "Bone".  Although finished in 2004 this storyline still draws in the kids.  Hugely imaginative to kids and adults alike.  Bravo Jeff!

6)  The Seattle Sounders FC:  If you want to sound hip to your students, you will first need to explain that you LOVE the Sounders.  Then you will gain their respect by declaring you know what the heck that "FC" stands for in their name.  Read carefully....FOOTBALL CLUB.  Share that and say simply "With players like Kasey Keller and Fredy Montero how can you not like this team?"  You will be the envy of the entire school!  Plus they just won the U.S. Open Cup for the 2nd straight year.  These guys are good.

http://www.komonews.com/sports/104392903.html

Totally random things:

7)  Edmonds Woodway HS, where we will be on Saturday, ranks #318 in the country for best school.  It also serves the largest population of deaf students due to the range of programs it offers.  The more you know.

8)  I've printed over 400 pages of reading in the past two days from our Public Library system.  Thanks taxpayers.....I mean thanks me!  Now the trick will be to read them.

9)  John Stewart vs. Rick Sanchez.  Now this is funny television.  Check out the dailyshow.com and relax.  That man Stewart is pretty darn good with his humor.

Funny for the day:

An elderly couple had been experiencing declining memories, so they decided to take a power memory class where one is taught to remember things by association.

A few days after the class, the old man was outside talking with his neighbor about how much the class helped him.

"What was the name of the Instructor?" asked the neighbor.

"Oh, ummmm, let's see," the old man pondered. "You know that flower, you know, the one that smells really nice but has those prickly thorns, what's that flower's name?"

"A rose?" asked the neighbor.

"Yes, that's it," replied the old man. He then turned toward his house and shouted, "Hey, Rose, what's the name of the Instructor we took the memory class from?"

Cheerio 

And They're Off!!

Monday, October 4th 2010:  The official start to Autumn quarter, and the official end to any last free moment I had floating around.  But I digress, let's get to the "Heart of the Matter".




Learning to be Hip:
1)  If you are going to add a video to your blog, choose one that loads fast enough to play in real time.  Don Henley videos tend to be slow and melancholy, just like Don Henley himself.

2)  Honesty Fires.  If there is any chance your child is keeping something from you, take them on a camping trip with a couple of their friends and tell them you are going to have an "Honesty Fire".  Move ahead under the guise that nothing said can ever leave the circle AND nothing said can have any consequences from you the parents.  After they agree, begin to throw out the red herrings:  "Everyone around the fire needs to tell a story of the time you stayed out past curfew", or "Do you know anyone that is dating someone WAY too old for them", or "Is anyone here preparing to get a job, a scholarship for college, or even a basic skill?"

3)  Bakugon:  the anime game a LOT of 6th Graders are into.  Read carefully and you can stun your students the next time you see them playing with those little round toys:
     The story centers on six friends who find metallic cards which have fallen from the sky or to be more precise, Vestroia itself. They name themselves the Battle Brawlers: Dan, Runo, Marucho, Julie, Shun, and Alice. Together they learn more about the origin of the Bakugan, the game involving them, other planets with their aliens who received them, and their battle against evil villains created by Naga, a rouge Bakugan who wants the Core's power to rule the universe.  Really?

Three things I learned about teaching today:

1)  Besides being 4+ hours long, or Social Studies Curriculum class should be really good this year.  Our professor already tossed us a great definition for Social Studies itself:  It is the integrated study of the social sciences, history, and the humanities to promote civic competencies.  I'm totally using that on my resume!!

2)  The OTSA model of classroom observation.  If you are going to ever observe another teacher in any format, a great model for your note taking would be to write their (O)bjective, then the (A)ssessment they use to determine if the students received the information.  Then write down what the (T)eacher asks and the    (S)tudents do in a descriptive form and you have yourself one heck of a note stew.

3)  Bloom's Taxonomy:  The rationalization of asking questions to students after an event (reading, speech, total catastrophe).  There are six levels of questions as seen in the pyramid below.  Partially written by Harry Wong...really!!

Totally Random things for today:

1)  Fear based politics has invaded NOAA.  La Nina is coming, La Nina.........AAAAAHHHHHHH
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/104315849.html

2)  For the 1st time in 162 weeks....yes....over 3 years, The University of Texas Longhorns football team sits outside the top 25 rankings.  I'm not really sure why I care about this.

3)  Michael Jackson's Thriller has sold the most records off all time.  Second place, the Greatest Hits Album from 71 - 75 for.......(drumroll)....The Eagles.   Darn Don Henley!!


Joke: 

On their 40th wedding anniversary and during the banquet celebrating it, Thomas was asked to give his friends a brief account of the benefits of a marriage of such long duration.

"Tell us Thomas, just what is it you have learned from all those wonderful years with your wife?"

Thomas responds, "Well, I've learned that marriage is the best teacher of all. It teaches you loyalty, forbearance, meekness, self-restraint, forgiveness --and a great many other qualities you wouldn't have needed if you'd stayed single."

Cheerio

Structure

I realize now that it isn't easy to think of ten specific things I learned each day.  After much thought I have decided to lower this number to a much more manageable one...nine!  Beginning tomorrow I will break down my day into three parts that should help me gain a grasp on what I am doing in school - what I am doing in life - and what I am doing to relate to the lives of my classroom students (learning how to be hip). 

• Three teachings about....well teaching
• Three teachings about life
• Three teachings about being hip
• One joke of the day

Prepare yourselves for the beginning of something special.  Below is my first joke of the day:

Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now.

Cheerio

100 Losses!!

Ten Things I picked up on today (Saturday Oct. 2):

1)  Bird hunting binoculars go for around $300 - $400.  Really?

2)  The Mariner's have one of the best pitchers in the majors, and one of the best lead off hitters in the history of the sport, yet they managed to compile 100 losses for this season...and there is still one game to go.

3)  There is a great Blog from Sean Nash, with whom I have no relation, called Nashworld.  The guy is a biology teacher.  Definitely no relation.

4)  Determine what is involved in a "30,000 mile checkup" before you OK your mechanic to go ahead with one.  Dealerships, repair shops, and spouses all have completely different definitions.

5)  Blockbuster Online allows you to use three gift cards at the same time to pay for the monthly dues.  Now think about how many of them you have lying around your house.  Yup, Blockbuster has filed for bankruptcy.  You have only months left to get something for them.

6)  Someday I'll be playing like this guy:

7)  If you are going to teach science in your classroom, get the book "The Elements" by Theodore Gray.  It is a very humorous and light hearted way of learning about all the matter around us.  Yup, if only Paris Hilton had a little more Polium in her bag...

8)  I am now a proud subscriber to Field and Stream magazine.  First article was about...you guessed it....binoculars.

9)  If you ever want two Starbucks drinks for the price of one, just ask for it extra hot after they hand you the original.  They have to make it all over again....AND they give you the one that was just "hot".  Oops.

10)  One of the best memories a parent can have with their kids is throwing bits of fries to the seagulls at Ivars down on the Seattle Waterfront during sunset.  Feel free to avoid the Mariner game afterward though!!

Cheerio

Ten Things I learned today:
1)  The Mythbusters cohosts gained their fame by building "Blendo the Killer Automatron" that roughed up other robots on the "Robot Wars" TV show back in 1995.

2)  They do random lead testing in the water supply of my DYAD school.  Built pre 1950, the school still has some of the original piping.

3)  Cohort 15 is the best cohort the UW Bothell campus has ever seen come through their ranks. 

4)  Neodymium (#60 on the Periodic Table) is a freakishly strong magnet that kids LOVE to play with and is quite expensive.

5)  Concrete decking uses a color dye that soaks through about half an inch of pure concrete.  Then sticks to the foundation using nothing more than adhesive glue. 

6)  Beverly Hills 90210 debuted on FOX twenty years ago this week.  The first year was a huge ratings bust.  They attempted to grab the young audience by starting their second season during the summer when kids were home watching TV all day.  It worked.

7)  http://uwbtech.pbworks.com is the website to our Tech Class syllabus. 

8)  The Seattle School District uses "Bits and Pieces" for Math as well as the LWDS for grades 6 - 8.

9)  Stubhub is a great place to get cheap tickets for sporting events.  Heading to the M's game tomorrow night with the family.  Could be the M's 100th loss of the season:)

10)  Blogging is one of the best ways to improve your daily life.  We'll soon read "Bird by Bird" which I'm pretty sure is going to pound this point into our heads.

Cheerio