A former teacher of mine, Kurt Reynolds made a comment on my 'Technology' blog and made a great point. He noted a quote made by Senator George Miller, that said, "The students are digital but the systems are analog and some of the teachers, I'm sad to say, are vinyl."
I find this statement to be increasingly true. Many of us have great intentions, but for whatever reason, things that are new/different seem to be very intimidating. As educators, we must try to find the latest and most cutting edge ways to reach out to our students in a way that makes sense to them.
Just yesterday our principal mentioned an idea of possibly being able to stream the high school sporting events here at the Secondary school live over the in-network televisions and possibly the local area channels. We all think this is a great idea, but are unsure if the technology the school was made with in the mid 90's, would still be compatible with what is currently in existence. This is good stuff...we need to find this out!
Moving on, the first three weeks of the new quarter have gotten off to a great start. The time is flying by! With the warm weather we have been enjoying the past week or so, it is almost starting to feel like spring is arriving. However, I hate to get my hopes too far up, I have found out the last two track seasons that Mother Nature has a bit of a cynical side.
We have started Weight Lifting for the next three weeks. We will lift for 30 minutes three times per week and begin the day with an activity to get our blood pumping. Cardio Kickball is a favorite of the kids. We play inside the gym and the students must run the bases twice before coming home to score a point. Unlimited number of teammates are allowed on the bases, so the action can get pretty intense. Also, we will be practicing some self-defense. Last semester, the classes had a good time with the self-defense unit. At the end, I have groups of students act out scenarios where they demonstrate strategies and techniques. It is fun to see the creative minds of the students at work.