The Rubber Band

I am going to start something new tomorrow. I heard this story about a Pastor who decided to start wearing a rubber band around his wrist and switching wrists whenever he caught himself saying something negative or carrying on some gossip. Supposedly it reached thousands of people. I thought it sounded like a great idea, especially this time of year when winter is wearing on us all. Just think if even ten people you knew started doing this. What a difference it would make in the attitudes of you and the people around you. Hopefully this keeps me positive and gossip free for some time. If anyone wants to join me, feel free!

Student Blogging

We did our first set of blog posts starting in mid-January. At that time we stuck to just text. The kids enjoyed it. They really got into it and came up with some great topics. Last week we started our second set of blog posts and now we are learning how to insert hyperlinks and pictures into our posts. The students are really thinking outside the box as far as coming up with valid topics. I couldn't be more impressed with their thought processes. Our next post will include another topic (entertainment) and we will learn how to insert videos into our blog posts. I am having as much fun as the students teaching this "now" technology and really interacting with the kids. Junior high students have great ideas and this is a great way for them to share their ideas and opinions! BLOG ON!

Tragedy Strikes the Tri-States

Two teenage sisters were killed in a car crash this past Thursday. They were from Paris, Missouri. They

Two Quincy children died of carbon monoxide poisoning. They were with their father in Jackson County, Iowa. They were 3, and 19 months old. I saw their picture in the Herald Whig. They were good looking kids. I really want to know what happened.

Let's keep both our families in our thoughts.

Computer App Teaching

I had a very motivating and busy day today at school. My 8th graders started using Google Reader today to come up with some information for their new blog post. The 7th graders took their Chapter 7 Test so I got those graded and ready to hand back tomorrow. I got lesson plans done for next week which, to me, was amazing considering today was my first day back in school from watching over my sick kids. I also had the opportunity to introduce my student observer to Google Apps and Twitter. She is so excited. She plans on sharing it with her friends and fellow Golden Apple Award winners. It is really rejuvenating to see a young person that is going to be entering the teaching profession so excited about technology and it's uses in the classroom. I really believe she is going to be a wonderful teacher. She will be my student teacher next fall.

Gettin' Out

I have been stuck in the house for basically four days. My kids have been sick since Saturday! It started out with throwing up and a fever and now has ended up with my daughter being diagnosed with pneumonia today. She was running 103 fever today. Both of my kids tested positive for flu type B, whatever that is. All I know is that when my wife got home today I had to get out of the house and do my walk and kill some time. I feel much better now. I will not be at school tomorrow. I am staying home with my sick daughter. I hope that I will be at school on Thursday but I don't know yet. I miss the routine and the kids at school.

My Favorite Dunk of the 2008 Dunk Contest

This is my favorite dunk of the the 2008 Dunk Contest. It was done by Gerald Green. It is not my favorite because it was especially hard, it wasn't. It was original! Overall I think this was the best dunk contest in quite some time. There were many added props and all of the contestants seemed to go all out. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the "Cupcake Dunk".

Technology Workshop

On Friday, when you students were enjoying the day off, we teachers were busy learning about technology. Throughout the district creating web pages, creating audio files, and learning about Google Reader, were all being taught and learned. It was a fun day and I was lucky enough to get to help in the teaching. I, as my students know, get very excited about technology. It was a pleasure to work with all the teachers in our district. The below video is how we opened our part of the workshop. I thought my students would like to see the numbers that relate to them and their peers. Some of the numbers are pretty staggering! Enjoy the video and let me know what you think.

Gay Turns to You Tube

Rudy Gay of the Memphis Grizzlies has turned up the technology talk in the NBA. He has put a video on YouTube asking for dunkers to put their best dunks on You Tube so that he can possibly copy them for the NBA All-Star Weekend Dunk Contest. Cool idea! He even goes as far to say not to use props or do anything unsafe.

Chris Bosh even used You Tube to try to get votes for the All-Star Team this year. He posed as a car salesman. Both of these are original ideas and I applaud them for it. It is nice to see some players having fun with the All-Star festivities. Enjoy the dunks and the rest of the "gayla":) during All-Star Weedend!

Busy, Busy, Busy

It has been a busy couple of weeks. Just a couple of things to give you an idea. On Saturday we had some friends, with their children, over for supper. They were at our house until 11 p.m. We had fun but it was a busy day getting ready for them. On Sunday I loaded up a recumbent bike of ours to take to my mother and father-in-law. We drove up to West Point, IA and dropped the bike off and had a delicious dinner. We played a few games of Euchre and then took off and visited my wife's Aunt and Uncle. I think we got home around 6:30 or so. As I said, busy, but we had a lot of fun. This week will be busy because it is a short week. This means that as a teacher I have one less day during the week to get everything done for next week, which is another short week. I have some added duties this week due to the fact I have to get ready to do a workshop over at the grade school. I love these kind of weeks. They fly! These kind of weeks keep you on your toes. The women of my family now have haircuts tomorrow night. My son and I have a scout meeting on Wednesday night and Thursday is Valentine's Day. This is awesome! Life in hyper speed! Good luck trying to catch me standing still!

Update on Sectional Championship

We came out a little flat but I think overall we played a pretty good game. Carthage just had too many weapons. Our defense was pretty good but we had a little trouble handling some full court pressure from the offensive side. I was proud of the boys. They played hard and never gave up. I think we were down 11 at the half and we really stepped up in the 3rd quarter. We held Carthage to 1 point! We brought the score to within 1. The 3rd quarter really juiced us and we had trouble keeping the same intensity in the 4th. The reason I am most proud of the boys is that not one of them came to me and said that "the refs cost us the game". I heard that they had said that to a couple of other teachers but not one laid that excuse on me. I am glad. I did not want the large amount of respect they earned from me the night before to be tarnished by excuses. YOU BOYS HAD A GREAT RUN AND YOU ARE AN EXCELLENT TEAM!

Bobby Knight

A coaching legend, and idol of mine, stepped down today. Coach Bobby Knight resigned today from coaching the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Coach Knight has always been an inspiration to me, not only as a coach, but how he has lived his life. He has always lived his life to the fullest and I expect he will continue to do so. I am sure some of you are saying, "How can you like such an ill-tempered man?". If that is what you are asking then I would ask you to dig a little deeper into your research of Bobby Knight. Coach Knight is a "giver" and very few of us on this Earth have the passion for anything like Coach Knight has for basketball and a college education. Do not remember Coach Knight for his uncontrolled outbursts but rather for his true love of the game and living. Keep track of what he does in the coaching world, even though he has stepped down, and what he does outside the lines.

Technology Day

What a day today! I did miss my students but I had a great time today discussing and learning technology. I had the opportunity today to get together with the technology coordinator and go over some information that needs to be covered in a workshop that we have in a couple of weeks. I got to refresh my memory on web page development. I also got to show the tech coordinator the benefits of using the different Google applications. A fun day with lots of learning! It is hard to top that.

Winners

Our 8th grade boy's basketball team won the Regional Title last night. Whenever the boys get close to the regional championship it brings back some good memories of when I was in junior high. When I was in 7th grade we went to state in basketball. These are some of the best memories of my junior high career. I had one of the best coaches I have ever known during those years. When we went to state we had two classes base on height and weight (Classes A and B). Class A was for the taller and heavier kids and class B was for the smaller and lighter kids. It did not matter what grade you were in. I still remember my small town sending us off to state and the long car caravan that followed the bus to the state tournament. We placed fourth. My brother's team went to state when I was a freshman. If I remember right they got second place. There is nothing like a sports team going to state in a small town to bring the community together.

I would like to wish the boys the best of luck in sectionals and hopefully I will posting a blog about our trip to the state tournament! I will be there supporting you on Wednesday even though my Duke Blue Devils are playing NC that night. I will have to be checking their score on my phone I guess.