educating for the journey

One man practicing sportsmanship is better than a hundred teaching it.
- Knute Rockne (1888 - 1931)

Annikke is the Athletic Director here at CMS but after witnessing first hand the show that she put on here over the weekend i wonder how long it will be before tournaments the world over are contracting her expertise. The tournament ran smoothly and efficiently; through both rain and scorching heat - she was ready for it all. The coaches had a great time the students had a blast and the games were more exciting then you could believe. Both of the men’s soccer semi-finals went into extra time, then into penalty kicks and one went into extra penalty kicks! Not to be outdone women’s basketball had the vast majority of their games decided by less then five points, it was great to see.

What surprised me the most was the intense passion that the athletes showed for their school. I don’t know why but i have always thought that athletics overseas were not on par with what i experienced in my high school years. The row of hugs in place of handshakes, the screaming ISPS soccer team supporting their girls, the coaches on the edge of their seats were all topped by the open tears that were being shed by exhausted players after three days of cultural exchange and fierce, fair competition.  One quick story:

in the opening Tribes activity the coaches shared a little about themselves and their favorite sport.  A school head said that he was here as an extra supervisor and when asked for his favorite sport his reply was simple: “actually i don’t like sports.”  Fast forward three days.  The same person is wrapped in the flag of his country screaming, jumping up and down, leading cheers to support his atheletes in the quest for CAISSA gold.  Who says energy and spirit are contagious?

These players, coaches, school heads and non-playing CMS students who attended many of the games over the weekened were all passionate, motivated and giving absolutely everything they had.

Today i got a note from an athletics teacher at Shanghai American School; he stumbled on the CAISSA site and is now looking to build something in a similar vein for their tournaments…yes, our site has lots of room for improvement; but i am really proud of the five advanced tech students who built the entire site.  Their “client” was happy with the work that was done, and with each success like this less schools will be unwilling to participate in such initiatives.

Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence.
- George F. Will (1941 - )

Not too long i posted the deal is the real here. If you are one of the few people that read this regularly you will know that this is something that i believe whole heartedly in. Students who are engaged in “real” situations will see the tangible results and retain far more then the students who are completing an assignment simply because it is on the curriculum, or the teacher found a nice little unit on TrackStar (which i love). As the year draws to a close (gracias a dios), i am proud of my students for the real work they have done. Today two of my students (on twelve hours notice) presented their work to a full gymnasium with five countries represented. They did an amazing job on the tournament website and their “client” our Athletic Director was and is thrilled (as am i!). As students reflecting in the LearningBlogs today i was happy to see that the project touched on multiple software components that were used on an as needed basis in order to complete the task. Sure the site could still use more proofreading but as a tech teacher i have to be happy. Today i watched the video cameras, still cameras and italks buzz around the playing fields of CAISSA’s third season tournament documenting all that went on i smiled BIG at the way that this group is interacting with the technology around them.
GaDeV
Gracias a Dios es Viernes

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.”
- Mark Twain

One of my favorite quotes of all time; pretty stoked that it actually fits with a Journey post.
Last Friday was the Carol Morgan Elementary School’s international fair. It is probably a lot like you may imagine it to be: each class selecting a nation and turning their rooms and themselves into that nation for the day. The giant leaps forward that have been made by elementary school teachers are nothing short of astounding. The international fair has gone from something that could be seen as, “a nice show without much learning” to a school wide activity integrating aspects from a vast array of disciplines. It has been transformed by hard working teachers from a show of posters cut and pasted from the CIA WorldFactbook to the incredible show of student centered learning that was on display on Friday.
The limited video footage i have leaves a lot to be desired in camera work and sound quality but not wanting to break a promise to a class of fourth graders here are some snippets from my journey to New Zealand:

(this was accompanied by a tour through New Zealand’s history on their living timeline as well as an dynamic slideshow presentation)

Special thanks to all of the ES teachers and specialists for your extra effort this year it definitely paid off with the best international fair i have seen during my tenure at CMS.
Congratulations teachers and students!

I will be updating this post with more videos as i get them from teachers so check back (or keep an eye on your NetVibes) to see a little bit more of our world in the coming days.

more videos:

from Ms. Diana (more NewZealand followed by other GREAT photos):

With international thoughts and collaboration on my mind i have recieved a number of emails from the World Virtual School project that i am taking part in at this year’s JOSTI conference.  Introductions are complete and upon a quick examination it is obvious that i am going to learn a lot in DC from this crew of experienced techies; ifeel fortunate to have the opportunity to attend.

image from: http://international.ua.edu/programs/images/globe.JPG

Hysteria is only possible with an audience.

- Chuck Palahniuk (1962 - )

In March i (like almost every teacher blogger i read) posted about TeacherTube. I also posted a Literature Circles video created by some teachers here at CMS. It has now been viewed just under 18,000 times and has generated some great feedback. On Monday we received an email from Harvey Daniels himself; he had been sent the video, liked it, commmented on it and even gave us some new directions that he and co-author Nancy Steienke are headed in. He is also sending the group a copy of their new book to use in their teaching - AMAZING! Ironically he said in his email:

You are doing something that is so great and valuable to students: showing them what a Lit Circle looks like before asking them to do it themselves! I think this kind of modeling by teachers is exemplary, and especially cool with this across the curriculum group of teachers.

I smiled, realizing that his email was demonstrating to the teachers involved EXACTLY the type of REAL and LEGITIMATE feedback that students can recieve with Web 2.0 publishing.

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Life continues to be crazy here at CMS, we are still focusing on our transition to PowerSchool, considering the pros and cons of WebGrader, building our CAISSA web presence, finalizing construction plans on the new Library/Media center, purchasing new materials for summer delivery, planning where they and the machines they displace will go, as well as making summer plans…never a dull moment.

img from: http://www.literaturecircles.com/