N. S. T. A.

National Shoe Tyers Association

I've reached a pivotal point in my career. A point in which I cannot take any more . . . shoe tying. Shoes that are properly tied are a must in Physical Education to ensure the safety of everyone in class. When an education major makes their way through a battery of courses, we are pummeled with educational content that is supposed to prepare us for "the field". I got robbed! At no point in my college career did they ever warn us as to how many shoes we will tie. Nowhere in my Spooner School District contract does it state that I have to know how to tie shoes, but it should. I cannot begin to tell you how many shoes I have tied. I've come to expect it from Kindergarten children but not from 1st graders.

My latest classroom rule, as of the second week of school, is to have the "good shoe-tier" in class identified so if a student needs help tying a shoe, he/she can go to them. It works very well but I still get the kids with the impossible laces that keep coming undone. My remedy to that. . .double knot the hell out of it. I have busted laces reaming on them so hard. I had one kid in class on a Monday show me that his shoes were both still double knotted on Monday when the original knot was set on the previous Wednesday. Cub scouts did end up coming in handy I guess.

This last week, I had girl come up to me during a game and ask if I could tie her shoe. Sometimes, if the game is going well and the kids are engaged, I just quickly tie their shoe for them and get them back into the game quickly. Of course PLEASE and THANK YOU must be said otherwise their shoe will go untied the rest of class. About half way through the "swoop" in "loop, swoop, and pull", I realized that this was a first grade class. I finished tying her shoe and said "wait a second, you are a first grader Jackie, shouldn't you be able to tie your own shoe?"

As she walked away, she turned back and snottily said, "Why should I? I'm lazy and you keep doing it for me."

Yes, I guess you could say I just got had by a first grade girl. The inventor of Velcro must have been a Physical Education Teacher!

Much Love

BASKETBALL UPDATE - We are 2 - 0 with wins over South Shore and Ashland this past week. We have two tough games this week against hwy 63 rival Hayward and HON powerhouse Northwestern. Hope to see some of you at a game or two this year. Thanks for the support!

You Know You're Up North When. . .

40% of your students have camouflage as a primary color in their wardrobe!

This story happened just yesterday (11/4/08), speaking of which, congratulations Obama. With temps. still in the upper 60's, I find it a waste of time to still be inside. I took my 2nd grade classes outside yesterday to continue and "tweak" their kicking skills. As I do before every lesson, I plan an Instant Activity. An IA is just that, an activity to get the kids moving right away, then get their attention. We happened to be playing their favorite tag game of "Mosquito Tag" for.

Back to my first line of the blog: It never fails, every day and every class that comes into my gym has at least 3 students dressed in some kind of camouflage. This particular 2nd grade class has one student who come dressed in camo 4 out of the five days of school. Believe me, this isn't just any old camo. This kid has camo with sponsors names on it and everything. . .it's expensive stuff. Students are always required to bring their jackets to class in case it is really cold out and we still decide to go outside. This says it all. . .this student's jacket was a $100 ScentBlock Technology jacket. Why? Perhaps he doesn't want his teacher to smell him in case he is hiding in class? I just don't get it. ScentBlock clothing is the latest and greatest in hunting clothing to obviously perform it's name. His parents are clearly thinking that whether it's math or reading, no one is going to smell him.

While trying to allow time for everyone to be taggers, I finally picked Joe last. I always hesitate picking him to be a tagger because let just say that Camo Joe is a little "overactive". As soon as I collected that "mosquito noses" and handed one to Joe, he stepped out in front of the class and proclaimed "I AM GOING TO BASS PRO SHOP ALL YOUR ASSES".
WHAT? Bass Pro Shop all your asses? What the heck does that mean. Note: Bass pro shops are basically a Sports shop dedicated to bass fishing. I immediately addressed the situation dealing with the serious issue first "What does 'bass pro shop' mean?" I asked Joe.

"I don't know, they just say it all the time on the Hunting Channel when they catch a lot of fish. That's all we watch at home".

Needless to say, Joe was put in a time-out and explained that he cannot say "asses" in school let alone trash talk like that. Which brings me to my final point:

You know you're up north when - the phrase "I'm Gonna Bass Pro Shops Your Ass" is considered trash talk!

Love camo Love

Every Child has a Story!

Ok,so I have officially turned to plan C in the playbook and have figured out where I can blog on a regular basis. . .I promise. PLAN C - The Spooner Memorial Library. There seems to be no limits to my blogging here.

With basketball season just around that corner, my morals and ethics have been put to the test. I can see where many good teachers become poor, monotonous teachers by being sucked into the overemphasized importance of "high school athletics". Rather, I am a teacher, who has been asked to coach. Better yet, a coach that is teaching. . . a game in order to enhance their (kid's) lives and become useful citizens.

On with my story: Three weeks ago, I was informed that one of my students was being introduced to a Behavior Management Plan. I was rather suprised seeing as though this child has never caused any problems while attending phy. ed. For those of you who do not know, a Behavior Management Plan is essentially like training a dog - for every number of times the students does the desired behavior, they receive a reward that is pre-determined. Some educators tend to disagree with me but that is really what it is like: training a dog. Believe me I know. The great thing about it. It really does work and that is maybe why some do not like to refer to it that way. The child in particular is a new student to the district who happens to love EVERYTHING phy. ed. So what a better reward than MORE phy. ed.

After two weeks of having launched this BMP, Zach successfully achieved the desired behavior for the desired time and was rewarded with extra PE. Zach came to me Friday right before school was let out. This was his chance to have some good ol' unstructured play. I asked him what he wanted to do and let him know that he has earned this and he deserves it. He somehow found out that I was to be the boys basketball coach and asked if I could teach him some stuff about basketball because that was his favorite sport.

What started out as a basketball lesson, quickly turned into a shoot around and finally an all-out "story time" for lack of a better word. What Zack really wanted was to talk and vent. He was a kid who oved up to rural, nothern Wisconsin from Janesville where he lived in a poverty stricken home in a side of town that produced many criminals. In his words "We had our TV stolen twice and my bed was stolen once." He talked about how much he loves it here and how nice the people are. He reminded me of a miniature Eminem. He is a punk and he knows it. The majority of his BMP deals with him treating each other better.

The very next day (Monday) after our little extra PE session, Zachs teacher confronted me and let me know that whatever it was that Zach and I did, he really appreciated it. I do not know if he is excited for his next session but I know I sure am. My philosophy: Zach doesn't need a BMP, he needs someone to talk to . . . that probably goes for many kids. Teachers - you have more impact on a child's life than you can ever know. Parent's - your children just want to talk with you.

A much needed visit to Altoona

With the leaves in full color, perhaps even past full color, I figured this past week was a great week to do my hiking and orienteering unit. Some teachers gave me a hard time but you would not believe how much one can get out of a brisk walk through the woods. Tuesdays and thursdays I teach 10 classes including my 5th grade girls. With pedometers being introduced this week, I thought it might be cool to see how many miles I actually walked while teaching on a tuesday or thursday. Through 8 classes, I had already walked just shy of 9 miles. Needless to say, the students and I were beat. My students are truly enjoying the simplicity of a hike.

After a great week that included my first "flu bug" of the year, I returned to Eau Claire for the opening day of pheasant season. Every time I return to Eau Claire, I am always looking to see where Altoona football is in action. Having student taught, coached and subbed in Altoona, there are many great connections that I love to keep in touch with. I stopped in at the game to initially see Matt, but had the chance to also see Altoona (Jon and Durka) finally beat up on a team instead of the other way around. . .(kidding guys). I also had the chance to talk and catch up with Ali, Ariel and Mo. . .along with many other students I had while teaching there. As I was leaving the game, I got into my car and realized how much my life has been influenced by the students I have taught and the athletes I have coached. These people, really become a part of your life and there is a sincere care that develops from your time with them. A care that says "I would do anything to make sure these young adults get the best in life". It was a bitter sweet feeling I got leaving Altoona's football field. In one way, I cannot help but miss my connections at Altoona. In another way, I am very excited to experience the relationships I will establish in Spooner. I hope all is well with whoever is reading this and you can appreciate your relationships as much as I am trying to!

What a trip!

So my first month has come and gone. My classroom protocol has been established and now the students have turned to finding ways around this "ideal" management philosophy. . .and they have found the loop-holes. I shall spend the next few weeks patching up these holes.

It has been such a long time since my last blog and for good reason. I apologize and do let me explain. See, being I am a newbie to the real world experience, I cannot yet afford internet or a computer for that matter. Who would have thought "high speed" internet could cost so much. I then turned to plan B: blog from school. Well, for all those in education or any other business building where internet can be a distraction for both students and staff, the Spooner School District was kind enough to filter this blog site. I can see my blog but I cannot publish any posts. . .go figure. I even pulled out the stops and pleaded with the tech. department that the blog is my way of reflecting and will be used in my Professional Development Plan (the NEW way to get relicensed in education). With no avail, I am left to plan C: blogging from Michael's computer whenever I get the chance to be in EC. Sorry for stealing your computer Michael.

The first two weeks of school were packed with blog-worthy stories highlighted by a hot September day in which I held classes outside. Apparently, Spooner elementary grounds are great breeding grounds for grasshoppers. As I took one 1st grade class outside to play some kicking games, I noticed the students were no longer listening to me, but rather hunched around the mesh ball bag looking at something. I knew right away what they were looking at. . .grasshoppers. I went over to break up the distraction and one student blurted out "Mr. S, look, that one hopper is tackling the other", as he pointed out 2 hoppers that were um. . . mating for lack of a better word.
"You bet!" I reaplied. I was immediately corrected by different student who clearly has parents that must not hide their in-bedroom practices that well. Jacob let everyone in the class know "They aren't tackling each other. They are HUMPING". Of course, this was followed by a slew of questions from various students regarding what "humping" meant. I am still 6 credits short of my health education certification so I figured I was not qualified to answer this question. Needless to say, the rest of my management that day was spent redirecting the class. I couldn't help but immediately bust a small laugh. Loved it!

As I sit here tonight (Wed. Oct. 8th), getting ready for my first teacher convention, "OOOooooo", I am drowning in reflection on what a great month this has been capped off by an amazing day today. The kids made my day today. I have truly realized my frustrating days and weeks are when my "education" has not been centered around the kids. When I get caught up in the business and politics of it all, I begin to get frustrated and confused, but when I re-center myself to the children, my job again becomes the best job in the world. Lovelove!

Here we are. . .my final moving day.

It has been a long time since my last post and I apologize for that. Since February, there has been many a happenings. During the spring months, I did a long-term substitute for Mr. Emerson at Altoona MIddle School while I also coached the Boys Track Team for AHS. With much success with the track team, I wrapped up the spring taking 3 athletes to state. The summer promised to be the "BEST SUMMER EVER" and it really did live up to the hype. Rooming with Michael and Seth, the summer was a masterpiece. I worked at the Eau Claire Golf and Country club on grounds with the highlight being the WI, PGA amateur championship. Wow, what an event. I will truly miss working there. Then when I wasn't playing baseball with the Exeland Braves, I was terrorizing Water Street for the final times with Michael, Seth, Stephanie and company. It really was "The Best Summer Ever".

While the spring and summer was all fun in games, there was also a career that needed to get moving. Applying for a career job in education is a full time job in itself. I sent out 6 applications, got 4 interviews and 2 offers. My first offer came in Grantsburg where I accepted the position and signed the contract. It was my first application and first interview. Wow, I was actually in the driver's seat. I was in a unique position of being able to shop around for jobs. After an interview in Hayward and Altoona, Spooner called in early June for a interview in their elementary. The day after the interview (note I carpooled with Stephanie for this interview), I was offered not only a K-4 P.E. teaching job, I was also offer the Spooner High School Boys Varsity Coaching job. Needless to say, I felt there was a little more opportunity for me in Spooner. I accepted the job, payed my fines to Grantsburg and eagerly signed with Spooner.
So now this morning, as I packed up my final things from 1905 Woodland, I could not help but become very weepy in reflecting upon my time in EC. 6 years in Eau Claire. Last night I had a campfire with my closest friends and family as a final "goodbye". As Aaron and Nikole left, I actually realized, "Wow, I am really going to miss them". My bike mechanic and best friend. This will be my first time in a long time where I have not lived within some kind of proximity of my brother. Michael and Seth. MIchael always keeps me sane with his humor. Most of you know him and I am currently in faze 4 of 6 in the Michael McMahon School of Dance. Seth. . .what can I say, he is one of those guys who you want to be a friend with. I always know that if I need ANYTHING from defending off a drunk @$$hole, or just a beer and conversation, I can ALWAYS count on Seth. Those two are two people I may miss the most. I can't help but think of all my professors and other friends that I have crossed paths with that have influenced my life in some way in just 6 short years. Finally, of course, I cannot forget that somewhere in these six years, I also fell in love with Stephanie. What a joy and ray of light she has been in my life. From laughing to drinking, from rock-paper-scissors to starbucks. . you will always be my "the way I see it".

I know this blog is long and sounds more like I am moving to Colorado than just an hour up the road, but as you all know, I am an emotional person and this transition will be sad, fun and exciting all at the same time. Please send your love my ways and I will now be updating these posts more often.
Love Love!

A "little" me. . .scary!

Long time, not blog everyone. Sorry. Between long-term subbing, coaching track and applying for jobs(all of which will be blogged on soon), I have managed to keep myself insanely busy. I apologize to all of you who have taken interest in this young blogging career of mine and, well. . . I guess apologize to all of you who do not read this anyways.

I had my first ever interview as a future educator today in Grantsburg Wisconsin. For those of us who do not know rural WI, that is up-nort der ya know. Ok, it is not that bad but it is rural. Just the kind of place that Marvin (my dog) and I have been looking for. . .That is the honest to God's truth too. You see, in my interview, my blog arose in the conversation with Grantsburg's elementary principal who happened to take a slight interest in it and asked if I would e-mail it to her. . .so yes, she hopefully is reading this as you all are too.

Now to the point of this post. During the interview, the principal asked me a question that essentially meant, "why teach"? Immediately, I was reminded of my last day of my long-term substitute position at Lakeshore Elementary. While saying my "goodbyes" to one of my first grade classes, one particular student seemed unusually upset that I was leaving. First graders tend to love Phy. Ed. and have the tendency to become attached to anyone who teaches it. Right before they left to go back to their room, Aaron came up to me and asked me what my first name was. Being the Witty man I am, I quickly answered "Mister". He wasn't falling for that though. I then admitted to him that my first name was Adam and that he had the same name as my brother. He thought that was pretty cool as joy filled his face. He then said something to me that could make a teachers entire year. . .it definitely made mine. He ran to the drinking fountain, got a quick sip and came running back to proclaim. . ."Adam, when I grow up, I want to be just like you". It may have been one of those things that you had to be there to truly experience the power of that child's words, but for me that made 5 and 1/2 years of college and over $20,000 worth of student loans well worth it. . .that little phrase.

Flavor of the Day: Bike Rack!

It never fails. We all have done this at some point and time in our lives. No matter how high or low our IQ is, we all have done it or at least attempted to do it. Everyone knows what will happen when we do it, SO WHY DO WE DO IT! Either way, we do it knowing we will have to suffer the painful consequences for days to come. Why do we, as children . . . and some adults I guess, insist on wanting to lick a piece of metal that has been setting outside in sub-zero temperatures. Why?


Remember Trent? Yes, the one with the lateral lisp that got kicked in the "Frontal Privatesh". This was perhaps his low point of my time with him (or high point I guess). Friday mornings, I was on morning recess supervision with two other teachers. The first couple of Fridays were nice and warm but then this bitter cold winter of 2007-2008 took hold and unless the temperatures were below zero, recess was to be held outside. This day in particular was our first frigid day. I remember it so well because I did not dress that appropriately. It was so cold I thought recess would be held inside for sure. Recess was not held inside and I had to go stand out in the cold, like a penquin huddled up with the whole flock (students) around me. All of a sudden I heard that oh so familiar voice yelling excitedly "Mishter Shturgish, Mishter Shturgish". Without having to look, I could tell it was Trent by that lisp. He came running up to me fighting his way through the sea of students with an excitement on his face that is only seen in a young boy who perhaps just caught his first fish. Once arriving at my feet, Trent said, "Mishter Shturgish, look what I did!"

Trent opened his chubby mouth to reveal a blood soaked tongue with teeth almost stained with that same blood red color. He was so excited that he kept smiling as to showing off his pearly reds. I immediatly asked, "What did you do Trent?"

"I Shtuck my tongue to the bike rack". His lisp was now four times worse because of the fact that the front half of his tongue's skin was missing.

Being the novice teacher that I am, I immediately wanted to find out who made him do this so I asked "what, why did you do this?"

His reply was simple and unexplainable. He simply said "Nobody made me do it, I just wanted to". (That sentence right there, completely sums up Trent into nine words.) He then bragged "But mine ish not even sthat bad. . .you sshould see Jacob'sh mousth". Jacob did not even have to open his mouth as the blood was already crusted, or frozen for that matter, all around his mouth and down his chin. These two must have been long lost brothers because as I looked over at Jacob, he gave me that same, blood soaked smile, as if to say "That's amazing, my tongue really does freeze to the metal!"

The ironic piece of the story is that for the next week and a half, Trent could not attend his Speech Therapy classes due to his "recess injury".

*Just a side note, this incident led me to the filling out of my first ever "Eau Claire School District Incident Report Sheet".

Poo Poo in the Pee Pee!

While at my elementary placement, I would wait for my classes to arrive while standing out in the hall. This way I could not only see and monitor down two long hallways, I could also greet my class with a friendly face and high five. This elementary school has, as im sure many elementary schools have, what I like to call and "open range" bathroom. This is where there are no doors leading into the bathroom, only corners to block any viewing. The sinks are also located outside the bathroom to prevent any unnecessary animosity. The boys sink was hidden around a small corner just enough to where I could not see the entire sink when I was standing at my greeting perch just outside the gymnasium.

One day, I saw one of my favorite elementary students standing at the sink washing his hands and jumping around like he just rode the ferris wheel at the fair for the first time. He was always like this though. Lets call him Jake. Jake was one of my Kindergarten Specially Designed Phy. Ed. students. The kid was so quirky that it made him one of the sweetest little boys. The things he would say were so obscure and random that he could confuse a lawyer with his antics. He would do such things like standing up in the middle of a dance lesson and saying "Mr. S, I hate bees on my face" (keep in mind this was the middle of January) then sit back down and listen as if nothing happened. That was Jake, and it always brought a smile to my face when I saw his big smile everyday. As I saw him washing his hands and dancing at the sink, I asked him, "Jake, why are you so happy?"
He responded with an exuberant "Mr. S. I went poo poo in the pee pee!"
I immediately asked without hesitation, "you did what?"
By this time I had already lost him and he began to sing to himself while drying his hands. The song sounded like something he probably was making up as he went.
Curious to know what was going on, just in case something "bad" happend, I took a couple steps towards the bathroom to follow him back to the room. Remember the sink is around a corner so I was unable to see the teacher's aid standing at the sink helping Jake wash up. She poked her head around the corner right behind Jake and said with a horrified face "Yeah, He just took a dump in the urinal".
By this time, Jake was 15 feet down the hallway and about to re-enter his room. Having heard the aid tell me about his apparent trophy, he turned around with a hand on the doorknob, his signature smile on his face and exclaimed for all to hear "And now I'm gonna watch a movie!" He then opened the door and gleefully pranced back into his room to. . .yes, finish watching the movie.

Kicked in the WHAT?

*this particular story takes place within my first week of student teaching at the elementary level.

While teaching tag game to a second grade class, a student ran up to me with pain in his eyes. You could tell that he was in pain but he was not crying. . .rather impressive for a 2nd grader. Now before I go on, I have to describe his voice in order to get the effect of the whole story. This student had a lateral lisp. For those of you who may not know specifically what that is, it is the kind of lisp where the air escapes from the sides of the tongue while talking creating sloppy /S/ and /Z/ sounds (or that sloppy wet sound). I will be spelling this student's spoken words as they sound so please to read as spelled. So he came running up to me in pain and said "Mishter Shturgish. Jacob just kicked me in the ballsh". Trying not to bust out in an full blown laugh, I politely smiled and replied "Trent, lets try to use better words. What should you say instead of balls?"
He began to get uneasy. He started to mutter something but I could not understand him. You could tell he was really trying to think of a more appropriate word to use instead of "balls" but was having difficulty finding it. Keep in mind that this entire time he is crossing his legs while holding his "balls" and dancing around in pain as if he was in some Richard Simmons exercise video. Finally you could see the light bulb go on and the words almost jumped out of his head.
"Mishter Shturgish. He kicked me right in the FRONTAL PRIVATESH. . .yeah right here" pointing to his crotch as if I did not know where these "frontal privates" were. After sitting out of the game for a lame 2 minutes, Trent returned into the game and the incident had entirely left his mind within minutes.

Now, not only have I discovered a new way to say balls, I have also become an expert in the traslation of the lateral lisp as I do have a few more stories to share in near future dealing with this same student.

Sole vs. Spirit

In my first placement of student teaching (in physical education) this past fall, I was teaching a soccer unit to the 5th and 6th graders. One of my objectives that would get questioned on the test was for the students to be able to identify all parts of the foot used in dribbling a soccer ball. I hammer HEEL, TOE, INSIDE, OUTSIDE, TOP and BOTTOM into their head on a daily basis. By the end of the unit, I was able to ask every student to name the parts of the foot and they were able to sound them off like a well trained army corps.
Now I am not a big fan of paper and pencil tests, especially in the Physical Education setting but seeing as though these students had already been accustom to this style of formal assessment, I figured I would give it a whirl and "administer" a paper and pencil test to see if these students really met my objectives. Test day came and as expected, there were a few questions clarifications that needed to be answered. Then came that daunting yet amusing task of grading. I was anxious to see how smart my students were. . .or in reality, how effective my own physical educating skills were.
My major underestimation was not only the ability to spell, but the ability to write in clear handwriting. Why I expected more, I don't know, seeing as though I have a hard time reading my own handwriting. I was constantly asking my cooperating teacher (CT) for help in deciphering words. It seemed as though he had taken Chicken Scratches 101, the introductory course at UWEC that I apparently was not notified about. He seemed to be able to look at the sad attempt at a word and decipher it withing a fraction of a second.
There was one test that neither one of us could figure out what a word was. The question was to "Name 4 of the 6 parts of your food used when you dribble a soccer ball". It was rather suprising because this particular student usually had great penmenship and never had issues with learning anything. It seemed as though she made up a new word. Out of a couple hundred students, only a couple had actually missed this question only due to perhaps that dreaded test anxiety. After taking the test down to the english teacher for some further expert deciphering, she notified me that the word said "Spirit". Now I was completely baffled, as was my CT. Finally I decided to just ask the student in hopes that I did not offend her in any way. After school, I went to her locker bay and pulled her aside. Again, she was a bright girl whos popularity and blonde hair won over many pre-pubescent crushes. She looked at me in a rather frustrated way and said "duh Mr. S., that says spirit, yeah, like, as in Soul." I immediately busted out a short burst of a laugh only to correct myself and appologize for "not being able to pick up on that". Only then did I realize that she was smart enough to realize that the BOTTOM of the foot was the sole and she clearly had heard the bottom of a foot be called a sole before but never really knew the differenct between a SOUL and a SOLE! Now, everytime I hear the word spirit, I think of the bottom of my foot. . .or perhaps the next time I hear the bottom of my foot, I will think of my spirit.