Glenn's Daily Script » School

Coaching

Glenn — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 06:24:07 +0000

I’m not sure how the really good coaches do it. I don’t mean working with kids – I love that part.

What I do mean, is remembering everything you want to teach the kids so they can become better. I’m working as part of a team so it’s a wonderful experience since I remember one thing and another coach remembers other things and by the end of practice, the kids have had fun and unbeknownst to them, they learned something.

Mitchell is doing a basketball team again this year (I think it’s his 3rd year). We’ve got a great group of kids that all have a passion for sports, basketball or just playing with friends. The energy has been very high and is truly inspiring to watch and participate.

It’s hard to keep up with them too. Tonights practice, we had a game to promote confidence in dribbling and defense. I was with them (not all the kids had quite gotten there yet) and bending over dribbling the ball low compresses my diaphragm and made it very tiring even given that I’m very fit. The kids had a lot of fun trying to get me knocked out of the game.

Well tomorrow is our first game of the season so wish us luck!

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Coaching

Math and Science in schools

Glenn — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 06:27:20 +0000

This year I have been thrilled to be involved with Xander (5th grade) and his classes science program. It’s an interesting program that is trying to teach the Scientific Method through simple experiments. Xander’s teacher (Miss Hopper) is doing quite a good job guiding the kids through the curriculum. The amount of science being done is also great with 4 days a week for an hour each day (though we took December off).

It’s not always been so great though. In previous years (including Mitchell’s current 3rd grade year), the curriculum seems to have 3 or 4 short units in science which they only spend 1-2 times per week on. I’ve voiced my concern about this to the Principal and am hopeful based on Xander’s class.

Later this week, I’m also going to a School District meeting on changes to the math curriculum. I’m not sure what to expect though our state (Washington) is not in a good position in relationship to other states and it’s math curriculum. It’s very sad.

The state and local school district have done a great job over the last few decades to increase literacy. The programs around literacy and the way they use other areas (including science and math) to increase literacy is quite phenomenal. The problem though is that they have made all these gains at the cost of science and math.

I hope to see this change over the time my children attend school. Xander and Mitchell both understand how important these subjects are and enjoy both of them quite a bit.

Xander and his classmates made a commercial

Glenn — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:37:40 +0000

Xander is part of a gifted program for one day a week. In this program, they focus on going into 5 topics over the year really in-depth rather than re-doing what the “home” class does. In watching this and Xander’s reaction to it, I am finding this program to be an excellent addition to his normal classwork. It does make him work a bit harder (there is even a year long research project that goes a long with it) but a gifted child is one who generally wants to be pushed and excited. I think the ultimate measure is whether or not Xander is having fun learning and from what Kathy and I see, he is.

Now, his second unit this year is advertising. His team’s current project over the holiday break was to make a TV commercial for a car called the EV-5000. Go check out the EV 5000 Commercial.

I think that you will find that it is very creative.� Keep in mind that we are talking 3rd and 4th graders but when you look at the commercial you can see the details that they thought of in every element – the script (including an intro with setup for a need and a sell for the great car), some graphic elements, a closing slogan (even the slogan is creative though I think Claire may have been nervous in front the camera – not like Xander in the other acting scenes!), a last text ad (even with a call to action – 10% off if you do it now!).

It’s amazing how well they understand commercials.� I hope it gives them a tool in fighting the pull commercials have on them through their lives!