The New John C

Today was fun, it always is when I get to substitute teach in PE.  And it's tiring, trying to keep kids engaged, having fun, learning the rules of a new game, comforting kids who bumped an elbow or knee, etc., etc.  It takes a lot of energy. For some reason second grade comes in first.  Forty boys and forty girls.  We'll jog/skip/gallop around the gym and get warmed up, and then it's time to tell them about the game.  One of us blows a whistle and calls out "GRAPES, and the kids run to the center of the gym and cluster around the teachers, sitting cross legged, or as we call it "criss-cross applesauce."  And then the real fun starts! Next period, in comes first grade.  The same routine, but with a little more explanation of what to do, including demonstrations.  Third period, in comes kindergarten.  It's hard for the kids to listen to the teachers during grapes.  They look around, especially at me because I'm someone new and differ...

It just so happens that I went to two different junior high schools, and two different high schools, and it was a long time ago!   How in the world can I remember that far back?  It's pretty blurry and vague, to say the least. So, after a bit of pacing around and getting myself calmed down, some memories started to come back.  And, I'm going to first take the liberty of sharing some experiences I recall from my elementary school years. I was a voracious reader.  I devoured young reader books like The Hardy Boys and The Happy Hollisters .  I warned you I was going way back! I would often read these books over and over, and I even recall challenging myself to read three of The Happy Hollister books in one day, which I did.  I'm sure there were others, although I know I didn't read any Nancy Drew . Another one I couldn't put down was the World Book Encyclopedia set my parents had. There was a different volume for every letter of the alphabet, but...

One hundred seventy thousand, four hundred and seventy six.  This is the number that Google returns when asked how many words there are in the English language. It's a big number, but to be honest it didn't take long at all to arrive at my word for the semester, which is verbalize .  I began by thinking about what I observe in my family, what I do with my friends, what I see (and often try to promote) in my classrooms, what I see on athletic fields, and in short what I witness in virtually every other setting where there are humans.  Human beings are the most social of animals, which means that there is a lot of communication between us.  We talk to each other a lot! What do we say with one another? Of course the list is limitless, but most importantly we communicate our thoughts, our feelings, our hopes and aspirations, our fears, our shortcomings, and our ideas with each other.  These are what make us unique individuals.  We listen to what others verb...

Here is another quick post to let everyone know that I added a profile pic!  It's not too old...

Ok, here is the first post for this new blog.  It's a little funny after being in the tech business for so long that I never created one of these!  I get the feeling that I've been missing out, as this could turn out to be kind of fun.  Bye for now!