Spirituality and You

           Now let me just preface this post by saying that I am not a religious person.  I just never really got into the religion thing, it may have been my heathen parents (just kidding guys) being of different religions and it may just be that is it just not part of what I believe.  But I do respect religion and to be honest sometimes I am jealous of those who have a universal belief in something that they believe is true and just.  I think it’s a really cool thing and just because it doesn’t match my particular belief system I do not begrudge it at all.  

           But for us sheep floating astray with nothing to keep our moral centers tied down I think it necessary for us to have something driving us in the right direction.  Early on it can be a parent, guardian, teacher or just a positive adult in your life teaching you right from wrong and trying to let you see the err of your ways, see both sides of the story, and to see people and things in a positive light.  But as you grow and develop as a person, the chimes of one or a few people have less impact on your life, you have cut the cord and you are a free adult, out to fend for yourself, and there is no mother or father or grandparent helping you make the tough decisions that will pave the road of your future.  Many turn to God, and He helps them find their way.  But what about the others of us?  What will keep us grounded and positive and moral?  I really do feel that we need something to keep us on the right path.  For me, in my mid-twenties I discovered exercise. 

           Now I had worked out plenty as a teenager, but then it was something I did, for football, for wrestling, for baseball, for boxing.  But in college, I gained a lot of weight and my weight still does fluctuate a good deal from month to month, week to week, and even day to day.  But I really have no better feeling then when I finish a hard workout, a difficult race, or reach a new milestone.  Now having run two marathons and just recently finishing my ninth half marathon, I recently signed up for a race called the “Tough Mudder” which is essentially a 10 mile obstacle course, in which I will have to run up ski slopes, wade through waist high mud, climb over walls and under barbed wire, and run through fire.  Now any sane person would ask why the heck would anyone want to do this?  But I am so excited for it, for a new challenge, for a new achievement. 

         Wonderfully, following a recent medical scare my brother has been alongside me for some recent races, and I really couldn’t be prouder of him.  He has lost in the neighborhood of 80 pounds, and in the process has extended his life, and now is able to be a better person, father, and husband.  It is worth repeating just how proud of him and amazed at his turnaround I am.   For me, the days I feel worst are the days I go without exercise,and  while some days I wake up and dread that 10 mile run, I feel so much better when I have finished it and would be down on myself and feel terrible if I decided to forego it.  In fact, immediately after I write this I will take my first “Mudder” training run in which I am going to run 2 miles to the local high school, run the stadium stairs for 30 minutes, and then run 2 miles home.  Oh and did I mention its pouring buckets outside.  But I couldn't think of anything I'd rather do on a Sunday morning before football starts.  So please for your own sake and the sake of those around you, find something that keeps you on the right path, keeps you thinking positive, and keeps you making good decisions that will benefit you and the people closest to you. 

Evolution

 One of the key things I strive for every year, every month, and even every day is to grow as a person.   I know it’s a dorky thing to say, but it’s something I truly strive for.  As individuals we go through many times in our lives that change us (hopefully for the better).  I have had a few such times in my life where I have “evolved”.  In high school I knew a lot of people, but I was still relatively shy and a good number of my friends were through my best friend Nick.  But in college, I really broke out of my shell in a big way and went through my “social evolution”.    I think it was a mix of independence, proximity, and meeting a big group of friends on pretty much my first day there.  It really was an amazing time in my life, and I think back of it very fondly on a regular basis. 

In the past 5 years, I have really experienced my “intellectual evolution”.  Maybe its partially been spurned on by becoming an educator, but I am really just trying to learn everything I can.  I read a ton and almost exclusively non-fiction.  There is really just so many interesting things going on in the world that it’s hard to really justify reading about something some random guy (or girl) just made up.  I always hated history in school and it was my worst subject, but there are really so many amazing accounts of the outstanding events in the history of our country and our world.  I feel that history is taught so much better in schools today and I am jealous that I never had some of the history teachers I have had the pleasure of working with.    I also love reading about human and animal psychology, sociology, sports, economics, cooking, fitness, and pretty much anything.  In short, knowing $h*t is awesome.  I mean the old adage “knowledge is power” might be a bit overstated, but knowledge certainly is powerful.  It feels great to be able to answer a question from a student about nearly any topic and not feel like I am reaching for answers out of my anus. 

In conclusion, self improvement and self reflection should be a part of the goals of everyone on a regular basis.  Try to hit some of these “personal evolutions” regardless of your age, intellect, or status.  It may be pretty hard for me, but we can always be better.  Better people, better sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, employees, students, and intellectuals.  Growth is the vessel of the self actualized. 

The Statistical Revolution

There are many things I love, but two things that stick out are sports and mathematics. Call me a dork (you wouldn’t be the first one) but one is my career, and the other has always been a passion of mine. When I was a kid, the math in sports was minimal, and I was calculating batting averages as early as 2nd or 3rd grade. That was about as far as it got. In baseball, all that anyone cared about were the big three, batting average, home runs, and RBI’s. In football, we had yardage, TD’s, sacks, and interceptions. In basketball, it was points, assists, and rebounds.


But behind the scenes, things were changing. This finally started getting revealed with Michael Lewis’ 2003 book, Moneyball, about the Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane who had started using statistical analysis more than scouts to evaluate players and draft minor leaguers. Since then statistical analysis has exploded in baseball, and the “new school” way of thinking is called sabermetrics. A few of the earlier stats have made their way into the mainstream baseball lexicon such as OPS and BABIP and there are dozens of others that look far more in depth than the basic statistics can even dream of. It is also starting to take off in other sports, such as basketball. Although it seems as if a lot of the advanced stats there are kept more close to the vest and not shared with the general public. Football has also been awaken, as we now have stats to measure all players, not just the efficiency of the “skill” positions. The guys at football outsiders have been using statistical analysis to predict games for the past few years and do remarkably better than the mainstream analysts.

So it would seem, that the best way to break into the sports world these days is not to work on your jump shot, hit the weight room, or practice your knuckleball, but to find new and exciting ways of using mathematics. The sports world has finally wisened up and realized that the eyes do often deceive us, and that objective evidence is a lot more valuable then subjective analysis and the opinions of people that are always rife with bias. So keep punching on those calculators and you too could be the next big thing in sports!

Change-up

So only about 5% of my students have twitter, so I just created a facebook "celebrity" type page and if my students "like it", then they will get my updates on facebook.  I think this might work better.  I will update in a bit when I get some feedback.

Social Media and the Modern Classroom

So September is here and the kids are bustling through the hallways once again.  I'm still in my early 30's, but the classroom of 2010 looks nothing like the classroom of my youth.  Yes there are still rows of desks, bulletin boards, and textbooks.  But now a smartboard is attached to the wall, a graphing calculator is attached to the projector, and my entire textbook is available online with some amazing interactive features.  But is this enough?  Are we really keeping up with the times in education?  The answer, unfortunately is often, no.  Many are set in their ways and embracing new things is difficult at any age. 

As any good teacher does, I am constantly evaluating myself.  At the end of each lesson, I keep a notebook of what can be done to improve or change each lesson for the following year.  At the end of each year, I look for ways to add to my "toolbox" of pedagogical strategies to better serve my students.  After a lot of great reading and some interesting talks with colleagues, I have decided to try to incorporate social media into my curriculum. 

It is an ADD society we live in and its students are constantly being pulled in a million different directions.  Between school, parents, sports, clubs, work, television, and the internet students are often multitasking and Mr. Waldstein's math homework is unfortunately going to be way down on the list of priorities.  However, if we as teachers can enter that digital network with them, the material being taught can actually relate and fit in with their daily lives.  Crazy Thought!

However, this idea is not without some major problems.  Most schools (including my own) have filters that block facebook/twitter/myspace/etc making it difficult to make it a prominent part of any lesson.   Facebook seems to be the site prominently used by my students so I was thinking of making a profile for homework assignments, educational links, and classroom calenders.  However, facebook is a little too personal and I dont want to exchange pictures and hear about their personal thoughts.  So I havedecided to get my feet wet in this endeavor with a twitter account.  It is quick, to the point, and more impersonal.  I dont see any need to ever use more than 140 characters to get my point across. 

So I just created a twitter account for my teacher alter-ego, and am going to encourage my students to "follow" me.  I will send tweet homework assignments, test-reminders, links to educational and ~educational stories that I think they will find interesting.  This will be my starting point and I hope to expand this use in the upcoming weeks, months, and years. 


Some awesome ideas that I have read about from other teachers of all subjects
*Create a facebook page about your favorite literary character. 
*Field trips using Skype (You dont even have to leave the room!)
* Create a new iphone/droid/insert phone here ap related to the educational topic
* tweet famous speeches or conversations (it's the modern way to paraphrase)

It can also be used for extra collaboration between students, teachers, and parents; speaking to other educators and sharing ideas, create groups, and hundreds of other possible uses.  I look forward to delving into this new pool of possibilities and excited for the positive impact I think it can have on my students.