Athletics and Academics

Today I attended a football game that a number of my students were playing in. The game was away at another school, so the crowd for our team was minimal. I struck up a conversation with a parent about the fact that there were so few people supporting our team. Our team was losing quite dramatically, but really, there weren't any people in the stands to really get them excited about playing and wanting to win.
Last year I made a big effort to go to as many sporting events as I could and I found that it had very positive results. The students and I build a very positive relationship and I always had something to talk to them about that I knew they had a passion for. I also knew that I could incorporate their passions into the classroom by using different creative activities. I wonder, though, why more teachers don't attend these events? It takes only a short time out of your day to go and see the kids do what they love doing and it has incredible returns.
Additionally, our administrative team was not present either. The mother I was speaking with made a good point in saying that these boys were doing something positive with their time after school and yet they weren't really given proper support or recognition for it. I completely agreed. So many students could choose to hang out on the streets and get into trouble after school, but these boys were choosing to do something productive with their time. That is something truly tremendous. I am a firm believer that athletics is really the way to go for all students, especially ones in urban districts.
I understand that our district doesn't have a lot of money, and athletics is an expensive investment, but it is a valuable investment. I wish all of my students participated in some form of athletics after school. Sports teaches students sportsmanship, respect, commitment, team work, cooperation, following directions, and dedication among other things. These are things we only barely touch on in the classroom, but skills that can directly translate into the classroom atmosphere.
After watching these boys working so hard for their teammates, it made me reflect on my experiences in high school athletics and how important it is for growing up and the school experience. It is enhanced when you put into factor teachers, administrators and parents showing proper recognition and support for those endeavors. My mother never missed one of my water polo games or swim meets because she knew how important it was to me for her to be there encouraging me. I just wish all parents of those boys realized how much it would mean to their child for them to be there, watching them do something they are good at. Often our boys only get negative attention for doing the wrong thing, but rarely do we give proper positive recognition for when they do something right.
I beg all parents, teachers, and other school staff to take the extra time out of their day (and I know how long our days already are) to go watch our student athletes. It is so important and will pay off in the long run when our students are more invested in school because they know they are valued for the many things they do.

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Yesterday was the first day of school and I knew I had to figure out a way to keep them awake and interested... I had seen a youtube video in one of my hopkins courses telling facts about the future of the planet and technology and I thought it'd be just the ticket to get them hooked. Even though I teach American government, the facts and information were still applicable. I explained to the students that during a time of such rapid change in technology and change in the needs of the people, the government has to be ready to respond to any and all of these changes. Obviously, the government is SLOW to respond to most anything, but there's a reason for that... Democracy is a process. The more voices you have, the more time it takes to come to a decision. If we wanted a dictatorship, I can imagine things would get done much faster, but not necessarily to our liking. So anyway, I showed the kids the video and for the most part they were impressed. I think they didn't understand some of it, but they could relate to the comments about text messages, myspace, and different things like that. It was a great way to get them interested and looking at government in a completely different way. Last year I briefly touched on the impact of the internet and technology on government, more specifically regarding the speed at which election campaigns function and advertising, but it is really true that as technology grows, government has to reexamine how we function in society and what needs to change. Laws and regulations regarding the internet push our boundaries of freedom of speech and privacy (although "privacy" is not in the constitution, it might be a breach of our freedom from search and seizure), while also juggling the safety of many. It's a difficult line to define, but I think issues like that are what get our students interested in social studies. The racey controversy! I gave a survey to my students to inquire what subject they liked best. Not ONE students said social studies. Many said math or English or science, but no takers on social studies. And why is that? Because we spend so much time in outdated textbooks that the students miss out on the real world applications! Social studies and science are changing the most often and can become the most interesting and applicable to their lives, but teachers choose to go by the book. Once I told kids in my class that we wouldn't use textbooks, they cheered for joy and I was happy too... I also think I won some of those votes back for social studies at that point :-) Allowing technology and current events into our classroom will revolutionize the way our students see school.