Name Six things you could have learned in school but you learned from pop culture instead.
1. Aerodynamics - Learned from Top Gun and Blue Thunder. Many concepts I know about how things fly were learned from these two films. The most prominent is that helicopters can't flip over.
2. Scottish History - Learned from Braveheart and Rob Roy. I love cool history stories and William Wallace and Rob Roy are two of the cooler ones. There are historical inaccuracies in both movies but they gave me the inspiration to learn more about their stories. And Rob Roy's are nice drinks to order in fine drinking establishments.
3. General Trivia - Learned from Trivial Pursuit. I know this one seems slightly lame and obvious, but you have to realize that Trivial Pursuit is serious business in our friend circle. Wrestling matches have broken out during this game. Not kidding. So, when you play it that hard and fast, you learn quickly or you get your ass handed to you.
4. Louis the 14th - Learned from the show Encyclopedia. I don't know if anyone else has ever been graced with this show. It was pretty cool. Each episode picked a letter of the alphabet and then did several entries from the encyclopedia starting with that letter. They would use animation, live sketches and songs to teach kids about things. The one I remember the clearest was a song about Louis the 14th, the sun king. It was a great song that talked about building Versailles and such and it stuck with me. Great show if you can find it.
5. Military History - Learned from Age Of Empires 2: The Age of Kings. This game is one of my favorite of all time and its chock full of cool military history information. The game manual alone has tons of stuff about how these ancient civilizations kicked ass and took names. FYI: Favorite race to play is the Vikings. They have a bad ass special unit called a Berserker that regenerates on its own.
6. Current Events - Learned from doing short form improv. Nothing tells you more about what is going on in the public eye then taking suggestions from an improv audience. You will learn exactly what people are talking about, and in some ways how they feel about it. Long form or Harold improv has some aspects of this, but they only have one suggestion to start off. Short form gets a lot of suggestions and you'd be surprised how you can have completely different audiences give the same suggestions. My rule has always been if I don't know what a suggestion is from an audience member, I find out what it is by the next show. So I know how to tell the Jonas Brothers apart and I know how to use a lathe.
Readers: Name six things you learned from pop culture.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Name Six: Things To Make Me Smile
Seth to Rick:
Name Six things that would make me smile.
*Seth got some bad news, and wanted to be taken out of his bad mood.
1.) An inspirational story:
L. Frank Baum tried all kinds of jobs, and hated all of them. When he decided to become an author, he threw himself into that- and failed miserably for years. When he finally got a book published, he was 41 years old. It was not at all considered successful, and the publisher went bankrupt. He sent a copy to his sister with this inscription:
“When I was young I longed to write a great novel that should win me fame. Now that I am getting old my first book is written to amuse children. For aside from my evident inability to do anything ‘great,’ I have learned to regard fame as a will-o-the-wisp which, when caught, is not worth the possession; but to please a child is a sweet and lovely thing that warms one’s heart and brings its own reward.”
Three years later he published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
2.) An online game that I think you'll like:
3 Slices
3.) Three memories I bet you haven't thought about in a long time:
"This is the worst Chinese food I've ever had. Ever."
Jody.
Robbie's One Rule.
4.) A fun fact that you may not know:
The Bir Tawil Triangle is a four-sided area of 800 square miles between Egypt and Sudan that both countries insist belongs to the other country, and is one of a handful of places in the world not claimed by any country.
5.) Inspirational pablum:
A coworker in my office has a card on his desk that reads, "When work feels overwhelming, remember that you're going to die." I like that.
6.) My vote of confidence in you:
There is nobody that I would rather be onstage with than you. Any show I've been in with you, any show I've seen you in, is a fantastic show that hits my humor level exactly and is exactly what I want to see when I watch improv. Your improv shouldn't be for everyone, and if it's not for everyone, at least it's for people like us.
Name Six things that would make me smile.
*Seth got some bad news, and wanted to be taken out of his bad mood.
1.) An inspirational story:
L. Frank Baum tried all kinds of jobs, and hated all of them. When he decided to become an author, he threw himself into that- and failed miserably for years. When he finally got a book published, he was 41 years old. It was not at all considered successful, and the publisher went bankrupt. He sent a copy to his sister with this inscription:
“When I was young I longed to write a great novel that should win me fame. Now that I am getting old my first book is written to amuse children. For aside from my evident inability to do anything ‘great,’ I have learned to regard fame as a will-o-the-wisp which, when caught, is not worth the possession; but to please a child is a sweet and lovely thing that warms one’s heart and brings its own reward.”
Three years later he published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
2.) An online game that I think you'll like:
3 Slices
3.) Three memories I bet you haven't thought about in a long time:
"This is the worst Chinese food I've ever had. Ever."
Jody.
Robbie's One Rule.
4.) A fun fact that you may not know:
The Bir Tawil Triangle is a four-sided area of 800 square miles between Egypt and Sudan that both countries insist belongs to the other country, and is one of a handful of places in the world not claimed by any country.
5.) Inspirational pablum:
A coworker in my office has a card on his desk that reads, "When work feels overwhelming, remember that you're going to die." I like that.
6.) My vote of confidence in you:
There is nobody that I would rather be onstage with than you. Any show I've been in with you, any show I've seen you in, is a fantastic show that hits my humor level exactly and is exactly what I want to see when I watch improv. Your improv shouldn't be for everyone, and if it's not for everyone, at least it's for people like us.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Name Six: Ways Teenagers Have it Easier Than We Did
Rick to Seth:
Name Six ways teenagers have it easier than we did.
*Seth and Rick are both in thier 30's, so it's been a bit of time since they were teenagers*
This is a fun one, cause I get to be the cranky old man for a bit. Most of these revolve around the world of technology, for those are the greatest differences between now and then. But I think people don't realise the specifics of things.
1. Cell Phones: For the modern teen these suckers are invaluable, and yet, we didn't have'em at all. Besides all the fun and distraction they can provide, it was a pain in the butt having to coordinate any type of event with friends. If someone was going to be late or had to cancel there was NO WAY to let people know. You just got ditched. I have walked alone in lonely malls in my life, these kids don't understand.
2. Social Media: Twitter, Facebook, Evite etc.... we didn't have it. So if we wanted to plan a party or share news with folks, we had to hunt them down ourselves. Don't get me wrong, this stuff can be used for bad as well as good, but anyone who ever had to go to kinkos to get invitations printed out knows this stuff is way better.
3.Video games: This one is just simple. Compare the WORST game of today versus the BEST games of my time and there is still no comparision. Games today are amazing.
4. MP3's/Itunes: Back in my day, you had to buy an entire album if you liked one song. Then if you wanted to make a mix you have to get a double tape deck and record them one at a time, which left you with a crappy sounding tape. Now, you can spend a few bucks, get the newest songs in seconds and have them with perfect quality.
5. Hulu/TIVO/Netflix: I'm going to lump these all together because they all equate to the same thing.... people can watch whatever they want whenever they want. When I was a kid, I cried for a hour when I missed an episode of the Muppet show. AN HOUR! Now a days you can catch not only any show on TV, but also find almost any show ever made, and every movie as well. Oye!
6. Access to art: In general, the internet, the various TV programs, and every media outlet know to man is available to teens right now. I'll admit is is an overload and the one thing the internet desperatly needs is context, but it does give an interesting ability for people to seek out new things that interest them. I was lucky that I found Improv when I did and had a chance to start very early with it. And I just hope that kids will use what they have to find what they are looking for and be able to chase after it.
Readers: Name 6 differences between yourself and another generation. Good or bad.
Name Six ways teenagers have it easier than we did.
*Seth and Rick are both in thier 30's, so it's been a bit of time since they were teenagers*
This is a fun one, cause I get to be the cranky old man for a bit. Most of these revolve around the world of technology, for those are the greatest differences between now and then. But I think people don't realise the specifics of things.
1. Cell Phones: For the modern teen these suckers are invaluable, and yet, we didn't have'em at all. Besides all the fun and distraction they can provide, it was a pain in the butt having to coordinate any type of event with friends. If someone was going to be late or had to cancel there was NO WAY to let people know. You just got ditched. I have walked alone in lonely malls in my life, these kids don't understand.
2. Social Media: Twitter, Facebook, Evite etc.... we didn't have it. So if we wanted to plan a party or share news with folks, we had to hunt them down ourselves. Don't get me wrong, this stuff can be used for bad as well as good, but anyone who ever had to go to kinkos to get invitations printed out knows this stuff is way better.
3.Video games: This one is just simple. Compare the WORST game of today versus the BEST games of my time and there is still no comparision. Games today are amazing.
4. MP3's/Itunes: Back in my day, you had to buy an entire album if you liked one song. Then if you wanted to make a mix you have to get a double tape deck and record them one at a time, which left you with a crappy sounding tape. Now, you can spend a few bucks, get the newest songs in seconds and have them with perfect quality.
5. Hulu/TIVO/Netflix: I'm going to lump these all together because they all equate to the same thing.... people can watch whatever they want whenever they want. When I was a kid, I cried for a hour when I missed an episode of the Muppet show. AN HOUR! Now a days you can catch not only any show on TV, but also find almost any show ever made, and every movie as well. Oye!
6. Access to art: In general, the internet, the various TV programs, and every media outlet know to man is available to teens right now. I'll admit is is an overload and the one thing the internet desperatly needs is context, but it does give an interesting ability for people to seek out new things that interest them. I was lucky that I found Improv when I did and had a chance to start very early with it. And I just hope that kids will use what they have to find what they are looking for and be able to chase after it.
Readers: Name 6 differences between yourself and another generation. Good or bad.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Name Six: Books You Love
From Seth to Rick: Name Six books that you love.
*Rick is one of those “book people”. He reads, but he also just plain likes books.
1.) Pickle-Chiffon Pie by Roger Bradfield.
This was my favorite book as a child, and I would read it over and over, turning back to the beginning when I got to the end. It’s a simple children’s story, very much based on the rule of threes (in fact, each of the three sections is a rule-of-three story) with cute drawings and a main character that looks a little like me.
Oh! In looking this book up on Amazon, apparently there is a sequel that came out this past April! I read this book in the early Eighties, and it was ten to fifteen years old at that point, so the idea that he would write a sequel 45 years later is great. I may need to buy that.
2.) The Girl, Gold Watch, and Everything by John D MacDonald.
A cute girl who worked at Borders with me bought this book, so I bought a copy to have something to talk with her about. By the time I finished it, she had quit, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. MacDonald’s Travis McGee detective novels are more popular, but I could never get into them.
Speaking of sequels, I recently found out that this book (which has no sequel) has a made-for-tv movie starring Pam Dawber, and the tv movie has a sequel- written by MacDonald, but never turned into a book. Just like Fletch, which could easily be on this list. Love that book, too.
3.) Algebra 1 by Paul Foerster.
I know how nerdy it is to love a math book, but you have to understand how good this book is. Algebra is a disaster of a class, and every book on the market tries to make it better by adding in pictures of roller coasters or using story problems that make no sense (If you’re smart enough to have an equation for your flower bed’s perimeter, why can’t you use a tape measure to find out how long it is?) This book does none of that, and is the only Algebra book I’ve ever seen that makes a distinction between variables and pronumerals- something I’d never heard of before. I’ve learned more reading that book than any college class I ever took. If you want to consider Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus and Calculus ‘sequels’ to Algebra, then Foerster wrote some pretty good sequels, too.
4.) Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams.
I’m a big fan of the Hitchhiker’s Guide books, but Dirk Gently is something I read often. While Hitchhiker’s asks you to constantly imagine different worlds and creatures, Dirk Gently asks you to accept one or two fantastical elements and otherwise grounds the story in reality. Mysteries typically either are easy to figure out, or cheat by keeping information from you, but at the end of this one, I immediately read it through a second time and took in all of the foreshadowing that existed, but would be impossible to piece together. That doesn’t even describe it, because foreshadowing makes you think of a couple sentences, while Dirk Gently has entire chapters that only loosely make sense until you see them in hindsight. Again, a sequel- The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.
5.) Improv! By Greg Atkins.
It’s a really simple book- it’s essentially a list of games and exercises- but it has a good section on a class curriculum, and best of all, has a great section that lists common problems improvisers have matched with exercises that will help them work past those issues. Donna gave me a copy for a birthday one year, and the kind note inside the front cover always makes me smile. It’s one of my favorite possessions.
6.) When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.
This certainly isn’t one of my top books of all time, but you just asked for books I love, and I’ve been looking for a reason to recommend it. It’s a kids’ book- won the Newberry award last year- and it’s fantastic. I try to take an afternoon each summer and read the recent Newberry award winner, and this was my favorite since I started doing that. Just a very good book.
Readers: What are some books that you love? Why?
*Rick is one of those “book people”. He reads, but he also just plain likes books.
1.) Pickle-Chiffon Pie by Roger Bradfield.
This was my favorite book as a child, and I would read it over and over, turning back to the beginning when I got to the end. It’s a simple children’s story, very much based on the rule of threes (in fact, each of the three sections is a rule-of-three story) with cute drawings and a main character that looks a little like me.
Oh! In looking this book up on Amazon, apparently there is a sequel that came out this past April! I read this book in the early Eighties, and it was ten to fifteen years old at that point, so the idea that he would write a sequel 45 years later is great. I may need to buy that.
2.) The Girl, Gold Watch, and Everything by John D MacDonald.
A cute girl who worked at Borders with me bought this book, so I bought a copy to have something to talk with her about. By the time I finished it, she had quit, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. MacDonald’s Travis McGee detective novels are more popular, but I could never get into them.
Speaking of sequels, I recently found out that this book (which has no sequel) has a made-for-tv movie starring Pam Dawber, and the tv movie has a sequel- written by MacDonald, but never turned into a book. Just like Fletch, which could easily be on this list. Love that book, too.
3.) Algebra 1 by Paul Foerster.
I know how nerdy it is to love a math book, but you have to understand how good this book is. Algebra is a disaster of a class, and every book on the market tries to make it better by adding in pictures of roller coasters or using story problems that make no sense (If you’re smart enough to have an equation for your flower bed’s perimeter, why can’t you use a tape measure to find out how long it is?) This book does none of that, and is the only Algebra book I’ve ever seen that makes a distinction between variables and pronumerals- something I’d never heard of before. I’ve learned more reading that book than any college class I ever took. If you want to consider Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus and Calculus ‘sequels’ to Algebra, then Foerster wrote some pretty good sequels, too.
4.) Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams.
I’m a big fan of the Hitchhiker’s Guide books, but Dirk Gently is something I read often. While Hitchhiker’s asks you to constantly imagine different worlds and creatures, Dirk Gently asks you to accept one or two fantastical elements and otherwise grounds the story in reality. Mysteries typically either are easy to figure out, or cheat by keeping information from you, but at the end of this one, I immediately read it through a second time and took in all of the foreshadowing that existed, but would be impossible to piece together. That doesn’t even describe it, because foreshadowing makes you think of a couple sentences, while Dirk Gently has entire chapters that only loosely make sense until you see them in hindsight. Again, a sequel- The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.
5.) Improv! By Greg Atkins.
It’s a really simple book- it’s essentially a list of games and exercises- but it has a good section on a class curriculum, and best of all, has a great section that lists common problems improvisers have matched with exercises that will help them work past those issues. Donna gave me a copy for a birthday one year, and the kind note inside the front cover always makes me smile. It’s one of my favorite possessions.
6.) When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.
This certainly isn’t one of my top books of all time, but you just asked for books I love, and I’ve been looking for a reason to recommend it. It’s a kids’ book- won the Newberry award last year- and it’s fantastic. I try to take an afternoon each summer and read the recent Newberry award winner, and this was my favorite since I started doing that. Just a very good book.
Readers: What are some books that you love? Why?
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Name Six: Times You Made Someone Laugh Intentionally.
From Rick to Seth:
Name Six times you intentionally made someone laugh, and how.
This is a trickier one, not because it is difficult to find examples, it is just tricky to find specific ones. Like most improvisers (and this includes Rick) I am always looking to entertain those around me in some way, and I tend to get bored easily. Combine those two things and you get a person who always has a comment or quip loaded and ready to fire. So, I will try and choose a few moments that A. I can remember clearly, and B. I'm some what proud of.
1. My Cousin Lance: My family is full of good laughers. Not just people with good senses of humor, but rich infectious laughs as well. Not more so then my cousin Lance. He has one of the best laughs I have ever met. It's layered and pitched and if you get him started, he keeps going for a while. Needless to say, I try to make him laugh as much as possible. My two standing strategies are either quotes from Caddyshack ("This is an exclusive club Wang, so don't tell them you're Jewish. OK? Fine.") or non-sequitur jokes. My favorite of which is: Two birds are in a bird bath. The first bird turns to the second bird and says "Can you pass me the soap". The second bird says "What do I look like, a typewriter?" Classics.
2. Messing with Sammy. My little sister Samara and I didn't always get along (see previous blog), and when we're younger, we got into a lot of arguments. Now, I learned early on that nothing upset Sam more then making her laugh when she was crying. It would make her voice warble in a way that I can't convey through writing, and would usually send her off to slam a door in the house somewhere. On one specific occasion that I can remember, she was unable to do that, because we we're traveling in the car with my parents. I think it was one of our long trips we took when we first got to Wyo. It was late, and we we're all a little tired, so I told my father the non-sequitur joke about the birdbath. For what ever reason, my Mother and Father found it hilarious, but Sam didn't get it, which made her upset. So I told another one: You are paddling your canoe down the street and your canoe runs out of gas, how many bones are in a yogurt? None. Chickens don't have fur. This joke made them laugh even harder, and Sam get even madder. By the third joke, my Father's eyes were watering and Sam was screaming: Is it further to Paris or by train? BATTING CAGE! It was a perfect storm of comedy and cruelty.
3. Meeting Blake. I was out at a bar in a situation where I was meeting a few people for the first time. One of which was this highly entertaining guy named Blake. We were passing stories back and forth, as people do, when it came out that when Blake was younger he used to work at a Hot Topic in Arkansas. Without even thinking I said "What's the hot topic in Arkansas, electricity?" Blake laughed for a solid minute and we've been friends ever since.
4. Other Bathroom. Back in high school, when we had just moved into the new house that my parents had built, I had a group of people over to check the place out. This one girl, Julie, went to use the small bathroom next to the kitchen. Just after she settled in to do her business, I knocked on the door and said "Oh no Julie, this one is just for show." She laughed after I told her I was kidding.
5. Par's Wedding. I have spoken at a few weddings, and in each one I've tried to be a mix of funny and heartfelt. One of my favorite moments from any of them was at Parwaiz and Katie's wedding. The wedding took place in a suburb of Chicago where Katie's family is from. So, before I started the real meet of my speech, I went over to Katie's dad and quoted Luca Brasi from the Godfather. "Thank you for allowing me here on the day of your daughters wedding. My their first child be a masculine child." Half the room got what I was doing, and that's all I need to make me smile.
6. Poker in Vegas. I was in Las Vegas playing Hold'em poker at a table in Bally's with my great buddy Parwaiz... and I was getting very drunk. And the more I drink, the looser my words become, and the more I try to be funny, which really got under the skin of half the guys at the table. The other half, including Par and the dealers, loved me. The comment that put me over the top was when the dealer told us that the monorail had been shut down because someone had been hit by it. I drunkenly cocked my head to the side and said "Hey, anybody that gets hit by a monorail....deserves it." The dealer like that so much that he called the pit boss over to tell him.
Readers: Can you Name Six times you have intentionally made someone laugh? Then do it!
Name Six times you intentionally made someone laugh, and how.
This is a trickier one, not because it is difficult to find examples, it is just tricky to find specific ones. Like most improvisers (and this includes Rick) I am always looking to entertain those around me in some way, and I tend to get bored easily. Combine those two things and you get a person who always has a comment or quip loaded and ready to fire. So, I will try and choose a few moments that A. I can remember clearly, and B. I'm some what proud of.
1. My Cousin Lance: My family is full of good laughers. Not just people with good senses of humor, but rich infectious laughs as well. Not more so then my cousin Lance. He has one of the best laughs I have ever met. It's layered and pitched and if you get him started, he keeps going for a while. Needless to say, I try to make him laugh as much as possible. My two standing strategies are either quotes from Caddyshack ("This is an exclusive club Wang, so don't tell them you're Jewish. OK? Fine.") or non-sequitur jokes. My favorite of which is: Two birds are in a bird bath. The first bird turns to the second bird and says "Can you pass me the soap". The second bird says "What do I look like, a typewriter?" Classics.
2. Messing with Sammy. My little sister Samara and I didn't always get along (see previous blog), and when we're younger, we got into a lot of arguments. Now, I learned early on that nothing upset Sam more then making her laugh when she was crying. It would make her voice warble in a way that I can't convey through writing, and would usually send her off to slam a door in the house somewhere. On one specific occasion that I can remember, she was unable to do that, because we we're traveling in the car with my parents. I think it was one of our long trips we took when we first got to Wyo. It was late, and we we're all a little tired, so I told my father the non-sequitur joke about the birdbath. For what ever reason, my Mother and Father found it hilarious, but Sam didn't get it, which made her upset. So I told another one: You are paddling your canoe down the street and your canoe runs out of gas, how many bones are in a yogurt? None. Chickens don't have fur. This joke made them laugh even harder, and Sam get even madder. By the third joke, my Father's eyes were watering and Sam was screaming: Is it further to Paris or by train? BATTING CAGE! It was a perfect storm of comedy and cruelty.
3. Meeting Blake. I was out at a bar in a situation where I was meeting a few people for the first time. One of which was this highly entertaining guy named Blake. We were passing stories back and forth, as people do, when it came out that when Blake was younger he used to work at a Hot Topic in Arkansas. Without even thinking I said "What's the hot topic in Arkansas, electricity?" Blake laughed for a solid minute and we've been friends ever since.
4. Other Bathroom. Back in high school, when we had just moved into the new house that my parents had built, I had a group of people over to check the place out. This one girl, Julie, went to use the small bathroom next to the kitchen. Just after she settled in to do her business, I knocked on the door and said "Oh no Julie, this one is just for show." She laughed after I told her I was kidding.
5. Par's Wedding. I have spoken at a few weddings, and in each one I've tried to be a mix of funny and heartfelt. One of my favorite moments from any of them was at Parwaiz and Katie's wedding. The wedding took place in a suburb of Chicago where Katie's family is from. So, before I started the real meet of my speech, I went over to Katie's dad and quoted Luca Brasi from the Godfather. "Thank you for allowing me here on the day of your daughters wedding. My their first child be a masculine child." Half the room got what I was doing, and that's all I need to make me smile.
6. Poker in Vegas. I was in Las Vegas playing Hold'em poker at a table in Bally's with my great buddy Parwaiz... and I was getting very drunk. And the more I drink, the looser my words become, and the more I try to be funny, which really got under the skin of half the guys at the table. The other half, including Par and the dealers, loved me. The comment that put me over the top was when the dealer told us that the monorail had been shut down because someone had been hit by it. I drunkenly cocked my head to the side and said "Hey, anybody that gets hit by a monorail....deserves it." The dealer like that so much that he called the pit boss over to tell him.
Readers: Can you Name Six times you have intentionally made someone laugh? Then do it!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Name Six: Lessons as a Teacher
From Seth to Rick:
Name six things you learned as a teacher.
*Rick teaches Math at the high school across town from the school he and Seth attended.
There's a ton of sappy educational crap I could say along the lines of, "The kids have taught me so much more...blah blah blah," but instead here are six things I really learned as a teacher- or at the very least, relearned on the other side of the desk:
1. Nobody cares about the content. Not the students, not the parents, not the administrators, not the bureaucrats, and frankly, not the teachers, either. And that's fine, because the last thing that determines how successful you'll be in life is whether or not you understood the purpose of the Spanish-American War.
2. Two types of people become teachers: the ones who had a great time in school and want to keep enjoying that experience, and those who had a miserable experience and need vengeance. We all know exactly which ones are which.
3. Characteristics come in waves. One year may be a wave of work ethic, followed by a year of competitive need, followed by a year of pure talent. My guess as to why this happens is because in this small town, students have been with each other for a decade by the time they get to me in the high school. Day by day, those personality traits have worn onto each other.
4. Everyone in the nation has strong opinions of what school is and what it should be, because everyone has twelve plus years of experience with it. You can't casually mention that you're a teacher anywhere without the response being a discussion of the other person's experience. I think this is especially true for math.
5. Nobody knows what they are doing. To begin with, all educational research is flawed. In order for it to eliminate cultural factors, it needs to be done in one location and stretched over multiple years longitudinally. If you stretch the research out over multiple years, though, by the time it is published, it is no longer relevant. Things change at lightning speed now. Five years ago-which is not that long ago- only my rich students had their own cell phones and half the kids listened to music on portable cd players. Now every kid has a cell phone and half of them can watch a full-length movie on it. A while back, I asked a First grade teacher how you teach kids to read. Apparently, even though everybody has their own technique, nobody has any idea how kids acquire that skill. They just see other people do it long enough and it happens.
6. You are always a teacher. This probably has more to do with being in a small town, but I cannot go anywhere without running into current or former students. For a couple years, bars were safe, but I taught long enough that plenty of my Former students are of age now. They all know your name- including lots of students that didn't have you, but knew someone who did- and they all react the same way I did when I saw teachers outside of school- confusion followed by overfamiliarity. Some days it's nice, but other days you just need a break.
Readers: what did you not realize about your job until you started doing it?
Name six things you learned as a teacher.
*Rick teaches Math at the high school across town from the school he and Seth attended.
There's a ton of sappy educational crap I could say along the lines of, "The kids have taught me so much more...blah blah blah," but instead here are six things I really learned as a teacher- or at the very least, relearned on the other side of the desk:
1. Nobody cares about the content. Not the students, not the parents, not the administrators, not the bureaucrats, and frankly, not the teachers, either. And that's fine, because the last thing that determines how successful you'll be in life is whether or not you understood the purpose of the Spanish-American War.
2. Two types of people become teachers: the ones who had a great time in school and want to keep enjoying that experience, and those who had a miserable experience and need vengeance. We all know exactly which ones are which.
3. Characteristics come in waves. One year may be a wave of work ethic, followed by a year of competitive need, followed by a year of pure talent. My guess as to why this happens is because in this small town, students have been with each other for a decade by the time they get to me in the high school. Day by day, those personality traits have worn onto each other.
4. Everyone in the nation has strong opinions of what school is and what it should be, because everyone has twelve plus years of experience with it. You can't casually mention that you're a teacher anywhere without the response being a discussion of the other person's experience. I think this is especially true for math.
5. Nobody knows what they are doing. To begin with, all educational research is flawed. In order for it to eliminate cultural factors, it needs to be done in one location and stretched over multiple years longitudinally. If you stretch the research out over multiple years, though, by the time it is published, it is no longer relevant. Things change at lightning speed now. Five years ago-which is not that long ago- only my rich students had their own cell phones and half the kids listened to music on portable cd players. Now every kid has a cell phone and half of them can watch a full-length movie on it. A while back, I asked a First grade teacher how you teach kids to read. Apparently, even though everybody has their own technique, nobody has any idea how kids acquire that skill. They just see other people do it long enough and it happens.
6. You are always a teacher. This probably has more to do with being in a small town, but I cannot go anywhere without running into current or former students. For a couple years, bars were safe, but I taught long enough that plenty of my Former students are of age now. They all know your name- including lots of students that didn't have you, but knew someone who did- and they all react the same way I did when I saw teachers outside of school- confusion followed by overfamiliarity. Some days it's nice, but other days you just need a break.
Readers: what did you not realize about your job until you started doing it?
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Name Six: Memories of My Sisters
From Rick to Seth:
Name six memories you have of your sisters, (two for each).
*Seth has three sisters, two older and one younger. They all now live on the east coast.
As to not open old wounds, or pass along embarrassing stories, I will restrain these six to positive experiences. I shall go in order of age.
My oldest sister Abby:
1. I credit Abby with introducing me to many things that I still cherish today. One of those things is fantasy fiction, specifically the authors Robert Aspirin and R.A. Salvatore. The books she gave me of theirs were Another Fine Myth and The Crystal Shard respectively. Both of them literally changed my life since they were the first books I ever read that didn't involve Garfield of his friends.
2. The second memory of Abby that I cherish is when she took me along with her and her friends to see George Carlin live. I don't remember how old I was, but since I was still living in NY at the time I was pre-high school age. Bringing your underage little brother to see a comedy genius, that's pretty awesome.
My older sister Megan:
3. Megan has a very sharp memory, and many of things I think I remember from childhood she tells me never happened. And this may be one of those things, but I'm gunna tell it anyway. I remember an instance when I was very young (under 5) and me and Meg were sitting on the washer and dryer in our house in Middletown, and staring at the light bulb in the room. We would then turn the light off and try and grab for the flashy pops that would stay in your vision. Of course I figured out later in life that this was bad for your eyes and a horrible activity, but hey, that's growing up.
4. Megan and I have had a big of a contentious relationship at times, which has been fueled from both sides, really. It may be in part to us being too similar in some ways, but I'm not sure. Anyway, knowing the disagreements we've had, I found it a huge honor when she asked me to speak at her wedding. I rehearsed that speech literally a hundred times before I gave it, and still my hand was shaking for the first few minutes. It went well, if a big long, and I still remember how happy Meg was. Making Megan smile and laugh on her big day, will always be a moment I cherish.
My younger sister Samara:
5. Sam has always been the young starlet of the family. She is the youngest in our cousin group that was kind of raised together, so she has always garnished alot of attention. Needless to say, when we younger, we fought alot. And it wasn't until we matured that we really became great friends. ANYWAY, one of the maneuvers that my parents conceived to get us to work together in those contentious years was to force us to buy a Nintendo together... and share it. It was difficult at times, but I do believe that joint effort may have started us down the path of having to work together for a common goal.
6. Years after the Nintendo system agreement, while were still both living in Wyoming, Sam and I embarked on a few road trips back east. (Once alone and once with our mother) On both occasions we chose to drive straight through without stopping, from Cheyenne, Wyo to Hackettstown NJ. The drive time, not including stops is almost exactly 26 hours. One of us would drive, and the other would sleep or read trivia questions. I look back on those trips and think two things A. "What kind of insane people would drive for a day straight?" and B, "I loved the chance to bond with my little sis."
Readers: Name six memories of your siblings. And if you didn't have any, name six memories of childhood friends. and if you didn't have any of those.... please don't hunt me down and eat my face.
Name six memories you have of your sisters, (two for each).
*Seth has three sisters, two older and one younger. They all now live on the east coast.
As to not open old wounds, or pass along embarrassing stories, I will restrain these six to positive experiences. I shall go in order of age.
My oldest sister Abby:
1. I credit Abby with introducing me to many things that I still cherish today. One of those things is fantasy fiction, specifically the authors Robert Aspirin and R.A. Salvatore. The books she gave me of theirs were Another Fine Myth and The Crystal Shard respectively. Both of them literally changed my life since they were the first books I ever read that didn't involve Garfield of his friends.
2. The second memory of Abby that I cherish is when she took me along with her and her friends to see George Carlin live. I don't remember how old I was, but since I was still living in NY at the time I was pre-high school age. Bringing your underage little brother to see a comedy genius, that's pretty awesome.
My older sister Megan:
3. Megan has a very sharp memory, and many of things I think I remember from childhood she tells me never happened. And this may be one of those things, but I'm gunna tell it anyway. I remember an instance when I was very young (under 5) and me and Meg were sitting on the washer and dryer in our house in Middletown, and staring at the light bulb in the room. We would then turn the light off and try and grab for the flashy pops that would stay in your vision. Of course I figured out later in life that this was bad for your eyes and a horrible activity, but hey, that's growing up.
4. Megan and I have had a big of a contentious relationship at times, which has been fueled from both sides, really. It may be in part to us being too similar in some ways, but I'm not sure. Anyway, knowing the disagreements we've had, I found it a huge honor when she asked me to speak at her wedding. I rehearsed that speech literally a hundred times before I gave it, and still my hand was shaking for the first few minutes. It went well, if a big long, and I still remember how happy Meg was. Making Megan smile and laugh on her big day, will always be a moment I cherish.
My younger sister Samara:
5. Sam has always been the young starlet of the family. She is the youngest in our cousin group that was kind of raised together, so she has always garnished alot of attention. Needless to say, when we younger, we fought alot. And it wasn't until we matured that we really became great friends. ANYWAY, one of the maneuvers that my parents conceived to get us to work together in those contentious years was to force us to buy a Nintendo together... and share it. It was difficult at times, but I do believe that joint effort may have started us down the path of having to work together for a common goal.
6. Years after the Nintendo system agreement, while were still both living in Wyoming, Sam and I embarked on a few road trips back east. (Once alone and once with our mother) On both occasions we chose to drive straight through without stopping, from Cheyenne, Wyo to Hackettstown NJ. The drive time, not including stops is almost exactly 26 hours. One of us would drive, and the other would sleep or read trivia questions. I look back on those trips and think two things A. "What kind of insane people would drive for a day straight?" and B, "I loved the chance to bond with my little sis."
Readers: Name six memories of your siblings. And if you didn't have any, name six memories of childhood friends. and if you didn't have any of those.... please don't hunt me down and eat my face.
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