Thermals???

Sam Wyche, former coach of the Cincinnatti Bengals, took the stadium microphone several years ago during a game when the crowd became fairly obnoxious.  They were shouting obscenities, throwing things from their seats and acting poorly to say the least.  They were most definitely out of control.   Coach Wyche reminded the fans that they needed to “quit acting like you are from Cleveland!”  I am sure that Sam’s picture adorns the basin mats of many urinals in the greater Cleveland area to this day.  He also reminded their quarterback, Boomer Esiason, that the winds during the game may be swirling due to the “thermals”.  Boomer responded with “What the %^*# are thermals?”  Coach Wyche replied, “You learned it in 9^th grade and forgot it in the 10^th!”

Education is really what you have after you have lost all of your notes.  Teaching is about transfer of understanding as well as retention of understanding.  The above is an example of commentary that should not occur AFTER we have had students under our care.  Learning is about transfer and retention of material – you may remember me hounding on that point during the last “Lunch & Learn.”  Our task (notice I did not write “job”) is to get the kids to be learners for their lifetime (writing lifelong learners is so trite) and not just for the day.  Really, if you think about it, the whole concept of being a teacher is a paradox.  Here’s what I mean by that – the object of teaching is to enable those taught to get along without a teacher.  You really succeed when they can do it on their own, take what is presented before them and apply it to new situations, to analyze things from multiple perspectives, to put it all together, and hopefully evaluate its worth.  That should sound familiar.   So should this – make the most of every opportunity.