Gyms

Did you notice the number of new gyms and fitness centers that  have popped up in the past few years?  It is hard to find a town that does not have a fitness center…or two…or three. Fitness equipment has come a long way since the “Charles Atlas” days or when a 110 pound barbell set was the perfect gift for an athletically-minded 13 year old.  There are treadmills for cardiovascular fitness that have multiple speeds, elevations, virtual running routes, and satellite television.  They are elliptical machines that also develop cardiovascular fitness while saving your joints from the repeated pounding of running.  There are stationary bikes, recumbent bikes and elevated bikes so that you can pedal but go nowhere.  They are squat racks and free weights, leg press machines, military press machines and a few hundred others – all designed to get you in great physical condition.  Equipment of these types are used every day throughout the world to pump you up, develop your VO2, flatten your abs, tone you up and whatever else is your desire.  Here’s what I have found – the most underutilized piece of equipment at a fitness center is the front door!  Just looking at the equipment doesn’t turn you into an Adonis.

Poor teaching is easy.  Great teaching is not. Great teaching takes a lot of work with and without the kids present.  There is a lot of equipment at your disposal. We have technology today that was not even conceived 30 years ago.  It is difficult to find a piece or chalk…or a chalkboard for that matter.  The “equipment” available to teachers today is outstanding (yes, I know – when it works).   But if the equipment is not used, then it is essentially a “educational clothes rack”.  The most important piece of equipment we have at our disposal is our minds. The mind has always been the most important tool available.  We can think very “paint by numbers” or we can color outside the lines.  We can stay with “canned” ideas or we can think outside the box.  Part of physical training is the repetition of movement.  A main tenet of teaching is repetition to the point where kid achieve fluency.  Exciting, imaginative classes are like gyms with a good membership – people are there and moving. The front door gets worn out.  It the same way with creativity in teaching.  You have to open your mind to creativity.  Don’t let the door to your creative imagination be the least used piece of equipment in your toolbox.  

News Anchors

Mary and I have been making annual treks to see A Christmas Carol for several years at the Goodman Theater in Chicago.  We have never been disappointed with any of these performances – great Dickens’ tale and superb acting.  When we go, I try to stop by Channel 2 News to watch a portion of a live broadcast. I have enjoyed watching the news for decades. CBS is really close to the theater district and directly across from Daley Plaza.  One of my former athletes is one of the station’s meteorologists, so that studio is an easy choice. If you haven’t seen a live broadcast, there is a great deal that goes on behind the scenes from the green screen to anchors getting make-up repairs.  Actually, the job doesn’t appear to be that difficult as the majority of the news is read from a teleprompter.  There is one thing that I have noticed that is common among great new anchors; the ability to make their spoken words passionate at the right time.  For most of us, our daily conversations are pretty much the same tempo, volume, tone, and emphasis.  It doesn’t vary much…except when we are at an emotional point or a difficult message is about to be delivered.  Contrast that to a professional news anchors.  They use a “Punch” technique where words are emphasized to get the listener’s attention.  The speak with passion at the appropriate time to get the most out of the message and to reach the greatest audience.

Think about your oral presentations to your classes.  Do you “Punch” words or is it a monotone performance ending with, “Bueller…Bueller?”.  You may be thinking that this is not an important part to oral delivery to a bunch of adolescents…you would be wrong.  Remember the people that have engaged you when you were sitting in a classroom, in an audience, or maybe even at church.  There were probably other incidents where the polar opposite was true and the speech was a “Yawn Fest”.   Do you have inflection in your voice?  Do you vary your tempo?  Do you “punch” the key vocabulary?  Do you vary your rate of speech?  Do you verbally highlight the daily goal as well as connecting that with the long-term goals?  Are your students reminiscent of the kids in Charlie Brown’s class where the only sound heard from the teacher is “Wah, wah, wah…” or do they hang on every word? How about when the class period begins?  Are you excited about what the lesson will be?  Are you excited about the topic?  Are you excited about the opportunity to teach the concept or skill?  Do you make the material come alive simply because of your excitement?  The easiest way to get kids excited about learning is for the teacher to be excited himself or herself.  Speak with passion at the appropriate time. You do not have a television audience because your audience is in the studio with you.  Punch your words.

Crazy Horse

The Crazy Horse Monument in South Dakota stands 563 feet tall, which is taller than the Washington Monument. The Crazy Horse Monument is nine times larger than Mt. Rushmore. Nine times.  Korczak Ziolowski was commissioned to design and make this monument.  He accepted the commission although the project would take 100 years to build and he knew that he would not live long enough to see its completion. Think about that for a moment -  he would never see its completion, yet he willingly accepted the task. This is unlike Noah, who took at least 100 years to build the ark except that he was able to not only see the finished project, but was a passenger in it.  It was built with a 30:5:3 ratio – still used today!  Why did Korczak Ziolowski accept this undertaking with the understanding that he would not see it completed?  Here is what he said in reference to that thought, “When your life is over, the world will ask one question – did you do what you were supposed to do?”  With that guiding thought, he worked and worked and worked on the monument beginning in 1948.  Korczak Ziolowski passed away in 1982.  All ten of his children are completing the project.

Are you doing what you are supposed to be doing?  It’s not about one school year. It’s about making a lifetime for someone else knowing full well that you may never see their entire lifetime.  You may never see your students do remarkable things because of what you taught them.  Others may have to finish the job that you started.  The kindergarten teacher had something to do with the academic development of the current senior.  The kids you are teaching today may go on to be famous scientists, engineers, doctors, teachers, business leaders, or an endless list of other wonderful professions.  You may never hear about that.  That’s not the important part.  What is important is this – even though you may never see the “completion” of your students, are you willing to accept the task of building them much like a shapeless mountain is turned into a stunning work of art?  Before that ask yourself, “Is this what I am supposed to be doing?”  If so, accept the task and continue to build the monument that may define your life.  Are you willing to accept the task?