Week 4

It's hard for me to image a scenario where I would want to write down word for word what is being said in class by everyone. Having this information is helpful, but I would have to audio record it and transcribe it later. That's pretty much the only way I could come close to getting this info. The other benefit of recording it is that I could do the At-Task method while I was recording, or some other method. I could be more helpful being able to use two methods at once, at least that's my gut reaction.

On another note I was having a conversation last night with my fiance. She was telling me about the leadership style of her boss at work, and how she can see the benefit of it sometimes, but not with her. We then talked about how it's actually not an effective style, because it's all about her and not about the people she was trying to lead. A number of people don't respond well to the way she supervises, but that's her way and she sticks with it. It was interesting to me how quickly I was able to notice and put into context some of the things we have discussed in class.

By the way I'm posting this a full 8 hours earlier than last week. If I keep this pace up I'll be posting on the weekends by the end of this block. Baby steps, I guess.

Week 3

First, here's a link to my first posting.

http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=25390454

Now, my thoughts about last week's class.

I've got to do these closer to when class lets out than to when the next class starts. It makes it tough to remember what happened when you do this a week later. That being said, the thing that strikes me most is how helpful the Pajak book can be. Even if you just took out the charts we used in class last week, you have a very helpful resource.

I used de Bono's thinking hats with two of my classes last week. It was the last time I was going to have them for the year (and with my seniors, the last time, period) I wanted to get their feedback on how they thought the year went in class. I think it's useful tool. I got some good feedback and I got some completely unhelpful comments. For example Under the black hat one of my 10th graders wrote "amount of games". I had no idea whether there were too many games, or not enough. It was short, but it was to no point. Probably could have given them a little more instruction, but kids aren't used to writing in P.E. so much. It was a little like asking them to drive a car with their feet.

I keep coming back to the conversations I need to have with my coaching staff. I'm going to have to sit down with them individually in the next few weeks to discuss next year and what I need from each of them. I think I'm going to have to sit down with some Pajak and really think about what kind of people my coaches are, which is difficult as none of them work in the school and I only see them a few times a week and only for short conversations when I do see them. Just need to figure the best way to get them to do what we need them to do, which in most cases is exactly the same thing. Become a better cheerleader for their teams.