Just As I Suspected

From: deadspin.com

One of the primary complaints about ESPN's coverage of sports is that they hype the same athletes and teams over and over again.  You know, the Heat Index, Tebowmania and all that.  It was always something you knew they were doing, but couldn't (or didn't take the time to) prove.  Until now...

A team of Deadspin writers watched SportsCenter with a critical eye for the last year and compiled some fascinating results.  It shouldn't surprise any ESPN watchers that LeBron James was the most-mentioned athlete on SportsCenter last year, but it was interesting how the mentions of Jeremy Lin came at a torrent and then quickly faded away, especially after Lin moved to the Rockets.

Speaking of teams, the ones mentioned the most weren't necessarily the ones that won the most, but the teams that were the most valuable.  No surprise there: it seems like SportsCenter covered the popular teams no matter what.  If they won, then the stories focused on how great they were; if they lost, the stories were about the fall and potential rise.

There's too much to get into here--for the full scoop, definitely check out the article.

My Little Presentation at Summer Conference

For the fifth straight year, I have presented something at my summer conference.  I was really stretching to bring something this year, so I talked about how I use Twitter and Tumblr in my classroom.

In the last year, I've used both sites to amass cool marketing pictures and then turn them into PowerPoints that provide a leaping-off point for class discussion.  I really enjoyed having those PowerPoints in class, and using social media to create them has proved to be easy-peasy.

I just wonder if I what I discussed at my conference is useful enough for many teachers to use.  I guess I'll find out next year when I see these teachers I presented this to.  Maybe five years is long enough for me to be presenting something...

Mad As Hell

From: drafthouse.com

I've never been one of those "woe-is-me" teachers (or employees) who thinks everything in the world is awful.  In fact, I've been able to keep myself relatively sane by focusing on the positive aspects of my job.

• Only two raises in the last seven years?  At least I've got a job!
• Really crappy class?  At least I don't have to deal with them during the summer!
• Spend too many hours working? At least I get to talk about sports in class!

But now my state legislature has gone too far: they are taking away the financial bonus for having a master's degree.  In my case, it's going to be a pay cut of more than $5K.  How am I supposed to be motivated to remain in teaching when my salary takes a significant hit, the students behave increasingly worse and the pressure to have good test scores increases.  What's the incentive to stay when the situation gets increasingly worse?

New and Old New

I'm looking forward to the new competitor to ESPN, Fox Sports 1.  Although I watch plenty of live sports on ESPN, the other shows (with the exception of Outside The Lines and 30 for 30) are unwatchable.  After the NBA Finals, I have to avoid the network entirely to avoid their Lebron-a-thon.

I should be watching more NBCSports, but unless it's hockey or minor sports, I haven't thought to flip over there.

On the other hand, ESPN has piqued my curiosity by bringing back a face from their glory years with the re-hiring of Keith Olbermann.  His '90s SportsCenters with Dan Patrick, aka The Big Show, were great and something that ESPN has run into the ground.  I plan on watching his new show next month just to see what's changed since the mid-90s.

Yes, It Is A Big Deal

From: yahoosports.com

...for an NFL QB to wear another team's gear out in public.

Colin Kaepernick, QB of the San Francisco 49ers, wore a Miami Dolphins hat to a July 4th party last week.  I've seen various columnists and pundits say this is no big deal, but it is.

I used to bite my tongue when my students would claim to root for one team and then show up for class with another team's gear on.  I'm as big a sports fan as anybody, and only the teams I root for have a place in my closet. I don't even wear swag from my former employer anymore.  What if a member of the Bloods decided to wear blue one day because it went with his jeans?

How to Prepare Students For The Workplace

From: youngupstarts.com

By the time students have spent 18 weeks with me, I want them to pick up employable skills above anything else.  So I read this article with interest about how schools are not preparing students for the workplace.

The employers in the article made some interesting points about how important soft skills are in their fields, and I would agree.  In fact, it seems like most of the problems I encounter with student behavior is their stunning lack of the aforementioned soft skills, like being on time, keeping promises and making eye contact; you know, the little stuff.

The article did disappoint me when it mentioned the "21st century" skills our students need to have.  None of the skills listed struck me as ones a worker didn't need to have in the 20th century.  Collaboration, for example, is not a new concept.  Oh, well: at least others are thinking about soft skills having the same importance that I attach to them.

The Ultimate Bootstrap

There's pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, and then there's what these two guys did (with the help of an ESPN producer).  No words for this...

Entertain Us

I had to read a national news web site to find out what happened 30 minutes down the road this weekend: over 400 youths turned into an unruly mob on Saturday night and started fighting.  Only 11 kids were arrested, and the report was that no one over 20 was there.

Again, where are the parents?  I understand that not all parents have absolute control over their kids, but are there 400 parents in one town that can't be bothered to keep an eye on their kids?  Because it's their job, maybe?

Good luck on that curfew!

I'm Fat

Recently, my local paper ran a story about the obesity rate in our school system.  The interesting aspect of the article was its breakdown of the obesity rate by school.  The author grouped all Title I schools together and all non-Title I schools together.  I think the point was that poor kids are fatter than rich kids, and there must be some kind of program to help balance the rising obesity inequality in our schools...

More than a decade ago, someone remarked to me that America is the only place in the world where poor people are fat.  From what I've read, we've got some company in those regards now.  I wonder when it was where we went from girth denoting a person's wealth to it now revealing the lack thereof.  Why should poor people be fatter than rich people?  Aren't the rich the ones with money to spend on food?

Not only did that part of the article bother me, but it seemed like yet another education article written with the "parents-as-bystanders" perspective.  If we can't get parents involved in their own children's education, then how effective are teachers and administrators expected to be?