Day: March 9, 2023

A short journey through my open tabs reveals what I am thinking about. There are three categories worth noting: Medical, Story research, and Academic. I want to speak on the last one these ten minutes. I’ve been thinking a lot about my place as an educator and, in part, stressing over what I do vs. what I used to do. I used to be in the public eye and on the stage and on the road where everyone knew what I was doing. Nowadays I’m not that guy. My focus is on providing and improving upon a peak classroom experience. The term peak is not static in teaching, because the material that was fresh and current two to five years ago is stuff these students were too young to care about when you try to present it to them today. It took a while for me to learn that and, moreover, to mix new content and delivery methods (both for them to present and for me to present) with tried and true formats that are immune to the passage of years. I’m still getting there.

I’ve long been a distant follower of memes. I’m not up to date on them or follow them with the ferocity of my kids, but I get the idea. I have yet to find a way to fit that kind of communication into an english comp class, or decided if I even should. There should always be space between how they communicate with each other and more of a formal communication, the latter of which is my role in providing guidance for. Yet, I am also trying to teach them about the value of essay writing. In truth, I am more focused on the value of cogent argument and thought–particularly at the paragraph level. Just as in developmental education where I taught the kernel sentence, and spread out from there, I now focus on the PIE paragraph and use that blueprint to build anything larger.

So, why are so many windows open on my computer? Because the fundamentals only matter in context, and providing a context they can understand through content that entertains is the core of the classroom experience. To wit, I need new content.

Let’s start with the High School. Scooter Molander takes over as DV coach and he will lead both of my kiddos next year. He’s won in divisions as high as 5A and also in college as a coach and he has the chops to win 6A. Needs the talent to make it happen. He built a program from scratch and took them to the 3A title in 4 years. With an incoming freshman, I’d like to see this team competing in the next four years. I think they will. I think they hire will generate buzz and will give us some transfers at key positions. We need a new QB, because our all-conference guy is moving out of state.

Moving on to the pro game, I’m half-pissed at the Giants. I get it: You think Jones is that guy… 40 million though? He carries a cap hit of 19 million this year, which balloons to 45 next year and that is rough rough rough. I don’t know if any one player is worth that much cap–especially as we are trying to seriously develop other positions at offense. Still, I’m trusting the process and trusting that a long term deal with our key leader, Mr. Barkley, gets done. In the interim the team needs to finally release Golladay (as promised) and restructure Williams (32 mil cap), and Jackson (19 mil cap) in order to provide some space for the team to sign (or trade for) talent at the WR position, CB position, and finish rebuilding the O-line so we can win. If the G-men cannot find anyone to stretch the field, we won’t win.

I’ll talk about options, and DV Football more next time.