A Common Theme

What themes come through in Jimmy Valvano's speech that affirm the messages of Sundquist and Tisdale? What is Jimmy V doing now?

Wow!!!

Josh Sundquist's talk was phenomenal! Watch and read about Wayman Tisdale. Josh and Wayman have one obvious similarity; how else are they similar? How are they different?

For bonus:

1. Tell your parent(s) about Josh's presentation. What were some stories he told? What two words did he emphasize? Why?

2. Help your parent(s) reply to this post with their thoughts. Walk them through the posting process, showing them specifically what they need to do at each step.

Keeping the Play Alive

Is it worth it to take a loss sometimes, or is it better to realize that a play is over and just go down? Click the picture to watch an interesting clip.

Appearances

Watch the india.arie video on the link below. What is the theme of the video? How does the artist get her point across? Does she prove her point to you, or do you remain skeptical about her message?

I am not my hair, by india.arie

The performance today

I love hearing the Jazz Band play. They work tremendously hard practiciing their instrument, they practice working together, and then when they get on stage there is still the element of improvisation. It reminds me a little of Barry Sanders; the Lions practiced their plays over and over, but when a play broke down or Barry found the open field his improvisational skills were second to none. Have you improvised recently? How did it go? Is it possible to get better at improvising?

Thinking about thinking

Socrates (the goofy looking guy in the picture) was a great teacher. Part of what made him so great was his method of teaching; he liked to ask lots of questions, and then question the answers his students gave him. Sometimes his students were very frustrated by this method, but old Socrates stuck with it. Why do you think I would think this is a good method for teaching? Wouldn't it just make more sense to tell the students what the answers are, so that the students can study the answers? Be prepared to respond to my response to your response to this post.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

How about that beautiful Fall Classic! Tell about some of the wackiest or most extreme weather you have ever played sports or camped in. Make sure to use plenty of descriptive adjectives!

Adjectives!

Try to describe this picture in two sentences, using as many specific adjectives as possible. Extra credit for the best response!

Learning from Losing

This weekend, Michigan jumped out to a 17 - 7 lead on #3 Penn State. The game ended with Penn State up 46 - 17. In a game that included lots of bad moments (for the Michigan fans among us) there were still good moments, like John Thompson forcing a fumble on this play. What lessons can be learned from this? I believe that some academic parallels could be drawn. What do you think?

It's been a week now . . .

What were some of the things you loved most about the sleepover? I thought it was really cool how much trash we were able to pick up, and I hope that translates into us taking especially good care of our own campus. I enjoyed the high ropes course because it was neat to see boys working through some of their nervousness to do things they weren't sure the could do.

As the ball leaves the bat, ask yourself. . .

Did I just crush it, or did I just pop out to the first baseman? Is the process I used to achieve this result one that I want to repeat next time I'm 'up to bat'?

Mr. Oberle was my senior year psych teacher

Mr. Oberle frequently said, "self awareness is the first and most important step on the path to growth and change". Especially as you grow and change as people and students in the middle school, it is important to take stock from time to time. What did the noun test look like? What parts seemed really easy? What parts seemed really difficult? How did your preparation fit in with the test? Most importantly, what will you do the same or differently in preparation for the next grammar test?

Thoughts on the book Crash

What did you think of Crash? Give specific reasons for your opinions. For example: I like Crash because I love the idea of Crash making such strides toward being a mature adult from being an impulsive, reckless, and rude child. I also enjoy reading about Penn Webb because there are so many similarities between his childhood and my childhood.

Fall is Football Season

Adam suggested that we provide a forum for talking about football while it's in season. So here goes: what team(s) do you root for, and WHY do you root for them?

In college football, number one took a tumble this week. How could a team with so much talent lose to an unranked team? What lessons can we learn from them?

What do you look for in a friend?

We have read about some of the character traits of Crash, Penn, Mike, and Abby. If you had the opportunity to go hiking and camping for the weekend with one of them, which would you choose? What leads you to believe that this character would be an enjoyable person with whom to spend time?

"I want to talk about . . ."

What would you like to talk about? Post a comment to this response, and I might create a post based on your suggestion!

My favorite thing about the fall is . . .

The middle school is so great!

The best book I've read recently

I couldn't put this book down. I hope this author has written a sequel!

The BEST summer ever

This summer was the best summer ever! I got to do so many cool things . . .