Anna Kyle Elementary’s Science Camp in the Redwoods

     

   “Topaz” led us up the hill, in the dark, to explore sight, sound, touch, taste and feel. “Bear Cub” vectored us through the forest to a 165-foot tall gentleman who quit growing up
decades ago. As the Anna Kyle 5th graders ascended into the redwoods protected by a helmet, a belay and the professional hand of “Breeze,” they learned a bit about their comfort zone and why the magic happens when they escape it for their stretch zone. The nature-nicknamed science instructors at Alliance Redwoods made nature, science and discovery accessible, dynamic and fun. 

Principal Araceli Lopez, a group of Anna Kyle teachers, parents, family members and retired teachers joined the crew as chaperones for the trip to Occidental, CA to the Alliance Redwoods Conference Grounds. The smiles were 24/7. Well, almost. The science campers did sleep in their cabins a bit, but the energy of each day and the anticipation of the next one made sleep a low priority for the eager Eagles of Anna Kyle. Even so, they always rolled into the spacious dining hall rested and ready. The sound of excitement from a couple hundred excited students in the dining hall for breakfast was just more fuel for the day. During every meal chaperones, teachers and smiling youngsters recounted their solo night hikes, zip line experiences, banana slug sightings as well as the absolutely majestic surroundings and the feeling that we may never want to go home.

    I certainly didn’t want to go home. As that retired teacher who was lucky enough to be on the team with the cabin mates Adolfo, Alan, Jesús and Max, I witnessed them enjoy the pure love of learning, of enjoying nature and of being a happy kid around other happy kids. I too experienced the magic of the redwoods transporting us away from our frenetic lives and thoughts and allowing us to live & learn in the moment.

“Bear Cub,” our “Forest Encounter” guide, let the students take several moments under the 165-foot tall, 900-year old redwood tree they call “Walter.” The students learned that the tree is not especially tall for a redwood because lightning struck Walter and stunted his vertical aspirations–although he continues to get wider and wider. Bear Cub's Socratic method had the kids (okay, me too) 100% engaged with the exception of watching people walking through the trees near us on rope bridges suspended between redwoods.

 

     Back in the forest that night, we had more to learn. Have you heard of triboluminescence (if not, look it up!)? Have you hiked in complete darkness in the woods as a 9 or 10 year old and then learned about triboluminescence while laughing and watching your friends experience it? That is learning that you just don’t forget.

  

     As the boys began to gather around the fire pit on our last night, I had my first thoughts about the experience coming to an end, but in the distance a new memory was marching towards us.

The young ladies of Anna Kyle Elementary were coming up the hill and through the trees and it sounded like they were singing or calling out military jodies. I have learned they weren’t but the infectious sound of community came marching into the boys’ camp and suddenly we were all one around the fire. The groups from each cabin performed short skits and the laughter was absolutely contagious. Yes, these are digital-world kids but gathering around the fire, storytelling, enjoying family and nature is something deep within all of us. It was good to be reminded of that.

The Kids Are Alright… In Fact They are Industrious, Creative & Ambitious- Need an Intern?

   

       Luis and Rafael from Armijo High's Multimedia Academy covered the event like seasoned but enthusiastic television news pros. Jacob, the founder of Sosas (a virtual apparel company), pitched his Virtual Enterprise class business products like they were nobody's business…except it is his business that he promotes with 27 other young entrepreneurs. Luis, Rafael, Jacob and their fellow Career Technical Education high school students from the Public Safety Academy, Armijo, Fairfield and Rodriguez showcased their amazing skills, products and equipment at Fairfield Suisun Unified School District’s showcase event at the Kroc Center in Suisun City on February 2nd.

     Have you ever heard someone say, “whatever happened to vocational education…back in my day we had hands-on, real job skills classes.” The truth is that “Voc-Ed” is alive and well and goes by the name of Career Technical Education or CTE. If you have a career or are technical or love education there is a great chance that your community high school or possibly middle school could use your expertise, insight or an internship offer from you or your business. FSUSD is searching for a few industry leaders to be good partners and provide internships to their CTE students to further enrich their educational pathways. 

     The 16 different CTE pathways of the four FSUSD secondary schools were brimming with enthusiasm and had their parents, teachers and community supporters beaming at the Kroc Center event. There must be something magic about hands-on, relevant education. The energy at the event was electric…possibly mechanized. Gary St. Vincent’s students revved up the event with their exhibition of their engine they have been rebuilding along with other skills in their Automotive Diagnostics, Service and Repair class at Fairfield High School. 

Not to be outdone, some of the cadets from the Public Safety Academy were barking out commands and rapidly donning their fire-fighting equipment while a few others were providing a mock DUI assessment. Like all of the other CTE displays and exhibitions, the teachers were present, but the instructors at this event were dozens of engaged and empowered teenagers. These CTE teachers had all been guiding, supporting, teaching and learning with these students all day, but you could see how energized they were by seeing their students through the proud eyes of parents, CTE advisors and community members. 

FSUSD is always seeking advisors for their CTE pathways. They are also searching for internship opportunities with industry leaders to further the education and broaden the opportunities of their students. If you are interested in supporting the Career Technical Education program please contact the Secondary Education office at Fairfield Suisun Unified School District at (707) 399-5131.

    

Armijo High Virtual Enterprise Students

  

 

Rodriguez High
Future Farmers of America Students

   The pathways provide FSUSD's Junior and Senior students with a career ready sequence of courses that equip them with vital life skills appropriate to an ever-changing society. These courses can lead directly into employment, membership in local trade unions, and can also support transition into certificate and degree programs at local colleges. Regardless of a student’s after high school decisions, CTE courses give them hands-on experience in a work-ready environment.

Sports For Learning- Day One

      I saw something in the eyes of the parents as they brought their Kindergarten thru 6^th grade children to the first day of the Sports For Learning’s program in Davis, California. Hope. Parents, kids and educators have had a year of disruption. Schools change in many ways all of the time, but the innovation, patience and resilience required in the past 12 months has been immense.

   As 30 students and their parents approached me, my fellow Coach and the Principal the families gazed around the school grounds like they were seeing them for the first time. They looked like a large tour group approaching Disney World after a very long overnight drive. Hopeful, happy, but road-weary. The belief that the isolation of their 100% distance learning experience would soon end was something unsaid, but felt by all. 

 

  A couple of months ago, when I first saw the name of the organization, I thought, “wow, two of my favorite words right there in their title–Sports For Learning. 

    Sports, games, learning, thinking and fun are definitely a few of my favorite words and working as a Coach for SFL a couple of hours a day gives me a chance to do something I love. This opportunity is a chance for me to experience Ikigai by helping young people create their best selves and see the best in others. I ran across this Japanese word that roughly translates into your “reason to get out of bed” or “reason for being.” If you are doing something that you are good at, the world needs it, you love it and (bonus) you can be paid for it--maybe you have found a slice of Ikigai.

   The hope in the parents’ eyes was balanced by the hesitancy shown by the students. Being on school grounds for the first time in months with this new Coach in this unknown program had them hedging their bets. A few minutes in we were doing Boxing warmups and several students were requesting to do warmups from their favorite sports during future sessions. The kids saw the brightly colored cones lined up on the grass for some mysterious game and although I couldn’t see their smiles under those masks—the eyes don’t lie—they were having fun and feeling something like normalcy. So was I and it was a wonderful feeling.

 

     The hunger for community, for shared learning for…old-school…school is something almost everyone in education is feeling. We played three games (Positive Vibrations, Detective and Sir, Mayor, Sir) and the topics of believing in yourself, teamwork and listening were just so easy to discuss because the learning was hands-on, creative, outside and playful. In the Harvard Graduate School of Education blog, Grace Tatter writes that "there is a difference between free play and playful learning. While both are important, a pedagogy of play is grounded in playing toward certain learning goals, desiring activities that fit in and leverage curricular content and goals." 

     

     The Social & Emotional Learning goals of the (socially distanced/masks on) games and sport activities of Sports For Learning are something students need at all times, but after a year of isolation it felt like the perfect prescription for body, mind and soul for my cohort of motivated kids. Play, games and sport can provide a huge leverage for educators--especially for kids that realize how good we had it when teaching and learning in "normal" times back in early 2020.

    I don't know if day number two can live up to the magic of day one for my SFL experience, but my expectations are still high. I called several of the parents that I didn't speak to directly after our session and thanked them for allowing their students to be in the program and complimented them on their child's enthusiasm, kindness or respect for their peers and me. One parent blew me away when he told me his daughter said that it felt like the coach and students already knew each other for a long time, that class was fun and she couldn't wait for the next class. Ikigai is some good stuff.

     

John Lewis- Looking for Connections with an American Hero

Congressman John Lewis (1940-2020) credit: Magnolia Pictures

   Congressman John Lewis was just a regular American. Like me. Like you. Like everyone else. Regular Americans can do extraordinary things. They can even be heroes. I’ve never really liked the idea of having personal heroes. People are not perfect. Heroic acts are something different though and John Lewis racked up those by the dozens as a very young man. Today, the day after the death of the 80-year-old Civil Rights icon, I have to admit that I may have held him in such esteem that he definitely was a legend and a hero to me. I never got to meet him, but I sat on a bus near the Freedom Rider once--not in 1961 of course, but more on that later. 

Freedom Rider arrest #GoodTrouble #NecessaryTrouble

    

     John Lewis was accessible. Courageous. Tenacious. Compassionate. I would like to be more like that. I thought about the arc of his life and how we are all connected in some way. I found a few links and realized the more links we can find and create with one another the better off we will be.

    It is said that Dr. Martin Luther King upon meeting the teenage John Lewis in 1958 asked, “so you are John Lewis, the boy from Troy?” My mother-in-law was born and raised in Troy, Alabama. My father-in-law was born near Troy and grew up on an Alabama farm like John Lewis. My in-laws were also college students at Troy State University in 1958. In that year John Lewis’ family feared that he would enroll and break the segregation barrier at the college. Lewis' family feared the fallout could make them lose their farm and that it could lead to their son losing his life. Over the next decade, they probably had that concern every single day for him. John Lewis went to Nashville to seminary instead of attending Troy--and the rest is history.

Fort Meade, Florida

    I entered Troy State (now Troy University) as a freshman in 1981. The sweat, tears and yes- blood of people like John Lewis ensured that my 1^st grade through college experience was integrated. I started 1^st grade in 1969 in Fort Meade, Florida in a classroom that was newly “not separated” but in town that was still “not equal.” My small Central Florida hometown has a "line" drawn across the middle. North of that highway was almost completely white. South of that highway was almost completely black. Latinos would live around the edges or south of the line and then usually depart in large numbers for seasonal agricultural work. I remember as a young kid thinking about how the best muddy roads to ride my bike on were in the "black" part of town...because that's where most of the unpaved roads were.  

     While I became a college freshman in 1981, John Lewis became a freshman City Councilman for Atlanta. Twenty years earlier, in 1961, John Lewis was doing what he always did and what will always be associated with his name--getting in “good trouble” as a Freedom Rider on buses across the South.  For me, 1961 is special because my parents were married in that year. I was very lucky that the ideals of John Lewis about America, unity, equality and love were the ideals my parents surrounded me and my sister in. When I was a kid and a relative or parent of a friend would drop the “n” word, I knew that those people were damaged goods and to avoid them.  In 1963, two years after my parents married I arrived--just a couple of months after a 23-year-old John Lewis spoke to over 250,000 people at the March on Washington where the “I Have a Dream” speech entered our national and international consciousness.

John Lewis, March on Washington- 1963

    

    My wife and I rolled into Arizona in 1986 as newlyweds and new to the US Air

Willams AFB T-38

Force. One of the first things we saw in Phoenix was a group angrily protesting the governer’s consideration of the state recognizing the new Martin Luther King Holiday. Arizona was the last state to recognize the holiday seven years later, mostly due to intense pressure from the National Football League.                                     A year later in 1987 we drove across the Golden Gate for our first Air Force assignment to California. I don’t recall knowing at the time that the man that led that march across the bridge in Selma, Alabama back in the 60’s had just taken office as a freshman United States Congressman representing Atlanta and the 5^th District of Georgia. My Air Force path and Congressman Lewis’ path would cross on a bus 9 years later on a very sad day.

       In April of 1996, I sat on an Air Force bus rumbling across Dover Air Force base after the ceremony commemorating the 35 people who died in the crash of an Air Force CT-43 in Dobrovnik, Croatia. US Commerce Secretary Ron Brown died in the crash. My friend Tim Schafer also died in the mishap and I was the military liaison for his family that day.  President Bill Clinton had met with all of the families privately and then spoke at the service. 

Ron Brown & Pres. Clinton

     My duties for the day were almost over and the "crew" bus was departing from the hangar where the ceremony was held.  I just happened to look around on the mostly empty and very quiet bus and saw a man that I recognized. I didn’t instantly come up with the name, but “John Lewis” came to me after a moment. I recall knowing that I would always remember sitting near the great man. I wanted to say something. But he looked pained.  Surely he knew Secretary Ron Brown and felt a personal loss just like I did for Captain Tim Schafer.

John Lewis

     I read Congressman Lewis’ book “Walkin’ with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement” a few years ago.  I’d like to send a copy to every home in America today. How can we keep the fight going for a more just nation? We simply need more Americans like John Lewis to speak up, speak out, stand up and fight for justice.  When every American can vote with ease like I always have (vote-by-mail since 1986) then that will be a start.  We have to think differently or maybe just listen to the great man himself:

     "My philosophy is very simple, when you see something that is not right, that is not fair, that is not just, say something, do something, get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble."                        

- John Lewis

     Last night, when his death was first announced I heard a young activist call him a founder of this country. I love that.  Jamall Bowman, running for Congress in New York (NY#16), said that “John Lewis is a founding father of the America we must become.” Just four months ago Lewis wrote about his 1965 march on Selma experience: “We were beaten, we were tear-gassed. I thought I was going to die on this bridge. But somehow and some way, God almighty helped me here. We cannot give up now. We cannot give in. We must keep the faith, keep our eyes on the prize.” Entertainer Amber Ruffin’s response to that quote yesterday was “my goodness, he lived the hell out of that life.” Yes he did and we can too. Time for #GoodTrouble.

Helping Students Find Purpose...because the times are always "uncertain"

     In these challenge-free times of certainty… I don’t recall ever reading anything like that in 2019, 2013 or any other 20XX or 19XX year. Since we are all experiencing something together--alone or alone--together, identifying these pandemic times as troubling or uncertain is not wrong. But, did we ever have “untrying times?”  Language isn’t perfect, https://www.dictionary.com/e/pandemic-words-people-hate/ but it’s a start.    

Photo by Marco Verch on Flikr, human-hand-writing-class-of-2020-on-whiteboard

     The loss of normalcy during this Covid-19 period has upended the lives of the high school Class of 2020. Hoping to raise the spirits and celebrate their graduation, I have been creating personalized videos of each 2020 senior that I taught in high school. I taught a Jr ROTC class and captured four years of their weekend events, parent chaperones, flag detail, physical fitness days, classroom shots, and the fun & games. Google Photos facial recognition makes it easy--every photo is right there for you to put in your video, add music, and hit submit for instant happiness. Google Photos to video--a quick explanation: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/google-photos-movie-editor-tips/.

Google Photos Facial Recognition Folder

    As I look back fondly    https://youtu.be/vXSS4YIeZz8 at my photos of those years, I see some of the hundreds of 13-18-year-olds I worked with and started thinking about how challenging high school can be. Words like “Resilience,” “Grit” and yes, “Kindness” are posted all over campuses for a reason. As a teacher, I found myself asking “in-tune” fellow teachers about how to assist teens struggling with…all of it. Bullying, cyber-bullying, depression, anxiety and so much more. I constantly stopped by the School Psychologist’s office and tried to gain some expertise and find some clues. 

     As all new, unprepared, pandemic homeschool parent-teachers now know--teaching is hard.  The Peace Corps created the ad line of “the toughest job you’ll ever love.” The Coast Guard had, “jobs that matter.” Both apply very well to teaching high school. Since teaching is tough and matters so much, educators need to tap into people and organizations that can support them too. One organization that is helping students feel like they belong and find a way to “step into life with purpose” is Project Wayfinder  https://www.projectwayfinder.com/

  

Project Wayfinder Instagram Post

    Partnering with schools, Project Wayfinder helps teachers and students find purpose in what and how they learn and find their way through life. Dr. Bill Damon, from the Stanford School of Adolescent Development, defines their purpose-focused approach as “A stable and generalized intention to accomplish something that is at the same time meaningful to the self and consequential for the world beyond the self.”  Project Wayfinder is based in Berkeley, California. An excellent overview of their approach to helping students find purpose is here: https://educationpost.org/the-biggest-problem-for-kids-today-isnt-stress-its-lack-of-purpose/

      Project Wayfinder also focuses on mental health as part of its mission. Reviewing the thousands of photos from my time in the classroom reminded me of the large number of students who received counseling, but also of the even greater number of students who needed more support but did not always get it. The need is immense.

      Another resource is Wil Cason. Wil is a Student Success Coach at a Middle School in the San Francisco Bay area https://www.instagram.com/wilcason 

Wil Cason at Fairfield High, Fairfield, CA

 As a professional speaker, Wil has worked with teens and educators for more than two decades, focusing on personal productivity, goal setting, and motivation. Lately, he has shifted his approach to social and emotional learning and uses his skills as a Mental Health First Aid Instructor. Several of my former high school students recently joined Wil’s Instagram Live seminar on “tips for students to survive & thrive in uncertain times” (IG Live, Wednesdays at 4pm PST, @WilCason). There is that word again, “uncertainty.” Wil gave some “do now” techniques to help students be mindful, grateful, and focused on their physical and mental health. He also provided some academic action steps to keep students focused on their long game. 

     When Wil asked audience members for the following week’s topic, more than one student expressed the need to talk about their feelings of losing so much. They understand that the loss of life across the country and planet is sobering. But they feel a different kind of loss, even if it is not as horrific. Losing graduation, losing time with their friends, losing time with caring adults at their schools are weighing heavily on them. All of us should be asking them about these thoughts and helping them find their path through these “uncertain times.”

       Rallying around our students is more important than ever. Research. Reach out. Zoom-ing and Google Meet-ing teachers-- don’t forget to take screenshots (if agreed to) and later on, more photos. We all need to celebrate each other more and capture that magic. We now know that yesterday’s “ordinary” was actually extraordinary. Ordinary has never sounded (and looked) so good.  

         

Hate Has No Home Here

    I have a friend, let’s call him Leroy--mainly because that is his name. Leroy and I went to church and school together in my little hometown in Florida. Even as a kid I knew that he was what you call a “really good person.” Mr. Bigsby, Leroy’s dad, had the same aura of happiness, kindness and a ready smile. Mr. Bigsby passed away recently. I never got to tell him how much I appreciated him. I picture him down at the baseball diamonds dropping balls into the pitching machine for hours, laughing at our knuckleheaded ways. 

   I left Fort Meade for college in Alabama and then was off to the Air Force and finally touched down in California. I’ve only seen Leroy at a couple of reunions, but I feel like I know him as well as I did in 1981 when we were big fish seniors in that tiny pond of a high school.

Leroy Bigsby on the Peace River (of course)

    Everyone understands that you can’t really know someone from their Facebook timeline. After not seeing or hearing from most of my hometown for the ’80s, ’90s and far into the ’00s--all of a sudden Facebook reintroduced us. There was Leroy- smiling and loving life. Same guy. I hate to embarrass him, but the words honest, trustworthy, and decent just come easy when you think about him. 

    I saw a post a couple of days ago from Leroy and he was upset, no--he was angry, about what happened to a friend of his who lives just a little north of our beloved hometown. I don't remember ever seeing Leroy angry.

     A guy casually walked up to Leroy’s friend’s house, (all on security video) stole her yard sign and laughed as he placed it in his car and left. The sign wasn’t promoting a politician. It wasn’t a sign that advanced one political party or attacked another. It was a sign that had the audacity to read: “Hate Has No Home Here.”

Hate Has No Home 

    

     I went to Sunday School—a lot-- in my little town.  Hate was a bad word. The man that stole that sign feels threatened that hate doesn’t have a home at the address where he stole the sign. Or in Polk County. Or in these United States. Why does hate need defending? Who are you defending when you are defending hate?

     There are nice and kind people all around us. There are also mean and vindictive people. Most of us want to be kind. Most of us occasionally fail at this but apologize and try to be better people. I bet Leroy isn’t as perfect as my nostalgia makes him. But I can guarantee you that Leroy is on the side of good and fair. People like Leroy don’t promote hate. They don’t tolerate hate. They don’t ignore hate even if it helps them in some way.

   

    I haven’t been in a Sunday School class since Reagan’s first term. But I retained all the good stuff I learned in my classes during the Nixon and Ford years. Love your neighbor. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Be ye kind to one another. What about “strangers”—love them as thyself.  Is this stuff now considered “old-time religion?” Can you just place it on hold for a few years?

Nope. There are not "good people on both sides."  Choose.

     We need the Leroys of this country to be even more Leroy. We need to outnumber, outshine and sometimes out-shout the hate, the intolerance, the bigotry that has been fueled from the very top. We need more compassion. We need unity. We need healing. There are not always good people on both sides. We simply need to be more Leroy.

PlayThinkery Podcast: "Tak on Badminton"

"Tak on Badminton" -- The state of badminton from Tak at the Georgie Duke Sports Center in Vacaville...
https://soundcloud.com/daveryca/tak-on-badminton

Georgie Duke Sports Center, Vacaville, California