Month: November 2017

Magic and Science Demonstrations

Just thinking out loud, here. As a science teacher, I loved the magic that science demonstrations could bring to science lessons. One of my favorite field trips was to take my 6th graders to see a pair of UTEP professors who did a Flying Circus of Physics and Chemistry. One old guy with crazy gray hair would come rolling across the stage in a Radio Flyer propelled by a fire extinguisher to start his show and the other guy was blowing stuff up and setting off chemical reactions, drawing oohs and ahs. It was very much like a magic show. The hope was that it would inspire students to get interested in science, possibly as a career. But sitting here this morning, it seems to me that very few people who go to see a magician decide to go into magic because of it. I have some ex-students who are seriously involved in scientific research and will have to ask them about their reasons for pursuing the careers they have chosen. . Liz, Matt, Anaisa, Ilse?  
Flashy experiments were a great way to get into learning, but in teaching, making lessons meaningful and relevant are the key.  When I was able, I tried to set up business type environments into which the learning would be very meaningful and relevant.
So, imagine a magician who wasn’t on stage performing his magic for an audience expecting magic tricks, but throughout the day, at the appropriate time, making his tricks meaningful and relevant what an amazing thing that would be.  Word would spread quickly.  That right there is worth further contemplation.  But, that is what a science teacher should strive for.  The magic is there, and the impact could be so much more powerful if the magic was used in the context of meaningful and relevant learning experiences,  without it being presented as a magic trick.  I used to try to do this, but I have to admit that I used the magic of science as a magic trick more often than I should have.  So, please if you are a science teacher, realize that you have the ability to create magic, but a magic trick in a show is a magic trick.  A magic trick in the right situation in real life is a miracle.  You scientific magic has the same potential impact if you use it wisely.

Irony

Kugler’s announcement as new head coach.

12/10/2012 12:00:00 AM

Three paragraphs into his speech is his first person thrown under the bus, his wife;

“If you’re wondering why I don’t have a sports jacket, I’m going to call my wife out right here, she’s home watching this on streaming video. Patsy, I love you, but you should have packed my jacket. I’m the first coach in the history of college football to go to a press conference without a sports jacket, so I apologize for that.”

Moments later;

“I do want to say that I’ve been UTEP’s biggest fan from afar from the time I’ve left until now and I hope to just build upon what Coach Price has done here. I’m Mike Price’s biggest fan and I think he’s an outstanding coach. The energy and the enthusiasm he brought to this program and the job that he’s done is outstanding, and again, I just hope to build upon that and help our program become better. ”

Then;

“That’s my No. 1 goal as a coach, to have a team go out there each week and represent the City of El Paso and go out there and represent each other as teammates and do the best job they can week in and week out. ”

I was looking for his own words about how much of a dumpster fire he had inherited and how there was no Div 1 talent on the roster.  It was really his throwing the previous head coach, and more importantly, the players that he was calling trash under the bus that instantly turned me against him.  It was what people I know call, “low class”.  Isn’t it ironic how it seems that he has left Price with a roster of very fine young men from local high schools.  And the question many have is are they fine students but in over their heads against other teams.  I don’t know if that is true or not.  I do believe that the have always tried hard to overcome the stupidity of the play calling.  At this point, I don’t know if it is talent that is the trouble, the recruiting done to accommodate the system, both, the recruiting to a horrible program where receivers don’t receive and passers don’t really pass, pass blocking is for sissies?  Hell, I don’t know, but they do fight hard, I think.

Now, it is Mike Price’s turn.  Ask yourself if you have heard any of that kind of thing from him.  No, that isn’t how a head coach acts.  A head coach absorbs the punches and defends the family, with his life(practically-see Mike Gundy press conference).  The reason that it is an act of heroism on Price’s part to take the abuse for the second half of the season is that.  The old soldier came out of retirement to take the abuse.  He did it not for the money.  He did it knowing it would only add losses to his final tally.  He did it because the school laid it on the line for him, once.  It is an act of love and a payment on a debt that can never be paid.  UTEP gave him his self-respect back by taking a chance on him.  He repaid it long ago.  That is why this one is an act of love.  The bill had already been paid in full.  This was a thank you, UTEP, from the bottom of his heart.  If he could find a way to win a game or two, it would be for the same reason.

I thank you, Mike.  UTEP did the same thing for me many ears ago and my love for it runs to the center of my being.  I think maybe that is why I have been such a fan of his since the first time I saw him, and Eric eating a lunch put on b the Southside El Paso Miners Fan Club.  I thanked the two for coming to UTEP to try and help.  I have considered them both to be as fine a people as I could ever hope to meet ever since, and was able to spend some time around them.  So, as Mike Price nears the end of this emergency term at the helm, I thank him for again coming to the aid of my school, our school.