A Letter to My Daughter

Dear Ellery,

You're too small to understand a word of this right now. In fact, I'm willing to bet that as I write this at the end of a debate practice at Buhler High School, you are laughing in your mother's lap as she plays patty-cake with you.

But that won't be the case forever. Soon, (too soon) you will grow up. You will get smart. And you will begin to do more and more without your mom and dad to help you. I'm not old enough to quit seeking advice, but I have a few nuggets of wisdom that I'd like you to know and I hope you learn:

• Limits. You will hear people talk about what girls can and can't do. Never listen to them. You're only limited by your own imagination. Don't like pink? Don't wear it. Want to play with army men? Play away. Your mother and I will love you just the same and we'll always encourage you no matter what. When your grandmother was little, she was told that if she wanted to go to college, she could only be either a nurse or a teacher. But you've got the world at your fingertips. Decide what you want to do and dive into it with abandon. 
• Happiness. It is not guaranteed. It is not a human right. But it is something you are allowed to pursue. Take joy in this pursuit, and know that "pursuit" takes effort and determination. Never take the easy path in the name of just being "happy." Don't lose the joy that comes with the pursuit of your goals. Many people think that their choice is between working and and just learning to be happy with where they're at. Don't sell yourself short by convincing yourself there isn't joy to be taken from supreme, difficult effort.  
• Faith. It's not just important. It's THE most important thing in your life. Your mother and I will raise you in the Church, and when you get older, your faith will be in your own hands. Pray in the good times. Pray in the bad times. And know that you were placed on this earth for a reason. You're not just occupying space while others move around you, but your life is guided by a divine purpose and a grand design. Sometimes, your mom and I think about all the things we "want" you to be when you grow up. But really, the most important thing we want is for you to be a Christian. Everything after that is so small in comparison.
• Beauty. Disney, magazines, TV all have their own ideas of beauty. Understand that it has absolutely nothing to do with what you look like and everything to do with your actions. If you want to know if you're beautiful, look at the things you do each and every day. Don't hide your beauty. Don't hide your talents. We're given too little time on this earth to waste it playing small.
• Adversity. Challenges make you stronger. Take joy in them and continually seek to overcome. Don't be afraid to fall. Every single failure is an opportunity to climb another mountain. Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs. He also struck out 1,330 times. I can't protect you from falling. And I don't want to. Falling is one of the best things that can happen to you. 
• Your parents. Right now we're pretty cool. You're too little for us not to be. Really, for all you know, we're horrible misfits. But there will come a time when you start to realize how very, very human we are. We will make mistakes. We will say things we don't mean. But we will always love you. Remember that your mom and dad pray all the time that we hope to do right by you and give you every opportunity to find your purpose and your place in this life.  
• Love. Your mom and I love you. And we know that someday you will love someone outside of this family. Many people will tell you that you need to follow your heart. Don't listen to them. While that idea can make for a nice romantic comedy on DVD, people who blindly follow their hearts find themselves in a heap of trouble. They become a bystander to the whims of their emotions. Instead of following, lead your heart. Show your heart who's the boss. It can do so much for you and bring you so much joy if you don't just hand it the keys to your life.  

We think the world of you. And that's not just because right now you're an adorable, small toddler. It's because you're our daughter. 

Love, 

Dad

Ellery's First Birthday

I stole this idea from Kevin Wilson at church. I thought it was such a neat idea that I wanted to try it out. This is a lot of the high points of Ellery's first year.

Top 5 Musicals - SSR

One of my students blogged about a favorite musical of his for his weekly class blog post and it got me thinking about all the musicals I've seen in my life. When your mom's a music teacher, having a good working knowledge of musicals becomes common household knowledge.

My top 5:

5. Pippin - This is a musical that does not translate to film very well. It's primarily only ever been done on stage, and it was done at my high school my senior year. I played the drum set in the pit orchestra and got to watch the musical come to life. I enjoy the story immensely, and the ending leaves the whole thing up to interpretation. 

4. The Sound of Music - Oh, Julie Andrews. Your warm songs thawed a cold man's  heart and brought joy back to his life. And of course, you have to hate those nasty Nazis.

3. Godspell - Another musical that's primarily shown on stage. It's an interesting take on the life of Jesus as portrayed by hippies/children. This was also performed at my high school, and I was again in the pit orchestra.

2. Mary Poppins - Julie Andrews again. Notice any themes here? And once again, we have a father whose cold heart must be thawed with music.

1. The Music Man - This musical is just straight-up fun. You have a lovable bad guy, a clueless town/lynch mob, a musically-gifted heroine, and comedy. Doesn't hurt that the music is insanely catchy, too.

Honorable mention: Rent, Frozen (it IS a musical), Phantom of the Opera, Schindler's List South Pacific. 

A Letter to My Debaters on Opening Weekend

(I have three young debate teams traveling to Nickerson tomorrow and I can't drive them there since I am in Topeka with four other teams. So to completely make up for it, I wrote them this letter)

To my brave opening-weekend debaters:

You are embarking on a great journey. A journey that will transcend many miles. Like 20 of them.

There are many perils which lie before you. But knowing the effort, care, and determination that you have put into preparing for this, I have no doubt that you will conquer your fears, exceed your expectations, and destroy those who stand in your way.

You are a Crusader! Like the brave knights of combat who sought the gates of heaven in days of old, you too seek a great treasure. Namely, a winning record at a local debate tournament.

This step is the first of many. And as you cross this first threshold, you will become emboldened by realizing that you are capable of accomplishing so much more than believed possible. And as you face and overcome these challenges, remember these words of wisdom:

• Don’t just talk good. Talk gooder than the other team.
• Your judges don’t care about how fast you speak, but they do care about how well you wield those words in verbal combat.
• Double negatives are a no-no.
• The words “I think,” and “I believe” sound good in your head. Make sure those words stay in your head and don’t leave your mouth.
• Don’t just make good arguments, but point out why your opponents’ arguments are bad.
• Judges are like spies. They’re everywhere. Even when you think they’re not. Always act like one is watching you.

My last piece of advice is simple. Help your comrades. Make certain that you not only have everything you need, but that your teammates do as well. You are a squad. A team. An indivisible unit of power. When one succeeds, we all succeed.

I look forward to seeing you on Monday. Go forth. And do well!

Mr. Bauer

Time

You might look at my blog title and think this is a post about the passage of time, or about time as a phenomenon in and of itself. But no. This is about the lack of time.

There was once a time when I thought I was busy. I took 21 college credit hours in a semester. I also participated in musical ensembles through percussion and ran the student newspaper. In retrospect, though, that was cake.

Somehow, I still managed to play video games, hang out with friends, talk with my girlfriend, and even follow some sports teams. But I thought I was swamped.

Maybe that's a weird human condition, to constantly think there is less time than there really is. Or, probably more accurately, we try to wear our own busy-ness like a badge of honor. "Man, I was up until 4 a.m. doing work." "Oh yeah? I only slept for a minute. And I was drinking coffee during that minute."

I suppose this makes us look like hard workers? Or maybe it gives us a built-in excuse when things go wrong. We can default to how busy we are when something doesn't work out. "I couldn't do it because I was doing 800 other things."

Lately I've been trying to make a conscious effort to restore some solid balance to my life. Yes, that does mean being more productive, but it also means spending more time with my family when I can. I hate going home and having to work when I should be playing with my daughter. Those two things go hand in hand. If I can get more done during the day, then I can enjoy my time at home easier.

There are some tricks I'm going to try to do to make this happen:

1. Grade at debate meets. There's a lot of work into coaching debate. However, there's not a lot of work that goes into sitting around waiting for my kids to get out of rounds. That's arguably almost 7 hours of potential productivity. 
2. Important work early. I found out about this cool thing called a circadian rhythm, which goes about every 6 hours. I'm going to make an effort to time my important work for when I'm feeling energized (early morning), light work for 1:00 p.m.-ish. 
3. Coffee. Just. Yeah. 
4. Less multitasking. I don't think it works. I don't think it ever has worked. Time on one task should be time on ONLY that task. 
5. Destroy my phone - maybe I would be more productive if I had a faster phone. I doubt it, though. I think I do better when my phone is doing something else. Like, not being around me. 

First Day Reflections

For whatever reason, I've been hooked on the TV show Scrubs over the last two weeks.

Most of it is because I've been watching Ellery while Christina's started back up at school (saving money on a babysitter FTW!!) and I didn't want to watch something that required a lot of my attention. But part of it I think is because the theme of the show works perfectly for the start of a new school year.

For those who don't know, Scrubs was a sitcom about a young doctor who goes from medical school right into a hospital to serve his internship. He's scared and nervous. He doesn't know little things like where he could find extra bandages. He struggles to apply things he learned in school even though he desperately wants to be a good doctor.

I think the show resonated with people because everyone has that moment where you're thrown into the fire. Where preparation ends and performance begins.

To an extent, every teacher goes through that. Sure, you have student teaching before you get your license, but that is, by and large, a controlled simulation. You're borrowing another teacher's class in order to gain some valuable experience. It's still someone else's classroom, someone else's procedures, and someone else's curriculum.

Your first weeks in a bonafide teaching job you find yourself surrounded by people you don't know, in a building you're unfamiliar with, and in a profession you have no experience in. There's a lot that you don't know. In fact, you feel strikingly similar to how I imagine incoming freshmen feel. Here's a short list of everything I was ignorant of:

• Where's the cafeteria?
• How do I get to the cafeteria from my classroom?
• How do I set up a lunch account?
• How do I request a sub?
• How do I enter grades into my online gradebook?
• Where's the faculty work room?
• What's our lockdown procedure?
• How many tardies result in an office referral?
• How do I RECORD tardies?
• Where do we go in the event of a fire?
• Holy cow, when can I duck out to the bathroom?
• What the heck is Buhler Frolic?
• Can students leave my classroom without a pass?
• Where can I get posters for my class?
• Where can I get T-shirts supporting my school?
• Will I be socially ostracized if I forget to pay my relationship committee/booster club dues?
• How do I record reflections for professional development days?

And keep in mind, none of this has to do with actually teaching, which opens up its own can of worms but can be summed up with the following:

• WHY CAN'T MY CLASS LOOK LIKE THAT OTHER TEACHER'S?

But what I had a hard time making myself understand was that the other teacher usually had at least 10 years more experience than I did. Like it or not, experience counts for a lot in education. Your first year you have so much to learn that it's unreasonable to expect you to be THAT good.

Your first year of teaching is not when you find out if you're a great teacher. But it is when you find out if you're willing to work to become one.

So as my district gears up for the start of its first day of school, I can't help but look back at my first day of my first year and reflect on how far I've come and how far I still feel I have yet to go. A presenter for our district, Joe Coles, showed us a quote. I can't remember the exact words, but the gist of it goes:

"If you think you've made it to the top, you're probably right."

And that's when I realize that I'm not the only one who still thinks they need to get better. In fact, the best teachers in our building still think they can get better. And I'm smart enough to still realize that I want to be like them.

A lot changes after your first day. But a lot still stays the same.

Hot cars and kids

Earlier this year, I woke up and prepared for another normal school day.

 It was my turn to take Ellery to the sitter. So I got her dressed, changed her diaper, and gave her to Christina to feed her while I put on dress clothes.

I gathered my satchel, grabbed milk from the refrigerator for the diaper bag, and buckled Ellie into her car seat before carrying her out to the car. I then fastened the seat to the fixed base, put my satchel in the back seat and began driving to the babysitter.

Only I didn't go to the babysitter. Instead of turning right at Highway 50, I turned left and began driving toward Buhler. I had been getting poor sleep lately, was thinking about my first class of the day, was stressing over making sure I had drivers for forensics meets and had requested enough vehicles for transportation. In the midst of all of this I just automatically turned toward Buhler like I had hundreds of times before.

Ellery was in the backseat, facing the back of the car. Out of sight and, temporarily, out of mind.

It was only five minutes later before I looked in my rearview mirror, saw my child there, realized my mistake, and turned back toward the babysitter. My colleagues at work gave me some good-natured ribbing over how it was almost "take your daughter to work day."

Would I have gone into the building with Ellery still in the car? No. I always put my satchel with my laptop in the back seat and I can't work without it. I would have gone to grab it, seen my sleeping child, and cursed myself in the process at having to turn around and spend an hour driving to the babysitter and back. But fortunately I learned my mistake just five minutes into my 30-minute commute.

If I had a yellow T-shirt with zigzags on it, someone would have called me a blockhead.

But this summer has made the incident less and less humorous in retrospect as 18 reported hot car deaths have occurred in 2014 alone. And according to the statistics, there is no correlation between the people who let it happen. It's happened equally to the rich. The poor. The educated. The uneducated. It's happened to loving parents and neglectful ones. Foster parents, lawyers, soldiers, rocket scientists.

Men. Women.

It's happened to people who love their children very, very much.

And those people go through the unspeakable misery of having to live with what they have done.

But that's not our reaction when we see those stories, is it? Our reaction is, "How the heck can you forget that you have a kid in the car!? How can you remember your cell phone but forget your child!?"

We become angry. We want to assign blame. We want these people to be "locked up in a hot car themselves," according to one Internet commenter. We even see district attorneys press charges as severe as 1st degree murder against these parents.

But before these people judge, they should remember that the absolute worst thing you can do is simply assume it will never happen to you. It's pretty easy to find what exactly caused this forgetfulness and in almost every case it turns out there was a perfect storm of things going on to cause the problem to happen.

The parent is usually stressed. There's been a lack of sleep. There are distractions. There are meetings, groceries, schedule changes, route changes, cell phone alerts, all the things that demand your attention instead of the child riding along with you. I have yet to meet a parent who has not experienced a level of stress like this, and who has not had to rely on their ability to "autopilot" through some tasks while they focus on others.

Before 1990, these types of deaths were incredibly rare. Many parents placed their child in the front seat because that was acceptable at the time. However, researchers determined the back seat was far safer, and that rear-facing child seats were safer still. That means you routinely place a child in a place you cannot see for the entirety of your drive.

Out of sight. And tragically, out of mind.

I can't feel anything but incredible sympathy for the parents responsible for these tragedies. And I cannot assume they were anything but phenomenal parents with their child. Yet we see time and time again parents being prosecuted for what happened and almost every time we see a jury come to the conclusion that there is not a whiff of criminal intent, that the parent was not even being willfully neglectful of their child.

But it's not enough for most people to throw their hands up and say, "Well, what can you do?" Because ultimately this is something that's preventable. There are strategies to prevent this from happening. Some groups recommend doing what I've done, which is to put their phone, purse, or bag in the back seat where the baby sits. Putting up a mirror that allows you to see your child while driving can also be beneficial. Doing something that forces you to see your baby can help tremendously. Technology even exists that can detect whether a child is still in the car, but it has not become industry standard.

But all of this seems to get lost every time this happens. We wonder what an appropriate punishment should be for something like this. Almost half the time, police and prosecutors press no charges at all. They see that clearly there is nothing that the court system can do that can compare to the unthinkable grief of being responsible for your child's death.

If you have children, I highly, highly encourage you to read the article in my first link. It's the most comprehensive piece over hot car deaths I have ever read in my life. It, more than anything, has changed and shaped my perspective on this issue.

A mistake is made that results in a terrible tragedy. And who am I to judge?

It could have happened to me.

World Cup Babywatching

Top Five Reasons to Watch the World Cup

In some groups, admitting you like soccer is a bit like admitting you're a vegetarian. Sure, it doesn't really affect other people at all, but you get the sense people are thinking, "Well, that's one way to live your life."

I love soccer. I also love football and basketball. I really like baseball and I enjoy going to hockey games. It's really not like there's a limit on what sports someone can enjoy. Jim Rome apparently doesn't think so. He usually devotes at least one show every four years to how he "doesn't get" soccer. You might think, as a sports analyst, it would be his job to "get it," but I digress. Even he was able to admit that the U.S. games in 2010 were exciting. That by itself is proof that you don't have to be a huge soccer fan to enjoy the biggest sporting event on the planet.

So, here are five reasons to watch the U.S. at the World Cup:

1. A little something called "Patriotism" - Even if you don't watch soccer at all outside of the World
Cup, you can still enjoy supporting the United States. You know. 'Merica. Ever heard of it? There is a lot of satisfaction in going up against another country and reminding them just who exactly is the last remaining superpower on the planet. And the team always needs the support in order to destroy the forces of evil. The reason we lost to Iran in 1998 was because YOU WEREN'T WATCHING.

2. The United States are perpetually the plucky underdogs - I love the Dream Team. Or whatever they call the U.S. Olympic basketball team nowadays. But I also don't ever watch them play. I just expect them to win. We're pretty dang good in basketball and if we're just going to show up and stomp on Bosnia every four years, then there's not much point in me watching the game now, is there? There's no drama. Very little risk of failure. But whenever the U.S. wins, there's always a sense that they're beating the odds. We're progressing as a soccer nation, but the rest of the world often doesn't view us that way. Soccer is satisfying because the U.S. is always metaphorically smacking the smug smile off some stupid Frenchman's fat face*.

* please note that I said "metaphorically"

3. No. Stupid. TV. Timeouts - Once again, I love football and basketball. But there are things I love and hate about every sport. One of those things I hate is how stinking long some games take, ESPECIALLY because of something as useless as TV timeouts. Christina and I went to the Alamo Bowl in 2012 and watched Baylor and Washington score over 120 points in a single game. We were there for over FOUR HOURS because the players spent half the time standing around on the field because Fox would take a commercial break after every score. In soccer, there ARE no timeouts. There are 90 minutes of playing time. There is a 15-minute halftime. There are maybe seven minutes of added time at the ends of the halves, but that's it. The game's over in two hours. 

4. The U.S. players are very easy to root for - There are no prima donnas on the U.S. squad. In general they don't make a ton of money and most of them started off their rookie careers sleeping on the couches of older, richer teammates. One player gets paid just $90,000 a year by his pro team (yes, I would love to make that much money too, but for an international-caliber soccer player, that's not a lot). The goalkeeper, Tim Howard, suffered from Tourette's when he was a kid. Two other players play their professional ball IN KANSAS. That would be Matt Besler and Graham Zusi. Besler himself is set to become the first Kansas boy ever to play in a World Cup.

We even have a few players who were eligible to play for other countries and then had to make the extremely personal decision whether or not to represent the United States. That means that player had to ask themselves: "Do I feel more American or German?" Some soccer players have a mother from one country, a father from a second country, was born in a third country, and then perhaps grew up in a fourth country. It's compelling to see people redefine what many consider what it means to be an American.

5. It's incredibly easy to catch games this year - ESPN and ABC are broadcasting all the games. And because it's in Brazil, the games can be broadcast live during prime time. The first World Cup I seriously watched was in 2002 when it was in Japan. I remember staying up until 2 a.m. or waking up at 5 a.m. just to watch some of those games. Not so this time. You have no idea how much of a gift this is. And seriously. What else are you going to do? Do you know what the big news in the sports world was four years ago during the World Cup? It was an entire month spent pondering what NBA team Lebron James would end up on. That was it. No other sports. Well, except baseball, but there are 161 other games during the season. Statistically, you're probably okay missing one or 12.

Really. Really. Boring. Thank goodness ESPN didn't devote much time to this story...

Thoughts On Kolluj Ejukashun

My college is famous!

Well, kinda. Fort Hays State University recently made it on to USA Today's 5 of the Most Inexpensive Colleges in the U.S. Fort Hays made the list at five.

This shouldn't really come as a surprise. Heck, the slogan for Fort Hays when I attended was "Affordable Success." The price was actually a significant factor in me ultimately deciding to go there.

It's interesting though to see the reactions from people when I tell them that's my alma mater. Unless I'm telling someone that is a Fort Hays grad, their reaction is usually a polite "Oh, nice" or a vivid "Eww..."

Because let's face it. Fort Hays is not Harvard. It's not Cambridge. It's not KU. Fort Hays doesn't have a "reputation" factor with it. In fact, many people seem to only know of it as a "party school." But I'm convinced more than ever that none of that really matters. You could go to KU or the University of Texas and major in English but you're still going to get the same basic education I did.

Reputation Doesn't Matter

A recent story by Claudio Sanchez from National Public Radio shows that many people equate high tuition with quality:

While most institutions tried to keep costs down, Baum says, some took advantage of the public perception that a high tuition means a quality education.

"There's certainly evidence that people don't know how to measure the quality of a college education," she says. "They think that if it's expensive it must be better. I don't think colleges want to have high prices, but I do think they see strategic reasons why it may be in their interest to have high prices." 

I went to a cheap college without a reputation and yet I would put my college resume up against nearly anyone else in the country because of what I did while I was there. That, more than anything, is what stands out on my resume and is a primary reason I was able to land job interviews. The USA Today article challenged the notion of a school's "reputation" being what lands you a job and argues that it's actually what you achieve while you're in school that matters.

Is there any truth to (a college's reputation helping to land you a job)? Some recruiters and other experts say "no." According to a publication by the College Solution, employers seek out candidates from a variety of schools – large, small, known and unknown. The publication adds that what you do during your time in school matters. Your achievements, credentials, and activities will set you apart from competition in the job market.

But what about the quality of the education that's provided? Surely, students at expensive, prestigious schools must get more out of their educational experience? You would think there's some truth to that, but you'd be wrong. What a student learns in a classroom in college is NOT predicated on what the college does but on what the STUDENT does. The more motivated a student is, the more they will learn, regardless of the quality of instruction. In fact, the Brookings Institution released some interesting findings on the matter, responding to statistics showing Yale graduates made 30 percent more money than Tulane graduates:

But maybe the kids who got into Yale were simply more talented or hardworking than those who got into Tulane. To adjust for this, Krueger and Dale studied what happened to students who were accepted at an Ivy or a similar institution, but chose instead to attend a less sexy, "moderately selective" school. It turned out that such students had, on average, the same income twenty years later as graduates of the elite colleges. Krueger and Dale found that for students bright enough to win admission to a top school, later income "varied little, no matter which type of college they attended." In other words, the student, not the school, was responsible for the success.

There's something refreshing about being reminded that what we achieve is entirely up to us and that what you DO is more important than where you're coming from. While at Fort Hays I had a large number of opportunities to do some great things. As a junior I was the editor of the student newspaper. I got to play on the drumline. I took 100-level classes from professors with doctorates in classes with only 20 others. I gained a lot from my time there simply because opportunities were given to me and I took them. Would I have been able to do the same at KU? Probably not. They don't let you even write for the newspaper until you're a junior. Maybe this sounds pessimistic, but for my situation, I probably would have just ended up with a larger tuition bill. 

...but cost DOES

So reputation doesn't matter very much. But how important is cost? Over the next several years it will become more and more of a factor. 

Over the last five years tuition has skyrocketed. In Arizona, for example, parents have seen a 77 percent increase in costs. In Georgia, it's 75 percent, and in Washington state, 70 percent. Even at Fort Hays, my "affordable success" school, tuition is now $145 for in-state students. When I attended, it was $98. That's roughly a 50 percent increase. 

There was another appeal to me in going to Fort Hays instead of another school. And that is that I strongly believe that a higher education should be accessible to anyone who wants it. There are students who get C's in high school but put in A-level effort. Those students aren't going to get the big-dollar scholarships that we celebrate so much. Those students may not be from families of privilege who can afford college. Cost should NOT be something that keeps kids out of school. This is something I feel pretty strongly about. Higher education is not just something for the elite. It is not just something for the "gifted." It's something that should be attainable to anyone willing to do the work. 

I make fun of my alma mater. A lot. Especially around others who went to school there. But there are a number of things I'm proud of about it. One thing I don't regret is passing on prestige in favor of opportunity. 

Why I Don't Mind An 11-Hour Drive to Chicago

Well, I feel lazy.

Both Sam Neill and Greg Froese blogged yesterday, and now Jason Kohls just posted as well. And they were all excellent. I've posted descriptions of their blog posts (the way I see them, anyway) as well as put links to them at the bottom of this page.  

That means I better keep up!

Yesterday I, my assistant David Bowers, and four students from Buhler departed for the National Catholic Forensics League Grand National Tournament in Chicago. Never been here. Don't know anyone who lives here. But that didn't stop us from driving here in a day. If that sounds tough, don't worry. It only takes 11 hours if you don't stop. Which we did. A lot. 

I've got a fantastic group of kids we've gotten to take out. Two compete in Extemporaneous Speaking, one is in Oral Interpretation of Literature, and another is in Original Oratory. These are pretty demanding events for some pretty bright kids, and sometimes I think people don't realize just how cool it is that these kids WANT to work at an academic activity. They WANT to be the best at a skill they will get to use in the workplace. They WANT to present themselves in a manner that is more professional than many adults. 

Oral Interpretation of Literature? A student has to perform a short story and a poem using voice inflections and movement to convey a message. 

Original Oratory? A student not only writes their own 10-minute speech using valid sources and research (I challenge you to do that. It's got some length to get it to 10 minutes) but they also have to completely memorize it.

Extemporaneous Speaking? A student draws a current events question and then gets only 30 minutes to prepare a 7-minute speech, which they have to deliver in front of a judge. Here's an example of a question these students practice with:

Is Cornell William Brooks a great pick to lead the NAACP?

If you're like most people, you probably don't know who Cornell Brooks is. But students in extemp would be expected to give a 7-minute speech over him.

It's astounding at how surprised parents get to see high school students who are capable of doing something like this. But should it really be that surprising? After all, these students only have class time to work and two days of practice a week to prepare. Many work outside of class and practice, but it's by no means required. Really that compares pretty well with any student who does a sport. And we don't get astonished at those who get stronger and faster because it's expected that they should improve when they're working at it and practicing. 

But shouldn't we expect the same when it comes to the realm of academics? Shouldn't we expect that students put emphasis on gaining skills that will directly help them in any field they could consider going into? Our forensics kids don't bat an eye at the challenge because, simply put, they want to be the best.

And that's what I like the most about forensics. It puts all these skills and pieces of knowledge into a competition format. Students want to win. And when we we can legitimately reward excellence, when we give students a chance to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are excellent, they get much more than a trophy or a medal. They get something they can use for the rest of their lives. 

That, more than anything else, makes challenges like an 11-hour drive to Chicago completely worth it. 

Rag-tag group of champions.

Sam Neill had an excellent blog post over misunderstandings regarding Common Core and the primary issues that students face (it's tough to learn when you're hungry). 

Greg Froese opened his blogging account by writing an awesome bit on peer pressure and facing new challenges. 

And Jason Kohls composed a deep psychological exploration of the correct usage of the Oxford Comma (spoiler alert: there is only one correct way to do it).

Food

I don't have anything insightful about this picture. Except that I enjoy the looks of sheer bewilderment and terror whenever we do something new with Ellie. 

Teaching Is An Exercise In Faith

Despite getting ready to start my fourth year as a professional teacher, I still feel like a newbie.

No, not a newbie to my English Department (which is awesome, by the way) but to the profession as a whole. I once told an older teacher that I feel like I'm still in the "beg, borrow, and steal" phase when it comes to lesson plans, to which he replied, "Oh, you think that goes away..."

If there's been one thing I've discovered about teaching, it's that this is a terrible job for a pessimist. It can be easy to fall into a pit despair over some of the things with which you have to cope. It takes an insane amount of hope and faith that students, situations, and you yourself are not going to be stuck doing the same things forever.

It takes faith for a teacher to realize that he or she is going to improve and get better. I think just about every first-year teacher reaches a point where they think to themselves, "I don't think I can handle another year like this." But that first year is so incredibly valuable. That's when teachers really find out what works well for them and what doesn't. If you were to ask me what was different about my second year compared with my first, I would probably tell you "Everything." Was it still tough? Yes. Teaching is tough. It will always be tough. But things seem a little brighter when you can at least work with a year of successes and failures under your belt. It's a challenge to know deep down that in ten years, you will be ten years better.

It takes faith to realize that a student will mature with the passage of time, and that they won't be the same person when they graduate as they were in your freshman class. Kids change. People change. And I believe that, for the most part, they change for the better. The best example I can think of for this is myself. I was a moody jerk at times during high school. And look at me now. I'm awesome. Just kidding. But I do feel like I'm a kinder and less selfish person than I was when I was in high school. It's incredibly easy to look at a student and assume they will keep cutting corners and trying to cheat forever. But that's probably not true. As people experience new challenges, their perspectives change. And growing up is all about facing new challenges. It's difficult sometimes to truly feel that gradually, you are making an impact on a student who will be an inheritor of the earth.

It takes faith to believe that legislators and policymakers will make the best informed decisions for the education of the children in their state. This is a touchy one, especially in Kansas, where the legislature not only seems to treat school funding like a non-essential budget line-item, but recently decided to make sweeping policy changes with zero research and virtually zero debate. It's tough to work at a job where the perception is that your work is unappreciated, and sadly that's the message that comes across when this happens. It's tough to work when at a job that is subject to spin and mischaracterization, much like the widespread misunderstanding regarding Common Core. But unless you can brush it off, put your head down and vow to keep doing your job to the best of your ability, it's easy to start comparing your career to other options that are out there.

And for my grammar Nazi friends out there: Yes, in my informal writing, I use plural pronouns when the gender for singular subjects is ambiguous. It is a conscious departure from prescribed American Standard English. Also, sometimes I end sentences with prepositions. That's something you need to get over.

End of the Year Review

Well, it's the end of another school year. And once again I've been atrocious at keeping up with my blog posts.

For me, the approach of May is usually an opportunity for me to look back on the school year and reflect on what went well and what didn't. Sometimes it's easy to get bogged down focusing on what didn't work. It's easy to be overly critical of ourselves. We're supposed to demand perfection, aren't we? But at the same time, if you don't acknowledge the progress you're making, then it becomes tough to motivate yourself to move forward.

I think this can be true in a lot of areas of life, not just in work. It's true in athletics and physical fitness. How can you push yourself to run a faster mile time without celebrating your previous milestones? Or in marriage. How can you feel like you're being a better spouse without looking back and laughing at just how clueless you were in your first year? Or even your relationships with siblings, parents, friends, or even God. Wherever there is growth, there is an opportunity to celebrate steps in a journey.

Yesterday Christina and I got to celebrate yet another step in a journey. Ellery ate cereal for the first time. It's another step that not only marks the beginning of her use of real food, but also marks the progress and growth she's made since the day she was born.

Graduation is approaching for a lot of our seniors. Many of them will celebrate it as the end of a phase of their life. But maybe they should be celebrating the progress they've made and will continue to make.  The majority of our seniors (not all, but the majority) are very different people than they were when they were freshmen. Their knowledge has increased. Their writing skills have increased. Their social skills have increased. It's a time to reflect on all the things they've accomplished and all the things yet to come.

Because here's the truth: You're going to continue growing. You're going to continue learning. Four years from now you may look at the person you are today and roll your eyes and grimace. You might look at the person you are right now with jealousy or even disdain because things will be more challenging in the future. The only thing for certain is that the person you will be four years from now will not feel like they are looking into a mirror when they look at you.

Change happens. And that's reason to celebrate.

My Top Romance Films

My honors freshman English students have just finished reading Romeo and Juliet in class. I have to say I've been impressed at how well they have done with the material they've been given. I've remarked over and over again at just how well they have responded to the story and how engaged they have been with something that was written about 400 years ago.

And because I'm a nerd and I like lists, I decided that now would be a good time for me to make a list of my top romance stories of all time. 

DISCLAIMER: I'm actually going to try on this list. My favorite movies and books might just be action-adventures, but I'm going to get in touch with my feminine side and give this a solid effort. 

1. Jack and Rose in Titanic - There's no romance like "Oh-no-we're-both-going-to-die romance." I  won't lie that I saw this when I was in fourth grade. The movie was a huge deal at the time and it's probably the first romance I ever saw that I actually cared about. Come to think of it, it might have just been the first tragedy I ever saw.

2. The Notebook - I made fun of this film relentlessly when it first came out. But then, I make fun of most movies the first time I see them. The film seems to borrow themes from Romeo and Juliet by talking a lot about summer romances and how they are "like shooting stars" which blaze brilliantly for a short time and then burn out. Both were held apart by the disapproval of others. Romeo and Juliet were shooting stars who basically vowed to burn out together. So this is almost like what would have happened if Romeo and Juliet had just had more patience and an awesome old house to renovate.

3. Padme and Anakin in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones - Ha, just kidding. That's a terrible romance.

4. The Decoy Bride - I watched this one with Christina because it had David Tennant in it. It's a silly movie, but it's fun. Yes, the whole premise is a bit ridiculous (famous actress needs a decoy to distract paparazzi so that she can have a private wedding) but it takes place in a tiny island hamlet in Scotland and feels almost like the British version of Sweet Home Alabama. I just like Tennant as a bumbling writer who stumbles on success almost by accident.

5. Letters to Juliet - another film I saw with Christina. It's a fun-filled romp through the Italian countryside with a snooty British guy who turns out to be not half-bad. You know where this is going...but in all seriousness, half the film revolves around an elderly couple who are seeking each other after fifty years apart. Those two are probably just as interesting as the younger couple and provide what Shakespeare never seemed to be able to show: two elderly people in love.


Just for fun: Warm Bodies - a zombie take on the story of Romeo and Juliet. The guy's name is Rrr (for Romeo) while the girl's name is Julie. There is a balcony scene. They're held apart by the disapproval of zombies and humans. So..yeah. Shakespeare's influence right there. 

Wanna Play Crazy Driver?

Well I've completely fallen flat on my face when it comes to making blog posts over the last two months. Kohls has been kicking my butt.

But since it is a lovely Saturday morning and I did not travel for forensics, Ellery is relatively content in a high chair, and I have just a little bit of time before I need to start cleaning the house, I figure this would be an ideal time to post. Specifically on this whole "raising a human" thing.

Over the last few weeks, Christina and I have both been back to work and trading off on who takes Ellie to the babysitter in the morning. However, even though Christina has been back at her job, I'll be the first to admit that she has has taken on more work when it comes to Ellie. Christina is the one waking up at 3:00 a.m. to feed her when she's hungry. She's also the one taking care of her when I'm gone Tuesday and Thursday evenings for forensics practices as well as Fridays and Saturdays when we're at meets. Heck, even when I'm the one taking care of her, usually it's so that Christina can do something like, oh I don't know, EAT A MEAL.

I'm definitely blessed to have Christina for a wife. She does all this and more and she loves being a mom.

Even with my limited time with Ellery, I've definitely seen a difference in how Christina and I handle her. (Is "handle" a good word to use for raising a baby? Sounds like Ellie is a stick shift or something)

Probably a prime example would be in the "games" we'll play with her. Christina will interact with her and will work to get others to interact with her as well. Like the dogs. Peety, for the record, is not a fan of being "ridden" by Ellery. But he does like to lick her face. She doesn't seem to mind it, either.

But Christina will, by and large, interact with Ellie on almost a spiritual level. Our baby is perfect, and Christina will take moments to appreciate Ellery's perfectness.

Me? Well, Ellie and I play "crazy driver."

Ellie will lay back against my knees and I hold her hands so that she can "buckle her seat belt," "turn on the car," "grip the steering wheel," before simulating driving 120 mph down a freeway. Ellie always "crashes" the car, but thankfully she has an ejector seat so she can "parachute down."

Her eyes usually get intensely big whenever we play.

Sometimes we'll play "beat box," where I'll make a hip-hop beat and have Ellie bust out some dance moves.

Sometimes we'll play "sports fan" where I teach Ellie how to cheer OU.

And about a week after she was born I made a video of her on her belly set to the tune of "Eye of the Tiger." I called it "Eller-eye of the Tiger."

So we've done some pretty dorky stuff. Not that Christina hasn't done her share of dorky stuff (she hums "The Imperial March" to her sometimes). But it is interesting just to see how the things we do seem to compliment each other. I sometimes feel like I have to make the most of the time I have with Ellery because the next evening I may not be home until 11:00 p.m. So my way of taking advantage of that is to play some of these high-energy "games" with her. But she also needs these quiet moments with both of us, and Christina is the best when it comes to calming her down or getting her to feel secure and sleep.

Are we doing it right? I think so. There are certainly "wrong" ways to raise a human, but as long as we just "play" crazy driver and don't actually drive crazy, I'd say we're ok.