SHARK WEEK!!!

Its Shark Week in Aquatics! This is truly one of my favorites times of the year as we learn about sharks and how important they are to the ocean environment.  My goal is for each of you to come out of this with a greater appreciation for sharks, and less fear of these amazing animals.  

In order to understand them, we must first be able to identify them.  Right now we know of 450 different types of shark that swim in our oceans around the world!  That is an amazing number for an animal whose gene pool has been around for millions of years and survived 4 extinction events that wiped out dinosaurs and other organisms.  In our local waters of the Gulf of Mexico there at least 49 different types of shark that call the gulf home.  If we know what type of shark lives in a certain area it helps us understand what they need for survival and what we need to do to protect that environment.  For example, the whale shark is a beautiful creature that migrates through the gulf every year.  In the past there have been 80-100 sightings a year of these giant fish swimming in our waters.  After the BP oil spill, that number reduced to 35.  I wish we had policy in place that required the guarantee of the safety of the natural habitat and the animals within before we just drill without any care of remorse.  

We will spend time this week also learning about shark behaviors and what is being done to protect them.  Fortunately we are learning about sharks during a time when they have fascinated enough people and scientists to bring much needed positive attention their way.  Thanks to organizations like OCEARCH, led by my favorite shark scientist Chris Fischer (no relation), and also to the social media educator David Shiffman , people are learning more about the positive impact sharks have on the ocean ecosystem, and what needs to be done to protect them.  

I hope you enjoy this week as much as I do.  This will also lead us into one of the best times of year, where we really get to "dive in" to the shark and dissect a spiny dogfish.  So get ready and hopefully what we learn impacts you and leads to helping protect these beautiful fish!

Fishing Project

Your assignment is to go fishing! Find a rod, a reel, some bait, and a fishing hole and attempt to catch the big one!  Seriously, that's your assignment....

You will create the presentation style of your choice (video, slideshow, etc) to share these facts about your trip:

• The equipment you used (what type of rod, type of bait, etc)
• Where did you go?
• All the details about your fishing trip....every good fishing trip has a story
• Pictures, pictures, pictures, pictures, pictures (or videos)
• The type of fish you caught (common name, and scientific name)
• Details about the characteristics of the fish (habitat, etc)

You can only make a 100 if you catch a fish.  You can earn 10 bonus points for kissing your fish

You can go fishing wherever you want, fresh or salt water...Your project is due April 7.

Have fun and good luck!

From One Thing to Another

There is a saying that life is just one thing after another, implying that things just keep piling up, keep happening, and never slows down to let you catch your breath.  This may be true to some extent, but what you do with yourself as those things occur is what makes the difference in how you handle life.  
Are you going to let it overrun you? Just let life keep going while you complain about the pace and the growing complexity of things as all of it passes you by?

Or are you going to be the change? Be the person that evolves into something that has adapted to their surroundings and has the capability to thrive in a variety of systems?  

There is more opportunity available today than ever before to become whatever you want to be.  If you are not taking that opportunity, then you are the organism that felt this whole walking thing and breathing air thing was just a passing fad.  You are an unevolved life-form that is destined to lose its viability and become an afterthought of time.

You can study whatever you want today, whether you go to college or not.  If you don't or can't attend college, so what? Go online and learn for free from a MOOC, teach yourself how to code, just do something to keep yourself learning, to keep yourself changing, and evolve into your next existence.  

I get questions all the time from students who snicker and ask about the TweetChats I participate in and the one I created.  This is something that I do to keep learning from a community of people who I have a shared experience of teaching and coaching.  I am learning something new by reading their thoughts and interacting with them to understand what they do that makes their existence and their contribution to this world amazing.  And by taking in what they say and applying the ideas that I feel will be rewarding to you and to me I am evolving.  I am becoming the teacher, the coach, and the person I want to be.  I am becoming more than what I was.

That is the definition of evolution.  Going from one thing to another.

Adding Value

I recently read a blog from a former football coach concerning his advice for creating opportunity for you in whatever you pursue.  His message was simple.  Add value.  Make each interaction you have with somebody count for something.  Add value.  Whether its applying for college, applying for a job, meeting someone, or even talking to the boy/girl of your (current) dreams do something that separates you from the herd.  Add value.

You add value by bringing the things that make you a spectacular person to each encounter.  Think about the positive characteristics that you and other people love about you and be that person all the time.  

You add value by going the extra mile.  Everybody that applies to college fills out pretty much the same form that you completed.  So do something more to make yours stand out.  Be excellent academically.  With your essay, include a picture of you in that school's t-shirt.  Do more than what everybody else is willing to do, and you will add value to what you bring to the table.

The same goes for adding value to your own life.  Look for opportunities to become better at what you do and who you want to be.  Last week for genius hour I had you find five people who are experts of your topic.  I also had you find a way to contact them.  What are you going to do to make that contact worthwhile?  Add value.  Make them want to engage with you and help you in your pursuits.  

When they do, think about the value that will be added to your life because you began a conversation with someone considered to the best at what they do.  It could be life changing, mind-blowing, or world-rocking! The worst thing that will happen is they say no, or don't reply at all.  That doesn't mean you stop, it means you keep looking for that opportunity to add value to your life.  

I can't wait to see how each of you use genius hour and this opportunity to add value to your life.

New Year, New Beginnings

One of the great things about being a teacher includes the Christmas and New Year's holiday break.  I admit that I do enjoy the opportunity to have this extra time planned in to my work year that I don't have to request off.  I also admit that I use this time for almost entirely selfish reasons so that I may relax and enjoy the time away from my classroom.  I use this time to watch movies, to read, to spend time with my family, and to just sit around and not worry about anything.  My breaks are usually pretty glorious.

The start of the New Year always makes me reflect on my accomplishments and actions from the past year, and what I want to do differently or improve on for the next year.  This year I am proud of the strides and attempts I have made to write more.  Writing is something that I have always felt I could do, but never really put pen to paper and started actually doing it.  If not for discovering the site Medium, I still might be sitting around just thinking about it.  I am always proud of the amount of time and energy I put into being with my family, and I also look for ways to do more with them to be a better father and husband every day.  Of all the things I do, those are the most important to me.

I also reflect on my professional life as an educator to evaluate what I thought went well in my classroom and what crashed and burned.  I have been working with a digital classroom over the past year with varied success and failure.  Whether I thought it was successful and my students thought it was a failure is sometimes a blurred line.  Nevertheless, I do believe that the digital classroom is a positive feature and will continue to look for ways to enhance learning with technology.  I also enjoyed the writing and blogging I introduced to my class this fall, but I do recognize that I need to make it a bigger focus each week and stay committed to writing in class.  

I also had plans to implement a genius hour in class to allow the students the freedom to research and learn about topics that interest them and create something worth sharing with others.  Due to some problems with equipment and such, this plan was delayed.  After looking over the year, this probably couldn't have worked out better for my class.  It takes about a semester to get in a good groove with our aquariums, so the Spring provides more freedom to work with the time provided in class.  Genius Hour will be an activity we do each week in class this Spring.  I cannot wait to see the work my students are able to produce when their mind is given the freedom to wander.  

I look forward to this Spring semester because it gives me this opportunity to alter and enhance my original plans to finish the school year strong.  Everything I do is to (hopefully) benefit my students and help them be successful after leaving my class.  Not many professions give you the opportunity to have a fresh start twice during the year, but the education profession does.  Take advantage of this to learn from your mistakes and build on your successes in order to make the second half of your year the best ever.

Follow through

As I sit here to write this blog my mind wanders as I try to think of something to write about. I made a promise to write something every week. So here I sit, and here I write.  

I have found that I enjoy writing. I began reading essays on Medium and became inspired to dabble in my own. So I started writing a few personal narratives and posting them on Medium. They were terrible. At least I think they were. But the point is I am writing and I feel good doing it. Writing gives me the opportunity to express my feelings and emotions. It allows me to explore the off-beat thoughts floating inside my head. It is my release and it is my creation. 

I have started a list of topics I want to write. I have found that if I don't write them down, I forget what may have been a great idea. There are about six ideas on that list right now.  It does not sound like much, but writing them is taking more time than what it took in the summer.  I plan on getting to all of them. 

In the meantime, I will continue to work on my craft through this blog and my essays, slowly for now.  Who knows, maybe one of you will inspire my next great thought and I will write about it. If that happens, I know it will be my best work yet. 

It's Been a While.....

Sometimes life gets busy.  We get caught up in the rush of everything happening around us and we end up pushing things we know we should do, but seem less important to the wayside.  I understand.  Believe me, I know exactly how it feels.  I haven't posted a blog since October 7.  I promised I would post at least once a week and I let myself get behind.  In order to correct this, I have to make it a point to sit down and write at least once a week.  I have to make it a priority.  Sure, the newest episode of The Walking Dead would be extremely fulfilling to watch at this moment, but it will still be there.  I can always catch up later.  If writing this blog is important to me, then I must put it higher on the list than Netflix (or whatever the current distraction may be). 

This requires a focus on discipline and routine.  Instead of plopping down on the couch and completing my day, I will set a goal to write one day a week.  I'll probably still do this on the couch, it does have a nice, comfy groove for me to settle in to.  But I will sit there with intent.  With purpose.  With the job of writing to you about something topical pertaining to class or whatever happens to take over my thoughts.  

This is my plan.  This is the goal I will work for each week.  My hope for you is to do the same when it comes to the assignments for class.  Be diligent and make time to complete it. We are all in this together.