Video as a Teaching Tool

On a fundamental level, athletic coaches have been using technology to improve student-athlete achievement for years.  Think about video as a teaching tool.  I can share a video clip with my student-athletes, perhaps one that shows our offense attacking a particular defense, and I can pause it, and from that point, I can ask, "At this exact moment, tell the person next to you what each person on defense (and/or offense) is thinking?  And what should he be ready to do?"

I think back to video lectures as a young student-athlete, and as a young coach, and I remember very well nearly falling asleep and watching my athletes fall asleep.

Could this small adjustment to the teaching and learning process change all that?
Could this add to the already doing that is taking place in practice and in the classroom?

I'm left asking myself, how can I make this even better?  And more importantly, how does this apply to the classroom?

I'm excited to see how far this Tech Fellowship develops!

The Digital Learning Coach

I've enjoyed adding new tools to my teacher's tool box over the past 3 years of teaching AP Government and CP Economics at Beckman High School in Irvine, CA.  But this year I aim to take this to a new level.  This year I am embarking on a Tech Fellowship journey, gratefully sponsored by Tustin Unified School District.

Working with my Digital Learning Coach, Crystal Kirch, I hope to enhance my curriculum with new technology tools so that my students (and student-athletes) will start conversations necessary to explore some of the concepts I hope they will learn.

Learn Something New Each Day

I remember reading some years ago about a college student who had taken it upon himself to spend one hour every day learning something new.  Renaissance Man is what they called him!  I remember thinking about how rewarding a life that would be!  But it's not everyone who has time to learn new things every day.

Fortunately for us teachers and coaches, we are immersed in a profession that affords us exactly that!  In fact, a strong argument is made that unless we do learn something new each day, our profession and our students will pass us by.

Repetition: the Mother of All Learning (but not the only way...)

UCLA has won more NCAA titles than any other university.

I'm a believer.  It's the optimist in me; perhaps instilled as a life-long UCLA athletics fan.

I believe there are a number of ways to increase student (and student-athlete) learning.  We all know that repetition is the mother of all, mother of all, mother of all, mother of all, mother of all, mother of all, mother of all learning.  When I think about the things in life that I am best at, certainly I have done these things a lot.  But repetition doesn't have to be the only way.  And in fact, adding tools to my teaching (and coaching) tool chest to create a dynamic and FUN learning experience, I expect will produce even better achievement results.