Our oldest child Alex is cruising through his undergraduate experience like he was made for the moment. This summer he has had a great internship experience with Nicholson Construction.
http://www.nicholsonconstruction.com/
When the spring semester was winding down he would communicate to us the opportunities he came to find through various job fairs at Michigan State University. We were pretty happy to find that he had three offers for summer internships. He chose the offer from Nicholson and immediately headed off to their offices in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The only down side for me was selfishly I was looking forward to having him home for the summer... to balance out the load of all women in our household... and me.
Julia is just coming off a great summer in Lake Orion, Michigan... where the motto is "Where living is a vacation...". This area has so much to offer in the way of recreational opportunities that it's really your own fault if your bored. I am glad that she has such a nice circle of friends that are so generous with their families, homes, boats and other water toys. She worked this summer at Kruse and Muir on the Lake in Lake Orion. One of our favorites for sure. I take great pleasure in having dinner there when she is hosting. We always have a great time and leave secret messages for her on the paper table cover in crayon. She will be heading off to her first year of college and going to mom n dad's alma mater... CMU. Actually... here room assignment is in the same dorm her mom lived in a few years ago... and my retired school teacher neighbor Carol Madison also lived there before her. So... I know she will make the most of it.
https://www.cmich.edu/Pages/default.aspx
So what got me thinking about my youthful days was the experience of watching my own kids summer activities. My first love was the round ball. We spent hours on the driveway in the "city of neatly groomed lawns" of Sterling Heights. Certainly a civil engineers dream come true... homes spread out neatly among neighborhood schools. We walked a block to elementary school, a block to Junior High School and of course drove to High School even though it was two blocks away. Living in the mean streets....;)
Camp for me was basketball camp which I enjoyed immensely. I never really appreciated all the work that my coaches and teachers put into providing these opportunities until years later when I started my teaching career. I think teachers are unfairly criticised and under appreciated for all they do. From the outside looking in the layman will say the 7:30 to 3:00 schedule, weekends off, holidays, snow days, summer vacation, health insurance, retirement and dental is over the top. My suggestion is to hold judgment and better yet take time to experience it all yourself if you can. Take on a substitute teacher or volunteer in your own kids class and you will have a different perspective.
My first "real" job out of college was working as a substitute teacher. Graduating in December does not lend itself to falling into a full time teaching gig. And so each morning I waited for a 5 am call to line up a job for the day. The upside to this is you don't have any lessons to plan, papers to correct, records to keep and so on. It is kind of an assumption that you're there to keep things under control... crowd control to a certain degree.
I enjoyed this time immensely since every day was a new adventure and if things weren't working on Monday... then by Friday you'd have a whole new experience. The secret to enjoying this experience is to jump in... follow the lesson (assuming one is left), try make an impression by teaching something of value... and move on. On those occasions when no useful lesson was left I kept an emergency file with me at all times. This was a short list of activities or discussion topics designed to make the time spent effective. One of my favorites was a simple and easy to repeat challenge to stretch and maximize results . This one was about getting kids to understand how you can effect the outcome (grades, time spent in school) through just a little extra effort or push. The exercise is simple and you can do it right now. First, take your arm and simply put it into the air. Which one did you put up? Left or right? It is likely the one you are most comfortable with. Now put it down and put up the other. Is it the same feeling? Or does it seem a little uncomfortable? Perhaps just a little out of sort but certainly not painful.
Jump to the interpretive lesson. The first arm up is your life as it is in the moment. It is what we do every day without thought. Believe it or not we are pre-programed. Brush your teeth with your right or left? Up and down or back and forth? Step into your pants right foot first or left? Do you shave right side or left first? You get my point? Let's try and get out of our comfort zone. What can happen with the outcome if we just reach up a little higher? Try it now. Reach up higher... just a little stretch. Now I am not talking about popping your arm out of the socket. Move to a zone you don't normally live in every day. What can happen to change the outcome if you can stay in this zone for just a short while each day?
As a parent and teacher I always noted what I called "the learning position". Are you in a "learning position"? Slumped down in a chair or laying on the sofa. Is that a "learning position"? Sure it is comfortable and a relaxed position... but not what I would describe as a learning posture. So one simple thing I would try to encourage for my kids would be sitting in an upright position, on a firm/comfortable chair. Not sprawled out on a comfortable sofa but locked into a slot... the "learning position". It's a little uncomfortable... but certainly an effective way to begin your lesson... assuming you want to learn. My point... it is a real life example of reaching up a little higher to gain a more favorable result.
Back to my youthful memories and I am thinking about my passion of basketball. One idea that seemed to make sense to me was that for me to be best prepared to compete at the highest level I would need to work on my conditioning. This started with my 9th grade basketball coach, Bill Tack. He was encouraging... maybe demanding that I come out for spring track and field. It worked for him... so surely it would work for me. Like all who are introduced to the sport of track and field it all starts with conditioning through running. And so running we did. After the first week I found myself thinking... this is "uncomfortable" to me and so one day I just decided not to come back to practice. I walked home from school that day... honestly feeling a little guilty... and did what was comfortable to me. Grabbed a snack, turned on the TV and took the position on the comfortable sofa. I think my mom was upstairs doing some house work and no one else was around. All of the sudden... a knock came on the front door.... a rather loud knock. To my complete shock... it was my coach who had somehow been tipped off that I had decided to drop out of track. Now the details from here are a little foggy... but somehow he was in my house standing over me while I sat there on the comfy couch with the comfy snack... and he pretty much said "Your not quitting on me...get up... let's go... ". Holy cow... I couldn't believe what was happening. I didn't realize it or appreciate it in the moment. He really cared about what he was doing and cared enough about me to confront the issue.
Looking back on this experience... I would call it a "defining moment". Bill Tack cared so much about me that he left his practice to hunt me down. Guess who was back at track and field practice the next day? Bill knew I was not a big fan of running yet he knew it was best for me and my goals to be a better conditioned basketball player. He was so understanding that he introduced me to the obscure sport he thought might suit me better. High jumping. He still placed me in running events at every meet. The 1/2 mile... basically two times around the track all out. Also, a team version of this in a 4 person relay. I loved high jumping from the first attempt. It's just you against gravity. And... the added bonus of landing into a giant soft spongy like mat. Kind of the ultimate compromise of my comfortable position on the sofa and competing in track and field.
Now as a freshman we attended Junior High which kept us out of the high school environment for the year. We held our track events at the local high school while working around the upperclassmen schedule. On occasion I would get a chance to watch what the big boys were doing. One day I was lucky to see what I thought was an amazing display of competition at the highest level. Our high school senior high jumper's were squaring off with a team from across town who had a pretty talented jumper.
For those who may not know the rules and how the competition work's... each jumper is allowed to enter the match at their own determined starting height. At my novice Junior High level that meant we usually started into the event by jumping just below 5 feet. Each jumper has three attempts at the presented height. If you clear the bar then you move on the the next adjusted height. The bar is typically raised by one inch and then eventually adjusted by 1/2 inch in later rounds. These high school guys were high flyer's and were just getting into the match in the range of 6 ft 6 inches. This was like almost no effort at all for these guys. A smooth marked off entrance and a nice foot plant leading to a "flop" over the bar. As a kid I remember watching the summer Olympics and watching Bruce Jenner compete in the decathlon. High jump is one of the events in this competition and Bruce was pretty good. But the real US Olympic high jumper was Dwight Stones. It always amazed me to watch these world class jumpers easily clearing 7 ft 6 inches with timing, grace, and agility. Think about that for a minute. Stand up and locate a door way in your home. The standard opening is something like 6 ft 8 inches. The very best at that time in the world were doing 7ft 6 inches and pushing higher in that era.
Back to the cross town rivals jump off. These guys pushed each other jump for jump and it didn't take long for the field to thin down to just two... the two best jumpers in the county for sure. So on it went... jump for jump...until it came down to the third attempt at 6 ft 10 inches. Once last change... and... they both nailed it. Up another 1/2" and so it went until the bar reached the then "Holy Grail" mark of 7 foot. This was amazing for me and had all of us spell bound with the drama unfolding before us. These guys were doing serious individual acts of athleticism. It's a mapped out plan of attack against yourself, your opponent, and of course... gravity. Always fighting the G....!
http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/07/20/2012/getting-high-physics-of-the-fosbury-flop.html
Fast forward to my high school track and field high jumping experience. I knew I was no high flyer like they guys who were flirting with 7 foot mark. It came down to this simple self evaluation. I was happy to have developed enough "hops" to dunk a basketball on a regulation basket. My goal was to win points for my team and compete at a level just above my own height. Jumping my height of 6' 4 " became the acceptable standard for me. Most meets I competed in usually ended up with pretty favorable results. I was pretty consistent in points for my team by winning or placing in the top 1 or 2 positions in my event. Truth be told I always struggled with my goal of clearing my height of 6' 4".
Now for the moral of this story. One day we were competing I think in Port Huron and a multi team event. Like in many track and field events you eventually get to know your competitors pretty well. You see them and compete with them all season. In the end you end up kind of pushing each other and then encouraging each other to higher heights. On this day I was feeling good and cruising through the entry level jumps. Soon enough I found myself in front of my elusive height of 6' 4". My competitor buddy from Gross Pointe South felt confident that I would clear it. The moment seemed right... the day was perfect, no wind and I was feeling strong. Then just to add some pressure I noticed my coach, Jim Meyer appear to watch my attempt. Jim was a very postive guy and dedicated to track and field. I didn't want to dissapoiont anyone least myself. I walked through my series of steps leading up to my plant spot for my left foot. Although I did not have a "high jumping shoe" which is a special shoe that is designed with a flatter bottom with slightly larger spikes for a surer grip at launch.
I took a couple of deep breaths and gathered my final thoughts. I remember seeing Jim near the landing mat and so I took my first stride toward the launch point. Heading off in a "J" shaped angle of attack I
found myself completely in "the moment" or "the zone". I could only hear my breathing and the sound of my metal spikes against the soft ashphalt approach. When I finally reached the point for my left foot plant all seemed good to go for launch.
Now the teaching moment...
The left foot plant went down and then the next phase of bringing in a compression like knee bend. This is where the power comes from to propel you upward and over. It is the key to the transfer of energy taking place in the jump sequence. This time something different was happening. I can tell you at that spit second I will discribe what was happening as "uncomfortable". I found myself compressing or almost collapsing toward the ground. The feeling of failure filled me at that moment as I was almost sure to fall into a heap on the ground. This was completey new territory and all the warning lights and alarm bells were flashing... abort... abort the misson.
It was too late for that now and all I could do was let things go. At that last second or breaking point I felt a release as my leg began the long spring-like uncoiling of energy. The tranfer was underway. The uncoiling propelled me upward in a trajectory I never felt before. It was new territory for me and all I could do at this point was enjoy the ride. It was late in the afternoon and I remember the warm setting sun as I soared over the bar. Everything about this jump was "uncomfortable" as now my usual flat line move over the bar was replaced with a back bending arch. I was in a position I had always visualized in my training for high jump. I was "Bruce Jenner" on the Wheatises box. I was "Dwight Stones" winning Olypic Gold. I was Buzz Light Year before there was a Buzz Light Year. I couldn't believe it. Not only did I clear my stated goal of 6' 4" but I had cleared it by 4 or 5 inches according to my coach.
The moral to this story is simple. By putting myself into that "uncomfortable" position I was able to reach my personal best in that moment. Most satisfying off all was that I was able to celebrate that moment with my coach who likely represented the catilyst in that moment to get to a higher place. In baseball pithcing I hear about "the arm slot". In golf I hear about the "sweet spot". In basketball it is referred to as being "In the Zone". It's a magical place where all your training, education, and preperation comes together for just a short time. "The Moment".
Now the back story. After clearing the bar I found myself in the position of being the only jumper left in the event. All the other's had failed to clear anything up to that point. I was ready to pack it in and go home. But that's not how things work. The cranked the bar up another inch and gave me three opporunities to go higher yet. As an adult this sounds all to familar to me. Another teaching moment? In my professional career we have celebrated many "victories" and jumped over the bar... finished strong. But... life... just like high jumping... is always asking for a little more. Good job Don... now what are you going to do for me this year?
I attempted 6' 5" and faulted out after three attepts. A good day? NO... a GREAT DAY!
CAN FLY!
The Value of g
In Unit 2 of The Physics Classroom, an equation was given for determining the force of gravity (Fgrav) with which an object of mass m was attracted to the earth
Now in this unit, a second equation has been introduced for calculating the force of gravity with which an object is attracted to the earth.
where d represents the distance from the center of the object to the center of the earth.
* This last click goes out to Mr. Wright from Orion Oaks Elementary School in Lake Orion, Michigan.
He was my son Alex's 5th grade teacher and completed his first year of teaching that year. I saw Mr. Wright as me in reverse. He had been in a banking career and transformed himself into a new commodity... a great 5th grade teacher. I was a new middle school math and science teacher transformed into a business owner of an insurance company in north Oakland County. He taught this message to his students and I am sure still does a today. Can Fly!
