Players' Gifts

I remember how special it was to receive awards from badminton at the end of the season when I was in high school. This year, the coaches decided to hand out two MVPs, two Coaches Awards, and two Most Dedicated Awards. Additionally, I bought mini-birdies for the girl players and attached them to keychains made with our leftover beads. Here are two for Maria and Emelyn who couldn't make it to the banquet last Friday.

Performance

Congratulations to the dancers for winning first place at the Talent Show. I normally don't post pictures/videos of students. However, this video is heavily backlit and you cannot see the dancers' faces. Enjoy. Music and choreography are inspired by online videos of Kaba Modern.

Varsity Banquet

We had our year end banquet at the Arcadia BJ's, a very nice restaurant which accommodated our large group. We enjoyed a lot of pizzas and poozookies. It was a pleasure handing out awards and gifts to student athletes. It's been a while since we have hung out together. Sadly also, it may be the last time that this same group get to spend quality time together. I hope the players enjoyed the season and our dinner together. Special thanks goes to Coach Kilmer (left), who really is the heart of the program, and to Coach Aldo (right), who provides a wonderful playing environment for the kids.

Show Time!!!

Our first Talent Show turned out to be small and informal. Yet we had a lot of fun. Two Think Together coordinators and one of our beloved campus safety personnels served as judges. The students sang and danced. Brandon's dance crew, which included Brandon, Celeste, Josh, Angel, Temo, and myslef, won the "contest" and received a small prize. I let the kids split the prize; I am just happy that the kids had some fun. Hopefully those who attended enjoyed the acts. Our choerography was mostly based on YouTube videos that we found on a crew called Kaba Modern. They are based from UC Irvine. Below is a snapshot of Brandon and I taking the center stage in our opening piece. I don't normally post students' pictures online. But since these photos are backlit, you really cannot see the dancers faces. Although you should know that the old man with the hat is me. = )

Kaba Routine

After several days of practice, Brandon has taught our small group the entire dance routine for the upcoming talent show. He is one of the captains on the school's dance team, a talented good-nature kid. We are covering some of the routines done by Kaba Modern, who is a dance crew based off of UC Irvine. We are memorized by their creativity and talents from YouTube videos that we found online. The dance routine is three-minutes long, and we're just having some good fun.

Masters Outfit

I wore a loaner hood when I walked with my students during the past few graduations. This year, I will have my own. The green and yellow are Cal Poly's university colors, while the sky blue is from the College of Education and Integrative Studies. I may also wear my honor cords from my undergraduate days. The ceremony will be on June 12th at 8 p.m.

First GHS Dance Showcase

The GHS award winning Dance Team put together a fantastic show on Friday night. The dancers were very talented. One of the routines even featured alumni. It was nice to see the students do what they love. Also, it was uplifting seeing the parents being very supportive. During the last song, the dancers invited members of the audience to join in on the dance floor. Of course, I got suckered in. I hope I won't end up on YouTube, again.

JV Banquet 2011

The JV players had a great time. Coach Kilmer presented awards to the 18 players who came. We also played card games. Frankly, I don't know Mr. Kilmer too well except I know that he like chocolate chip cookies. So I bought him a box of cookies and had players sign a simple card to thank him for a wonderful season.

Teachers Honoring Excellence

I was unable to attend last year's T.H.E. banquet due to my evening graduateclass. I am glad that I went to support two great educators this year. Edna is our school's Teacher of the Year this year; she's an excellent science teacher. Joyce is one of our school's counselors; she is a co-coordinator for Link Crew. It's nice to spend some time with educators outside of campus. Congratulations to both ladies.

Also this week, I had the honor of being invited to our school's prom this Saturday night. For many reasons, I respectfully declined the invitation. I wish the students a fun-filled evening.

Talent Show

To support our school's first Talent Show, I invited a few students on the dance team to join me in doing a hop hop routine. We had our first practice this afternoon. It was very informal as we try to learn several routines that I found on YouTube. I told the kids to just have fun.

Another Clip

This is another good clip on the US education crisis.

Great Teachers

A short animated video from the director of "Waiting for Superman". (Sorry, I don't know the code to stop this video from auto-starting.)

Waiting for Superman

I finally saw this film today. It explains the problems of public education in the US. I feel that this documentary is well made, but I cannot confirm if the information presented is 100% accurate. The film maker frankly admits that he sends his own children to private schools. I applaud the film maker for stating that great teachers make big differences. I encourage you to watch this film and to form your own opinions.

I also notice that the movie poster features a blonde white girl, yet most of the characters in the movie are ethnic minorities (blacks and Hispanics).

Badminton Finals

Our badminton team finished a successful season by making it to the semi-finals this year. As a fan of the sport, I went to watch the finals between the Cerritos (red) and Azusa (blue) teams at Azusa HS on Saturday. Both teams are strong, well-coached, and very skillful. Cerritos won 12-9; congrulations to both teams. In Division I, my high school coach's Diamond Bar team lost to Keppel 12-9 (see also SGV Tribute article). I thoroughly enjoyed watching hours of quality play on Saturday. The players inspired me to play more badminton.

Exam Day

Today was the AP Stats exam day. About 20 of my students took the exam from 12:30p to 4p. During their halftime break, I brought them juice and snack. As they went back into the library for the open-ended section, I picked up Costco pizza for their post-exam early dinner. Whatever the results, I'm glad that I've brought AP Statistics to this campus and to give students an opportunity to learn this wonderful subject.
ASB students made a beautiful poster for the test takers.

Hours Away

At 12:30pm tomorrow, my AP Statistics students will take the first AP Stats exam ever offered at our school. It will be a proud moment for me. I've dreamed of teaching statistics since about a decade ago. It's been an experimental year for both me and the students as we explore this wonderful topic for the first time at this level. I have made plans to deliver snacks to them at the halfway point of the exam. When they have completed the exams at around 4pm, I will serve them pizza from Costco back in our classroom. Good luck, students!

Ten Reasons

From Seth Godin's Blog:

What's high school for?

Perhaps we could endeavor to teach our future the following:

• How to focus intently on a problem until it's solved.
• The benefit of postponing short-term satisfaction in exchange for long-term success.
• How to read critically.
• The power of being able to lead groups of peers without receiving clear delegated authority.
• An understanding of the extraordinary power of the scientific method, in just about any situation or endeavor.
• How to persuasively present ideas in multiple forms, especially in writing and before a group.
• Project management. Self-management and the management of ideas, projects and people.
• Personal finance. Understanding the truth about money and debt and leverage.
• An insatiable desire (and the ability) to learn more. Forever.
• Most of all, the self-reliance that comes from understanding that relentless hard work can be applied to solve problems worth solving.

A Great Season

Our team lost to a very strong Cerritos team, 3-18, at today's CIF semi-finals. The players gave a valiant effort; the Cerritos players were just too well-coached. I am very proud of my team and our accomplishments this year. On paper, we earned 11 individual league medals. As a team, we improved from finishing in the quarter-finals last year to the semi-finals this year. But it is more than that. We've bond a lot this year. After our lost, we still laughed and joked in the huddle. When we got back home, I took 10 of the players to Hometown Buffet and had the best of time. We joked so much that one of our players literally threw up. Good, clean, innocent and genuine quality time spent together.

On to the Semi-Finals

In today's quarter-finals, we defeated Cypress, the team that ended our season in the same round last season. Last year's score was 6-15, we won 13-8 today even though several of our players were sick. The key today was getting to a quick start in mix. Everyone played hard in the humid and hot gym. I'm very proud of my players. Though our co-head-coach Aldo couldn't make it today, I'm sure we made him proud. We expect to face last year's division champions Cerritos in the semi-finals on Thursday.

On To Round Two

Our team played well today. Our players simply had higher skill levels today. Gahr was a good team with a couple of athletic boys. I was especially proud of our girls, who swept all of the games today. The final score was 18-3. Tomorrow, we face Cypress HS. Cypress beat us last year in round two. I think we have a stronger team this year. With home court again, I like our chances.

CIF Playoffs

The badminton post-season starts Monday. While I never stressed winning matches upon my players, I do expect us to advance past the first round. Last year, we lost in the second round to the eventually runner-up Cypress team. Our team will play the winner of Gohr and Redlands East Valley on Monday, and will likely compete against Cypress in the second round. I am proud of our team and hope we can play well this post-season.