Why is Sporting KC playing for a championship tonight?

You: Why is Sporting KC playing for a championship tonight?

Let me explain...

You: ...but wait, isn't this a blog about education?

Well, yes. But it's my blog, and it says at the top that I write about soccer sometimes. It just so happens that I haven't written about soccer for about 2 years.

You: OK...

So do you want to know the answer?

You: Not really, but I clicked here already, so I might as well read on...

***

Sporting KC plays for a championship tonight, but you probably didn't hear anything about it on sports radio this morning or read about in the newspaper unless you dug a few pages deep. It's OK. Soccer is still growing here in America.

My dad and I were talking a while back about trying to explain the format of soccer to our friends. If you're an American sports fan, the world of soccer can be very confusing. Take tonight for an example. Sporting KC, sitting in 5th place (the top 6 make the playoffs) in the Western Conference of MLS, are playing in a cup final tonight. Even though the regular season ends in about 4 weeks, they can win a trophy tonight. Here's why:

Soccer is unique from other sports. The Royals play in MLB in America and have no affiliation with the Nippon Professional Baseball League in Japan. Same with the Chiefs in the NFL or the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA. In soccer, SKC plays in MLS, which is a member of the CONCACAF (North America, Central America and Carribean) region, which is a member of FIFA*.


*Yes, the FIFA that keeps having top officials arrested. But Fair Play ya'll.

So think of soccer like a ladder. Winning at one level gets you entry to compete at the next level. When the Royals win the World Series this year, that's it. They get a trophy and a ring and a year of celebration.

When SKC wins tonight, they get entry into the next edition of the CONCACAF Champions League. (You've probably heard of the UEFA Champions League - same concept, except for all the teams in Europe) If they win the CONCACAF Champions League, they get entry into the FIFA Club World Cup, where they'll play the winning team from every region all over the world. If you win the FIFA Club World Cup, you get the title of best team in the world for a year.

You: Get on with it...

OK, sorry. So tonight SKC plays for the US Open Cup Championship. It is the oldest tournament in America and is open to any team, professional or amateur, in the US. When you think about it, that's pretty cool. A local KC amateur team made it to the 2nd round before losing out. SKC entered in the 4th round against 3rd division team, St. Louis FC.

You: So they play a separate tournament during the regular season? That's weird.

Well, that's weird unless you think it's awesome. Soccer people tend to think it's awesome. Haven't you ever wondered about those questions of whether Kentucky's basketball team would beat the worst NBA team? This tournament lets soccer fans in the US get to see those kinds of games. In theory, a rec team that plays down the road could go on a magical run, win the US Open Cup and represent the US at the CONCACAF Champions League. That's pretty cool.  

You: So let's say SKC wins tonight, the-

SKC is going to win.

You: Right, right. When SKC wins tonight, then they win the US Open Cup? 

Yes.

You: And they still get to finish the regular season and try to win MLS Cup in December?

Yup.

You: How do you know who the best team in the league is? Isn't that the point of the playoffs?

SKC lifting the US Open Cup trophy at Sporting Park in 2012
See, that's where soccer folks around the world disagree. Most soccer leagues give their championship to the team with the best record during the regular season. MLS does this too - it's called the Supporters Shield.* American soccer is not totally unique in having a playoff at the end of the season, but a lot of soccer leagues around the world do not have an end-of-season playoff. They would argue that the championship should go to the best team over the course of the entire season, not the team that gets hot during the playoffs.

It's got a pretty cool story too. Read it here

The important piece to remember is that teams in MLS are always trying to make it into the CONCACAF Champions League. It's more prestigious because you're playing better teams. The payout to the winner gets bigger each and every year. It's becoming increasingly important to MLS teams, but no MLS team has won CONCACAF Champions League in its current form. SKC would like to be that first team. That journey takes one more step in the US Open Cup Championship tonight.




Thanks for reading this blog! I hope you'll consider taking a moment to comment below and turn this into a conversation. Whether you are an educator or not, we have all had common experiences with education both good and bad. I want to hear what you think! 

About Me:
My name is Alec Chambers. I am a high school history and government teacher at a small, urban public school in Kansas City called Center High School. We regularly kick tail. Among many awards, we were named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2014. I don't just teach at Center- I also graduated from Center in 2006 after attending Center Schools K-12. I have a degree in Political Science, a second degree in International Relations, a third degree in Education and a Master's of Arts in Teaching. I have an unofficial degree is soccer. All of those degrees have led me to the high-paying teaching profession! I have a newborn daughter and am married to the most awesome woman on the planet. Seriously. It's a proven fact.

Follow me on Twitter
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The Case for Using Twitter

I'm in somewhat of a transition in my teaching career. With a brand new daughter in tow, I have less time and even less motivation to do a lot of the activities that I've blogged about over the past two years. My monthly movie nights are on a hiatus for at least this year, if not longer. I have spent very little time volunteering with the soccer team. And so far I've only posted to this blog a few times in the first seven weeks of the school year. I'm well off my normal weekly pace!

While part of this is because I have less time to do the things I have to do, the other part is because I have something new that I want to do with my time - chill with the kid. While I still think that something like a monthly movie night is good for the kids, I just don't have as big of an inclination to spend my time in this way. I think that will change as the wife returns to work herself and as the kid(s???) get old enough to tag along with me.

All this is to get around to the point of this post - Twitter. More specifically, why of all the extra bits that have fallen by the wayside during the first four and a half months of my daughter's life, Twitter is not one of those bits.

Reason #1: Time
Twitter is extremely quick and easy. It is also very fluid. By that, I mean that a teacher is able to spend a few minutes one night on Twitter and fight it positive and useful, then choose not to touch Twitter for two weeks, then immediately find it useful again. There is a common refrain that anything that is worthwhile on Twitter will get repeated over and over again. I find this to be true, although I'm sure there are exceptions.

Check out this piece on how to master Twitter in about 5 hours.

While you may not find the hidden gems of Twitter this way, there is still plenty to be found. Such as...


Reason #2: Diversity
I have been very lucky to grow up in a quality urban school district. I have known a greater amount of racial and socio-economic diversity than many of my peers, and I think I'm a better and more well-rounded thinker because of this fact. It is, for example, hard to hold irrational prejudices against the black community when you know so many awesome black people.

For those who have never been able to expand their world-view, Twitter can help you experience "the other". While this experience is not necessarily the most comfortable in the world, oh my is it important. As a history teacher, that is my goal every day - to get my students to put themselves in the shoes of "the other", whether that "other is a person that lived 500 years ago or a person in 2015 of a different race.

Reason #3: Positivity
Again, there are exceptions. But by and large, teachers who spend time on Twitter are a more positive group. It's a pretty simple theory as to why this is - any teacher willing to spend extra time and effort on Twitter probably has a more positive outlook on their job, their students and their work environment. Teachers on Twitter are well aware of the issues that education faces, especially in the public education sphere.

There seems to be a "make lemonade when life gives you lemons" attitude among the educators on Twitter. I like that attitude. I try to have that attitude myself. From my experience, the best educators I have ever known have this attitude. Speaking of...

Reason #4: Togetherness
Beth Heide was my government teacher when I was a student at Center. She then hired me in 2010 right out of college without a degree in education. I was motivated, all-in to what she was selling and ready to help. She put her trust in me. I love reading her thoughts.

Sarah Foster is the gifted English teacher at Center and does some truly amazing things with writing and literature. We started teaching the same year. I get a lot of ideas about teaching reading and writing from her tweets.

Colleen McLain is our wonderful tech goddess at Center. She has mentored me through countless tech issues relating to tech stuff. She also thinks about tech through an educational lens, which I absolutely love. She thinks big picture.


Jessica Steffes teaches at Center Middle School and is a lot quicker to experiment than I am.
Tyler Shannon is the Principal at one of our elementary schools and models data-driven education.

Chrissy Chandler involves students in problem solving through robotics in ways that I could not even dream of.

And those are just Center teachers. I could go on and on about the communities that exist outside of our district walls! The entire #moedchat community and #KCedu community provides examples of incredible teaching in Missouri at large and Kansas City more specifically.

All of these people are like fuel for my teaching fire. When my fire starts to dim, I know that I can find and borrow fuel from countless others in my community. When I'm burning bright, others have the ability to borrow fuel from me. It is a larger version of what happens when you are in a particularly close-knit department where each educator feeds off of the next.

***

And that is what Twitter can do. It can connect the disconnected. It can take a teacher working in the most dreary, bleak situation and connect her to others who are living (and hopefully thriving through) the same struggle. From those others, we are able to find strength and passion. That is how community works. We, as humans, need that community. Though online can never replace face-to-face interaction, Twitter provides a worthwhile substitute when face-to-face is too time consuming or unrealistic to achieve.

Thanks for reading this blog! I hope you'll consider taking a moment to comment below and turn this into a conversation. Whether you are an educator or not, we have all had common experiences with education both good and bad. I want to hear what you think! 

About Me:
My name is Alec Chambers. I am a high school history and government teacher at a small, urban public school in Kansas City called Center High School. We regularly kick tail. Among many awards, we were named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2014. I don't just teach at Center- I also graduated from Center in 2006 after attending Center Schools K-12. I have a degree in Political Science, a second degree in International Relations, a third degree in Education and a Master's of Arts in Teaching. I have an unofficial degree is soccer. All of those degrees have led me to the high-paying teaching profession! I have a newborn daughter and am married to the most awesome woman on the planet. Seriously. It's a proven fact.

Follow me on Twitter
Follow me on Google

EOYC

I normally write in this space about education. In a lot of ways, this post fits right in to those other posts. There's a group that I work with called EOYC - that stands for Eastern Orthodox Youth Camps. You can read more about the organization here. If you didn't click the link, the 20-second recap is that we put on a yearly camp for Orthodox Christian youth, mostly from the midwest (although we've had some friends from the coasts). I went to EOYC for the first time in 1998 when I was 11. I haven't missed a year since.

EOYC celebrated its 50th Anniversary this year. If you know any about the early years of camp - and why would you? - then you're aware what a miracle it is that we made it to our 50th birthday. I could name drop a dozen people, without whom EOYC probably wouldn't have made it through. For you, dear reader, that would likely be quite pointless. You probably didn't know that EOYC was a thing 5 minutes ago!

So a history of EOYC is not what I'm here for. It's a fascinating history and if you want to hear it I can introduce you to a wonderful woman named Stacie. What I'm more interested in is how we teach for the whole person. EOYC is, among other things, a great community to be a part of. I have some of my closest friends in this community and some of my most trusted mentors.

That gets me thinking about my classroom because, well, that's kind of what I do.

Am I anyone's most trusted mentor?

Am I anyone's friend that they can talk to when they are in need?

Am I teaching anything other that history? Than government and civics? Than reading and writing?

These are all important things. I want to teach students about historical trends. I want students to know the branches of government and how they can have an active and effective civic life. I want students to be able to communicate their opinions and feelings through writing and oratory. I want all of these things.

When I think about my EOYC family, I think about the whole person. At EOYC, we are focused on helping our youth become better people. It's deeply challenging and it's incredibly fulfilling. On days (like yesterday) when I come home to my beautiful little daughter and feel like I've done absolutely nothing with my day, I start to ask myself the questions above. And I start to wonder.

It's good to be reminded that we are here to teach the whole person. If kids leave my class having acquired knowledge but not having grown in their sense of how to use that knowledge for good, then I haven't been a successful teacher.

As I continue to figure out how to teach with a new baby, this balance is especially important. I find myself wanting to leave school more quickly when the bell rings. And I don't think that's wrong, but I do think that if I forget care about and spend time on the human element of my students, then I'm more likely to burn out of this career.

And damnit, I have LOVED teaching my first five years. I wrote about balance a little while back, and I think this is just the next step in finding that balance. You parents out there, I'd love some advice!

Thanks for reading this blog! I hope you'll consider taking a moment to comment below and turn this into a conversation. Whether you are an educator or not, we have all had common experiences with education both good and bad. I want to hear what you think! 

About Me:
My name is Alec Chambers. I am a high school history and government teacher at a small, urban public school in Kansas City called Center High School. We regularly kick tail. Among many awards, we were named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2014. I don't just teach at Center- I also graduated from Center in 2006 after attending Center Schools K-12. I have a degree in Political Science, a second degree in International Relations, a third degree in Education and a Master's of Arts in Teaching. I have an unofficial degree is soccer. All of those degrees have led me to the high-paying teaching profession! I have a newborn daughter and am married to the most awesome woman on the planet. Seriously. It's a proven fact.

Follow me on Twitter
Follow me on Google

MAKE THEM THINK!

I've got a big push in my classroom this year - I want my students to be the center of learning. The whole sage on a stage and guide on the side concept doesn't quite get it for me. I want to do more than just guide students in a direction. I want to be a sage on the side and mix the two ideas into one. I've become more comfortable with the fact that I know more about history than my students do. It's true. It should be true. I've been studying it for at least a decade longer than they have.

So I want to embrace my role as master of inspiration. I want to unleash curiosity in students. I want to spark interest by bringing up facts and stories that they would not have found in a simple Google search. I do not want to become replaceable. I want the opposite. I want the students to feel that I bring immense value to the class.

But I don't want them to necessarily realize all of that value until they're grown up and gone from my classroom.

I think that what I want to develop is independence. High school students, even the 9th graders, are relatively close to entering the adult world. Many of them will go to college or trade school. Some of them will immediately enter the workforce. All of them, at least in theory, will have learned the skills necessary to become independent, contributing members to society.

In class, we talk a lot about meta-cognition, which basically is the habit of thinking about your own thoughts. When you ask a student to think before they speak, you are asking that they develop their meta-cognitive abilities. These are difficult to develop, and we as teachers are often frustrated by the lack of meta-cognition that our students possess. Yet if you're like me, you've spent a relatively small amount of time thinking about how your teaching processes do (or do not) develop meta-cognitive skills.

So what do we do?

How do we teach thinking in a world full of standardized tests that, for the most part, don't value thinking at a particularly high level?

***

The answer, as is often the case, I think is in the little things. Here are three strategies that I use to increase student independence without minimizing my role in the classroom. 

1. Daily Calendar
I use Google Slides to keep a daily agenda. It is posted on the classroom website. Many of the students have the page bookmarked. It is posted on the board when students walk in each day. This strategy is like the home-base in which I house all of my other independent thinking strategies. 

The calendar fosters independence and problem solving. When a student asks "What did we do yesterday?" I can now remind them to check their calendar rather than walking them through a step-by-step review of what they have missed.

Check out the daily agenda or click through the embedded file below:


2. Instructions 2.0
This one seems, and is, pretty simple. However, there are lots of educators who chafe at the idea of giving students too much guidance or "doing it for them".  It's like buying a piece of furniture at IKEA. Why do people love IKEA? It's not because their furniture is so much higher in quality than Wal-Mart or Target. It's because the instructions are so damn immaculate!

It should be the same when my students begin a project. They should have all of the instructions, rubrics, steps and requirements in front of them at the very beginning. If a student has a desire to work ahead, let them! That is how you keep students from being bored out of their minds in your class. We talk about differentiating for students who struggle all the time. This is a simple change in mindset that differentiates for our higher achieving students.

3. Tutorials
The last part is the 21st Century Learner piece.* Students will be learning from video tutorials their entire educational lives, so the least I can do is make as many of my own as I have time to make so that they are as personalized as possible.

*I hate that phrase.

I'll write later on how to make these, but there are a bunch of easy-to-use tools out there: Movenote, ScreenCast-O-Matic, CamStudio, SmartRecorder (if you have Smart Boards at your school) and more. Find one that fits your style, buy a $10 mic and record away. Also consider making a YouTube channel of your own. It gives you a quick, easy to use place to house your videos.

Here's an example that I made for the instructions from Step 2. It took a total of 8 minutes for me to create, upload to YouTube and link into my instructions. Not bad for a teacher short on time.


***

Thanks for reading this blog! I hope you'll consider taking a moment to comment below and turn this into a conversation. Whether you are an educator or not, we have all had common experiences with education both good and bad. I want to hear what you think! 

About Me:
My name is Alec Chambers. I am a high school history and government teacher at a small, urban public school in Kansas City called Center High School. We regularly kick tail. Among many awards, we were named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2014. I don't just teach at Center- I also graduated from Center in 2006 after attending Center Schools K-12. I have a degree in Political Science, a second degree in International Relations, a third degree in Education and a Master's of Arts in Teaching. I have an unofficial degree is soccer. All of those degrees have led me to the high-paying teaching profession! I have a newborn daughter and am married to the most awesome woman on the planet. Seriously. It's a proven fact.

Follow me on Twitter
Follow me on Google