More Change Needed

So, at the beginning of May, I took another progress picture.  I don't think I'm going to bother posting it, though, because there really doesn't seem to be much progress.  On the scale, there hasn't been much progress, either.  I'm still sitting at basically the same weight I was a month ago.  However, it does seem like my clothes are looser and I have to tighten my belt more than before, so I'm not too worried but I think I need a little more change.
This time I think I need to change my eating habits at least a little bit.  I've spent a lot of time on various websites trying to figure out how I can best change my diet in a way that I can stick with and that is doable.  I'm not really looking for a "diet" but a change in habit.  What has made the most sense to me, and what I started to slowly implement this week, is what most people have labeled "Paleo" or "Primal."  The basic premise is that about 90% of human existence was before organized agriculture, grain production, and modern food processing.  So our bodies are really designed for consuming "real" food that hasn't been processed and isn't made from grain.  This makes it seem like Atkins or other "low carb" diets on the surface, because we traditionally get most of our carbohydrates from bread and pasta and that stuff is out when you eat Paleo.  It's not the same, though.  You are still getting carbs from vegetables and fruits, you just don't load up with them through grains.  It is a pretty radical change for me, but it makes sense to me, and I've seen lots of people who have had amazing results after beginning to eat this way.  Not to mention, this is basically the way my dad eats, without ever putting name to it and he has maintained  a health weight since he changed his eating habits.
Now, let me be clear.  I haven't gone "strictly Paleo."  I think that idea is kind of funny, anyway, because I don't hunt or gather anything, so I'm never going to be "eating like Grok." (Grok is a caveman.)  What I decided to do (and I've been successful for three days, so far) is eliminate grains and most sugar (I say most, because sometimes I put Coffee Mate French Vanilla in my coffee) from my diet all day until dinner.  At dinner, I may have some bread or pasta or corn, but I'm trying to eat less than I used to, and I've cut out desserts.  So, I've been making eggs for breakfast and I cooked up a bunch of chicken on Sunday that I have been cutting up and eating on salads for lunch.  I still love milk and usually have a glass in the morning and a glass in the evening (most people don't think dairy fits in the Paleo diet) and I still drink one diet coke or diet dr. pepper for lunch (obviously that doesn't fit Paleo), but I'm making some changes.
Maybe it is just my imagination, but I haven't felt as sluggish in the afternoons this week.  I don't feel the need to drink more than my one 16 oz. cup of coffee in the morning and I've been drinking more water.  No matter what, I feel like I am eating healthier and there are bound to be some benefits in that.  If it jump-starts my weight loss, then great, but I'm going to try to keep it up either way, just to know I am being healthier.  If this partial change really does make a difference, I would like to try to take it all the way into my evening meals, as well; but that is a little harder since I am eating with my family.
I'll check back in a couple weeks from now, and let you know how things are going.

Progress

Just wanted to post a quick update on my workout progress. For the last seven weeks I have been following the workouts at Max Capacity Training. These workouts are High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts created to be completed in 16 minutes. The exercises change every day, so if you follow the program you never really do the same workout twice. It has actually been a lot of fun, because it is always something new and I know I just have to push hard for a little bit and then I'm done.

However, if you look at the program you'll see, as you get to weeks 7-9 and 10-12, some of the exercises start to get pretty advanced. I found myself having to modify an exercise each of the first two days this week (week 7), so I've decided to start something different next week. I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going to do, but I'll save that for another post. (Yes, I'm going to try to actually post regularly, finally.) Knowing that I am not going to be continuing this program anyway provided the perfect opportunity for me to repeat the workout from day one to see how I have improved during the last two months.

The workout for day one, and for me today, consisted of squats, push ups, lunges, and planks done in that order, as many as you can in 50 seconds with 10 seconds rest in between for 4 rounds and a total of 16 minutes. I recorded my scores for the first round of exercises and here are the results.

EXERCISE DAY 1 DAY 21 (7 weeks later)

Squats 20 35

Push ups 20 27

Lunges 15 20

Plank 26 sec. 35 sec.

Not bad. I do have to say that I would have hoped for a little more improvement in the plank, but after pushing hard on squats and lunges, my legs felt like the weak link there, not my core. Also, considering the most noticeable difference in my body over this time is the definition in my arms, I kind of thought I would have more improvement in the push ups, but that was averaging less than 2 seconds per push up, so that seems pretty good.

I'll probably try to do this same routine in another 6 or 7 weeks and see what kind of additional progress I've made.

Modesty, Schmodesty

So, with this post, I'm going to do something I kind of never thought I would do. I'm about to post pictures of myself without a shirt on. You have been warned, and you are welcome to turn back now. Of course, I know that my mother-in-law, wife and maybe a cousin or two are probably all that will ever see this post, so I'm not too self conscious about it, but I'm still a little nervous.

Here's the deal: I started working out almost two months ago. I've tried exercising to get back in shape and lose weight several times over the past several years, but nothing has ever really stuck. I tried joining a gym and running, and I never made it more than maybe four weeks with any consistency. This time, I got sick after week one, and that could have derailed me, but I just took the week off and then kept going. So, I'm almost done with week seven of my current workout program, and I feel like I'm actually seeing and feeling some results and more importantly, I want to keep going. This is amazing to me, because in order to fit these workouts in, I have to get up before 6am three days a week, but I really am enjoying pushing myself and working hard for 15-20 minutes every morning. That's it, that's all the time I spend on the actual workout, and I'm still getting results. I love HIIT!

Tomorrow, I am repeating the workout I did on my very first day, so I can compare what I was able to do now to what I did then. That will be the true test of how much I have improved over the past seven weeks of workouts, but there is other evidence of improvement, too.

• I am consistently wearing my belt one notch tighter than before I started. (Today, I realized I could actually go another notch, but it made my pants bunch weird. So I may actually need to go down a size in pants soon.)
• I don't get tired walking down the ten flights of stairs from my office to the parking garage anymore. Yes, I'm ashamed to say it used to be a little tiring even going down.
• I can confidently push Reid up McCall's hill in his stroller without worrying about getting tired and letting him roll down the hill.
• I have lost 10+ pounds. I'm not sure I want to admit where I started, but lets just say I'm 20% to my goal.
• I didn't think to take a "before" picture when I first started, but I took on a couple weeks in on March 1. I took another on April 3. There are no drastic changes, yet, but I can see some definite differences. The biggest difference I notice is the definition in my arms and shoulders. I didn't think to take a picture flexing, but that would probably provide a much more dramatic difference.

Okay, so here is photographic evidence that I referenced a the beginning. Notice the little helper I had in the top two pictures. :)

An entire year!

Wow! It has been an entire year since I wrote anything on this blog. (Thank you Rhonda for pointing that out.) It would seem I simply don't have to much to say in this kind of forum. When I started it almost a year and half ago, I really thought I would have something to say. I thought I would have things to say about school, technology, family, all kinds of stuff.
However, maybe writing those kinds of things on a blog is too hard (or time consuming) for me. I can write short snippets on facebook and have some of my hundred or so "friends" comment on it almost instantly. I can send out 140 characters or less on twitter and know that anyone who has chosen to follow me will see it and a couple might even reply or retweet it. When I write here, not very many people are paying attention, so it really ends up just being for me, and I guess I haven't been very reflective over the past year.
So, I guess I have to figure out if there is really anything for me to say on this blog. I'll get back to you...

In the mean time...what a year it has been!!!

I'll take the physical challenge, Mark

Wow, it has been a long time since I last posted.  I'm sure Rhonda will be happy to see my new post. :)

So, this weekend I decided to take on a couple new challenges.  These are both challenges I have begun before but never completed.  It will actually be my third attempt at one of them.

The first is the "Hundred Pushup Challenge." http://hundredpushups.com/

The goal of this challenge is pretty obvious, I think.  By the end, you should be able to do 100 consecutive pushups.  The challenge website provides workouts for 6+ weeks based on an initial test and periodic checks along the way.  I did the initial test this morning and got 14.  I begin the workouts tomorrow.

The second challenge is "Couch to 5k."  http://www.c25k.com/

Again, the purpose is fairly evident.  I currently spend way too much of my time on the couch, and in nine weeks time I will have worked up being able to complete a 5k run.  I have even found two or three possible runs at the end of July and beginning of August to choose from for my culminating event.  I completed day one of week one today.

I decided to post this to my blog so that the two or three people who read it will continue to ask me how I'm doing over the next 6 to 9 weeks and keep me accountable.  I really want to complete these this time, so help me out by asking how I'm doing from time to time.  Thanks!

Oh, just an interesting side note.  If there are typos in this post, it is because it was written on my Droid, as we currently have no power thanks to a storm.

Why do I teach?

Today, my wife and I spent 5 hours in the car coming back from a concert in Texas. The concert was good, and it was great to see some friends while we were there. Apparently, we left a little too soon after the concert, because one of our friends worked her magic and got to talk with all the members of the band...but I'll save that for another post.
This post is about some of the conversation on that car ride home. As we often do, we eventually got around to talking about teaching and the state of education. As we talked, it occurred to me that my goals for each of my classes are actually very simple. In Geometry, I want them to develop reasoning and logic skills. In Algebra (especially Algebra 2) I want them to develop the ability to think algebraically. In one case, they should be developing concrete thought processes, and in the other, they should be developing their ability for abstract thought. We can break everything down to strands and standards individual concepts, but in the end, this is what I want them to learn. This is why I am there. This is why I teach.
Problem is, it also occurred to me that in very few cases are either of this things happening in these classes. My Geometry students cannot reason their way through a proof, most of of them cannot complete a simple logic puzzle, and I'm too busy teaching probability and odds to spend more than the bare minimum trying to help them develop their reasoning skills. My Algebra 2 students cannot even think abstract enough to be able to open their minds to the idea that i can be a letter AND a number, and when I try to explain that they need to be able to look at things in different ways using binary numbers, all they get out of it is that binary looks easy and we should do that for a grade.
Wow that was a crazy run-on sentence, but the point is this: Maybe for the first time, I was really able to get a strong grasp today of "Why I teach," or the reason for the classes I teach. But, when I start to think about whether this is being accomplished and what is actually in my power to try to fix it, it makes me think even more about "Why do I teach?"

How can we help failing students become successful?

Here's the situation:

About 30 freshman failed the first semester of Algebra 1 in the fall. Those who did not leave the district were moved on and enrolled in a second semester Algebra 1 class. Of these, a few were place in NovaNet to recover the missing half-credit, and the rest were divided up into two "repeat first semester Algebra 1" classes.

What a strange situation for these kids. They failed the first half of the course, so now they are being presented with this material again, while also being taught the second half. In some subjects this might not be too strange, but in math, you typically need to know how to do the first half before you can attempt the second half. Concurrency does not seem to be a viable solution. Yet this is the situation they (and I, since I was chosen to teach one of the repeat classes) are in.

So the question is this:

How do I help them be successful both in my first semester class, as well as in their other second semester class?

I am not completely sure. The problem is, I think I'm a pretty good teacher, but I'm not sure I'm a great teacher, and these kids need a really great teacher. In reflecting on how best to help this class be successful, I typed up some notes. Follow this link to read them.

I just started blogging, so I don't have a lot of content to interest people, but I'm hoping some of you teachers out there have some insight into this situation. If so, please leave comments. I'd love to hear what others think or if there are others out there who have taught in a similar situation.