Inspiration For Longevity

 This is a water shot from the East Garden by the Imperial Palace. I love the challenge of shooting water! Speaking of challenges, who ever said that volunteering is easy???? I would like to explore that topic in some detail. According to many studies I have seen, community involvement is one of the best things we can do to keep ourselves healthy and young. One of the best ways to be involved with the community is to volunteer. If only it were that simple! One of the challenges related to volunteering is tied to the organization itself. How well run is the organization? How well qualified are the staff members? How is the quality of the work done by the organization? Is the organization respected in the community and in the related field?  It gets even more interesting when the volunteer has more experience than the staff members of the organization. Are the staff members willing to learn from the volunteer and are they willing to take advantage of the experiences and wisdom o...

  Yet another nice shot from the Jindai Botanical Garden! It was requested that I have a "Subscribe" option so people will know when I have done an update. Ask and you shall receive! I believe it is done! You should now see a "Subscribe" option on the home page of this blog. Please let me know if it does not work! The question was asked about how I could be doing interval training when my back is sore. Here is my response. The back is an interesting part of the body. Fortunately, this back injury was muscle related. Those muscles are much better now. However, for the first week, they were very stiff, especially after sitting. Despite this, with a careful 20 minute walking warm-up, I have been able to loosen up those muscles so that I can run at a decent pace. The other thing is that those back muscles have responded very well to the stair running movement. As a result, I have been able to do that movement at full speed. There is actually a name for this kind of work...

  More lillies from the Jindai Botanical Garden. Ah, the simplicity of this kind of beauty. If only life could always be so simple! I remember a comment my mom once made to me. "Bob, you are just like your father. You always have to make life so difficult!" Just when I thought that maybe I was invincible, I threw out my back. So much for invincibility! I had been sitting in the car for an hour or so. I got out of the car and mistakenly lifted a box full of lemonade bottles in an awkward way. I immediately felt that twinge in my back; that is always a bad sign. Sure enough, within an hour or so, I was stiff as a board!  It is now just over a week later. My back is much better, although it still gets stiff when I am sitting. I have set a new world record for the number of stretches performed in a week! Fortunately, with plenty of warm-up time, I have been able to continue running and cycling and swimming and strength training and tennis.  I have started my job at the Americ...

  These are more gorgeous lilies from the Jindai Botanical Garden. I never get tired of admiring nature's beauty! I got the job! The job is a half-time special education support position at the American School, an English speaking private school that is one mile from our house. I will be working every other day. One week I will work Monday and Wednesday and Friday. The next week I will work Tuesday and Thursday. Nice schedule! I will be working one on one with a 10th grade student who has struggled in school. I am excited about this opportunity as I will really be focusing on instruction to help this student be successful. The student will be in a combination of regular education classes and support/skills classes. My job will be to monitor the classes and instruction and then to make modifications, as necessary.  Another person will be the student's case manager. so I will not be doing all of the case management paperwork. I will be focusing on what is happening in the studen...

  This is another shot from the Ninomaru Garden. The sun sets so much earlier here! For example, for today, August 17th, the sun sets at 6:29pm. I would like to talk about a very complex topic, that of motivation. As teachers, we are constantly challenged with how to motivate our students. Here we go!  I just purchased the Kindle version of a very insightful resource, Meeting Students Where They Live, by Richard Curwin. Some information from that book is included below. KEY COMPONENTS OF MOTIVATION Give students choices.  Students will oftentimes be more motivated when they are given a choice. Give the students some degree of control. I remember reading that one of the best ways to help a student deal with anxiety is to give the student as much control as possible. If possible, get input from the students with regards to the topic, the teaching approach, activities, and assessments.  Many of us are motivated by the opportunity to complete a task successfully.  I...

  Here are some additional shots of the Nijubashi Bridge and the Watchtower behind the bridge. These were all taken in the morning, so the sun was at my back. Nice lighting! I have a second meeting with the American School this Friday, August 18th. Time for more reflections! I would like to talk about a balanced approach to teaching. I think such an approach includes the following. My mission My mission is to contribute to the well being of our planet and its inhabitants. This mission statement can help drive my thoughts and actions. Collaboration Parents Teachers The student I think it is very important that we value the input from the student. Other staff members "Two heads are better than one." I think this is so true when it comes to working with students. Each person or group has a different perspective and has different contributions to make.  Looking forward As students move through high school, I think it is very important to consider the student's future. What do...

  More shots from the Jindai Botanical Garden. Gotta love those Lillies!  My topic for today is exercise intensity. Over the last several years, I have seen a number of articles that talk about the benefits of vigorous exercise. I would like to cover that topic in some detail. PLEASE USE CAUTION WHEN INCREASING YOUR  EXERCISE INTENSITY LEVEL! Start slowly and increase your intensity level gradually. Please check with your doctor with questions and concerns. It can also be beneficial to get help from a personal trainer, especially at the beginning.  "Pre-exercise screening is used to identify people with medical conditions that may put them at a higher risk of experiencing a health problem during physical activity. It is a filter or ‘safety net’ to help decide if the potential benefits of exercise outweigh the risks for you." The information I am going to provide is from the following sites. 1)     Exercise intensity a.  ...

  These are all pictures from the same sites close to the Imperial Palace. Unfortunately, I was not able to photograph the Imperial Place itself, because that area was closed to the public. Although I have enjoyed my Japan experience so far, it has been a sweaty experience! The current temperature is 83 degrees, but the humidity is 81% and the Dew Point is 76 degrees. Ouch!   I have been running about 2.5 miles every morning in the Sengenyama Park, a park just a half mile from our house. It is a wonderful run in the woods, with several steep but short hills that lead to the top of the park. I have been timing one of this hills, a short sprint that includes a number of steps. This morning I ran my best time of 61 seconds. Progress! When I got back from my run, I thought I would put my body to the test with my Tanita scale. This is a cool scale that measures weight, body fat, and a number of other physical characteristics. After turning it on, I raise the handles and then t...

  These pictures were all taken near the Imperial Palace, the Tokyo residence for the Japanese royal family. The bridge is the Nijubashi Bridge. The garden shot was taken in the Ninomaru Garden. I will be sharing a lot of photos from these gorgeous sites as I took almost 1400 photos in one and a half days! Photography heaven! I took and used all of my professional gear. Including my water bottle and tripod, I hauled around about 30 pounds worth of gear. In the 95 degree heat, it was definitely a challenging workout! What was also challenging was my first solo excursion around Tokyo. I was able to get from our motel to the bridge with no problems. However, such was not the case for the trip back to the motel! I guess the spirits decided I needed more exercise as I proceeded to walk for six miles when the trip should have been just over a mile!  Unbeknownst to me, there was some glitch with the address Setsuko texted to me. Basically, I walked in circles for two hours! However, ...

   I have to say that I am blown away by this process. It is amazing to me that we can take and edit photos ourselves, keep using the same memory card over and over again, make mind-blowing changes to the photos, and then easily share those photos with anyone and everyone. What a world we live in! Given that my interview with the American School is today, I have been reflecting on effective teaching practices that I have learned or have been exposed to over the years. Below is a summary of some of those practices. My teacher refuses to go ahead with lessons until she is absolutely sure that everyone gets it. It’s amazing. —High School Senior  I love the quote above from the American School web site. I talked about this principle in my previous post. I do think that it is worth reviewing. In far too many cases, we have a tendency to rush the Educational process so we can get to the end of the lesson or so we can help the student achieve immediate success on an assignm...

These are three more of my favorite shots from the Jindai Botanical Garden. All that beauty and I probably saw 25 people in 6 hours. What a treat, at least for me! The heart and soul of my teaching has moved in the direction of striving for improvement. My goal with each student is to help that student improve whatever skills we are addressing. That is one of the things I have loved about coaching high school tennis. For ten weeks, I get the opportunity to help the players improve by putting some serious energy into repetition and skill development. This kind of focus helped us send two singles players and a doubles team to the state tourney this year. We worked hard on those fundamentals! While working at North Eugene, I became increasingly frustrated with my schedule and the demands on my time. In particular, with the special education work, it seemed like the paperwork demands became so substantial that it became tough to balance that work with the actual "teaching" work. ...

 It is probably only fitting that one of my best photography days ever would come at a time when I have been reminded of so many fond memories from spending time with the world's greatest custodian. Yesterday was truly a memorable day for me in the photography world. I rode my bike three miles to the Jindai Botanical Garden with all my professional gear, except for my big tripod. Instead of the tripod, I used a wonderful chest harness system.  I photographed almost non-stop for six hours. What a thrill it was! I split my time between a gorgeous indoor greenhouse display of lillies and the outdoor area that is pictured above. I then spent a number of hours editing these shots. Enjoy! For years, I have felt that one of my greatest strengths is that I seem to have a knack for attracting good people. June Blackwell, the head custodian at North Eugene High School, is one such person. What a gem she is! She epitomizes the meaning of the word "commitment"! June takes a tremendou...