-----Original Message----- From: owner-k-12update@news.edgate.com [mailto:owner-k-12update@news.edgate.com]On Behalf Of Copernicus Learning Communities Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 9:30 PM To: k-12update@news.edgate.com Subject: K-12 Update: Getting an Olympic Start ========================================================== K-12 Update Visit EdGate's Copernicus Learning Communities at: http://www.EdGate.com ========================================================== January 4, 2002 ---------------------------------------------------------- This Issue's Theme: Getting an Olympic Start News in this issue: + CHECK IT OUT! + WHERE ON COPERNICUS? + TODAY'S TRENDS (New!!!) + SUPER SITES + K-12 UPDATE FEATURE + SPOTLIGHT SCHOOL + TEACHERS VIEWPOINT =========================================================== CHECK IT OUT! As a new regular column of this newsletter, the International Center for Leadership in Education and President, Dr. Willard R. Daggett will provide information of interest to educators on our changing society and its impact on schools. This month, "Today's Trends" focuses on home schooling. ========================================================== WHERE ON COPERNICUS... A new EdGate section has teachers talking! The EdGate Monthly Calendar of Resources features hundreds of links to historic events for a specific date, thematic content for the season and an easy-to-use listing of famous birthdays and world events. The thematic units, which are organized by topic and also indicate appropriate grade level, make it easy to find just the right lesson for a current curricular area of study. The EdGate Monthly Calendar of Resources is available from the main page of any Copernicus Learning Community. Coming Soon!!: Edgate: Winter Games http://www.edgate.com/wintergames/ ========================================================== TODAY'S TRENDS: Bill Daggett Reports on Trends in Technology and Education HOME SCHOOLING CONTINUES TO EXPAND According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), in 1999 there were an estimated 850,000 home-schooled children in America. Two and a half years later, the National Home Education Research Institute puts that number at between 1.6 million and 2 million. This doubling of the home-school population is striking, as is the diversity of those children. Minority groups are now a growing segment of the home schooling population. According to the NCES study, 9.9% of home-schooled children are African-American and 9.1% are Latino, with both groups growing at a faster rate than other ethnic groups. Today's home schooling families tend to share a belief that conventional schooling is not serving their children's' educational and social needs. The NCES study included a survey asking these families why they chose to take their children out of public schools. The results: 49% thought they could provide a better education at home, 25.6% cited the poor learning environment at school, 15.1% wanted to develop character/morality at home, and nearly 12% felt that school did not challenge their children. Home schooling is clearly here to stay, and public schools cannot afford to ignore this trend. It provides another alternative that, along with charter schools, distance learning and school choice programs, creates increasing competition for our public schools. - WRD Links: National Center for Education Statistics: http://nces.ed.gov/ National Home Education Research Institute: http://www.nheri.org/ American Homeschool Association: http://www.americanhomeschoolassociation.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------- Resources for Rigorous and Relevant Learning - The Tenth Annual Model Schools Conference is June 30-July 3 in Washington, D.C. For further information go to http://www.leadered.com/model_schools.html ========================================================== OLYMPIC SUPER SITES: Edgate: Winter Games http://www.edgate.com/wintergames/ Coming Soon! USA TODAY http://www.usatoday.com/educate/wintergames.htm USA TODAY offers lessons, daily activities and will have a reporter at the Games with special coverage of individual sports. Ancient Olympics http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/ A cultural and historical overview of the ancient games including detailed information of the diverse sports played. Stories of some famous ancient athletes are available. E.L. Easton: Olympics http://eleaston.com/sportmat.html#oly This section of the Easton English Online site targets the Olympics and sports vocabulary. The site also contains links to Olympic lesson plans and foreign language sites for sports vocabulary. Journalist's Toolbox: 2002 Winter Olympic Games http://www.geocities.com/mike_reilley_2000/newswriting/olympics2002.html See the sources like those professional journalists use when researching the Olympics. Learning About the 2002 Winter Olympics http://www.kusd.edu/lessons/ellessons/willkomm_project.html Learn about the events, mascots, and facts relating to the 2002 Winter Olympics in this elementary Physical Education lesson. Olympic History http://www.journale.com/kodak/olympics/olympichistory/ Kodak has created a photographic history of the modern Olympics. This site has some stunning images connected to a timeline. Olympics Through Time http://sunsite.sut.ac.jp/olympics/ Take a journey through time and learn about the history of the Olympic Games from Ancient Greece when athletic contests were held during religious ceremonies until the First International Olympic Games in 1896. Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games http://www.upenn.edu/museum/Olympics/olympicintro.html Dr. David Gilman Romano bases the Real Story of the Ancient Olympics Web site on a published article. There is plenty of material here for lively class discussions. Salt Lake City 2002 http://www.saltlake2002.com/ The official web site of the 2002 games is a must on the tour of Olympic Web sites this season. Younger children will enjoy some of the coloring pages. Sports Illustrated: 2002 Winter Olympics http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2002/ Where else would a child go for sports information than Sports Illustrated? Big kids will also enjoy the articles and photography available at the Sports Illustrated site. Utah Education Network http://www.uen.org/2002/ The Utah Education Network has done a wonderful job of creating lessons and other curricular material for the 2002 games and winter sports. Paralympics: International Paralympic Committee http://www.paralympic.org/ The International Paralympic Committee is the international representative organization of all sports and disabilities. Check out the link to the 2002 Paralympic Games. Paralympics: Where Heroes Come http://www.epsb.edmonton.ab.ca/schools/riverbend/studentresources/languagear ts/paralympics/ [You may need to copy this long URL in sections and past it into the Location or Address bar on your browser.] Learn more about the Paralympics and the role they play in today's world with this teaching unit. World T.E.A.M. Sports http://www.worldteamsports.org/StudioDP_WebTech/web_design/speciallinks.htm [You may need to copy this long URL in sections and past it into the Location or Address bar on your browser.] World T.E.A.M. Sports encourages all individuals, with a special focus on athletes with disabilities, to participate in sports. ========================================================== K-12 UPDATE FEATURE: Getting an Olympic Start BACKGROUND Contestants in Olympic games must be amateurs. The Olympic definition is as follows: An amateur is one who participates and always has participated in sport as an avocation without material gain of any kind. He cannot avail himself of this qualification: (a) if he has not a basic occupation designed to insure his present and future livelihood; (b) if he receives or has received a remuneration for participation in sport; (c) if he does not comply with the rules of the International Federation concerned, and the official interpretations of this rule. Are you an Olympian Thinker? By Kathy Paauw During the Olympic games, I always stand in awe of the athletes who have found the courage to follow their passions and publicly push themselves beyond what most of us could ever imagine. Their dedication and discipline are amazing. Some of the personal stories behind these athletes are even more amazing. Vision, Passion, Action The Olympic thinking has vision at its core. The use of imagery is known in peak performance literature as "the master skill of high achievers." We all use our imagination every day. However, most of us are unaware that what we envision affects every cell of our bodies and every aspect of our performance. The National Institute of Mental Health has confirmed this phenomenon in its studies. While vision is critical for exceptional performance in all fields, passion is the origin and source of the tremendous energy and creativity that high achievers bring to their endeavors. With a real mission that matters, high achievers do not need will power and discipline because they have "passion power." Every day, they envision the dreams they have set for themselves. The essential third component is action, the plan and physical structures that guide the daily activities necessary to bring the passion and vision to fulfillment. Marilyn King, founder of Beyond Sports, identified different types of people: -The Dreamer: One who has passion and a vision, but no action plan. -The Workaholic: One who has passion and an action plan, but no vision. -The majority of working American: One who has a vision and an action plan, but no passion in what they do. How can you apply the passion, the vision, and the dedication of our Olympic athletes to our own thinking? How also can we apply King's three elements? What does it take to be an Olympic Thinker? Stories of successful athletes would be: -Laura Wilkinson-who ended China's 16-year dominance of the Olympic women's platform diving event and became the first American in 36 years to win gold in women's diving. -Eric Moussambani: Unlike most Olympic athletes, Moussambani has not dedicated his life to training as a swimmer. His training pool was the ocean, where he had to swim with the sharks. His focus was on "doing something" for himself and his country. He was one of only four representatives in the Sydney Olympics from his small nation of Africa. -Marilyn King: Her 20 year athletic career includes five national titles and a World Record, yet she points out that as a child she was an ordinary athlete, not particularly strong, fast or quick to learn. When a student whom she felt was less skilled than she was sent to an Olympic Training "If they think she can go to the Olympics, I can go to the Olympics" she replied. TRAINING EFFECTIVELY TO BE AN OLYMPIAN Athletes need to learn how to train, not only often, but well. Instead of "practice makes perfect," it has been said to say, "Practice makes permanent." What you teach yourself to do over and over in training surfaces whenever you step into the competition arena. Novice athletes talk about 'practicing' their sport. Serious athletes talk about training. What you do in training dictates what you do in competition. You are training yourself to perform at a specific level. What you have to do over years of training is perfect your technique so carefully that it becomes an automatic, instinctive response whenever you get into competition. You will have to teach yourself to ignore all distractions: flashbulbs, the roar of the crowd, the footsteps gaining on you as you approach the finish line. This is where your level of discipline in training will determine your success as an athlete. "I try to train every day with the same intensity that I need for a match. I expect the same things in practice as I do in a match. That means that even in training, I expect to shoot 20 tens in a row." -Beki Snyder, U.S. Olympic Shooter. Olympic weightlifter Wes Barnett advocates a similar methodical approach to training: "It's important in weightlifting to be very efficient and get the most out of a workout. You try to make all of your lifts the first time. If you can't make a weight, find out why you can't make it; if necessary, lessen the weight and make the reps." -Wes Barnett, U.S. Olympic Weightlifter ATHLETIC TRAINING RESOURCES Cross-Training: The Complete Training Guide for All Sports -by Gordon Bakoulis Bloch, Paula Newby-Frase Cross-Training for Sports: Programs for 26 Sports -by Gary Moran and George H. McGlynn Power Training for Sports: Plyometrics for Maximum Power Development-by Dr. Tudor Bompa Explosive Power and Strength: Complex Training for Maximum Results-by Donald A. Chu Theory and Methodology of Training: The Key to Athletic Performance-by Tudor O. Bompa Fitness Cross-Training (Fitness Spectrum)-Yacebda's works TEACHER LINKS/RESOURCES http://coolrunning.com/ http://www.fabjob.com/olympics.asp http://www.ksinclair.com/Article138.htm http://www.myprimetime.com/health/fitness/content/train916/index.shtml [You may need to copy this long URL in sections and past it into the Location or Address bar on your browser.] ========================================================== SPOTLIGHT SCHOOLS: The spotlight is shining on Ursuline Academy in Wilmington, Delaware! The Ursuline Academy recently began its second year as a Copernicus Learning Community, and staff members participated in a "drop-in" style renewal training. Faculty and staff members dropped by the Lower School Computer Lab during a prep period, lunch break, and after school to spend some time with the Copernicus Trainer. They had an opportunity to explore new Copernicus resources and tools, ask questions, and create and develop their SchoolNotes pages. Every Ursuline faculty and staff member has an active SchoolNotes page to keep parents, students, and community members involved with happenings in and out of the classroom. On the Ursuline Academy Copernicus site, you can find links to SchoolNotes pages with school calendars, volunteer information, and even instructions for creating SchoolNotes pages! Teachers have found creative and fun ways to use their SchoolNotes pages and to encourage access among parents and students. One teacher holds trivia contests on her SchoolNotes site, and she also posts a "secret internet spelling word", which is a bonus on the weekly spelling test. It is easy to see why Ursuline Academy is in the spotlight! Are you doing something great with Copernicus in your school or district? We would love to shine the spotlight on you! Write to us at cmccoid@edgate.com to tell us about your school. ========================================================== TEACHER VIEWPOINT In the "Teacher Viewpoint" section of K-12 Update, EdGate gives you a chance to answer questions posed by EdGate staff. Send us your input for our next issue! Help us answer this issue's "Teacher Viewpoint" question: With the 2002 Winter Olympics Games coming up... share your favorite project for integrating the Games into your curriculum. Email your responses for this month's Teacher Viewpoint question to EdGate at newsletters@edgate.com. Remember to include your grade and state. We'll share selected responses in the next issue of K-12 Update! ***It is important to note that by submitting comments to EdGate, you grant EdGate permission to publish your remarks in its newsletters.*** ========================================================== HOW TO CONTACT US Send us feedback or recommend your favorite educational Web links at http://www.EdGate.com/contact . To change your subscription status or delivery address, or to read past issues, visit EdGate's Newsletter Center at http://www.EdGate.com/edunews . To receive information about creating a customized Copernicus Learning Community for your school or district, contact EdGate at info@edgate.com. Copernicus Learning Communities offer easy access to best-of-the-Web resources for K-12 educators, students, and parents. Visit our Web site: http://www.EdGate.com . © 2002 by EdGate.com, Inc. All rights reserved. ==========================================================
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