Training After Tough Mudder

I have always been athletic and "in shape" without having to stick to a regular exercise routine.  I ran track in middle and high school and absolutely loved it!  I ran the hurdles, because they seemed different and I always had to be different from everyone else....  

I like being special, what can I say

Now that I have had two wonderful babies and I guess I have to officially say that I am growing up, ugh, I have tried to find a workout ---something-- that I can really get into.

Enter Mud Obstacle Races.  I started talking about the Tough Mudder earlier in the Spring of 2013 to my colleagues at school. A few of them were interested.  So we all got really excited, started talking some more, then summer break hit.  I don't know about them, but I think I might have worked out a total of 4 times over the summer.  Don't get me wrong, I love working out!  I love the challenge, the music, the therapy and the courage of it all, but with 2 children (one 11 and the other 2) life just gets in the way.  

Once August came around and school started again, I was actually able to get back into a routine.  Even better, a small crew of colleagues joined me (they still do on occasion).  

My Tough Mudder crew started talking again and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were actually serious about doing it, I was thrilled.  Nervous, for the 12 miles and electricity that was in my future, but the rush and excitement of this event was beyond words.  

This little crew and the Tough Mudder event were a total game changer in my workout motivation and routine.  I felt the best I EVER had in my life (and I was an athlete in my glory days of high school!).  

I can share with you that I successfully completed the Tough Mudder KY 2013 this past October.  (I didn't do all of the obstacles, but I honestly attempted the first half, the second half were just gonna have to wait until next time because I couldn't feel my limbs due to the cold).  I wrapped myself in a little shiny thermal blanket and hiked my way to the end.  Hiked being the key word here.  

Yes, that was in October and now that it's the end of November, I'm kinda bummed.  I don't have the rush of a "Tough Mudder event coming up in a few weeks so I have to train my butt off" and working out in the cold can be a challenge.  I tried working out indoors, but after training outside and getting in that habit, I just can't make that switch to be inside.  It feels weird, like trying to brush your teeth with your opposite hand, it's just wrong.

So, for Christmas I decided to ask for 2 things:  1) outside workout gear for the cold and 2) another mud obstacle course to train for.  Thankfully, my husband has agreed to do one with me in April.  :)  Now training for the Warrior Dash!  

I am attaching my training schedule so that I can share and hopefully inspire someone else to workout, but also to hold myself accountable!  

This training schedule actually came from Scott Colby and his Tough Mudder Workout, he has vimeo videos and everything if you need help with some of the exercises.  Click here for his info.

Here is my "pretty version" of Colby's interval and training schedule.  As the weeks continue, the # of  times you complete the circuits on each day increases, but we will cross that bridge when we get there :)

If you so choose to follow this with me, let me know how your doing!

Mr. Hall - Sub 111813

Hey there Mr. Hall!  Here is the schedule and all the "to do's" for today.  Have a great time!!

Mentor - Announcements and Storyboard for Video 3.
1st Hour - Speak Up worksheets, Stand Up 2 Cancer videos here and here
2nd - planning
3rd - Art Journal Powerpoint here, worksheet is printed, or found here
4th - Line and Pattern in Profiles, worksheet printed, or found here.
5th - same as 3rd
6th - The One and Only Ivan

Ms. Mitchell has printed everything for me just in case.
Let me know if you have comments, questions, concerns!

Ashley

Shades of Meaning

In last week's activity, I formally assessed that my students a. need help writing complete sentences, b. need time to create their own sentences, instead of copying what I say or what they see on the board and c. they can see what element/principle is used in an artwork, but they need practice describing how it's used.  

I get a lot of:  "The artist used line, shape and color."  "The artist used line to make the rocks."  "The artist used color in the fish."

So, I did some research and found a Content Literacy activity I wanted to try "Shades of Meaning".  I had some paintcolor bookmarks from Home Deport that I cut in half and passed out to each group.  We reviewed and listed the elements and principles on the board, then I let each group pick one.  They wrote the E/P in the first box, then we looked at an artwork and they wrote adjectives in the other boxes describing the E/P in the artwork.  (This took awhile).  Then, we passed around the paint chips and groups got to write sentences based on the adjectives from another group.  

I think in the future, I will have artworks placed on the walls with descriptive sentences next to them, or make a powerpoint of some artworks and students write the sentences as we talk about them.  

Here are the paint chips from the activity.  If I had enough, I might give each student a paintchip as well, not just the group.  Time to stock up  :)  

The One and Only Ivan

So, I have finally found a book that I love, love, love and have incorporated it into my art class.  The book is The One and Only Ivan, website can be found here.  My kids loved this book, they really got into it, there are even questions and mini-activities that can be done throughout the reading.

In an attempt to incorporate reading into the art class, I read this book to them whenever we had extra time, you know that last 10 minutes of the class or day when the closer is done and you are searching through your bag of tricks to keep their attention.  Totally grab this book, start reading, pass it around, let them read.

Video Flipbooks inspired by blublu.org

A while back I saw a video by blublu.org and I immediately thought "I want to do this!" The video can be found here, it's almost 10 minutes long, so prepare yourself.  It's basically a large scale flip book - still motion video, so I tried this out in my art class a couple weeks ago.  We watched the video and started out making small scale flip books from wads of post-it notes.  They worked great!  Then I attempted to have the students go larger and integrate a 2D plus 3D element.  I gave the example of a drawing of a ball rolling down the hallway, then maybe a few shots of a real ball rolling down the hallway, then back to the drawing.  Let's just say it is still a work in progress....

I don't think I "chunked" it down enough for complete understanding, and I left it too open.

I think for next time, I will still start small with the flip books (that was a success), then as a class we can decide on the sequence and we all just do it together.

Here is one student's flip book.  I took photos of all of his drawings and then pieced them together in a keynote powerpoint and made a Quicktime recording.

Why I love my kindle even more!!!

So, I am in the midst of writing yet another grad paper (last one for this class, yeah!) and we had a class meeting on campus yesterday.  I decided to attend because a. I love meeting people face to face and asking clarifying questions (so much can be lost in an email) but also b. APA format scares me/confuses me and I want to make sure that I am somewhere on the right path.  

The meeting was very nice, just our professor and 2 other students, and we talked, got to know each other a little more and got all of our questions answered.  One of my questions happened to be about my kindle and adding a reference from a downloaded book into my paper in APA format.

I am currently reading Making Learning Visible (MLV), from a Project Zero and Reggio Emilia partnership and I love it!  I am applying many of the strategies and practices into my own teaching and love the outcomes!  Anyway, so my question happened to be 1. how to properly cite my source in my reference section of my paper, but also 2. how to site my in-text reference and 3. how in the world do I find a page number when all I can see are % at the bottom?    it was a lengthy question

My professor showed me a neat little trick that I can do with the Kindle that eased all my worries!  I had to do a few little steps first....
1. I downloaded the Kindle app onto my Mac laptop.
2. I logged in and "opened" my MLV book
3.  I highlighted a section that I wanted to add to my paper
4. Copied said section 
5. Opened a pages document
6. Pasted said section into document and .....BAM!!!

Not only is my highlighted section there, BUT there is also a cited reference with Kindle reference page numbers!!   Hello, does it for you!  It's amazing!

Long story short, copy and paste from kindle book into a document and it cites it for you.   

Now, I only get to read 5 more articles, synthesize them into my paper, finish writing my paper and I am good to go!  Where's the coffee....... 

Optical Illusions

My 7th graders made optical illusions this week, we looked at organic vs. geometric lines and warm vs. cool colors.  Everyone really enjoyed this little art activity.  Next time, I might add a value component where the edges are darker and a "light source" is hitting the top of the area to really make it pop!  A few days into the activity I had them switch with someone at their table and do a peer critique.  I made a template that I project on the smart board to facilitate this activity.  It looks like this:

_____________'s Feedback

I see_________________.

I think _________________.

I wonder____________________.

The peer write's their name at the top and then provides feedback based on what they see so far, what they think they can do to improve/finish, and then offer a suggestion for higher level.  I thought it was really interesting to find out that a lot of the students were extremely supportive and encouraging, but also continued to provide feedback even after the activity.  They even asked to work on writing complete sentences in art because they want to be confident when providing feedback to their peers.  WIN - WIN!!!