In this video Martyn, Samantha, and Pete compete to see who can best destroy their pumpkins via chemistry. Certainly some interesting ways in which to think about cooking the pumpkin(s).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tabata Intervals (Rope Skips) X 2 Sets

300 Workout
10 Pullups X 5 sets
10 Deadlifts X 5 sets
10 Pushups X 5 sets
10 Box Jumps X 5 sets
10 Floor Swipers X 5 sets
10 Clean and Press X 5 sets

Completed 300 workout in 16 minutes 9 seconds.

Rope Skips 5 X 1 Minute
1 Minute Rest in Between
Pull-ups 6 reps, 5 reps, 4 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep
Rope Skips 5 X 30 Seconds
30 Second Rest in Between
50 Bodyweight Squats

About half an hour to complete.  Not too difficult, but enough to stay honest and keep the juices flowing.

As I stated in an earlier post, however, it’s the compactness and the flexibility of this device — the device that will essentially contain my life — that is so appealing to me. The fact that it’s also a phone is consequential. It’s my radio, my iPod, my e-mailbox, my workout journal, my to-do list, my GPS, my Internet, my camera, and more. It will fundamentally change the way I do things. It will fundamentally change the way I live my life.

While I’ve used no app more than Pandora, I have to say the Geocaching app has provided the most fun. I have never Geocached before, but today, the wife, kids, dog and myself headed to Watershed Park, here in Olympia, to find a couple of caches. It was a great time.

I don’t know if I’ll write any more posts about my iPhone. I’m sure at some point something else about the iPhone will fascinate me enough to write about it. Until that time presents itself, I will continue to find new and varied ways in which to use my iPhone — to get the most bang for the buck.

I currently find myself embroiled in a challenge I never expected — that of motivating my always eager to please son to engage in school. I think motivating children to engage in school is often a challenge for many parents; some more than others. What frustrates all involved in this current struggle is the need for tough love. Tough love is necessary, however, if I intend to meaningfully re-engage Connor in school.

He’s found popularity at school, discovered the joy of music, and purchased a laptop computer. Each a nemesis to the parents desiring to motivate their child to complete his homework, read books, practice bass guitar, clean his room, get ready for football practice, and the like — you get the idea. Each a hinderance to him reaching his potential as a student. While these distractions will by no means define my son in terms of character, talent, or desire, they don’t do a lot to inspire his scholarly motivation(s).

Interestingly, in the early years of my teaching career (before the births of Connor and Megan), it was not uncommon for a parent to call me at school desperately searching for advice on how to parent their son or daughter. Not being a parent myself, I found myself easily and readily espousing the tough love approach. Take this away from your daughter, take that away from your son. Make sure they have a specific place to study and that you take an active role in their academic success. I threw everything at them but the kitchen sink. Oh how easy it was to give the advice. While I head the advice I once shared, I must admit it is with great difficulty.

I’m frequently told by my students, “Your children must be smart. They must be good at math and science since you teach math and science.” I usually respond with a modest thanks for their perceptions of my children. I further state to my students that while I do believe my children to be smart, talented, what have you, they also live up to some high expectations at home. I explain to my students that Connor and Megan have a lot of structure and it is this structure that results in the positive gains we’ve seen them reap.

When Connor and Megan come home from school, they get a break and a snack. After about half an hour, they are expected to sit down and study. It’s not that simple, however. They need to be supported and directed through these efforts. They rely on us to read spelling words to them so that they can practice for Friday spelling tests. They depend on us to check their math homework for mistakes so that they can fix them. They sometimes require our redirection as they can be easily distracted. Interestingly, my students often respond to my descriptions of our homework regimen with comments like, “Boy you’re strict Mr. Fredericks” or “I wouldn’t want to be your child.” Sadly my students wouldn’t want to be my child for the very reasons they probably need my parenting — structure, support, and guidance.

So, what’s the point? I suppose the point is that while we can provide all of the structure in the world for our children to be successful, it still takes a lot of work on our parts, as parents, to ensure that our children are properly supported in reaching their fullest potentials as human beings via these structures.

Parenting a child is not a task that should be taken lightly. While it’s easy to selfishly avoid the responsibilities of providing our children what they need in terms of structure, support, and guidance, I beleive it’s equally, and more importantly, selfish to hold them accountable for the hard work it takes to create their futures.

I decided to focus on shoulders today, as I tend to neglect them. You’ll notice that I did box jumps in between each set of resistance exercise. I tend to dislike the rest period between sets of exercise. I overcome this dead space with some sort of cardio — it really intensifies the workout.

Here it is:

Tabata Intervals (Rope Skips) X 1 set

Power Press X 12
Box Jumps X 10
Lateral Raises X 10
Box Jumps X 10
Front Raises X 10
Box Jumps X 10
Dumbbell Curls X 12

Repeat power press through dumbell curls three times.

Finished all of that with three additional sets of tabata intervals (rope skips) with 30 seconds rest between each 4-minute set.  Total time: ~ 30 minutes.

Almost didn’t work out this morning as the alarm clock failed to go off. Well, it didn’t fail…the alarm clock, after all, is as smart as the person setting it. Chalk this one up to human error. Nonetheless, my internal alarm, as usual, was faithful. Almost didn’t work out regardless. It’s hard to drag the 42-year old rear end out of bed to face the morning chill that overwhelms the garage. This is, however, the only time of the day I truly get to myself. I’m finding that if I don’t start my day off in this manner I will be miserable the rest of the day. No sense in being miserable now, is there?

Here it is…

Interval Challenge #2
Burpees X 6
Push-ups X 12
Body Weight Squats X 25
Rope Skips X 1 Minute
Crunches X 45

Repeat the above sets of exercise 5 times with little to no rest in between.  Took about 20 minutes.

This paper, written for a class in my administrative program, was a labor of love for me.  This class, as I’ve alluded to in an earlier post, was by far the most significant and impacting learning experience of my life.  It was fun to challenge others about their perceptions of social justice issues and to be challenged, myself.  While being challenged about your belief system(s) can create tense conversation, it also creates rich and, I believe, meaningful conversations that lead me to better understand others and the ways they think about these issues.  More enriching, however, is the self-reflection created by these conversations and the challenges set forth by my cohort members during these conversations.

Anyhow, here it is…

Background
The social and political realities of the school community create for the members of that school community a number of social justice issues to navigate. Discrimination related to gender, socioeconomics, religion, and non-heterosexual norms continue to haunt members our school communities creating unsafe and oppressive teaching and learning environments. While progress has been made in the alleviation of practices and policies that oppress various members of the school community, there is much that remains to be accomplished. Championing social justice issues, while creating a fair and just culture, does not come without cost, however – for those who are oppressed as well as those fighting for the oppressed. One of the most compelling charges we’ll have as current teachers and future administrators will be to address issues of heteronormativity and the implications it has for the safety and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ) members of our school communities.

Despite nearly two decades of professional entreaties to transform public schools into nurturing, nonthreatening, nonviolent social spaces, prejudice, harassment, and discrimination continue to pervade the social experience of LGBTIQ students across the country (Marshall and Oliva, 2010, pg. 156). The inabilities of schools to create the aforementioned transformations in public schools, despite more progressive measures to quell oppressive practices, is linked directly to the norm-setting of heterosexual gender roles in our culture. Khayatt (2006) argues that these norms result from mainstream expressions of masculinity that continue to put forth a notion of masculinity that is “generic,” that is the binary opposite to femininity, and that is essentialized. She goes further to argue that anything that deviates fro this one expression of masculinity is, in the words of youngsters in the school hallways and playground: “gay” (pg. 134). This notion of masculinity engenders people (primarily men) to reduce others who don’t conform to the heterosexual norm as sexual subjects. This reductionism of others to non-conformist sexual subjects allows people to exercise certain social powers.

Consequences for Educators
While there remains a palpable threat to the well-being of LGBITQ members of our educational community, there also exists within the school community the threat of consequences for those who choose to challenge the heterosexual norms in support of fair and just treatment for LGBITQ students and colleagues. Because, as Ferolja (2007) states, non-heterosexual identities are constructed as hypersexual, pedophilic, deviant, abnormal, sick, and sexually predatory and much of the international research in the field reports the fears felt by LGBITQ individuals in relation to the impact and repercussions of being ‘read’ and positioned with these negative discourses (pg. 148). These fears are shared by many members of the heterosexual community, as well, who work to advocate for LGBITQ individuals. What results, however, from the fears of being labeled as promoting an alternative or deviant lifestyle is inaction. While this inaction perpetuates the oppression of social inaction and injustice, there are more direct consequences for educators who continue to pursue the fair and just treatment of the members of their school communities.

Human Rights Watch, in their report titled Hatred in the Hallways, reports the that teachers and counselors, regardless of their sexual orientation or sexual identity, may refuse to intervene to stop harassment of the gay students out of fear that they will then be, correctly or incorrectly, perceived to be gay themselves or to be “promoting homosexuality” (Human Rights Watch, 2001). As a previously indicated these fears drive professional members of the school community, who might otherwise be identified as LGBITQ or supportive of LGBITQ ideals, into silence. This silence, while a hindrance toward the needed transformative leadership, is necessitated by fears of losing jobs. Furthermore, as Human Rights Watch indicates, school districts lose input from a knowledgeable group of adults who could potentially educate their peers on what lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth are experiencing and help them devise intervention strategies. Finally, discrimination against adults based on their sexual orientation or gender identity is readily apparent to the youth themselves. Abusive youth justify their harassment by pointing to societal and governmental support for discrimination, and abused youth get the message that even adults in positions of authority can be attacked because of who they are (Human Rights Watch, 2001).

Schools that make visible or support non-heterosexual identities taint their marketing potential, because they are seen to be supporting a “deviant lifestyle.” Furthermore, schools and educators may risk their reputations by being perceived as “too PC” or too values neutral. A diminished reputation portends reduced student enrolments and potentially threatens teaching positions. Ultimately, what appears to be at risk is the stability of the school (Ferolja, 2007, pg. 151).

While the diminished reputations and school instability present a real threat to educators, these consequences pail in comparison to the threats of violence LGBITQ individuals and their advocates face in light of their attempts to create a more fair and just culture. Human Rights Watch highlights instances of student actions toward teachers at the middle school and high school levels. “This one teacher we had was getting harassment from students,” Alex M. said, referring to a teacher whom the students suspected of being gay. “He couldn’t do anything. Students know by law the teachers can’t touch them. I’m not sure where he is now, but he left because of the harassment.” In another similarly reported incident, Chance M. reported, “We had a gay man, a substitute teacher. People would throw things at him. He was much older, but he had the guts to wear a rainbow chain. I got nervous being seen with him, but I talked to him. I remember him almost breaking down telling me that he had stuff thrown at him” (Human Rights Watch, 2001).

Handling Resistance to Change
Change creates for many people many feelings of unease. Among these feelings is loss of control, uncertainty, shock, being “different”, loss of face, and concern about future competence. Certainly, each of aforementioned can be strongly considered in trying to understand why our school communities resist change related to transforming the heterosexual norms that are pervasive within. Overcoming change of any sort, particularly as it is rooted in very real emotions, is not only very difficult but usually comes with cost.

Creating the desired transformative norms, because of the investments of self necessary to overcome the inertia, cannot usually be done in isolation. Kirsch reports that individuals need to have structural representation in order to maintain the energy needed for sustained opposition. Individuals working against their oppressors, whether in the workplace or neighborhood, cannot succeed without a mechanism that can play a larger role in incorporating them into communities of resistance where mutual recognition is present (Marshall and Oliva, 2010, pg. 166).

Furthermore, change is something that cannot be forced upon people. Resistance comes in all shapes in form; however, it presents its most significant challenge when blindsided by those seeking the desired transformations. In order to overcome resistance to change, the change agents must be methodical in their presentation of change. They must provide for their opposition role models that create a connection to the desired change. In addition, they must make the opposition feel a sense of competence (requiring timely and accurate information) about the impending change. Finally, maybe most important, though this is by no means and exhaustive list, be transparent in your motives and intended outcomes. Those who fear change often times do because they see (the potential of) a hidden agenda. It is this apparent hidden agenda that drives people to resist change efforts.

Strategies that Facilitate Change
Educators need to be aware strategies that will promote change as well as strategies for change leadership. Kumashiro (2000) presents a framework for anti-oppressive education that is intended to bring about socially equitable change in schools. His anti-oppressive framework includes (1) education of the “other” (focus on improving the experiences of students who are “othered”); (2) education about the “other” (focus on what all students – privileged and marginalized – know and should know about the other); (3) education that is critical of privileging and “othering” (focus on examining not only how some groups and identities are “othered” but also how some groups are favored); and (4) education that changes students and society (focus on how oppression begins in discourse that frame how people think, feel, and interact) (Marshall and Oliva, 2010, pg. 21).

To invoke the aforementioned strategies in attempting to deal in schools with the subject of sexuality alone cannot work, as Khayatt (2006) suggests, as long as the notion is not tied with an analysis of hegemonic masculinity and, by extension, femininity. In addition, as long as in schools we are teaching boys about “tolerance” toward “homosexuality” without ever broaching the subject of what exactly is threatening about “queer” sexuality, in relation to the fear of having their masculinity questioned or being perceived as “feminized,” we are maintaining the status quo (pg. 141). The notion here is that schools should deal with gender in conjunction with sexuality in an attempt to dispel fears of non-heteronormative behaviors. Fox (2007) goes further to state that what seems most important in creating more conducive conditions for queer faculty and students at universities and colleges is not “inclusion” in existing frameworks, but a radical interrogation of the performance and normalization of white heterosexuality (pg. 502).

Larson and Murtadha (2003) offer a theoretical perspective for the definition, application and requirements of leadership for social justice. They note that shifts in the nature of inquiry regarding just and equitable education focus on three strands: (1) deconstructing existing logics of leadership (issues that are prominent in this strand include critical race theory, gender representation, modernist critiques, multiculturalism, and leadership theories for women and people of color); (2) portraying alternative perspective of leadership (issues that are prominent in this strand are the ethics of care, spirituality, love, and leadership); and (3) constructing theories, systems, and processes for social justice (Marshall and Oliva, 2010, pg. 21). It is the last of these three suggestions for transformative leadership that is most practical as it relates directly to the application of leadership in transforming existing norms.

What results through a leader’s work that is grounded in social justice, according to Bogotch (2002), is the creation of an environment that does two things. First, it permits programs in schools to be created based on the diverse beliefs and needs of others. Second, when those programs have produced a new reality, then different conditions emerge that cause the leader to remain true to the core leadership values that have undergirded the emphasis on socially just practice in the first place (Marshall and Oliva, 2010, pg. 22).
Avoiding Accusations of Promoting an Alternative Lifestyle

The perception of those who oppose the transformative measures to make the school community more fair and just for LGBITQ individuals will inevitably stem from a belief or understanding that the lifestyle of LGBITQ individuals is not acceptable and therefore alternative to the norms of white heterosexuality. As a result, those promoting the fair and just treatment of LGBITQ individuals in the school community will inevitably be accused of promoting an alternative lifestyle. It is these perceptions and accusations that further hinder the progress in change.

So, how does one avoid the accusations? I believe the answer to this lies in some of the aforementioned strategies, namely those that include the analysis and interrogation of the performance and normalization of white heterosexuality. In doing so, the idea is that we might undo the notion of social safety that lies within the framework as white heterosexuality as the norm. In addition, those seeking transformation of the norm must provide for their opposition a connective model, one that creates for the opposition the requisite knowledge and understanding necessary to avoiding the labels of “alternative.” Models are created when people are given access to the lifestyle, professional, political, and cultural experiences of those who are “othered.” This access is gained only through opportunities for open and honest dialogue about the issues of non-heteronormative discrimination that are faced by members of the LGBITQ community.

Final Thoughts
In this week’s classroom discussion we were asked to consider the connectedness (or lack thereof) of morality to religion. In a personal communication with a member of my cohort we discussed the philosophy behind what we perceived to be the innate goodness in must people, yet the inabilities of these same people to exercise that goodness in the form of just actions. What came from this discussion was the statement that “the classroom must be ground zero for social justice” (Personal communication, August 29, 2009). If for nothing else, this is the reason we must actively create fair and just cultures within our school communities. We must not only provide a safe learning environment through the creation of fair and just communities, we are creating the potential for a global culture that is fair and just.

References

Ferolja, T. (2007). Schooling cultures: Institutionalizing heteronormativity and heterosexism. International Journal of Inclusive Education, Volume 11. No. 2, March 2007, pp 147 – 162.

Fox, C. (2007). Texts of our institutional lives: From transaction to transformation: (En)countering white heteronormativity in “safe spaces”. College English, Volume 69, Number 5, May 2007, pp. 496 – 511.

Hatred in the hallways: Violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students in U.S. Schools. Retrieved August 21, 2009, from http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2001/uslgbt/toc.htm

Khayatt, D. (2006). What’s to fear: Calling homophobia into question. McGill Journal of Education, Volume 41, Number 2, Spring 2006, pp. 133 – 144.

Marshall, C. & Oliva, M. (2010). Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

I endured the tedium of solving mathematics problems with my colleagues. It’s actually not tedium. It’s fun to engage in analytic processes with other practitioners of math. Given the nature of education, we seldom get shared opportunities to engage one and other in pedagogy. Needless to say, in the back of my mind for those four hours was, “When can I get home to work out and what workout will I do?”

Well, in response to question number two, I decided to do the 300 Workout. The 300 Workout gained popularity just after the movie 300 came out. It was purported that the 300 Workout was derived as a result training the actors to look fit — soldier-like, if you will — for the movie. I don’t really know the correlation of the workout’s name to the timing of the preparation of actors for their roles. What I do know, however, is that the workout doesn’t derive its name from the movie, but from the number of total repetitions of exercise done during the workout.

Having elucidated upon my reading audience the workout of choice and the derivation of its name, I must admit that I really did the “300″ workout. Note the parentheses around the number. I actually did the 325 workout because I add 5 extra reps per set of bent-over dumbbell rows.

Enough explanation? Here’s the workout:

“300″ Workout
Pull-ups X 5
Deadlifts X 10
Plyometric Push-ups X 10
Box Jumps X 10
Bent-over Dumbbell Rows X 10 (5 per side)
Floor Wipers X 10
Single-arm Clean and Press X 10 (5 per side)

Repeat the above 5 times for a total of 325 reps. Goal is to complete all reps with minimal rest, as quickly as possible. My time: 17 minutes.

I ended the workout with crunches, 4 sets of 35 reps. I can now watch UFC 104, play poker, and enjoy food and beverage with friends tonight, free of guilt. Well, almost free of guilt.