Third graders publish a book on international children

Last week I ended one of my most enjoyable experiences as a professional educator. I was invited to assist the third grade and Bishop Larkin Catholic School to write a book on international children. I was very lucky that Liz Henderson, a former student of mine at the College of Charleston, was teaching third grade in Da Nang, Viet Nam. We decided to connect the two sets of students and allow them to explore each others worlds.
(Be sure to click the photo to enlarge it.)

The USA third grade students used a consensogram to create a create a list of five questions to ask the Vietnamese students. The areas were: foods you eat, toys and sports, your home, your school, and a generic culture question. The USA students answered their own questions and sent them off to Viet Nam.

The interesting decision here was to scan the student work rather than try to type it into a word document. This proved to be one of the best parts of the project as students in both countries felt so much closer to each other when reading handwritten letters.

The Vietnamese students returned their answers and also sent their own questions to us. The day we distibuted letters around the USA classroom was one of amazing excitement. That excitement seemed to carry the students through the balance of the project.

The USA students did Venn diagrams of themselves and their Vietnamese friend. Those Venn diagrams helped the student write a one page article for the book that compared and contrasted themselves with their counterpart. The final element was the drawing of a picture to represent their learning and to be placed side-by-side in the book. The book went to the publisher last week.

Now the goal is to duplicate the project with the first grade classes. We hope to use more video with these two sets of students. I can't wait to get started.

The Disney Marathon is complete

I've finished the first two races of my 2010 season. The first was actually in December of 2010. The Florida Sunshine State Senior Games took place in Ft. Myers, Florida during the second week of December. I finished a disappointing sixth in the shorter Time Trial. After a short rest I went out on the long course. I decided not to push myself all out on the outward leg, but to get up to a speed I knew would put me in contention on the return leg for home.

My spped was fast. There was one ninety degree right turn on the way out. As I approached this turn I decided no to break and to take the turn as fast as I could. Once in the turn I saw a rider on the return leg and thought my speed might push me out into his lane so I hit the break. Breaking in the turn was foolish. I crashed my new Felt B2Pro. I got up to continue racing and my back tire exploded. I was done. I was taken to the medical tent to nurse my wounds. I'll know better next year.

The Disney Marathon was Sunday January 10. It was the coldest race I've ever run. The temperature was 26 with a feels like temperature of 19. The water stops had frozen road from spilled water. I had five layers of older clothes that I intended to shed as I ran. It was so cold the only thing I shed was my warmup pants that were over my running tights. It was still cold at noon.

My son Chad, Adam McGinnis, Adam's wife Katey, Chad's room mate Josh, and Chad's neighbor Amy all ran plus Amy's friend from college. Amy ran in the low four hour range and her frined broke the four hour barrier. That's speed.

We're all psyched for next year. My daughter Wendy says she's running, too. It's fun to have a goal. Right now my goal is Ironman Florida in November of 2010. If I do well there the Disney Marathon will be a nice treat a coule months later.

I've decided to shut down the Think About the Children web site and use this blog as a way to keep my faithful donors and friends informed about our work. Think About the Children has two goals; first to support needy children and second to support military veteran amputees from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The current focus is rasing money for amputee veterans with Operation Rebound and Challenged Athlete Foundation. I'm racing in all three of Operation Rebounds Florida events to raise money for racing prosthesis to give something back to the amputee veterans; a sense of wholeness that comes form racing.

My next race is the Disney Marathon with my son Chad. We do not expect to burn the course up, just to finish the race, most likely in the six hour range. Disney is a very enjoyable race with over 20,000 runners and walkers.

The short term goals are St. Anthony's Triathlon in late April followed by Gulf Coast triathlon and Ironoman 70.3 Orlando on back-to-back weekends in early May. There are other races, but the triathlons are the focus of my training.

Yesterday I swam 1000 yards follwed by a 90 minute bike. Today I do my long run of 90 minutes. Tomorrow I do all three elements of a triathlon. I plan to bike 90 minutes followed immediately by a 60 minute run. Later in the afternoon I'll swim 1000 yards.

It's not easy to train long and hard day after day with no off days, but an amputee never gets a day off from the effects of his or her service to our country. When the going gets tough, I think of the good my fund raising and racing does.

The above photo was taken at Gulf Coast Triathlon last May. The race is a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run. It was my second race back after a decade or more of not racing. You can click the photo to enlarge it. The following weekend I raced with Operation Rebound. That experience opened my eyes to the tremendous sacrifice of our current soldiers and Marines that seems to be lost on our media and most of our citizens. How can we fight two wars with almost no daily sacrifice by our citizens?

Happy New Year.

Tom Murray