Inquiry Questions:
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Looking into what sports would help me get back into the game and land this trick, two sports come to mind:
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What Kind of fins would help me land this trick?
Learning pretty much everything I can about this trick, I now know that I will need a fin that can get me a lot of speed and drive. There are several fins that I was looking at that would help me get more speed and drive out of my boards, but the honeycomb EA has enough rake and foil to get me the speed I need and the drive up the wave to get out of the water and into the air.
Right now I'm using Julian Wilson's JW-1 on my shortboard. The fin was designed to work in most conditions but it does get loose in parts of the wave where I need to drive down the line to hit the end section. Unfortunately I cannot afford new fins, So the JW-1 will have to do. |
Aspect of teaching that I want to improve on
I noticed that when I teacher I have trouble with behavior management. My students work very hard in my class and do a very good job while they are in my class, but they can get off task and start side conversations that keep them off task for a while. I want to work on keeping my students on task while they are in my class and focused on the learning. I want to keep my students on task 95% of the class. The reason I'm not looking for 100% of the class is staying on task is because sometimes my students need to take a little mental break. I can understand the need for a mental break, when I was in my math classes for an hour and fifteen I would have benefited from a small little 5 minute break half way through the class to process and make sense of what was just covered. |
Measureable Action Plan
Students will be on task 95% of the class period
Research and Ideas to help meet that plan
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The south swells are coming in! The water is warming up, less coursework from some of my education classes which allowed me to get more time in the water to practice my air reverse. My brother just finished volunteering at the lab in UCSD, so he has been surfing with me and giving me pointers while we surf. The progress toward landing an air reverse is still slow. I had a few attempts this past week but still have the same problem of spinning around after I land. The closest I got was on a chest high wave out a D-Street in Encinitas. This wave had a little face and a nice soft closeout section that I was able to hit with a lot of speed. Then once I was in the air I managed to spin all the way around and land on top of my board. I lost my balance when I was trying to spin my board around. This last week I kept landing hard on my left ankle (which is my injured one) almost re-injured when I landed hard out in front of the wave (the flats). I didn’t use the whitewash or the lip of the wave to cushion the landing, so all of my weight and momentum was centered on my bad ankle. I heard a little pop and felt some sensation when I landed hard, but fortunately there wasn’t much pain. I need to be careful how high I go in the aire and how/where I land my airs to try to not re-injure my weak ankle. I wanted to research where my body should be to help me land and ride out, and also research how I can prevent injuring my ankle. |
Research Into Inquire Questions:
How should I position my body to land an air reverse?
After watching countless hours of surf videos and how-to videos of professional surfers explaining how to land an air reverse, I now know a good method for me to be able to stay on top of my board when I land and how to position my body. I need to keep most of my weight over my front foot when I launch off the lip and then spin my front shoulder to get my body in the right position to land this trick. When I land I need to have my weight distributed over my front foot and transition the weight to my back foot when I spin around. Here are some of the surf and how-to videos that I watched to help answer this question. | |
How can I try this trick without re-injuring my ankle?
I talked with some of my friends who have had similar problems with their ankles and asked them what they did to not re-injure their weak ankles. The thing that was suggested was to get myself an ankle brace, so that was the first thing that I did. I looked around online and in the local pharmacy to see if there was one in particular that would work best while I was in the water surfing. The Element sport brace seemed to be the best around but it was also the most expensive. So I did what all poor college students do, and I bought a cheap one from the local CVS. |
Chapter 1
Quote: Far more important, however, the students referenced each other. For them, classroom time had become the least significant part of the overall experience. They had formed their own learning communities” pp. 25
Question: How can I get my students to create a learning community like Scratch? Most of my students are driven by competition and not by creation and interaction. Is there a way to get my students to take initiative when they understand the material to help others learn it?
Connection: With the younger generations coming up, being raised on Ipads and other devices, it is important to show students how to use those tools to enhance their learning, creativity and imagination. There is a lot more out there for my students to create, especially in the technology field. I feel that a programming class should be mandatory because it is a skill that students can use to create something that is their own and unique. They can make programs for smart phones and actually make money on their programs that they create.
Epiphany: Seeing the success of scratch and the way sam talks about using the community to interact and create relationships was something that students need to be exposed to.
Chapter 2
Quote: “allow the culture to reproduce in an uninhibited, completely organic way, within the constraints of the medium and environment - and then see what happens.” pp. 37
Question: Sometimes math seems to be disconnected from the real world. I was teaching my students logarithms, and one of my students asked me what we would use this for in real life, I had no idea where logarithms are used outside of the classroom. Is there any resources or websites that can connect the topics covered in Algebra 2 to the real world?
Connection: Learning-based approach is something that students can really latch onto. The students get to practice “learning through engagement within the world” pp. 38. Outside of the classroom this is the way in which I learn and acquire new skills. I make a lot of mistakes along the way to learn these new skills, but each mistake is a learning opportunity. Recently I have used this method to help me learn to program in python. I created a code that allows me to compute mathematics problems that are very tedious. This programming language took a while to learn and create this algorithm, I would create a line and see if the program is doing what I want it to do. If it isn’t doing what I needed it to do, I would look back and revise. This learning process does take more time, but I have such a deeper understanding of the language and how it works. I want my students to have this patience and drive to learn and be willing to make mistakes along the way.
Epiphany: “take the world in and make it part of ourselves”, I could not agree more. We are a product of our environment and its best to just accept that fact than try to fight it.
Chapter 3
Quote: “giving rise to an environment that is constantly being changed and reshaped by the participation itself” pp. 42
Question: How can I leverage this changing environment to bring these ideas and innovation into my classroom? I want my students to see the relevance of the content that I am teaching them and also the connection to life outside the classroom. How can I do this?
Connection: I hear that all the major news companies and also online media web sites are running algorithms that order objects based on how popular the article / discussion is. I have seen the facebook top stories on the side of my feed that are ordered based on the participation and views from people using facebook. The stories change based on who is viewing them and how many people view them. Sometimes I’m a little shocked that Lindsay Lohan is still one of the top stories on the facebook feed. How is she still so popular?
Epiphany: It is interesting that we can determine what it is that we see based off of how many people are viewing it. In a sense we control the news and information that we are viewing.
Quote: Far more important, however, the students referenced each other. For them, classroom time had become the least significant part of the overall experience. They had formed their own learning communities” pp. 25
Question: How can I get my students to create a learning community like Scratch? Most of my students are driven by competition and not by creation and interaction. Is there a way to get my students to take initiative when they understand the material to help others learn it?
Connection: With the younger generations coming up, being raised on Ipads and other devices, it is important to show students how to use those tools to enhance their learning, creativity and imagination. There is a lot more out there for my students to create, especially in the technology field. I feel that a programming class should be mandatory because it is a skill that students can use to create something that is their own and unique. They can make programs for smart phones and actually make money on their programs that they create.
Epiphany: Seeing the success of scratch and the way sam talks about using the community to interact and create relationships was something that students need to be exposed to.
Chapter 2
Quote: “allow the culture to reproduce in an uninhibited, completely organic way, within the constraints of the medium and environment - and then see what happens.” pp. 37
Question: Sometimes math seems to be disconnected from the real world. I was teaching my students logarithms, and one of my students asked me what we would use this for in real life, I had no idea where logarithms are used outside of the classroom. Is there any resources or websites that can connect the topics covered in Algebra 2 to the real world?
Connection: Learning-based approach is something that students can really latch onto. The students get to practice “learning through engagement within the world” pp. 38. Outside of the classroom this is the way in which I learn and acquire new skills. I make a lot of mistakes along the way to learn these new skills, but each mistake is a learning opportunity. Recently I have used this method to help me learn to program in python. I created a code that allows me to compute mathematics problems that are very tedious. This programming language took a while to learn and create this algorithm, I would create a line and see if the program is doing what I want it to do. If it isn’t doing what I needed it to do, I would look back and revise. This learning process does take more time, but I have such a deeper understanding of the language and how it works. I want my students to have this patience and drive to learn and be willing to make mistakes along the way.
Epiphany: “take the world in and make it part of ourselves”, I could not agree more. We are a product of our environment and its best to just accept that fact than try to fight it.
Chapter 3
Quote: “giving rise to an environment that is constantly being changed and reshaped by the participation itself” pp. 42
Question: How can I leverage this changing environment to bring these ideas and innovation into my classroom? I want my students to see the relevance of the content that I am teaching them and also the connection to life outside the classroom. How can I do this?
Connection: I hear that all the major news companies and also online media web sites are running algorithms that order objects based on how popular the article / discussion is. I have seen the facebook top stories on the side of my feed that are ordered based on the participation and views from people using facebook. The stories change based on who is viewing them and how many people view them. Sometimes I’m a little shocked that Lindsay Lohan is still one of the top stories on the facebook feed. How is she still so popular?
Epiphany: It is interesting that we can determine what it is that we see based off of how many people are viewing it. In a sense we control the news and information that we are viewing.
My foot is still a little cut up but I scored some really good waves over the last week. I took my gopro out and wanted to give it a try to see if I could get some video of my sessions. The video that I posted was a wave that I missed while I was surfing out at a secret spot (well there was actually three waves before that one that all looked the same, this was the last wave of the set and I will forever regret missing those waves). I got to try only one air while I was out there and unfortunately the wind blew my board out from under my feet while I was in the air. Going to try to get out there and get some more waves to land this trick! | Sweet Right lo-quality from Malt 45 on Vimeo. |
Inquire Question: What conditions would be best for an air reverse?
There are many conditions that effect the wave size and shape. First of all where you surf can effect the wave height, surface texture and shape of the wave. For example blacks beach has a underwater canyon that amplifies the waves and focuses the way that it breaks to make a much heavier wave that is peaky and perfect! Wave Size - This is all based on personal preference, I prefer waves to be around 5'-8' and a little smaller when I'm trying airs. Wind - From the several videos that I have watched, the wind is the best when its slightly on-shore or side-shore coming right at you. If the wind is too strong in any direction it will blow the board out from under my feet. Beach - A beach break is usually the best option for trying airs because you can get a lot of waves and they usually have a good end section. |
Inquiry Question: What exercises would help condition me to land this trick?
There was a small south swell that came through this weekend. I was able to get the tail end of the swell and try a few air reverses. It was about 3-4 feet and good conditions for trying to get up in the air. I was riding my 6’0” fish that is designed to go faster in smaller waves and make it through flat sections. I got a bunch of waves on that board and was getting ready to go in because all the little grommies (kids) were on their way out. I saw this nice little wave on its way to me, so I paddled for it and got into it. Started pumping and building up speed to hit the end section. I launched off the section and got a few feet above the lip, and started to rotate in the air. When I looked down I saw a little grommie was right where I wanted to land, so I kicked my board out from under me to avoid landing on him. The board started squirming and flipping through the air. I ended landing on the side and fin of my board and cut up my foot pretty good. Guess I’m out of the water for a while… |
Research into Inquiry Questions:
What board would work best for competing this trick?
Board 1: AJW O.G. POTATO LAUNCHER This board was designed for Rob brown to surf in G-land. it works for 8' barrels and 4' chop. It was designed to get speed and hold its rail in the wave. something like this would work very well when the waves got a little bigger around here. I could get a lot of speed and hit the end section to get into the air. Board 2: CHANNEL ISLANDS #4 This board was shaped for dane reynolds. it was the fourth attempt to create him a board that would work well in smaller conditions. This board would work well for me to get speed when the waves are a little smaller and mushy. Board 3: CHANNEL ISLANDS WEIRDO RIPPER This board was designed for yadin nicol to surf while he is in SOUTHERN california for the lowers pro contest. This board works well for smaller beach breaks and waves with a little face to put it on edge. of the three boards, this board would be the board i would buy. |
Inquire Question: How fast should I be going to get into the air?
After doing extensive research (talking with my friends who compete and surf for a living) the more speed I can get, the better! I do not need to have a bunch of speed, but if I want to do an air that looks good from the beach I either need to have a lot of speed to stay in the air for a while, or need to hit the section later to pop out in front of the wave instead of going above the lip. I have tried both and when I have a lot of speed, getting above the lip isn't very hard but landing has been a big issue for me. When I try to hit the lip late and rotate, I always seem to separate from my board. |
Author
Blog by Sean Malter (the better Sean)
For EDSS 530
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