Monday, September 28, 2015

Why Students Aren’t Graduating Career Ready

The following article is from the first video of a 3 part series presented by Tim Elmore where he tackles the missing piece to career readiness among our Generation iY population.  

Generation iY is the second half of the millenials, and are those born after 1990.


In this first video, he talks about the state of students today and why they are unready.

You can see the video in its entirety here.


Students have shown that they can master the classroom, but still aren't prepared for the work-room.


They often come out of school with a high IQ but a low EQ, and they are often not prepraed for the level of responsibility or the workload.



Artificial Maturity
A big reason for students lack of success after school is due to what Tim calls 'artificial maturity.'  The students grow up, make it successfully through school, and think that they are prepared for the work-world when they really aren't.

Students are savy enough to make it through school, but aren't ready for the professionalism that the work-force requires.

- Some applicants have actually texted during interviews
- 1 in 8 applicants bring their parents to interviews


Content Without Context
They have content without context.  They have a lot of data, but know context to work within and to tie the content to.  It can be a struggle transitioning and applying what they have learned in school to the real-world.

Context without Consequences
We have removed a lot of the consequences from the students and the choices that they make.  A lot of the time, their choices aren't tied to consequences.  In the name of self-esteem and safety, we tend to over-praise our kids, and it does not prepare them for the real-world when you don't get a cookie for just showing up.

-  The unreadiness of the new generation of graduates are contributing to our economic struggles.


-  Students are struggling to merge the skills that they used to find success in the classroom with the skills needed to find success in the workforce.



Series Of Skills That Their Fast-Paced World Has Not Presented
Emotional intelligence
Good communication
Teammwork
Collaboration
Problem Solving
Looking your supervisor in the eye and shaking their hand


Number 1 statement that K-12 educators hear is, 'This is too hard.'



The Three Reasons
Theory vs. Practice
Most graduate from high school without having a real job.  Sports and activities are great, but it doesn't substitute for having actual job experience.


Classroom Subjects
We push our students to master core subjects, but students struggle in translating the skills need to master core subjects into skills needed to master on job performance.

Google has found through research that they see no correlation between GPA and academic success.
- Success in schools is 75% IQ and 25% EQ, while success on the job might be the opposite.

A New Parent Model

Having a job early will provide responsibility, work-ethic, and people skills.  We tend to look to keep our kids busy with activities, but we need to provide real, work experience.


Tech Skills Vs Employability Skills
We do a great job of preparing them for specific job hard skills that they need, but we are missing the soft skills that employees are begging for.  The skills needed to find success as a professional.

We need to do a better job of preparing our students to become professionals by teaching them not only th technical skills needed to be successful on the job, but teaching them the soft, professional and employable skills needed to be successful.  We also need to provide them with responsibility and accountability now so that they are not given a false sense of security that will blow up in their face when they face adversity in the real world.


Wednesday, September 23, 2015

The San Antonio Spurs - "The Beautiful Game"

via For The Win
Loving the Spurs has become a cyclical thing for NBA fans. You love them for a while, but then you forget about them, because they don’t have a huge marketable star and they play in San Antonio and they’ve never really gone after media coverage. Then the playoffs come around again and you remember everything you loved about them.
The Spurs are awesome. This video, which is basically the YouTube equivalent of a giant ice cream sundae for NBA fans, shows highlights from the past few seasons of the Spurs. You get ball movement, you get extra passes, you get interior passes, you get cuts to the hoop, you get more passing. You get so much passing!
The music is epic and the voiceovers, from Magic Johnson and Gregg Popovich among others, is perfect. The moment where Tony Parker gets instructions from Pop, then runs over to the bench as the team huddles around him, gave me goosebumps.

1986 Boston Celtics Tribute - The Beautiful Game

Colin Stanton has edited NBA videos before — his six-minute tribute to the San Antonio Spurs is a must-watch for fans of the NBA.
Stanton’s newest video follows a similar formula. It has stirring classical music and edited footage of basketball stars playing the game beautifully. This time his focus on the 1986 Boston Celtics, one of the greatest NBA teams ever assembled. Larry Bird was in his prime, as were Robert Parrish and Kevin McHale, and the Celtics that year also added Bill Walton, one of the better passing big men who have ever played the game.
The highlights are magical, and you get a glimpse of just how good a passing team those Celtics were. The Larry Bird segment especially. Good lord.

Friday, September 4, 2015

Aggie Defense Part 1

The following post comes from Bob Starkey at hoopthoughts.blogspot.com.  He is an assistant coach at Texas A&M University.
Aggie Defense Part 1
Over the next few weeks, we will take a look at some the thoughts, principles, and guidelines for our defense.  We'll start with some basic concepts (our why) that guide what and how we do what we do:

WE WANT TO TAKE AWAY THE PAINT AT ALL TIMES


When the ball gets to the paint it creates easy shot opportunities in the paint

When the ball gets to the paint it creates easy perimeter shots

When the ball gets to the paint it creates help and recover situations

When the ball gets to the paint it creates closeout situations

When the ball gets to the paint it creates fouling situations

...taking away the paint starts with transition defense

...stance, head, eyes and footwork are critically important

team defense — having the ability to help early — is a necessity

WE WANT A HAND ON THE BALL


When the ball handler has the ball and has not dribbled

...we want to have a hand on the ball — constantly mirroring the ball!

When the ball handler is dribbling

...we want the defender to have a hand on the ball as it is dribbled!

When the ball handler is attempting to pass

...we want a hand on the ball as it is passed with the goal of deflecting it!

When the ball handler is attempting to shoot

...we want a hand on the ball to block or alter the shot!


WE WANT TO TAKE AWAY THE OPPONENT’S STRENGTH


This will come from scouting and game preparation

WE WANT TO HAVE A COMMUNICATIVE DEFENSE


We want to be constantly talking at all times

This will increase out concentration and execution

WE WANT TO DO ALL THE ABOVE WITHOUT FOULING


Do not give your opponent’s easy scores and free throws are easy scores

Don’t bail out bad shots or bad plays

Make our opponent’s make plays


WE WANT TO FINISH WITH A BLOCKOUT AND A REBOUND


Grabbing the rebound is like picking up your paycheck at the end of the work week.