Riverview Mentoring Update-4.28.10

Wednesday, April 28

Today was my first day back to tutoring Sam. Last week we had April vacation, and although I was trying to go during the vacation, I ended up having to work, and so could not. The previous week, neither Sam, nor Phil came to tutoring because they were preparing for a school dance.

I'm really impressed with Sam. During the two weeks he managed to finish the last three math problems in Lesson 1 and do eight problems in Lesson 2. Last week, Mrs. McDowell checked his work, and helped him work on the ones he had trouble with.

This week, we decided to split our time between math and sentence structure/vocab. For the first half an hour, we worked on math. Sam was going through most of the problems with ease. If we came to a concept he didn't really understand, I was able to break it down into smaller pieces, and he made the connections himself. It was really exciting to see the way he was learning, and piecing everything together. We actually got to three questions that I wasn't sure how to do. Mrs. McDowell came over and was able to help us solve one of them, because I was unsure which method the question was asking for. For the other two question, dealing with patterns, neither myself, nor Mrs. McDowell, nor Sam was able to figure them out, and Mrs. McDowell couldn't find her answer key. I saw that Sam was getting frustrated, so I suggested that we move onto looking at the next problem. After we looked at it, and explained the concepts it included, we decided that same would do that problem, as well as the next problem for homework to finish up Lesson 2. Then he would do the first problem of Lesson 3, and if he had time, after all his other homework he would try problems 2-5 in Lesson 3.

After we finished with math, we moved onto Sentence structure/vocab. We looked in my old SAT prep book to see examples. We ended up looking at filling in the blanks part. We talked about looking for keywords such as "although," "hoping," and "before," or describing words. Those key words would help us determine the kind of word we wanted to use. If the sentence had two blanks, we used the keywords to figure out if the words we were looking for were positive or negative, to help us with the process of elimination. For the sentences with one blank we looked at the keywords, and Sam was able to make connections on his own, between the keyword and the meaning of one of the options, to get the right answer. For homework, I assigned him just two sentence structure sentences because I saw that he better understands how to do this and needs to focus more on math.

Over the past 5 weeks, I have already seen tremendous improvement in Sam. I am confident that if he stays with this rate of learning, he will do very well on his SAT tests this summer. I found throughout this activity that I was able to adapt my teaching/tutoring style to best fir Sam's needs. Although it took some struggle and figuring out exactly what he needed from me, I think that I was successfully able to help him, and teach him some tricks that will help him do better and be better prepared for his test. I will continue to tutor him in the weeks leading up to the end of school, but as we seem to have reached the main goals, I conclude this activity as successfully completed.

STAGE Update-4.8.10

Thursday, April 8

I got to STAGE today at about 4:30, just in time to start Act Two. It went really smoothly, and there were no problems with the sound effects. I think the cast did really well today; everyone knew almost all their lines, which made working on blocking and working the pace much easier. Now we can focus on volume and articluartion of the cast and how the sound and lighting will tie the play together. We settled almost completely on the playlist; we just need to find a yiddish wedding song. I gave Mrs. B the CD before rehearsal so they could use it until I got back, from softball, but apparently two songs don't work. I will have to burn her a new CD for Tuesday. i will also try to find the Yiddish wedding some, but I really like our sound effects. They really add humor and dramatic effects to the dialogue. I can't wait until we can do full run-throughs with the sound and the whole play. I think it will be well received by the audience, and it will be very enjoyable for everyone involved.

Riverview Mentoring Update-4.7.10

Wednesday, April 7

I got to Riverview on time today, skipping softball practice completely, after letting Coach know at yesterday's game. When I got to Riverview, Mrs. McDowell let me know that the boys were actually able to install the SAT/PSAT practice software onto their computers, so that was good to know. Hopefully they will use it during the week when Liz and I aren't there, so that we can review, to help the information stick in their minds.

Sam and I worked mostly on math today, as he and his mom reviewed some vocab over his vacation. The math we went over, I thought was pretty basic, but I saw how difficult it was for Sam to comprehend a bunch of concepts. It was really eye-opening for me to see how differently Sam thought about math. He explained to me that he didn't know the terms I was using, so I found out that explaining the terms, and repeating those over at various points in the review/lesson was the most helpful for him. I also found that breaking down complex concepts into simpler concepts was helpful to Sam; he was able to piece together a concept like squaring and square roots, by thinking about the multiplication times table and the doubling of numbers.

We were working through a math packet, so Mrs. McDowell assigned Sam to do one lesson over the week. It's about 15 problems, and Sam seemed less than excited, but I don't blame him, because of course it's not fun to do work that you struggle with. I only hope that he does it so that I can help him review and go over concepts he didn't understand, next week.

Although we focused on math for most of the time, Sam and I did work on vocab a bit, which is another part he doesn't really like. I found out that the methods I had used with Phil didn't really help Sam; he told me that it was easier for him to look at the list of words on the worksheet Mrs. McDowell gave him, and pick out the words he already knew and heard most often. Then we talked about what those words meant and what factor they had in common. We discovered that "demolish," "destroy," and "department" all have a common factor of the pieces. Therefore we concluded that the prefix "de-" means to go away from, or break down. Sam is going to review his list od "de-" words and also "re-" words like "review," because those will be the easiest for him.

We'll review what we went over this week, what he does over the week, and hopefully look at some new concepts next week.

Swimming Update-April 7, 2010

Wednesday, April 7

Unfortunately, I missed the mini meet. I didn't get back to Falmouth until almost 7pm. I'm really sad that I missed the mini meet. I was really hoping to improve my times, and work on my starts a bit more, but I think that I achieved my goals with this activity. I was able to improve the times between my two mini-meets, getting faster, and especially for backstoke, I was faster than some of the other swimmers by about 5 seconds. This fufills my goal of becoming stronger and faster, even though I think I could continue to improve with more practice. I've found that through this activity, my teaching skils have improved, as I can now teach the skills I've learned and I use the most to my own swimmers, in order to help teach them the proper techiniques and to help them also get faster and stronger. I even lost some weight during this activity, a fufillment for another of my goals.

Hopefully, I will be able to contine swimming, but I know that with the time change between 6:00 and 7:00 swim team, I will not be able to do it regularly, and that will make it hard to track my progress and goals. Therefore I conclude this activity.

STAGE Update-4.6.10

Tuesday, April 6

I missed STAGE today, as I went with the Softball team to the game at Nantucket. I was unable to burn the CD as my computer was having issues with CD's formatting, so I will have that for her either tomorrow or Thursday. On the bright side, I dropped off some props, like fake flowers, so that rehearsal can become more realistic. I know that the stage manager is able to get sound effects nad has most of the music for the play, so I think that my missing rehearsal wasn't too big of a deal. As we get closer to the opening of FOOLS, I will focus more on STAGE, and being very avaible to provide music and sound effects.

Swimming Update-April 5, 2010

Monday, April 5

As I feared, I was unable to get back to Falmouth in time to go to 6:00 swim team. In order to be prepared for the mini meet on Wednesday, I decided to try and strengthen my legs by going on our home elliptical for about an hour and a half. I've used the elliptical before, and I know that it mostly works my calves and thighs, which will hopefully make my kicking even stronger for Wednesday, and hopefully make me faster. I put the elliptical on the highest resistance level, 12, and tried to keep a constant average speed of about 38 rotations per minute (rpm). After my work out, I did feel a tired, but my legs felt stretched and stronger, so hopefully I will be somewhat ready for the mini meet on Wednesday.

I also am worried about even maing it to the mini meet, because it starts at 5:15, instead of 6, and I have my Riverview mentoring on Wednesday, which goes until 4:45. It is very difficult to get back to Falmouth from Sandwich in less than half an hour, neglecting any traffic. I will try to make it back in time for the mini meet. If I can't make it back, then I think I will consider ending this activity early.

STAGE Update-4.1.10

Thursday, April 1

We had to end STAGE early today, because of fire drills in the school. There have been issues with the alarm, and we had to leave the school around 4:45 today. I wasn't there for much of rehearsal, as I was at softball practice, but we did get to work a bit on using the sound effects in rehearsal. I talked to Mrs. Botsford, and I will burn a CD of most, if not all, of the music and sound effects we use, so that if I can't be there, they can still rehearse with sound. I should have that ready for her sometime next week.

Swimming Update-March 31, 2010

Wednesday, March 31

Tonight was IM night. We did about an even amount of all strokes, although I really wish we had done less butterfly as we did so much on Monday. We worked on the strokes as well as the drills.

I think going to swimming on Monday really did make me feel stronger, even though it felt like I didn't have a good night. Hopefully, I'll be ready for the Mini-Meet next week.

Here was our work out:

200 IM Kick

200 IM swim

4x50s Belly-Butt kick (Butterfly)

4x50s 6-3-6 on the back (Backstroke)

4x50s Tombstone kick (Breaststroke)

4x50 Catch up (Freestyle)

5x100 IM on the 1:30

4x200 IM on the 2:30

200 Warm down

Then we did a few practice starts for the mini-meet next Wednesday.

Unfortunately, there have only been about 5 of us coming to the 7:00 swim team, so Trish, the head coach and owner is eliminating it, and putting us back on the 6:00 swim team. This might mean that I have to end this activity early because it is a lot harder for me to get back to Falmouth around 6, rather than 7, because of the many activities I have everyday. We have to go back to 6:00 swim team starting Monday, so we will see if it works out.

Riverview Mentoring Update-3.31.10

Wednesday, March 31

Today, I missed a bit of Riverview mentoring in order to finish up my Latin Internal Assessment. This ended up working out, as the boy I'll be tutoring, Sam, hadn't returned from vacation, yet because Passover is this week. So when I got there, I helped Mrs. McDowell try and upload some SAT/PSAT software, so that the boys could practice when Liz and I weren't there. It wasn't seeimg to work on Phil's computer, so I loaded it onto Mrs. McDowell's computer. We went through the guided tour, so that Phil could see all the tools that could help him practice his vocab, sentence structure, and math skills.

Liz had to leave a bit early, and we still had a few minutes left. I worked with Phil for a few minutes, going over vocab words, and the prefix "sub," meaning to go under or to follow. We went over a few words, such as "submarine," "submit," and "subject," using them in a sentence, and going over their most literal meanings. We didn't have a lot of time to spend on them (only about 10 minutes), but I quickly learned that having the definitions ready, was the most helpful. If I could find synonyms to the words we were reviewing, that also helped him remember the meanigns, so that he could figure out the rest of the words, even if he didn't fully understand the definition. I am not sure if Sam will like/use the same methods, but I will try to use them next week and see what he thinks.

Swimming Update-March 29, 2010

Monday, March 29

Let me be clear. I HATE the butterfly stroke. I get so tired from doing simply a 50. It’s hard for me to get enough push from my kick to propel myself out of the water, to get my arms out. I seriously considered not going tonight, because I despise the stroke so much. I think part of it is that I stress myself out so much about it, that it makes it even harder, and I get so frustrated with myself., especially when I’m like a full 50 or even 100 behind the swimmers. I know that swim team is not supposed to be competitive, but doing the butterfly makes me acutely aware of how much slower I am than everyone else.

Tonight was even more difficult because I had to switch lanes. Normally, I swim in one of the middle two lanes, which is a bit smaller, but is fine. But tonight, I got switched to one of the far lanes. This was really frustrating for me for several reasons. The first is the stairs, with the metal pole. These hurt a lot when you run into them. The second is that there is a heated bubbler in that lane. That lane is much hotter than any other lane, which just made it harder for me to swim because I already get hot when I swim, and being in a heated lane was almost unbearable. That lane is also far away from where the coaches sit and where the workout is posted, which is hard for me to read without my glasses, so not only can I not read the workout, I feel isolated from everyone else.

I couldn’t complain about the lane because I almost never have to swim in that lane, and it would just be whiny. But I was getting so frustrated that I wanted to cry and think that may have affected how much I was focusing on my stroke, but I felt like I couldn’t really say anything about it. Near the end of the hour, I was moved back into one of the middle lanes, but at that point, I was in a really bad mood. It was weird because usually at swimming, I can work out my frustration and get through my moods. I generally love being at the pool; it’s like my safe haven, and it was really upsetting to me that it couldn’t be that night. For once, I’m not really glad that I went, because it just made me feel worse. Hopefully, though I’ll feel more in shape and prepared for the mini-meet next week. Wednesday is IM night. I hope it’s better than tonight was.

Here was our workout for tonight:

200 SKIP

200 IM Swim

3x50s of RABALABA with fins

2x100s of side dolphin kick (This was just the kick, 100 lying on the right sides of our bodies, 100 on the left sides of our bodies) with fins

Then a ladder all of butterfly:

2x50s

3x75s

1x100

3x75s

2x50s

This was the hardest because we were supposed to do each on the 1:15.But at this point I was so tired that I wasn’t swimming my fastest (which is really slow at butterfly anyways), so I didn’t get any rest between the parts of the ladder.

Finally:

200 Freestyle with the pull

75 or 100 of any stroke for cool down

Then we did a few practice relay starts.

Student Council Updates

So, I've been keeping the Student Council Meetings updated on that blog, located at

scpssc0910.blogspot.com. We have been getting a lot done, but smetimes it seems as though there is some discontent from some of the representatives, with the decisions the President and Vice President have been making. Luckily, at almost every meeting eveyone required to be present has been, and so I think that the majority of decisions are being made fairly.

The Council hasn't been given many issues to deal with, so mostly we've been coming up with various ideas for fun events at the school. Currently, we are planning for the event known as "Mr. Sturgis." This year though, we think its's going to be "Ms. and Mr. Sturgis," so that both genders can have fun and compete. I need to make up an application for potential candidate and a time sheet. Hopefully, Murylo, that junior representative, will book the church and we can presale enough tickets to have the event. Unfortunatley, our last event a school dance, was a bit of a failure, as we didn't break even, but I think because it was the day before vacation, and many seniors don't feel like going to dances that aren't prom, that was why it didn't succeed.

Mr. Sturgis was pretty popular last year, so we have high hopes for this year.

We are also trying to figure out what agendas the school will get next year. There are a lot of different needs for the agenda, and we didn't have many people present at the meeting in which we discussed the agendas. We were given three choices for agendas, and we finally were able to settle on one that we all liked, although the final decision is up to the administration.

I will update again, when we begin planning for the end of the year Field Day, as not much will be happening between now and then. There will be more to write about once Mr. Sturgis is more underway; until then, I will just continue to update the main blog.

STAGE Updates

Updating for STAGE

Well, I didn't get a part in FOOLS, but I am the sound producer again, which is nice. I've been going to rehearsals, and playing sound effects where the script indicates.

There have been a few issues with the cast and crew, and the other person who was doing sound with me, ended up having to take a spot in the cast. However, he and I collaborated a bit and came up with some ideas for the soundtrack.

Mrs. Botsford and I will be having a meeting during the upcoming week, of March 29th, probably on Wednesday at lunch, to discuss where we actually want to play sound effects and songs. We will probably have some songs for the specific entrances and exits of certain characters, and when events in the play happen.

So far, we've discussed having a sort of theme for the Zubritskys, the main family. Mrs. Botsford and I both really like the Curb Your Enthusiam theme song, so we will probably use that. I have found a thunder sound effect that will probably be used three times during the show, and we have a lovely, loud bell that we will used for the town bell, as well as a chimes sound effect that will prelude the bell. We have an opening song for the play, and I've been trying to find a good Ukrainian/Russian/Yiddish wedding song for that part of the play.

I also need find some good closing music, as well as intermission music, and opening music. The music that I think will be the most fun to do is for the Count, the "villian" of the play. He isn't really such a bad character, so the music has to be drk, but not too much so.

The cast seems to be almost completely off-book, which is alright, but they were supposed to be completely off book last week. Hopefully, this upcoming week, they will be completely off book.

I've been coming a bit late to each rehearsal, as I'm the team manager for the Girls' Softball team. As we get closer to the play, I won't miss as much, but until then, I come around 4:15, 4:30 and stay until the end.

I think the dates for the play are May 4th, and 5th. I'm very excited, and I know that it will be a riot.

Riverview Mentoring Update-3.10.10

Wednesday, March 10

I went to the Riverview school again today. I met Sam and Philip. Mrs. McDowell seemed to have changed her mind and wanted me to tutor/mentor/help prepare them to take their SATs. They are both juniors, and Sam at least will be taking the SATs in tha fall. He is taking a course this summer, but would like to start preparing now. I think that I'll be helping both boys with the vocabulary and reading sections. They have a two week spring break, so the next meeting will be in April.

We talked about various ways to work on vocab. Mrs. McDowell had a box of flash cards and vocab sheets. The four of us decided that I will bring in some SAT prep software for the next meeting, so that the boys can work on it on their laptops when I'm not there, and that we might do some Skype meetings online, if they need further help when I'm not there.

We'll see how actual mentoring goes when they get back from break.

Riverview Mentoring Update-3.4.10

Thursday, March 4

Today, I went to the Riverview school to meet the kids and Mrs. McDowell, who is the spouse of one of the English teachers at Sturgis. Unfortunately, I was supposed to follow Mr. McDowell to the Riverview school, but lost him among the rain and traffic. I had to go back to school, and print out directions to Riverview. I still ended up lost for about half an hour because of the rain, and the fact that when 6A went through Barnstable, into Sandwich, the numbers changed, so I was looking for the school while I was still in Barnstable. On the brightside, I'll never forget how to get to the school again.

I ended up missing the kids because I didn't get to the school in time. However, I did meet Mrs. McDowell, who was very nice. She and I sat down and discussed what kids needed tutoring for, and what days would work best. We decided that Wednesday would probably be the main day for me to come to the school, and then I would come occasionally on other days. It seemed like a few kids wanted help preparing for the PSATs and SATs, but also for Drivers' ed, and one or two for math. One of the other students from Sturgis thought that she might want to tutor some of the kids for the PSATs and SATs, so I will probably do Drivers' ed. This is fine by me, and after I meet the kids and find out how much they already know about driving, hopefully I will be able to set some goals, including picking a date for them to go and get their learners' permits and maybe for a few, their licenses.

I'll go in next week, and meet a few of the kids.

Swimming Update-March 24, 2010

Wednesday, March 24

So tonight was supposed to be butterfly, but the coaches decided to switch it to Endurance night. I really enjoyed Endurance tonight, because I had a really good day, so I had a lot of energy that I could channel into my swimming.

I find that I swim my best when I'm either really happy, or really upset. I know I've said before that it helps me get my frustration out, and I found that it also gives me an outlet for all my excess energy. I think that if I hadn't gone to swim team, I would have been unable to focus on my schoolwork later.

The warmup was a 250 kick, and then we did 2x200s of freestyle.

Then we did the main set:

1650 Ladder

This was a descending ladder:

11 lengths, then 10 lengths, then 9 lengths, etc., with 10 seconds rest between each set of lengths

The coaches told me to mix in backstroke and freestyle.

After we did this, we did another 250 of kicking,

and then a 200 of our choice stroke. I did backstroke.

After that we still had about 15 minutes left, so we worked on our diving starts, and then hung out and talked for a few minutes. This was alright because we were all really tired from the long ladder.

I think Monday is butterfly, which again, I'm nervous for. It will take a whole bunch of willpower not to skip swimming on Monday, but the next meet is April 7, so I know that if I don't go, I will feel really out of shape again, and will not be able to swim my best. Also, it will be important for me to improve my skill in that stroke, which I need. Butterfly is my weakest stroke, so I will need to really work hard on Monday.

Swimming Update-March 22, 2010

Monday, March 22

First: I didn't swim last week. A chest infection and a runny nose made it hard to go up and down stairs without losing my breath, let alone swim for an hour. It lasted a week. I missed swimming a great deal. Being in the water, cutting through it, swimming my hardest, gives me a sort of release that I can't seem to find anywhere else. I get to be alone, and focus on whatever I need to. Sometimes, it's just working on my strokes, making them better and stronger, trying to get faster, especially if we're working on drills. But if I've had a bad day, or a lot of things on my mind, I can focus on those, and let my body go on autopilot for swimming, without anyone interrupting. Sometimes I find that I don't always have to think about my swimming to improve it. If I'm focusing on working my anger or frustration out, then I usually push myself harder.

I also weighed myself last weekend: 173.0 lbs. That's a pound and a half loss, which considering that swimming is only twice a week and I have been missing. I'm sure if I weighed in more often, I would see more fluctuation. Maybe I'll start weighing in more often.

Tonight: Tonight was freestyle night.

Here is what we did.

400 SKIP (100 of each)

4x50s Catch

3x200s 6-3-6 with flippers

3x100s Freestyle on the 1:30

2x200s Catch-up

200 Backstroke

3x100s Freestyle descending on 3:00

200 cool down

The only drill I don't believe I've described before is Catch. Tonight was the first time I've done it, and it was definitely difficult. You float face down in the water, and propel yourself forward, simply by pushing your arms through the water at the same time, at 90˚ angles, and picking your head to breathe. It is supposed to strengthen your upper body, and work your abdominals.

I definitely felt that tonight. I'm still recovering from my chest infection, but at the end of the night, I definitely felt like my stroke was stronger, and I was definitely exhausted.

I think Wednesday night is Butterfly night, which I'm dreading, but I will just have to deal.

Swimming Update-March 10, 2010

Wednesday March 10

Today we had the mini meet. I was a bit late, as I was coming from Sandwich, from a meeting at the Riverview School. I missed most of my warm-up , but I was able to swim a few laps before the heats were announced.

Our Races were:

200 IM

100 Breaststroke

100 Backstroke

This means that I got to compare my times from the last meet, to two of the times from this meet.

My times were:

200 IM: 2:33 minutes

100 Breaststroke:

100 Backstroke: 58 seconds

This is excellent. For my IM and Backstroke time, the two races I swam last time, I improved on both times. I improved on two seconds for my IM, which doesn't seem like it's a big deal, but in swimming it is. However, my time improvement in the Backstroke is even more exciting. It is an improvement of five seconds, which is an accomplishment in itself, but it's also under a minute, which is also a huge accomplishment.

These improvements on my time tell me that I am achieving my goals for this activity because I am steadily getting better, and faster. I may still be a bit slower in the pool, than most of the swimmers, but I can tell that I am improving immensely, and my time improvements are an indicator of this.

The atmosphere at the pool were very quiet. It was All Bands Night in Falmouth, so a lot of swimmers were performing for that. I was actually the only swimmer from the 7:00pm time, but I raced with the fastest swimmers from the 6:00, with two girls, who had faster times than I did in both the IM and the Breaststroke. Hopefully, next mini-meet, I can swim even faster, even though, chances are we will be swimming races we did the for the first mini-meet, or races we haven't swam before.

Not sure what we're swimming on Monday, but I'm slightly excited.

Swimming Update-March 8, 2010

Monday, March 8

Tonight's work out focused mostly on freestyle, but since there were only three of us tonight (Usually there are 12 or more), we swam a lot more, and Leslie, who was our only coach tonight, was able to tell us what we needed to work on for the mini-meet on Wednesday.

Here was our workout:

200 SKIP (200 Swim, 200, Kick, 200 IM, 200 Pull)

4x100s of 6-3-6 Catchup

4x200s of Freestyle swim timed (3:00)

4x50s Kick in IM order (50 Butterfly, 50 Backstroke, 50 Breaststroke, 50 Freestyle)

3 Race Medleys.

6-3-6 Catch up is:

6 kicks, 3 strokes, 6 kicks. While you are doing the kicks, your arm pulls up your side, as if you were zippering a side zipper. This makes your stroke longer, and stronger, and smoother-looking, so that you can go faster through the water.

This whole workout made me feel much stronger. I'm really glad I went tonight, and it felt like I hadn't been in ages because of the lack of challenge last week. I'm not sure if I'm really ready for another mini-meet so soon after the last one, but as we'll be doing different races, I'm not to bothered.

Leslie commented on my freestyle, saying it was looking much stronger and smoother, even before we did the catch-up, which was nice. She helped me with my backstroke kick, saying that when I did it with just the kickboard, I used my knees too much, and kicked with my whole leg and not just my feet, but when I did the full stroke it was fine. I'll try to work on kick less with my legs and more with my feet and not bending my knees so much when we do just backstroke kick.

I'm actually sort of excited about the mini-meet!

Swimming Update-March 3, 2010

Wednesday March 3

Tonight was water polo night. I had to babysit at 6:15, so I went to the 5:00 swim team. I had forgotten that it was water polo, so I got to do the drills, but most of the 5:00 team had never played water polo before, so it wasn't really fair for me to play because I've played a few times before, with my swim team, which is really intense. So while they were playing, I was swimming shallow laps (width-wise rather than length-wise), and working on my lung expansion by doing the laps not coming up for air. It felt sort of pointless, but I did notice that I didn't feel as if I need to come up for air quite so soon.

I enjoyed doing the egg beater drills, which I could feel working my legs and abs. The drill is to move your legs around in separate circles, like egg beaters, so that you don't have to tread water , but you can stay up in the water and throw/catch the ball one-handed.

I missed Swim team practice on Monday, so that I could finish my Extended essay, which is now in, so hopefully I won't have to miss anymore practices.

Swimming Update-February 24, 2010

Wednesday, February 24

Tonight was the mini meet.

Everyone swam only three races.

All three teams (5:00, 6:00, and 7:00) were there, and so we swam in different heats depending on our age, ability, and speed.

The three races I swam were:

200 IM

100 Backstroke

200 Freestyle

Everyone swam the same strokes, but the different teams swam different lengths.

My times were:

200 IM-2:35

100 Backstroke-1:03

200 Freestyle-2:12

I was the second fastest in my race for the backstroke, which I feel was my biggest accomplishment, because usually I am the slowest person on the 7:00 swim team. This says to me that even in a few weeks, my swimming, speed, and strength has increased, and becoming stronger even by a few seconds makes me feel good.

This mini meet was postponed to today because we had a snow day on the 10th, and then we didn't meet during vacation. This means that our next mini meet will be March 10th. It doesn't give me a whole lot of time to get faster, but I think that even one to two seconds, which is a lot in swimming will be possible, depending on what races we swim next time.

I missed swim team on Monday the 22nd, because I fell asleep when I got home, and when my mom woke me up it was already almost 8. I think that if I hadn't missed practice on Monday, I could have been even faster tonight in my races, because today was my first day swimming in more than two weeks, and so I was more slower than I know I would have been had we had the mini meet on the 10th, or even if I had gone to practice on the Monday.

Swimming Update-February 8, 2010

Monday, February 8

Tonight was IM night. This was prepare us for the Mini Meet on Wednesday. This was just going over the strokes, talking about them, and then doing extended IMs. We ended up doing a ladder of IM which was really tiring, because we only had thirty seconds of rest between each.

We did a 100 IM, so a 25 of each stroke

Then a 200 IM, a 50 of each stroke

A 400 IM, a 100 of each stroke

And then back down again.

The 400 IM was the hardest part, mostly because I have such a hard time with the butterfly. After doing a 100 of butterfly, I wanted to stop and catch my breath but I kept going. After we finished the 400 IM, we slowed down going back down the ladder which was nice, and it allowed me to focus more on the strokes, rather than just going fast.

After we finished up the IMs, we had some time left over, so we swam to the deep end of the pool and practiced our starts. This was my favorite part, because I love diving in.

We talked about what we should do after we dive in, how far down the pool we should go and what kick we should do, before coming up to breathe and do our strokes.

Even though I really don't like mini meets because everyone is always watching, I feel like I'm decently prepared for this up coming meet, and I know that even after this mini meet, I'll continue to get stronger and hopefully be even faster for the next meet.

Swimming Update-February 3, 2010

Wednesday, February 3

Tonight was 100s night. I feel like tonight was to build up our endurance, and to strengthen our strokes. I know we focused on each stroke evenly, doing the drills for each stroke in the same amounts.

Going in IM order, butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, we did a 50 of the kick for each, 50 pull for each, 50 of the drill for each, and then 2x100s of the swim.

The drill for each:

Butterfly-RABALABA (Right Arm Both Arms Left Arm Both Arms)

This drill helps work our legs and our abs, to make our kick stronger. This drill is also supposed to help our stroke and make it stronger, working both sides. This is my least favorite, probably because it's my least favorite stroke, and because it is the hardest. It takes a lot for me to push myself far enough out of the water to get my arms up and out, to pull enough water and air to push forward. As much as I dislike this drill, and it's tiring, I can tell that when we do this, my stroke does get stronger.

Backstroke- Teacup Drill

I don't mind this drill as much because I like backstroke. This drill exaggerates the rotation of our bodies when we are doing the stroke, which is helpful because the more we rotate, to an extent, the more water we can pull and the faster we can move through the water.

This drill involves pretending we are holding a cup of tea in each hand using our thumbs and index fingers, horizontally, like and OK symbol, and we have to try not to spill the tea.

I find that after doing this drill, I do rotate more, and I know that my time in doing the backstroke has improved because of practicing the teacup drill.

Breaststroke-Tombstone

This drill involves holding the kickboard vertically in the water, so that it looks like a tombstone. The kickboard pushes against the water, slowing us down, and it is supposed to improve the strength of the kick. I dislike this drill almost as much as I dislike RABALABA, because I feel as if I am at the point where I am not moving in the water at all. The water resistance make my glide feel completely useless, and it's frustrating because after doing this drill I don't really feel that my stroke has improved at all. I can't tell after the drill if I'm faster or not because of how slowly I go during the drill.

Freestyle-Elbow Drag/Shark Fin

By default this is my favorite drill. It's purpose is to help us extend our pull in the water when we are doing freestyle. For this drill, instead of pulling your arm through the water, you are supposed to pull your arm up to your ear, creating an effect that makes your arm look like a shark fin. When you are pulling out, you are supposed to stretch your arm out even farther to increase the amount of water you pull, and make you go faster in the water. I find that over the years this drill has greatly improved my reach, and in result, my freestyle is one of my best strokes (the other is breaststroke)

After we did these drill we started swimming 100s, in IM order, on the clock. Each order would go faster and faster. It wasn't as hard as it used to be for me to keep up, which shows improvement on my part, and even though it was exhausting, I felt really good after practice, which I think was the endorphin rush, and I felt stronger.

I missed Monday's swim team due to too much homework and college applications that I needed to get in.

Swimming Update-January 27, 2010

Tonight was the one-hour swim for charity.

I raised $80.00 via lump sums from teachers, friends and families, and an additional $3o.80, from two teachers who chose to donate via 10 cents per lap. I raised a total of $110.80.

This means I swam 154 laps in the pool, which is roughly a mile and a half. It felt really good to swim for a straight hour, without stopping. Normally at practice, we do certain lengths to focus on strokes, or build up endurance, but just swimming really worked my muscles.

It was a bit boring at points when I ran out of songs to sing in my head, but for the most part it gave me time to think about things that I had to do, or responses to questions on homework that I needed to think about, or just life in general.

At one point I was really frustrated because another girl in my lane wouldn't pass me, and I couldn't stop to let her go, because I wanted to do as many laps as I could. So I would slow down, but she rarely passed me. I feel like I could have swam more laps, if I hadn't had to slow down for her, but overall I'm happy with my results.

I'm not sure what next week's practice will be, but I'm excited nonetheless.

Swimming Update-January 25, 2010

Today was the first day back to swimming, as I had midterms last week, and thought it might be best to study.

I can definitely tell that I need to work on my speed. There weren't that many kids tonight, four besides me, but I was definitely the slowest. However, I'm trying not to let this get me down, as I can use it as incentive to make sure I work as hard as I can, and go as fast as I can.

Tonight was all about distance.

Our warm up was 4 50s (50 yards, which is only really 34 yards in our pool), of the IM (indivdiual medley) kick, the 4 50s of the IM swim (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle).

Then we had to swim 4 200s, in IM order. This involved:

-50 Butterfly kick, 50 Butterfly drill (RABLABA-right arm, both arms, left arm, both arms), 100 butterfly swim.

-50 Backstroke kick, 50 Backstroke drill (Teacup, pretend you're holding a cup of tea, and try not to spill), 100 backstroke swim

-50 Breaststroke kick, 50 Breastroke drill (Tombstone, hold the kickboard like a tombstone to build up power in your kick), 100 breaststroke swim

-50 Freestyle kick, 50 freestyle drill (Elbow drag, to extend your reach), 100 freestyle swim

Then we swam a ladder of freestyle:

200 Kick

150 kick, 50 swim

100 kick, 100 swim

50 kick, 150 swim

200 swim

and then a cool down.

This work out was very long, but very rewarding. Even after this one practice, I feel a bit strong, in both my calves and my biceps, as those were the two areas that got the most work today. I am also really happy, thanks to all the endorphins the exercise released.

Wednesday is the one hour swim. This is more for charity then for a work out, but it will also be nice, because I will be able to just swim and swim, not stop and start, and hopefully I will be able to raise some money for the the charity we're giving to, trying to find a cure for cancer, and help those who have lost someone to cancer, and those being treated.

STAGE Updates

I auditioned for a role in the play that STAGE is putting on, Fools. I read two sides (short scenes from the play), both with a ukrainian/russian accent. I told Ms. Botsford, that if I didn't have large part, I would prefer to be the sound technician.

I wasn't cast, and I will be the sound technician, for my last ever school play. I am a bit sad and disappointed, but I know that Ms. Botsford chose the right people for the roles, and I am still excited to be involved in the production. I'm not sure where the production will be, but if it is at the Cotuit Center for the Arts, than I will already know how to use the sound system.

I believe that this play will be very funny and well done. I believe rehearsals start next week, after midterms are over.

STAGE Updates

The production of Dino actually went really well. We were all nervous that not everyone would know their lines, but the saying "bad rehearsal, good show" seems to hold true. On both production nights, the cast was on target, very high energy. Many of the scenes were intense, full of character development, and not only watching the cast rehearse, but also perform, was really interesting to see. The next play is after Christmas break, and Ms. Botsford says that it will be a comdey, but she won't tell us what it is yet.

I will try out, but as I want to be very involved, I do not think I will take a minor role, and I will just ask to do sound again.

Soccer Update

We cam very close to going to States. Our second to last game, against CCA, we needed to tie or win. I didn't get to play at all, because it was such a challenging team, and I know that I'm still not skilled enough.

We were doing really well, all the way up until the very end. We were tied 0-0, and in the last three minutes, we slipped, leaving an opening, and they scored. We weren't able to return the goal in time. I was devastated. Most of the team was.

However, we played our best, and it wasn't our last game. Our last game was against New Testament, a team we knew we could beat. And we did. As it was our last game, Coach started all the seniors. I got to play for the majority of the game, as a midfielder. It felt really good to play for most of the game, but I felt a bit odd, as I had never played for that long in a game before, and some of the players I was defending were very fast, and I am not. However, I feel as though I played a very good game, especially for not getting to play as often as I would have liked.

I also did not lose as much weight, as I wanted to, but I still lost some, and I know my skills, especially my dribbling and passing skills have improved this season.

I do not know if I will pursue soccer in college, as I am probably not skilled enough to compete at varisty level, but I might join a club team, because I do have fun when I am playing soccer.

Dress A Live Doll

December 4, 2009

Well, Dress A Live Doll is finally done. All but one advisory got all their gifts in, and the advisor for that advisory assured me that he will drop his gifts off before the deadline tomorrow. I had the same warm feeling when I dropped all the gifts today. I'm glad that we are making a difference for these kids.

I am also happy because one advisory saw how stressed out I was, and took the initiative to bring their gifts down to the Salvation Army during lunch, so that I wouldn't have to worry about their gifts.

While I am glad that Dress A Live Doll is over for this year, I'm also a little sad, because over the past two years, organizing this activity has meant a lot to me, and despite all the drama of late gifts and non-wrapping, it has been fun. Also, as I've said before, this activity means a lot to me, because I've seen firsthand, how even one gift for an underprivileged kid, can make them light up and have a really enjoyable Christmas. I hope that in the coming years, another student will have the same appreciation and enjoy providing for others, as much as I have during the past two years. I also hope that I have the opportunity to participate in this sort of program in the coming years, even though it won't be a widespread activity, because I really take pride in making a difference, no matter how small.

Dress A Live Doll

December 3, 2009

I am very frustrated. No one in my advisory brought in wrapping paper, so I had to bring them over to Allie's, my friend who is also in my advisory, house, so that we could wrap them. I'm very upset, because when I mentioned it during advisory, and no one had brought in wrapping paper, someone suggested that we use newspaper, or brown paper we drew on for wrapping paper. This made me very angry. Not only do very few people in my advisory seem to care about the doll, but the gall of suggesting that we use newspaper to wrap someone's presents, just infuriates me. We're supposed to be trying to give these kids an awesome Christmas, and wrapping their presents sloppily, messily, or just with material that suggests that we don't really care, just seems so rude, and uncaring to me.

Also, I am upset because very few of the advisories who had volunteered to buy for dolls have finished shopping and wrapping, and their deadline was supposed to be today! This means that I have to make even more trips to the Salvation Army, and it makes my job more difficult because I need to keep checking in on the advisors who don't have their gifts in. Hopefully, everyone will have their gifts in by tomorrow, because I can't drive all the way up to Hyannis on Saturday, to drop off any remaining gifts, before the deadline.

On the bright side, dropping the gifts that were in today, was really gratifying. My van was stuffed to the brim, and the boy who helped me bring the gifts in and I, had to make about six trips, with arms full of gifts, to get all the gifts in. When I saw the room the had filled with the gifts from all of those who had volunteered to buy gifts for dolls, I was just in awe. What I'm trying to do, what the school is trying to do, really means something. Because of our actions, we are changing the world, making it a bit better, just by making sure that one child gets gifts at Christmas.

Dress A Live Doll

November 24, 2009

We decided in advisory that Evan, Zach and I would go shopping, and everyone else would wrap. Allie would make cookies so that we would have enough money, because the five dollars everyone brought in won't be enough to buy our doll clothes and toys.

Zach went shopping separately from Evan and I, but he picked out a couple of nice sweaters for our doll, for a reasonably cheap price, so I'm happy because that means we'll have more money Evan and I went shopping for a few hours at the mall, and were able to buy our doll: a winter coat, two hats, gloves, a scarf, sneakers, three t-shirts, three long-sleeved shirts, two sweaters, a toy car, a sweatshirt, a spiderman action figure, two sets of pajamas, sweat pants, and two pairs of jeans. We got everything that we could that was on the tag the Salvation Army gave us for our doll. I think that our doll will have a really enjoyable Christmas, and seeing all the things we bought for him, made me feel really good, like I was making a difference in the world, however small.

The rest of our advisory will bring in wrapping paper and we will wrap during the advisory after we get back from Thanksgiving.

Dress A Live Doll

Tuesday, November 17th.

I'm nervous because my advisory does not seem to want to be involved at all. When we talked about our "doll" today, only myself and two others volunteered to go shopping, and I suspect that the others are just doing it for CAS credit, and that they, while caring about providing gifts for this child, aren't as emotionally invested as I am. This is really important to me.

When I was younger, my mom taught English as a Second Language (ESL) to adults, and my sister and I would often play with some of the kids, who often ha better English than their parents. But we could see how poor they were, by their clothes and their toys. We often went over to one student's house, who had a daughter, Nancy, who was my sister's age. They were very poor, their house was dirty, cluttered, and full of obsolete technology, and they often smelled funny, as if they didn't bathe often.

One year, when, I was about nine, we went over Nancy's house, a few days before Christmas. We brought presents for her and her little sister. They were so excited, and happy, and all we had given them was a a Vtech laptop for learning that Addie and I had shared, some barbies, and MadLibs.

Giving them presents, and seeing how happy they were really had an impact on me. I helped to give someone a nicer holiday season. This is why Dress a Live Doll is so important to me. Even if my advisory doesn't care that much, I'm going to do my best to make sure our doll gets an awesome Christmas.