Coach Bill / Dad, Entrepreneur Special Educator, American Political Scientist, Writer, Musician.

Family stories fill us, guide us and lead us into the paths of our lives. They code understanding into us and leave imprints of wisdom from times past. Do you relate the stories of your family to your children? Do you know your families past? Are you writing it down? Recently, I worked with a student whom is interviewing on film the great-grandmother who is 100 years old. Along with the mother, I facilitated the initial guidance of brainstorming, planning and sequencing on how to begin to go about it. On my way out of the home I mentioned the obvious to Mom...that the film for her child's school project would not just be for school, but serve as a record for years to come. Who knows if her child will have a family one day and then will have this record to share with the family. Knowing where we come from and honoring our past is vital to how we step into each present moment as we create our future. I believe that this is a truth worth heeding and it serves not just individual f...

The idea of creating your own home storytelling theater can serve as a way for young children, especially those with special needs to appreciate different points of view and to even act out those differing outlooks in a safe setting. This metacognitive activity helps one rethink how they approach their thought and the world. Each character acted out has the potential to have a storyline that the puppeteer assumes during the story time. Repetition of an activity like this stays within certain established parameters, yet retains a novelty each time a story is performed in the theater.   My first storytelling theater was fashioned out of plywood. I had painted it over to look like a castle and added a knight to stand guard by the castle draw bridge. Ivy crawled up the castle walls. In my second theater, I may end up doing it out of tempered hardboard and using cloth string as ‘latches,’ to tie the different hardboard sections of the mini theater together. This makes it ...

updated 1/31/16 I worked the weekend and weathered the storm with #theCowboy.  He did a most excellent job in rocking it to the beat to Queens 'We Will Rock You' and Bruno Mars's 'Uptown Funk.' He also put his shoulder into Johnny Cash's 'I walk the line.' A personal favorite of his. After the storm we were completely snowed in under two feet of snow and we had run out of oatmeal and bananas. There was no way out. There was no orang juice left. Thankfully though Martin, a man of the community, put his shoulder to the electric plow and bull dozed our walkway and area around the stagecoach which #theCowboy rides on. The snow shot out forty feet in the air, and my student, who is on the autism spectrum was simply loving it. We were able to make it to the train station to continue on in our adventure. #ShoulderToThePlow The #Waitress from SoNo who serves the best ‘Atol de Helote' in town told me a story. She told me how she wai...

Storydancing allows a person to begin to process feelings, ideas, emotions and whatever else is in there by holding those things somewhat in focus as they dance according to metrics, such as: pace focus sustained attention behavior modulation goal-directed persistence self-control self-monitoring short-term working memory mental flexibility (transitions/ shifting) beat rhythm how they feel story line story development story goal Storydancing is not about filling the air with movement and perfect pitch, but about processing and creating new ways of thinking, feeling and being just by dancing one’s way into a new life. It is a concerted effort to bring the movements of the future into the present as much as it is a catch drain that sweeps our heart and mind The actual #storydance itself becomes an analogic (analogy) poem in literal motion that amazingly rewrites how you feel about things, and how you see things. Yes, this is movement therapy. Yes it is...

What is this television thing? What visions does it tell? Are they not like food for our mind? Is there not nutritious food AND junk food? How much food is enough? Do we eat all day long non-stop? What happens when we eat late at night? Is it smart to eat junk? What do we feed our children? What kind of diet do we sustain them by? How can we empower our children? How educational is Dora and Barney actually? I saw a boy yesterday playing on some sand dunes talking up a one hour story all to himself.. completely entertained. A bright boy, big smile coming out of his big cheeks, a happy boy.. loves his tech time, but he seems to equally love his non-tech time. He sings his heart out through a microphone, seeks me for our made up 'Adventure Minecraft' time where we basically become artists. We dance a special tai chi.. all free styling, with Coach Bill throwing him into the air, around his back, 180 flips and all the time talking the story. Everything else stops in those mo...

‘Teaching is personal,’ sais my colleague from England, Alastair Arnott. Yes, and it is an art form also. What do we do with the limited time and space given us? Batman is actually a make-believe character and is NoT coming to rescue the public educational system…  Why not increase the amount of professional license We give ourselves to create, be entrepreneurially-minded,’ and focus on rapid growth?  In order to do that, many of us Educators have already taken an incredibly powerful step in reaching out to each other by the use of social media tools, like Twitter. We are learning from each other and the potential for our pedagogy is getting better and better as more of us find that the world is not flat, nor round, but an elevator, and we are all in it. Heck, I tweet the President all the time.. any day now he will give me a favorite to one of my tweets mentioning him or my abstract blog post on the executive function skill rigors found in being the President...

Dear Fathers, More than ever, it is apparent that our function in society is much needed. Although Mom's are indespensible, Father's are important too. Many are doing their job, but it is easy to slack, or hide behind work. There needs to be a balance between our provider role, and our affectionate Daddy role. Dad's are pivotal in many ways. They provide the context by which daughters shape up prospective husbands, and for good or bad, how to deal with a variety of situations. Our imprint, is there at all times, be it from our pro-active involvement, or our lack thereof. If you feel that your not doing as much as you should, and we all feel that, then get your ass in gear. Dad's job is not just to bring home the bacon, but to hit the ground running when he comes home from work. Or before work if you go to work later in the day, and to be fully invested in your children's lives...even if you are a single parent. Some activities you can do with your kids...