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

Knowing how to overcome obstacles/challenges on a consistent basis is a life skill metric that is indispensable. Knowing how to keep your calm when it seems disaster strikes is paramount. Teaching to overcome obstacles and challenges in an effective manner and on a consistent basis is of great value. Recently, I was piloting a laser sailboat with a young child off the shore of Marthas Vineyard. We were moving like the wind. Tacking and jiving. Pleasure to sail with Mr. Happy Face. We sailed for a while within a half mile radius amongst moored boats in the bay.  All was going well.  In fact, my student told me that we should take it up a notch and move even faster. This is just what an executive function skills coach and teacher wants. Mr. Happy Face’s engagement and motivation level all on with the task at hand.  At some point, the hull slipped partially out during a jive and the boat capsized sending us into the water.  We uprighted the laser in...

Channeling one's energy towards a goal with purpose is more important than the release of that energy without great purpose. Without an engaging purpose by which the student sees practical value for them it will not be long before motivation for the activity wanes away.  By bringing an activity like surfing or dancing and presenting it as what could be a life time activity, I look to perfect being keen on delivery and timing. I am careful to roll it out. Dancing is a social activity, it is therapeutic on multiple levels, and a cornerstone concrete activity I use to foster independence with people on the autism spectrum.  Since a student may not want to dance for 15 minutes I will mashup dancing with soccer knee/ leg air ball kicks to keep engagement and motivation moving. I call it soccer dancing, but it can be basketball dancing, or you may create your own mashup to pump motivation levels. One game I love to play with another student is 'adventure mine craft...

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...

Money is not everything, but on one level it represents the transaction of what is paid for the sum total of our work.  It is not well understood the impact a Special Educator can have locally or even on a grander scale because Special Education instruction is a tightly controlled arrangement. It flows out of an embedded educational culture. Is it a democracy that we have within the public school special education system in America? Constant meetings, managing paraprofessionals and all the duties that come along with that all rob time and freedom for the Special Educator to lead in ways only a teacher thinks of . All educators know the value of balancing and sustaining motivation levels, picking their battles, rallying the students and keeping things fun and engaging. But oft times, burnout is common for Special Educators who can maybe hope to achieve a 6 digit income after 20 years teaching 'within the system.' Burnout is not so common when you love what you d...

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...

Mashing up Henry Ford’s assembly line,  Dr. Temple Grandin’s low-stress, max process ingenuity,  and cutting-edge music by groundbreaking artists…  @Vaskimmusic @flightfac @touchsensitive  @henrykrinkle_ @mansionair @imdurante  @cyrilhahn @flumemusic @chet_faker   @londongrammar  @shyboy Falling in mid-air Blindfolded feeling way through Tinkering, eliminating, stripping, fitting, callibrating Passion-driven teaching  slicing atmosphere Entrepreneurial teaching  heart and soul smidgen behind for my sanity Jet propulsion on-line now Phase one wiring complete Ground rapidly approaching Falling mid-air the engineer on the engine hammering, tightening, loosening passion enters knowledge makes room experience keeps itself quiet passion moves  hearts beat in sync Ground..rapidly approaching Igniting thrusters in the last moments before impact salty dried te...

Does passion have a place in the learning environment? Can passion surge for long if the salary stays the same regardless? Can intensity be explained? Can intensity be sustained if we are not somehow in the driver's seat or motivated by something that moves our heart and mind? What is left over in the heart and mind of an Educator after they have given their all?  What comes back to them?  Where does the energy emanate from?  When we value people in their work, we pay them well with money. Pats on the back, compliments and gift baskets feel good... but money pays our bills. I think that a passionate Educator is one that is free and feels free to explore, experiment and discover how to best motivate and engage students. The passionate Educator is willing to fail, in order to achieve successful learning outcomes and motivate the students with great energy. It is incredible how fast we can learn subject matter when our engagement is 'full on.' We look at thing...