CEHS Professor shares his Olympic experience

Rich Gordon by the Olympic rings

When the Olympics unfolded in Sochi, Dr. Rich Gordin was there—both behind the scenes and in the stadium while Team USA made its entrance during the opening ceremony.

Gordin is a sports psychologist in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department, and he has supported more than one Olympic team over the last 26 years.

“It was a special thing to represent your country and be there in that kind of atmosphere,” he said. “The athletes were very excited about the games, as they always are. There’s a genuine Olympic spirit there.”

He’s hoping for one more chance to support U.S. athletes in the Olympics, at Pyeongchang, Korea in 2018.  It would be a good way to round out his Olympic experiences, which started in Seoul, Korea in 1988. He worked with the US Gymnastics team at the time. It would be nice to start with Korea and end in Korea, he said.

This year he helped support the U.S. Nordic Combined Team. In 2010 he worked with the same team, which ended up taking home its first ever medals—four of them.

 He was happy to talk about his time in Sochi—which was a lot more secure and comfortable than media reports might have led viewers to believe.

Sochi had two clusters—the coastal cluster and the mountain cluster. “I was in the mountain cluster,” he said. “Just getting from Sochi into the mountains was incredible. They had to make new tunnels for a train and busses and roads…. Everything was brand-new, and I suspect every hotel was new within the last seven years. … The hotels were the highest-grade hotels you can have. You can’t make them any better than that.”

How was the security? “It was immense. There were so many police and security people and the checkpoints… they did it well, without being intrusive, but they got the job done.”

Even spectators had to have a background check, credentials and tickets. “I never felt unsafe.”

 He had the chance to be a spectator himself, most notably at the final hockey game between the U.S. and Canada. “That was one of the best games I’ve ever seen,” he said. “It was a tremendous athletic contest.”

Gordin poses with Colleen Hacker, sports psychologist for the USA Women's Ice Hockey Team, during a
happy moment when the United States was ahead. Canada won gold in the final minutes of the game.

 As for the Nordic Combined events, it looked like 2014 was Norway’s year. “We’ll have four years until Korea,” he said. “We’ll see what we do.”

Gordin will give an on-campus presentation about the Sochi Olympics on March 21 in HPER 135.

 

The ski jumps at the Nordic Combined venue. 

Emma Eccles Jones College of Education Alumni and Principal of the Year speaks out on mentorship

James Birch is the principal at Herriman High. He completed his administration certification in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership at USU.

James Birch was recently named one of three principals of the year by the Utah Association of Secondary School Principals. He is one of two Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services alumni to receive that honor this year.

He received the award after opening a new, fast growing school: Herriman High. Faced with a large number of new teachers, he took steps to make sure they received the mentorship they needed.

“Almost 80 percent of our teachers have three years experience or less,” he said. “It’s great to have that youth and that energy but you need to provide them with the tools they need to be successful.”

He asked an experienced, board-certified, award-winning teacher named Donna Hunter to put together a program—and the Herriman Institute of Teachers began. It would offer tips on everything from classroom discipline to purchasing a lunch at school.

Don’t discount the importance of lunch, Birch added. New teachers feel uncomfortable around lunchtime on their first day, not just because they may not know know how to buy it, but also because they may not have a friend to sit by.

The institute brings new teachers in twice during the summer to participate in group activities. Each session lasts for three days. Experts come in to deal with a variety of topics: where to stand in a classroom, how to manage hall passes, ways to pose a question that encourages participation. The teachers are paid for the time they take to participate.

The meetings introduce teachers not only to best practices in the classroom, but also to each other. It helps them find other people to eat lunch with.

During the school year, institute members get together once a month for an open discussion of issues. (They call it the OK Corral.) “It keeps provisional teachers and those new to the building up to speed on what is happening,” Hunter said. “We also have a little workshop on a teaching strategy. … Jim pays for refreshments and makes sure we have administrative support. This helps teachers feel like they are in the loop.”

Hunter also goes into the classrooms to observe teachers. She then makes an appointment with them to evaluate what she saw. “I send Jim a report and he follows up on any problem areas, or commends those who are doing well.”

Birch said the observations work well because Hunter is a respected teacher but not an administrator. Teachers can learn from her without feeling like they’re in trouble.

Teachers also have the opportunity to go observe in other schools. “They always come back with ideas,” Hunter said. “Jim pays for the substitutes and encourages the reluctant to participate.”

These steps toward mentorship got the school off to a good start. “We did this the very first year we opened,” Hunter said. “Our teachers were friends, they looked out for one another. … We also have had teachers who started out as weak or lacking skills that have been nurtured along because they were willing to take advantage of what we have to offer.”

The meetings have been helpful to the new teachers, but Birch has also gotten feedback from a teacher who left for a few years and then returned to the profession. The mentorship program helped him feel comfortable getting back into school.

Birch said he wants to give young teachers—and all teachers—a kinder, more inclusive experience.

“Being a consensus-builder is something that I’ve learned to do well,” he said. “When you don’t include all of your school community, you might as well get involved in a land war in southeast Asia.”

Posted by Eej Cehs