The Governor’s Conversation on Education – Dayton, Ohio July 29th, 2008
Remarks and observations by Keith Cosby:
“As you could tell, most of the big players in Dayton were there. As the others have stated, Gov. Strickland laid out his 6 principles and then we had the opportunity to present our ideas.
I arrived early and had a seat in the second row second seat from the aisle. Well, just before the Governor came in they had us move over to fill in all the seats. I was moved to about the third seat in now. L I thought most of the commentary was very positive but we got stuck on some Dayton issues a couple of times. The major topics focused on class size, Wellness programs and centers for students and interdisciplinary teaching.
If I had a chance to present an idea here is what I would have said:
“Close your eyes and imagine walking into a DPS gymnasium. You see a large map of Ohio on the floor and students working in groups of three around it. The students at the Dayton city (birth place of aviation) are making a paper airplane design which they must fly and measure the distance to record on their paper. The group in Rio Grand (the location of Bob Evans Farm) is designing a breakfast menu calculating the Nutrition facts of the meal. The group in Cincinnati is deciphering the quilt code for the slaves that are escaping across the Ohio River by Ripley Ohio.
These are all interdisciplinary activities learned at our Best Practices conference for PE, Health, Recreation and Dance colleagues across the state of Ohio. As you can see qualified Physical Education teachers can help to reinforce (not teach) many of the state standards on a daily basis.
In your video clip the CEO of Nationwide Insurance and the Cleveland Clinic spoke of developing students who have critical thinking skills. Through our team building and various challenges afforded our students through quality PE programs we can address the need for students to think critically and to work together as a team to reach a goal”.
During our wrap up session I missed the key point from each of the eight groups because I was busy putting our groups together. I have emailed Brewster Rhoads for a copy and will forward to you as soon as I get it.”
Keith Cosby
