From “The Boys of Ewald Park” – What do we call our neighborhood?

There are many names for the geographical area of Alexandria that surrounds Ewald Park. On the old city maps, it was called Tarleton or Wakefield. But I don’t know too many neighborhood folks of our generation that ever used those terms. Ours were more along the lines of L.A. (Lower Alexandria), or the Block.


But, when I go back to the 1970’s, some questions remain. Growing up, I recall everything south of Duke St. being called the Southside, whether it was our area, or even on the eastern end of town, in the neighborhood that encircled Lee Elementary School, where a lot of our friends from the Eugene Simpson baseball team lived. By contrast, the Northside was reserved for Del Ray, Arlandria, and especially the public housing units that made up the north end of Old Town along Rte. 1.

For the sake of argument, here is Wikipedia’s definition of Lower Alexandria. Since I wrote the original submission, it’s hard for me to disagree with this.

“South of the Duke Street corridor, Lower Alexandria is a collection of communities of small homes, row houses, townhomes along with commercial and retail real estate, including the Shops of Foxchase. The section between Wheeler Ave. and S. Jordan St. is also known as the "Block." In the 1960’s and 1970’s, this section of Alexandria was also known because of Shirley Duke, a complex of 2,214 low-priced rental apartments, which became the Foxchase development in the early 1980’s after five years of stagnancy. There are also areas of industrial businesses south of Duke Street, primarily off Wheeler Ave., South Pickett St., and South Van Dorn St. In the very southern part of this area is the Eisenhower Ave. corridor running parallel to the Capital Beltway (I-95/I-495) and west of Telegraph Rd, which is primarily industrial and commercial in nature.“

But my questions have more to do with the geographical boundaries. If Duke Street borders L.A. to the north, then Shirley Duke or Duchess Gardens apartments wouldn’t have counted as part of the old neighborhood. Given that most of the kids who played at Ewald Park were from one of those two areas, should they be?

Francena McCorory and the Lyles Brothers Representing Virginia Track

This summer has turned into a wonderful season of warmth for Virginia track fans. I’m sitting here on a Friday night watching the USATF Outdoor Championships from historic Hayward Field in Oregon, and Francena McCorory has just won her semi-final race of the women’s 400-meters in a world-leading time of 49.85. Tomorrow’s final should be very intriguing. Sanya Richards-Ross, the defending 400 Olympic champion, didn’t make it to the final, but Allyson Felix, a dominating short sprinter with four Olympic gold medals, did. Felix, with sub-22 speed in the 200, is capable of breaking 49 in the quarter, and tomorrow’s winner may have to do just that to take the crown.

Francena will run for the 400-meter USATF
Championship on Saturday. She will need to beat
her best time of 49.48 and defeat Allyson Felix to win.
And that’s part of the reason why I love this sport.

The other reason why I love track, and running in general, is that there is a closeness, a proximity, that this sport allows, something that may not be seen in others.

Francena is a local star, a legend here on the Peninsula. She was starring at Bethel High years ago, when I was coaching at Denbigh, a district rival. While our boys had some success at the district level and even got as high as 4th in States, Bethel dominated the girls scene, mainly because of the young woman who opened up leads that 18-wheelers could drive through.

But my local ties also reach to the northern end of the Commonwealth. Hours earlier, at Hayward Field, Noah Lyles, a rising 12th grader at T.C. Williams, in my hometown of Alexandria, VA, won the junior 100-meters in a state record time of 10.14. Noah, and his twin brother Josephus, have dominated Virginia high school sprinting for a couple of years now, and are now taking their talents to a whole new level. They had the opportunity to race in Cuba last week, and I think that’s a good example of where their speedy legs are taking them this summer. Other parts of the world will be seeing both of them soon.

Noah and Josephus Lyles - Remember THESE Titans
from T.C. Williams!
Several months ago, I got to meet the Lyles twins, just before the indoor state meet. After Nolan Jez, the webmaster for Milestat.com, made the introduction, I listened to them for a couple of minutes and heard a few things that piqued my interest. (You play ball at the Courts, then walk down to 7-11?) I had to ask the question – what part of Alexandria are you guys from? It turned out my instincts were correct. They are from the old neighborhood – literally a stone’s throw (seriously, 40 yards) from where I lived as a kid.

There is a wonderful common denominator, one that is shared by Francena and the Lyles brothers. They are great people. After T.C. won the state indoor title, both of the Lyles brothers spoke of the impetus gained from their two-miler’s points toward the end of the meet. (You guys did OK too, right?). I have seen Francena take endless pictures with young children at a few meets. She even taught me how to take a selfie when I requested a picture. Great snapshot – even I looked decent!


And here’s the point – if Francena and the Lyles brothers are examples of our track and field stars for now and the near future, I think that our sport is in great shape. There are others, and I'll tell you their stories soon.





Improving Your Writing: Asking the Right Questions

Although I have strayed from educational topics, and concentrated more on the sports posts, there are some aspects of learning that remain near and dear to me. Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to attend  a class at James Madison University - one dealing with the grading and teaching of the new GED Extended Response questions. These will take the place of the essay, which was part of the exam from 2002-2014. It's a different type of writing, but one which requires knowledge of three skills - comparing and contrasting two different viewpoints (Language Arts), knowledge of an enduring topic and the ability to add prior knowledge (Social Studies), and the ability to write a short experiment or identify and explain the elements of an existing one (Science). Currently, there is not an extended response for Math, but it is forthcoming.

As I thought about developing a teaching method for my GED students, the one element that continues to flow through my brain is that students (at all levels) need to develop the ability to ask the right questions. Here's a little something I recently wrote for a class on Teaching Writing to Transfer (to other subjects).

           As a fledgling college English instructor and current author and journalist, one of the writing and transfer topics to which I have paid the most attention in recent years is questioning.

            In theory, having the ability to develop proper questions about a topic is a key function to master. It forms the backbone needed to engage in the writing process. As a researcher, having the ability to ask the proper questions about one’s topic is necessary, as it helps the writer to find the information that is most pertinent to support the hypotheses. In a persuasive essay, foreseeing the questions that detractors may ask, and formulating the answers to support one’s argument is an essential part of building a successful platform.

            There are several ways to examine the topic of questioning. In journalism, for example, young reporters learn of the five W’S (Who, What, When, Where, Why) and H (How?) and the importance of answering as many of these questions as possible in a lead (lede) paragraph of less than 40 words. While finding the answers is important, the five W’s and H form the simple baseline to a story after the writer has answered those questions. However, for the audience that reads newspapers and magazines, these answers, written at a seventh-grade reading level, are sufficient for this genre and audience.

            However, there are other genres, as well as other types of audiences. While thousands of people may read a newspaper article, at times, the instructions for an assignment note that the project is intended to be viewed by an audience of one. Therefore, the line of questioning will be altered to meet the needs of the audience.

                                                                Objective

            As a correctional teacher, my concern was that the deletion of the essay from the 2014 GED test had de-emphasized essay writing as a required skill. In its place, the extended response has been installed to show students’ writing ability. In truth, the new response will require the student to write plenty of material, but not necessarily in the five-paragraph format that they learned.


                                                         Bloom’s Taxonomy

            One way to determine the level of questions, which need to be determined before engaging in a writing assignment, is to review Bloom’s Taxonomy. The Taxonomy addresses five levels of questioning. They are:

1.     Knowledge – having the ability to recall specifics and universals about a topic. Generally known as a rote recollection of the answers to questions addressed by the 5 W’s and H.
2.     Comprehension – having the ability to process knowledge in a manner that is not a verbatim response, which was learned previously.
3.     Application – being able to use abstractions in concrete situations. Depth of knowledge is introduced at this level.
4.     Analysis – the breakdown of a situation into its component parts.
5.     Synthesis and Evaluation – having the ability to put together elements and parts about a topic to form a whole, and then being able to make value judgments about the method.

Knowing one’s audience and understanding the depth of knowledge that is required to optimally plan and organize a writing assignment at the college level are the two components necessary to becoming a competent college writer.

With this concept in place, my objective is to explain the importance of developing questions when writing in the various genres that a college student should be adept with using. A good example of question writing ability came up in a reading, when “Whitney” was given an assignment to “select a critical article [from a shared class text on the Harry Potter series] and develop three questions about the article that encourage analysis and discussion. (Hassel and Giordano, 2009). This is a viable example of a college assignment, and typical of the critical knowledge which a college English student should possess when writing in different genres.

 The aim for teachers should be to discuss pedagogical strategies to help the college student become better with the questioning method as it is utilized in the writing process. To enhance one’s ability to form credible questions as a young writer is a skill that will transfer to other writing courses, including journalism, speechwriting, narrative and expository writing, as well as to answer extended essay response questions on standardized and formalized tests such as the GRE and a state bar exam.

                                                  Readings for the Teacher

            Presently, I am recommending at several articles on this subject. At present, this list includes:

1)    The Effects of Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Align Reading Instruction with the Virginia Standards of Learning Framework for English - Crews, C. F. Pro Quest LLC, 2010. A study that examined the effects of aligning the Virginia Standards of learning (SOL) framework with Bloom’s Taxonomy on Student Achievement.
2)    Repeatedly Answering Questions that Elicit Inquiry-Based Thinking Improves Writing- Radhakrishnan, P, Schimmack, U. & Lam, D. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 2011. Participants practice the skill of asking questions about a journal article. Inquiry improves writing by helping one learn more about the topic at hand.
3)    Brainstorming for Ideas – Mogahad, M. M. (2011). Teachers brainstorm words connected with the topic in class before setting the composition for homework. Does asking questions help to brainstorm?
4)    History Makers: A Questioning Approach to reading and Writing Biographies – Zarnowski, M. (2003). Adopts a questioning approach to studying history, getting writers involved in the process.
5)    The Logic of Question and Answer: Writing as Inquiry – Francoz, M.J. – College English (1979). Describes a technique which stresses critical thinking by stressing questioning methods, as students participate in a fictional interview.
6)    Classroom Environments of Respect for Questioning and Discussion – Robitaille, Y.P., Maldonado, N. (2015). Recent paper submitted at the Qualitative Report Annual Conference shows effective questioning techniques to develop critical thinking.


Reference

Hassel, H. and Giordano, J. B. (2009). Transfer institutions, transfer of knowledge: The
development of rhetorical adaptability and underprepared writers. TETYC, September
 2009. NCTE.


Lex Gillette Breaks Own World Record in Long Jump

I have been negligent in taking this long to wish my friend and writing colleague (he wrote the foreword for our book!) Lex Gillette on his latest of many accomplishments.

Lex broke his own long jump world record for F11 classified (visually impaired) athletes of 6.73m (22ft. 1in.) with a leap of 6.77m (22ft. 2in.) on April 23, 2015 at a high performance meet held at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center.

Lex is based in San Diego and trains at the Chula Vista center as he prepares for the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

Virginia's Yvette Lewis Qualifies for 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Hurdles

With a 12.98 clocking in the women's 100-meter hurdles at the recent World Challenge in Beijing, China, Newport News' Yvette Lewis qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Lewis, who has competed for Panama since 2012, took advantage of the opportunity to qualify by besting a standard of 13.00 seconds. While the American team is selected by way of the first three places at the Trials, the qualifying standard was designed to allow smaller countries the opportunity for athletes to make the Olympiad. While Lewis' time was 63 hundredths of a second off of this year's world leading 12.35 time by the USA's Jasmine Stowers, it is also slower than her own best of 12.67, which was set in Lahti, Finland two years ago.

In fact, at 30, Lewis may be arguably the greatest female track athlete ever to have not yet made the Olympics. Prior to concentrating on hurdling, the Menchville High (VA) graduate was a two-time NCAA champ for Hampton University in the triple jump. Her best jump of roughly 45 feet, 5 inches is a world class mark. In fact, Lewis is certainly the only female athlete to combine for both a sub-12.70 time in the 100 hurdles and over 45 feet in the triple jump, a claim that is not argued by several track experts, such as Trinidad and Tobago Olympic track legend, and now NBC sports commentator, Ato Boldon.

Unfortunately, the triple jump is not a premier competition in women's track, so Lewis hung up the jumping spikes several years ago to concentrate on the 100 hurdles, which is more of a glamour event with the likes of Lolo Jones, Dawn Harper-Nelson, and fellow Virginians Queen Harrison and former teammate and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Kellie Wells in the mix of competition.

However, the glut of star power, now boosted further by Stowers and Brianna Rollins, has now caused the event to be America's strongest event, on the men's or women's side.

In 2012, Harper-Nelson (silver), Wells and Jones represented America as the three representatives in the hurdles at the London Olympics. In a show of incredible athletic ability, and after missing the chance to qualify for the team in the hurdles, Lewis quickly entered in the Trials heptathlon, and won two of the seven individual events on her way to an eighth place finish.




"If We Build It, They Will Come!" -- Mentoring Our Youth Through Entrepreneurship

The movement is called, “If We Build It, They Will Come! The Take Back the Dream Act!” By its initial definition, it is described as:

“An open forum to discuss development of entrepreneurship programs offered as an alternative to the gang lifestyle and other social issues we are combating lately in our communities. What has been done in the past does not work. We need fresh ideas and a new path to show these young people that there is a better way! All are welcome!”

On April 29th, almost 40 people took up D’Shawn Wright’s challenge and congregated at the Body By D Gym in Yorktown to exchange thoughts, vents, confessions, and ideas with regard to finding better options for today’s inner city youths.

For almost two hours, D’Shawn played host, but mostly distributed the microphone to anyone with a willing voice. To add posterity to the proceedings, he seated a panel in the front – consisting of a lifelong educator who told her tales of teaching gifted students in Hampton (Dr. Linda Hutchinson), two former Denbigh High classmates who now walk the talk daily for troubled youth at the Newport News Juvenile Detention facility (Oliver Walmon and Elizabeth McGrath), a former gang member who now mentors youths (and some adults) from the barber chair of his shop in Denbigh (Robert Moore), and the Republican candidate for the Clerk of the Court seat in York/Poquoson, Tu Ritter.

From the audience, educators, business owners, activists, and other community leaders offered tales of optimism and hope. But this is not a one-time event. Wright promises to take the ideas which were shared at the Town Hall, develop a plan of action, enlist help and support from community organizations, and move the mission to Step 2. Here is a video, filmed by Jamison Media LLC, summarizing the first Town Hall meeting.



The time and date for the next meeting will be finalized in the next few weeks. Details will be posted on the group's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/events/1604405843107829/), as well as here on the "Wall."


Poker Run for the Holiday Family To Take Place on Sat. May 23rd in Williamsburg

Continuing with my ongoing coverage of “Taking Back The Streets,” there are two parts this week.

Last week, I talked about how the Holidays are taking to the streets in search of information which will help capture their son’s killer. Now, their friends are lending an even greater hand. If you’re in the Williamsburg area, the Poker Run will be taking place this Saturday, May 23rd. here’s how the announcement reads on their Facebook page.

Please come out to honor the memory of Adrian B. Holiday as we ride in a Memorial Day Weekend poker run on Saturday, May 23rd. The proceeds from this event will go to Adrian's Mother, Williamsburg PD Ofc. Holiday and her family in the wake of his unexpected loss. 

The ride will kick off at Quarterpath Park in Williamsburg. Riders can pick their own route as long as they fill their hand and reach Daddyo's at Bourbon Street (351 York St., Williamsburg, VA) by 6:30pm when winners will be announced. There will be a sixth (optional) wild-card stop.

Prizes will include cash pot for best hand, as well as door prizes and raffle items.

Billy Joe Trio will play live at the after-party, 8:30pm for those who stick around! 

*Registration starts at noon, kickstands up at 1pm.*

Single Riders $25
Doubles $35
Cars $35

Email AmberEFrye@gmail.com for more info, or to sign up for support team!