Super-Charged Learning

Richard Giordano now works with university student-athletes in helping them make progress toward graduation while maintaining their athletic eligibility after having spent over twenty five years in public education as a teacher and secondary school principal. Through his book, Super-Charged Learning, he makes the strategies he teaches elite athletes available to people of all ages, and parents of K-12 and college-age children in particular.

• Table of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction:Chapter 1: When We Were Children . . . on being out thereChildlike BehaviorAtomic LearningDo Not Touch!Grow Up?Getting Back to ChildhoodChapter 2:The Human Genome . . . What Is It and Who Cares Anyway?What it IsA Dirty Word?Inferior yet SuperiorHere Kitty Kitty!Watch the Birdie!Sit Fido!Volition and SuperiorityTo Be or Not To be . . .It Really Is the QuestionExceptions to the RuleCombining ResourcesA Double WhammyChapter 3:Greeting Cards, Obscenities, and the Stuff of LearningHappy Birthday to YouYou Dirty So-and-SoThe Maligned CanineA Matter of SemanticsProfanity . . . Why?Color My WorldDoggie Understanding?A 500 lb. Gorilla Understanding!Use it or Lose it!A Necessary DisclaimerChapter 4:Making up Crap . . . the Process and the ProductSchooling in the 1950’s, a South-Side ExperienceHangin’ Up Their Stuff . . . The Parable of the HooksWell, It’s Kinda’ Like This . . .The Magic ConnectionInside an Automobile EngineMom Always Said: “Pick Your Friends Carefully!”A Large-Toothed Beaver and a World ReligionCute and Funny Sticks!A Stick-Deodorant TaleChoose to Learn . . . Do Something!Synergistic Thinking = a Strategy ChoiceMaking up Crap . . . Synergistic Thinking, What to Do . . . How to Do ItThe Rest of the StoryChapter 5:Crappy ExamplesCasual Acquaintances or Close FriendsBrainy StuffA Very Large PachydermDeath, a Eulogy, and a ProcessA Photograph Will Do Quite Nicely!A Rich Guy, a River, and a Basketball SuperstarGoing to the BakeryA Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Remembering!So What If You Can’t Sing?A Long-Ago Rock & Roll LegendSinging the U S PresidentsGetting From Here to ThereThe Doctor Will See You NowWhack-A-Doodle ScienceCHOPKINSCaFeMgNaClStrange Stuff . . . Ooo-Eee-OooBizarre Works!Chapter 6:Education and SportsTeaching or CoachingSchools . . . TeachingSports . . . CoachingThe Seasons of Our LivesIt’s Because of the Farmers?Just a Little Sports HistoryFootball Players, Excellence, and the “Off-Season”Chapter 7:Athlete-Powered Learning Going to the Picture ShowEducation Alone . . . No Sale!A School Principal’s FiascoForce-of-Will . . . the Necessary IngredientThe Dog Ate My Homework!Do I Need Glasses/Contacts?You Want to Buy . . . You Must Pay!Good Diagnosis and the Right PrescriptionPut it Away, Somewhere . . . Now!‘Time to Build Some BracketsSay it Away!The Best Way?Good HousekeepingChapter 8:Sports, Academics, and a Piano Player . . . Psychology for SuccessMy . . . How You’ve Grown Up!You Think it Before You Do itWho Says So Anyway?!Getting Your Head in the Game . . . Sports and AcademicsPlay That Funky Music . . . Playing Football . . . Playing Books (What? When? Where?)Putting On Your Academic Game-FaceWhere the Rubber Meets the RoadThe “Louisville Lip” Trash-Talked, But to Whom?Chapter 9:Schools Can’t/Don’t Do the Job? So What?! Parents . . . It’s Your Job!The Prizefighter and the News AnchorGames People PlaySchool Games . . . and Not Just on Athletic FieldsThe History . . . How We Got HereIt’s Your Job? NO! It’s My Job!Human Behavior . . . Complicated, DynamicModern Attitudes . . . Why We’re Not like the PilgrimsMovie Dialogue to Remember!Who?, What?, Why?, Where?, When?, How?Who?What?Why?Where . . . When?How?THE StudentChapter 10:The Black Student, Countering Destructive Peer PressureActing White . . . How Do You Do That?!Black Culture and EducationCultural Expectations, School Climate, and Acting WhiteTwo Minus One = Less Than MoreBlack Student-Athletes: High Status, but With a CatchJust Dumb Jocks?Athletic Participation = Corporate Culture SuccessFighting the ChargeUncle Costanzo’s WisdomI Wanna Be Like Mike!A University, a Basketball Player, and a Little Girl: Success Beyond the BoardsEating the Elephant . . . One Bite at a TimeChapter 11:So What Was That All About?A Songster and a CaretakerBeyond a Caretaker’s WorkshopA Mountain Man and a MessageAthletics and Education . . . Related?The Answer to the Snail’s QuestionParents, ‘Time to Take Your Place!A Word about WordsPeyton’s Insight . . . The Critical Additive

There is a great deal of humor in these pages but its purpose is to focus on the enormous potential innate in each of our young people and how to develop it. Many of the lessons that are taught in this book are lessons that I learned the hard way.