The Idioms of Academics
By Dr. David Stevens, Academic Director | Monday, October 08, 2012 1:35 PM
The origins of some commonly used idioms, or cliches, are unknown. Many can be linked to a phenomenon, odd behavior or special occurrences in history. However, those who use them often understand their meaning. Therefore, let us provide some meaning for those phrases you may hear in relation to UIL academics this fall.
It was raining cats and dogs during the fall Student Activities Conferences this year. Not literally. Well, maybe at the UT-Austin SAC. Those of you who attended that SAC did brave downpours and waded through water to get to sessions.
Our attendance was outstanding at each site, and the presenters and hosts were terrific. So it isn’t a stretch to say that the knowledge was raining into our attendees.
Many thanks to everyone involved for going the whole hog. It takes many individuals to pull off these successful conferences. Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Tyler Junior College, our host sites, were thoroughly prepared for the thousands of students who rained upon their campuses. The UT Austin conference would not be possible without the amazing work of our UIL academic team and support staff.
Out attendees did not look the gift horse in the mouth. The presenters and state contest directors presented excellent sessions by providing sample tests, contest tips and answering any questions. Their dedication to UIL activities is much appreciated by many who would never be ungrateful to receive the gift.
Technology allowed us to have a bird in the hand that is worth two in the brush. We have provided handouts and power point presentations online. We even moved our evaluations online to save paper. For those of you who attended, please complete the online evaluation. We appreciate your feedback and welcome your suggestions for future conferences.
Information and evaluations can be accessed at http://www.uiltexas.org/academics/student-activity-conferences.
It is better to have a certain advantage of one than the possibility of more that may come. So we are pleased we can offer access to some of the materials, even if you could not participate in the full interaction of attending a conference. Please let us know if there is anything the UIL staff can offer to support you during the year.
Many of you heard it through the grapevine and accessed the videos for each high school event from the UIL website. Viewers gain a perspective of what each academic contest offers, how they might begin to prepare and why they might be interested in trying. These are brief, but definitely provide viewers information that is via informal contact. Just another way we are utilizing technology to our advantage.
As the UIL staff, we can always lead a horse to water, but we can’t make him drink. We want all academic coordinators to register online so we have you in our coordinator’s database. We plan to utilize this communication method regularly throughout the year for updates and information.
You can find the link to register on the academics home page. Everyone needs to register each year, so please complete that form immediately. You will need your UT EID – electronic identification for UT Austin – and password to register. If you do not have an EID, instructions are on the site. This ID also will be used to enter your school’s contestants in your district meet this spring. Please write it down and keep it somewhere you can find it when you need it.
Batten down the hatches, and don’t miss a deadline. Oct. 1 was the deadline for submitting the Spring Meet District Directors Form for district chairs and spring meet athletic and academic directors. The DEC chair usually completes this form, but please double check that it has been submitted. This gives us a contact if there are unforeseen issues.
District Academic Spring Meets and One-Act Play contests must be set up online no later than Feb. 1. District CX debate meets must be set up no later than Dec. 1. You will find step-by-step directions for setting up the meet and entering students on the online system site.
Our online system requires us to identify the real McCoy. If you are in charge of the academic district meet, you must receive authorization from us to set up the meet and enter results for your district. We want the correct information and results entered in a controlled environment. Even if you were a district meet director last year, you must contact us to be re-authorized as the appropriate person to set up the meet and certify results. Campus coordinators who are not district hosts do not need to be authorized to enter contestants, they only need their UTEID.
Coordinators and coaches do a terrific job of running district contests. It is important you continue this fine work at the regional sites, because a house divided against itself cannot stand. Everyone involved must unify and function together to assist your regional contest directors. A meeting was recently held at UIL for all spring meet regional meet directors. We are encouraging all regional sites to allow coaches to be involved in the regional contest of each event. That includes monitoring the contest, grading and verification. I encourage academic coordinators and coaches to offer your assistance and get involved.
Even though I have made a stretch to relate some of these idioms to UIL academics, I am hopeful that a picture paints a thousand words and these expressions have provided a visual image that is more interesting that just words on the page.