by Since I know nothing about NCAA basketball, I’ll congratulate Villanova and tell a personal anecdote about my connection to the team.
Five or so years ago, I got hired to do a keynote at an education conference held at Villanova. I arrived several hours early, just in time to realize that I would be speaking in their basketball arena and following a speech by their (apparently beloved and talented) basketball coach.
I thought to myself, “How the hell am I supposed to follow a god-like basketball coach on his home court?” I crafted an opening joke that I still think is a killer. I may have even tested the joke on friends before my time to speak.
I opened my keynote address by saying, “I’d like to dedicate this presentation to all of the kids who had special gym.”*
Man, did that joke bomb!
* I had special gym for a couple of years during elementary school
Veteran educator Gary Stager, Ph.D. is the author of Twenty Things to Do with a Computer – Forward 50, co-author of Invent To Learn — Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, publisher at Constructing Modern Knowledge Press, and the founder of the Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute. He led professional development in the world’s first 1:1 laptop schools thirty years ago and designed one of the oldest online graduate school programs. Gary is also the curator of The Seymour Papert archives at DailyPapert.com. Learn more about Gary here.