Curnow Scores 6 TDs as Denair Crushes Le Grand 50-0

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DHS Coyotes Football

Submitted by Denair High School

Brendan Curnow’s six touchdowns Friday night in a 50-0 demolition of Le Grand may or may not have set a school record. When you’ve been playing football since 1946 – as Denair High has – there is a lot of history to chronicle, though not all of it is written down. For sure, Curnow’s performance is one of the best any Coyote has ever had.

And still that may not have been the most interesting takeaway from a game that Denair dominated from start to finish.

The fact is the Coyotes suited up just 13 players – and then had Jarred Carbajal go down with a dislocated left shoulder on the opening kickoff. It takes 11 players to field a team, meaning Denair played the rest of the game with only one reserve. There were many more coaches on the sideline than extra players.

“Every time we had a hard hit, I kind of freaked out until everyone got up,” admitted head coach Anthony Armas.

He said his coaching staff had 30 seconds before the first offensive series to “teach” Justin Gomes how to play tight end to replace Carbajal, who already was subbing for the injured Dylan Mann.

Low on bodies, the Coyotes nonetheless imposed their will on Le Grand, racing to a 26-0 halftime lead behind running backs Curnow, Justin Steeley and Chase Pritt, who shredded the beleaguered Bulldogs’ defense.

Steeley opened the onslaught with a 74-yard run – the first of eight touchdowns the Coyotes would score. Curnow took over from there. The senior back scored on runs of 25, 53, 35, 41 and 25 yards again, and then took a screen pass from Kyle Prock 80 yards for another TD to cap a memorable night. Continue reading “Curnow Scores 6 TDs as Denair Crushes Le Grand 50-0” »

Denair Students Can Reap the Rewards of Positive Behavior

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PAWS - Obed Gonzalez

Submitted by Denair Unified School District

Most students appreciate it when teachers and others compliment their behavior, whether that’s quietly completing an assignment in class, showing respect for others or even helping to clean up the campus by picking up litter at lunchtime.

But back up those positive verbal strokes with a tangible reward and watch those many of those same students ramp up their good behavior.

That’s the thrust behind a new effort launched this year at two campuses in the Denair Unified School District. It’s called Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, and it’s intended to enhance student success and reduce discipline problems by proactively focusing schoolwide attention on what children are doing right.

Teachers and staff at Denair Middle School and Denair Elementary Charter Academy spent much of the 2015-16 school year identifying the standards that would be expected of every student on their campuses. Employees went through extensive training, in part to ensure consistency in what behaviors would be recognized and rewarded.

“Each school will be different because each builds their program from the ground up,” said DMS Principal Kelly Beard.

At DMS, that evolved into what is called PAWS – an acronym that reflects youngsters who have a “positive” attitude, “act” responsibly, make “wise” decisions and “show respect.” PAWS print coupons are handed out by all staff members when they see students displaying those traits. When students collect at least five PAWS prints, they can redeem them for a range of prizes of different values – pencils, notebooks, extensions on homework assignments, passes on PE warmup laps, lunch with teachers. The big reward – worth 35 PAWS prints — is a half-hour with a friend in the “VIP room” playing video games, ping pong, foosball, indoor basketball and other games. Continue reading “Denair Students Can Reap the Rewards of Positive Behavior” »

Denair Loses 35-14 to Much Bigger Gustine Team

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DHS Coyotes Football

Submitted by Denair High School

In football, bigger, stronger, faster players often have an advantage. It’s as true in the Southern League as it is on Sundays in the NFL. Denair knows all too well the difference size can make after its 35-14 loss Friday night to Gustine.

Gustine trotted out 12 players who weigh at least 200 pounds against the Coyotes. That’s nearly half the Reds’ 26-member team. Four of them tip the scales at 250 pounds or more. They’re big boys. Compare that to Denair’s 16 players, only one of whom weighs more than 200 (Joe Brasil at 230).

More than anything else, the physical mismatch explains Friday’s result in the Southern League opener for both schools.

“Their size was a big issue,” admitted Denair Coach Anthony Armas. “They had a big offensive line and that gave us some problems.

Rather than trying to beat blockers straight up, the Coyote defenders shot gaps and tried to use their speed to slow down the Gustine offense. And though it made some good plays, especially in the second half, Denair’s defense was gouged for too many big runs and big passes in the first half as Gustine raced to a 28-6 lead.

The teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter, but the early deficit and a few key penalties that negated big plays by the Denair offense were too much to overcome.

“It was just one of those nights. Everything went their way,” said Armas, whose team dropped to 2-2 overall. “They were a lot better than we thought, but like I told the kids after the game, ‘That team was better than us, but not 35-14 better than us.’ ”

Junior varsity game: Denair won 22-8. It is 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the Southern League. Continue reading “Denair Loses 35-14 to Much Bigger Gustine Team” »

Class Act! 10 questions for Lori Quillen

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Submitted by Denair Charter Academy

Name: Lori Quillen

Family: Married with two little boys

School: Denair Charter Academy

Subject taught: Sixth- and seventh-grade home-school independent studies

Experience and education: Bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Azusa Pacific University. I have taught kindergarten in Southern California, second grade in the Turlock Unified School District and have home-schooled middle school for a local charter family. I also have been a youth ministry leader for 10 years.

What most inspires you about teaching? I’m inspired when students realize that they’re capable of more than they realized.  This might be academically, but could also be socially or emotionally.

What are your biggest challenges as a teacher? My biggest challenge is convincing students that their education is a priority when they have personal or family challenges outside of the classroom that are, understandably, distracting them from learning.

What is your favorite teaching tool or activity? My favorite teaching strategy is called Power Teaching.  It’s a method of instruction that engages students with visual, auditory and kinesthetic interaction to maximize their learning potential.  Not only is it a fun way of learning, it’s a fun way to teach!

How has Common Core affected your classroom strategy? The biggest switch has been moving from teaching to the test, where student would regurgitate memorized answers, to teaching students to justify their thinking.  Students are now being challenged to provide evidence for their answers.  For example, this last week in math I asked students to become math lawyers and defend their answers by providing each other with a visual to demonstrate their thinking. Continue reading “Class Act! 10 questions for Lori Quillen” »