One of our high school youth casually mentioned that his Spanish class was offering extra credit if they bring in some different items. He listed some of the things and one of them was a spinning top. Of course, my ears perked up and and I invited him to a visit of the Top Spinning Hall of Fame. I brought out three tops and told him they were not just any tops. The little light blue top was used at the world championships for some battle action. The plastic top from Mexico was from Salvador by way of two time world champion ta0. The third colorful wood top was one sent to us by our good friend from Long Island, Larry D. He took them to school and I heard nothing for a week.
Finally, tonight I asked how things were going with the tops and his eyes lit up. He told about how people loved them in all his classes because he has been spinning them in every class! The Spanish class was given an extension on when their items were due, so he has been enjoying giving them a whirl around school. Some of the kids are even asking where they can get some tops. "Tell them to give me a call" I said.
I am thinking about ways to build on this. My efforts to connect with shop classes making tops did not have any long term success. It will be interesting to see where this goes as I try to connect with more Spanish classes.
