The Flying Figure 4 Leg Lock and Technology Integration

When I was first starting out in my life as a professional Luchador, I was asked by my then manager, a Sr.Lais Dorito, what my “finishing move” or “Para Moverse de Sin”  was going to be. Well, I had just gotten off the train from my village in Northern Chihuahua and had not ever thought about a “finishing move.” Sure, I had played with the idea of the “Frijole de Muerta” where I would squat on my opponent and let him understand that it was not a good idea to eat a gallon of baracho beans right before a match, or perhaps even the infamous “Entrerrosca de Infierno” a move my Tio Tito taught me where I use my considerable thumb and forefinger strength to make my opponent scream for mercy after having his nipples squeezed into submission.  None of these however, impressed Sr. Dorito, who told me that I could not do something half-way, that a final move must be so devastating that all of the hombres in the crowd would fear me, and all of the  mujeres in the crowd would want to throw their panties into the ring. Thus, after a year of training in the Calor del Gimnasio in Ciudad Suciedad,  I discovered the Flying Figure Four Leg Lock. This move required me to wrap my legs around the legs of my opponent while doing a spinning toe hold all the while catching my opponent, who has jumped on me from the top rope. His legs become entwined in mine, and we apply pressure on each other over and over, becoming enmeshed into one,  until one of us is spent and exhausted. ( By the way, in many parts of Texas, this is confused for something totally different, and many a luchador has been chased out of town by angry Rick Perry-lovingmobs crying “Marriage is for a Man and a Woman! Get out of here!”)

Anyway, I digress. 

Where was I? Oh yeah. The FFFLL or Tres Effes Dos Elles proved to be my signature hold until I discovered the Flying Tortilla Wrap in the late 80’s at a truck stop restroom outside of Bakersfield. But hey, that is a way other story.

So, you ask yourself, “Where the heck is this going?” “What does this have to do with the price of Chicharones in Chihuahua?” “Why am I reading this?”  Look esé, the 3F2L is just like technology integration in the classrooms of your teachers. Kids can’t just be partially involved. The little chimichangas can’t just be watching from the sidelines. They can’t just be hoping to have technology in the lesson. The technology needs to be wrapped inside, intertwined, and made part of the lesson, just like the legs of my fellow loser luchadores when I made them submit to the Flying Figure Four Leg Lock. If you go a classroom, and the teacher is the only one touching the technology, then that lesson is as integrated as a lettuce field being picked by the United Farm Workers. It isn’t.  If the teacher is the only one using the El Smartboard, then you need to take them aside and ‘splain to them that it is the KIDS that use the technology, not the teacher. She can show all the cool Jeopardy-Rip Off Powerpoints she wants to, but until el estudentos are making the presentations, or the reports, or the movies, they aren’t integrating technology in their lessons. 

So go lead. Show them how it’s done. And just because you carry a pretty little iPad around doesn’t mean you are integrating anything either jefé. Unless you are making something with that pretty boy, you ain’t integrating technology. 

It don’t mean a thing if they don’t make nothing!  

Hasta la vista.