Blog Post #16

Final Blog Post

I will be teacher 9-12th grade PE students. I plan on becoming a PE teacher. I will not be like the average PE teacher though. I will actually teach my kids instead of just giving them a ball and saying go play. I plan teach my students using technology and project based learning.

I plan on using project based learning by not only teaching my students in a gym but also helping them research on topics along the lines of physical education.  My class will actually be physical EDUCATION not just play basketball. I plan to use as much technology in my classroom as possible. I also plan to teach my students how to play games as well. We will not always be in a library of computer lab but we will use technology as well as games and things of that nature. 

I want my student to take PE seriously and not think they are just taking my class to get 50 minutes off and sit in the bleachers. My students will learn bout physical education as well as dieting and being active. I am truly looking forward to becoming a teacher and being able to help mold kids lives. 

When I wrote our first blog post assignment I wrote it as if I were a teacher of a subject that is not PE. I only did that initial because I did not know how to incorporate technology into a PE setting. Now that I have gone through this EDM course I now see that that is possible. The only problem is that most PE classes are held in a gym. So that , unfortunately, is how my classroom would look. As far as teaching would go I want to incorporate technology into my classroom as much as possible using blogs, computers, and iPads. Like I said before I am really looking forward to becoming a teacher and trying to eliminate burp back education and teach my students how to apply things instead of just repeat.

Blog Post #15

Kai Lopez

Recently, Dr. Strange interviewed a third grade teacher from Baldwin County at Gulf Shores Elementary School in lower Alabama named Anthony Capps. Anthony also happen to be one of Dr. Strange's students back when he attended the University of South Alabama and was even one of his lab assistants at one point. From the interviews that I have seen from Dr. Strange, it seems to me that Anthony is a successful teacher and learned a lot from Dr. Strange's EDM310 class.

In the interview, Anthony shared his thoughts about iCurio and Discovery Ed. He explained how iCurio works by being a safe search engine for the students and it even follows ACCRS. He also explains that iCurio allows for students to organize themselves online by creating folders and even has storage for students who find content that is important. One of the coolest tool that iCurio has is its "read aloud" feature which could be very helpful for a teacher who has a student who is blind. Anthony also explained his thoughts on Discovery Ed. He said that Discovery Ed supports the text a person is using into a video. It turns the text into life. Me personally, I would like Discovery Ed, because I am a visual learner and I would rather watch a video than read.

In the video with Anthony Capps, UseTech Don'tTeachIt, I was amazed about by the fact that he said not to teach technology because I was always taught how to use technology. But I see his point because he lets his students explore and ask questions to learn more about technology. Also, I think that it is amazing how his third grade students know how to use iMovie and he doesn't have to spend time teaching it. I didn't learn how to use iMovie until high school. "Do it yourself first" is what I think Anthony's best advice that he gives in the video because he explains if we do it ourselves first then we will know why the students are asking the questions.

Chris May

Dr. Strange did an interview with Anthony Capps who graduated from the University of South Alabama. Anthony took EDM310 when he was enrolled at south, and was even one of Dr. Strange’s lab assistants. Anthony is currently teaching a third grade class at Gulf Shores Elementary School in Baldwin County. Anthony discussed his views about iCurio and Discovery Ed and how he incorporates them into his classroom. The topic of the first interview was the discussion of iCurio. Because Anthony is teaching in Baldwin County, Alabama, they allow iCurio to be used in the classroom. Icurio is an online tool that allows students who safely search through a filter for students to get anything online. One thing that is neat about iCurio is that students have their own account and can sign in on their own. Instead of using paper and pen, and keeping everything in binders, iCurio allows for the students to create folders online to save their research and materials to then can come back to it whenever they need to. Basically, none of their work will get lost. Another plus about using iCurio is that it can be used for all grades. One perk that stands out to me is the read aloud feature on iCurio. Since I would most likely teach special education at some point in my career, this feature on iCurio would be fantastic for my classroom. The next video between Dr. Strange and Anthony was about Discovery Ed. Discovery Ed is definitely a tool that will consider using once I have my own classroom. As a student, I would rather watch a video on a topic rather than read it. I agree with Dr. Strange about students being “listener-watchers” instead of reading and writing. So I think that using Discovery Ed will help my students understand more about the topic.

In the video, The Anthony-Strange Tips for Teachers, Dr. Strange and Anthony talk about 5 key components that teachers should know.The first point is, teachers really need to be interested in learning. People learn something new everyday and thats why we will never stop learning. Teachers learn the craft of teaching in their free time. The next point is to be flexible. Teachers also make mistakes and forget to leave thing out sometimes. Just because you are a teacher does not mean your perfect by any means. Dr. Stranger gives the example of a blog assignment he gave us this year in which he said he wanted us to create a presentation or video talking about one of the two topics he gave us. He said that after reading the posts he realized that he wanted the students to go over both of the topics and give a voice overlay covering both topics. He quickly went and took notes and changed the project instructions for next semester. I think that every student that takes EDM 310, then they know what hard work is, or from my personal experience playing football at the Division 1 level is hard work. In order for us to be successful, we have to work hard to get what we want. Getting kids engaged is another key point. I work great with kids, so having them getting engaged to learn what I am teaching will not be that hard. I agree with Anthony and Dr. Strange about reflecting because it never hurts to help to get others thought on your work. Thanks Dr. Strange and Anthony for both of your advice!

Corey Waldon

What can we learn from these videos with Anthony Capps?

iCurio

iCurio is an online tool that allows students to safely search video and audio media that can be used for educational purposes. It is a search engine that searches subjects around all state standards. iCurio is set up for students to log on and use on their own. It also allows students to save and upload their own work. It gives students practice on how to organize their work, search information safely and save work easily. From this video I learned that Anthony is using iCurio to its full advantage and he is requiring his students to use iCurio to do their own projects and research. I think it is great that his 3rd grade class is expanding their knowledge on how to use new technology and search the web safely.

Discovery Education

Discovery Education is a great tool for teachers and students. It gives students more than just the plain text of research but also videos of what is being researched. The idea of Discovery Ed is that students remember more from what they listen to and watch. From this video I learned that students associate their reading with what they watch in discovery videos. Students enjoy readings and videos that co-exist with one another which makes learning more fun and meaningful.

Day in the life of a 3rd grade teacher

In this video Anthony talks about how stressful the beginning of his teaching career was. He said he started off loving his job at first, but he was putting in too many hours and after the first couple months he started to hate his job and counting his days before he quit. After meeting with other teachers Anthony found new ways to manage his time and still be 100 percent effective in the classroom. One major thing Anthony suggests is that if you are not willing to put in a lot of time you will not be a successful teacher. He said the job can be tiring and a bit stressful but being organized and well prepared can help dramatically. What I learned from Anthony is that teaching can be as good as you make it. As a teacher you can drag on day by day hoping the time will come and the school day will be over, or you can be the teacher that strives to get 100 percent engagement out of all students and make learning fun.  I believe that teaching is a job that should not be all about the pay. It is a job where a person tries their best to challenge and encourage their students to be the best they can be and have fun while doing so.  I believe in the importance of education and I think as a teacher it is our job to prepare our students for the future of education and technology.

PLN

Even though I did not get the chance to really use PLN I really think it is and awesome idea! Everything is so easily accessed and organized! Especially with the google search engine right in the middle of it and the ability to add a new tile whenever you need to. I think this will be a very useful tool when i become a teacher because everything I need will be in one place, organized, and easily accessed.

Blog Post #14

For this project you will research on your own and find ways in which project based learning can be used in a Physical Education class setting. Make sure and include the tools and resources your students will use in order to do this project. There is no limit on what or what not you can use. The only guideline is that it MUST be a project based learning assignment. Be sure and give the time frame and means of creation of this project.

Here are a few blogs/videos to get you started.

Brandon Pflug's post - Project based learning in PE

Andrew Miller's blog - The Whole Child Blog

Dwight Carter's blog - PBL in Action

PBL tool kit for K-6 - Tool Kit

Eric Davolt's video- Project Based Learning



For my students project they will be separated into even groups. In these groups students will select a specific sport in which they will in depth research. In this research they will find out the following:
- Creator of the sport and how it was created.
- Where it originated
- How it is played
- At what levels it is played at
- Where is it most relevant today
- If a professional sport what is the average pay of that athlete
- List a few of the best players of that sport and some information about them
- What is the structure of management
- Rules of the game
- How is it officiated
- How athletes train for the specific sport
- What is the biggest stage the sport is played on
- What type of surface is the sport played on
- etc.

Students will be given one month to create a presentation of this project. We will use class time to work on the project but students will have to also to some work outside of the classroom to complete this project. The presentation can be a powerpoint, google presentation, video, or podcast. There is no limit to how long or short the project must be but all of the major points must be covered or points will be taken off. Students will use computers in the computer lab at school to do their research during class time. Students could also interview a person who played the sport they chose but that person must be older and play at a higher level of their specific sport.

C4T #4

I was assigned to Dylan Blain's blog The Physical Education Teacher. In the first post I commented on Mr. Blain was telling about departmental developments and how they were sharing information with other PE teachers. In order to share their documents they are using things like iPads and google docs, things of that nature. In my comment I explained to Mr. Blain who I was and why I was commenting on his blog. I then told him that we used a lot of the same resources his department is using to share our information. 

In the second post I commented on Mr. Blain is talking about research informed ideas. He posted a few links to some blogs that were very educational about physical education. He also gave the name of a woman to follow on twitter. In my comment to Mr. Blain I told him that I enjoyed the two links he had shared as well as the teacher on twitter. The links and twitter handle are very helpful and I enjoyed reading them.

Project #12

Project #13 Part 3

Blog Post #13

Corey Waldon

The video I watched “To this day….. For the bullied and beautiful”, was by a poet named Shane Koyczan. Shane is a poet who uses his talents to shine light on being young and being different. As a child Shane was picked on, called names, and considered an outcast. He said that as a youth he was asked what he wanted to be. After saying what he wanted to be he was told what he couldn’t be. He was told to accept the identity of what others gave him. Shane’s dreams were called names also, they were said to be silly, foolish, and impossible. Shane ends his poem with a story of a boy and girl who were bullied. The two kids experienced their first sign of bullying at the age of 8 when they both got moved to the back of the class to avoid the spit balls. They felt they were outnumbered day by day. The little girl to this day still doesn’t believe she is beautiful because of what was done to her as a child.  Then the story of the little boy who was adopted at a young age, by the 8th grade he was seeing doctors and taking pills to hind the pain. Shane wants people who battle with bullying to dispose of the thoughts of what they use to be and look at themselves as something beautiful.

From this Ted talk I learned that bullying is a serious issue. I learned that in order to get over what was done to you as a child you have to look at yourself as more than what others perceived you to be. Unfortunately bullying can begin at such a young age, you have no earthly idea of who you are or what you can be. Shane emphasizes on knowing your worth. It is important that we all find our gift and nurture. We are all special and knowing that allows us to reach all of our goals in life. I think Shane is a great poet and that this video can open a lot of people’s eyes to bullying and how it affect other peoples’ lives. That little girl will probably have to battle with the fear of being lonely and not enough all her life just because she was considered different in school. I also learned that as a teacher you should never tell a student their dreams are stupid, silly, or impossible. As a teacher we have to protect those kids who are different, prevent the bullying and give those students a life to look forward to. If we let students be bullied we will open the window for failure and even depression. As a teacher we should embrace all levels of creativity and intelligence. We should also encourage our students to embrace one another and learn to accept one another regardless of their differences. We should also teach our children that being different is not a form of alienation or a reason to outcast someone, yet being different is being special. The last thing I learned was that we are all beautiful and that we must embrace our beauty and let it shine.

Chris May

I watched the video turning trash into toys for learning by: Arvind Gupta.  Arvind Gupta is an indian toy inventor. He creates toys to help children learn about science. He has authored many books on these toys in several different languages.  In this video Mr. Gupta talks about new toys that are being created in small villages from recycled goods. The toys are made out of simply things like match sticks and rubber. The toys can be put together by the children that are using them, and can be very useful for things like geometry. Mr. Gupta is giving many different examples of very cheap and easy ways to create toys that will help teach children about science and the principles of it. I thought that all of these little gadget toys were really cool.

My favorite of all his toys was the straw one in which he blew into and cut the straw shorter and shorter as he was blowing in it which made the sound it creater become higher and higher pitched. This particle toy could be a really great tool for blind kids. Blind kids could very easily learn how to different length of vibrations create different sounds without seeing it happen but only feel the straw and hear it. I think that these toys are extremely useful and wonderful tools to help teach children in poverty stricken areas the properties of science and such.

Kai Lopez - How do babies think?

Alison Gopnik is a psychologist and a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. She researches about how children in their early stages think. Alison has wrote many books about her research. In her video, What do babies think?, she explains how the past 20 years scientist and psychologist have changed their views on how babies think. I think that it is crazy how babies and children use statistics and probabilities to solve problems. It makes sense that they do, but I have never really thought of it that way.

One quote from Alison that stood out to me was "Babies and young children are very bad at narrowing down to just one thing. But they are very good at taking in lots of information of lots of different sources at once." She uses an example of 18 month old babies by testing the broccoli experiment and how the babies react to what the person wants to eat. I don't remember anything from when I was a baby but I always wonder how smart I actually was. But as a young child, I do remember riding my first bike, going to the park and stuff like that. I never actually realize how much information on took in from just being around my family and seeing them do things. If adults had as much curiosity or imagination as babies do then I feel like we could all be Albert Einstein's and would not have a problem with learning. I also like her video of the little boy going through 5 different hypothesis's to try to figure out how the other box lights up. That video shows that children have so much curiosity and can be very smart. Overall this was a great talk from Alison Gopnik, and I think that every parent should watch this to show them that every baby or child has the potential to learn.

Project #14

Blog Post #12

Chris May

Ken Robinson

In Sir Ken Robinson’s video Changing education paradigms he talks about how every country around the world is reforming public education. He gives two reasons for this. The first is economic. He goes on to say how can we prepare students to find their place in the economy in the 21st century. Thats a pretty hard task to accomplish especially considering how rapidly our economy is changing. The second reason is, cultural identity. He says that every country is trying to educate their students to have a cultural identity as well.

Sir Ken Robinson then presents a very good point. That those two reasons are trying to be accomplished by doing what was done in the past. He explains that in doing this it is alienating kids, in which makes them think there is no point in going to school. Students have always been taught that if you work hard and go to college and get a degree you will have a job. The problem with that nowadays is that receiving a degree does not necessarily mean you will immediately have a job. He then goes on to explain that our present education system was created for a different time with different economies and such.

After speaking on that Sir Ken moves to the debate of ADHD. He says that he can not say that there is no such thing as ADHD because he is not qualified to do so. He says that he knows for a fact that ADHD is not an epidemic. He then says that the children of today are living in the most stimulated period in the history of the earth. He is saying that children are given all types of things like xbox, cellphones, and TV shows, then the children are perpetrated for being easily distracted. The students are then given medicine to keep them focused on the boring school stuff. He then says that the rise of the prevalence of ADHD has risen at a parallel pace with the growth of standardized tests. He says that this seems more than coincidence to him. He goes on to say that we are getting our kids and students through class by giving them these drugs for ADHD and numbing them but what we should be doing is waking them up.

He then says that our education system is set up on a production line type of standard in a sense that things are still ran on bells and there are separate facilities and things are all separated by age groups. Basically he is giving a very interesting example of burp back education. He also says that this is creating conformity.

Sir Ken Robinson has a very eye opening opinion on our education system. I would have to say that I agree with him on most everything he is saying but, I must disagree with him on the argument of ADHD. I disagree because I suffer from ADHD. I would agree that there are plenty of students who take medicine for ADHD that have absolutely no need for it but there are some people who really truly have attention disorders. I have a very hard time keeping my focus on a single task even without stimulants like iPhones, games, and music. I could be in a blank room with only a piece of paper pencil and a writing assignment and still have a very short attention span. All in all I really enjoyed this video and I would like to see more of Sir Ken Robinson.

Kai Lopez - How to Escape Education’s Death Valley

Sir Ken Robinson is an English author and an international speaker on education. In his video, How to Escape Education's Death Valley, Sir Ken Robinson explains the American culture of education and the three principles that humans thrive which are diversity, curiosity, and creativity. He also explains how current education works against them. He explains how humans are naturally different and diverse by explaining how a parent has two or more kids, the parents would never get them mixed up. I like his example of kids being diagnosed with ADHD because he is completely right about kids fidgeting after doing hours of school work (I personally think everyone would be fidgeting).

In the video, Ken states "Teachers are the lifeblood of the success of schools." I agree with this statement because the teacher is the one who guides the students on being successful and if the students are successful then it looks good on the school. And this is why I think teachers should get paid more. He addresses the fact that each child is unique in their own way because of their creativity. He explains that we should convert the way we learn to nurture skills and talents of children in order for the "death valley" to change.

Corey Waldon   

Sir Ken Robinson:  Importance of creativity

Mr. Robinson is a well-spoken and funny man. I loved the way he presented his ideas and how he added humor to keep it interesting. What we shouldn't take from the video is all the humor but remember what his main argument was. Mr. Robinson wants our children to learn and be able to live in a world that we can’t even predict. Know the Importance of Creativity. Like me, Mr. Robinson believes that education and school is getting too caught up in the basics of teaching. Of course math, reading, writing, are important but what about the skills children can show and use outside of a regular classroom setting. I think he used a great example about the little girl who was thought of to have some type of mental disorder. The little girl couldn't be still because she just loved to dance. Well that little girl grew up to become a famous dancer and now is a millionaire. But, that little girl would have never got the chance to show her creativity if somebody didn't take out the time to really see why she acted the way she did.

Mr. Robinson wants the world to know that we shouldn't strip away our children of creativity and that the public school system needs to stop telling children they are wrong all the time because they are different. Every child has their own skills and niche but how will we know it if we don't let every child express their own ideas and feeling. Not every child will grow up to be a teacher, biologists, or doctor. So, as teachers it is their duty to allow the students to express every aspect of their being whether it be mentally, academically, athletically, etc. This too helps generations to come because the little girl that I wrote about in my previous paragraph will never forget what her teacher did for her and she will be that support for another creative student. To prepare our children for the future we must first learn from them and allow them to show their own creativity.

Blog Post #11

Kathy Cassidy's video Little kids big potential was one interesting video! It seemed to me like it just a younger version of EDM310! I think it is pretty cool that kids that young are able to do a lot of the things we are! Watching this made me think about what we talked about in class tuesday concerning people not being creative because teachers do not promote it after the younger years of schooling. Just think if there were more classrooms similar to this one through the school system these students are in. Wow! They would have some super creative minds! I think it very impressive that Mrs. Cassidy is able to provide these tools for her students. She is a teacher that I think has her classroom going in he right way and should keep going with it!

In the Skype Interview video Ms. Cassidy talks on how she feels that every teacher is going to need to be technologically advanced because technology is not going to be going away. I agree with her completely on this, but I am planning on becoming a PE teacher and I am trying to understand ways to implement technology into a PE setting. I really like how she offers all of these technological tools for her students. I think the blogs are the coolest tool she offers to her students. I say this because all of her students really seemed to like them and they get to have their parents and other peoples input on them all the time. If I was still in elementary school I would be fighting to get into Mrs. Cassidy's class!

C4T #3

I was assigned to Brendan Jone's blog Jonesy the teacher. In my first post in which I commented on he talked about the issue of road safety and how he is teaching his students about this problem. He assigned his students a project in which his students were to make a video about a certain phrase enveloping road safety and make a short clip about it. In my comment I explained to Mr. Jones that I really liked the idea of what he was doing and that I was really looking forward to seeing his students videos.

In my second post I commented on Mr. Jones is basically talking about "burp back" education. He talks a good bit about PBL and how that is what he is going to bring that into his classroom. In my comment to Mr. Jones I told him that I really agree with his choice to do this and that we use the same techniques in our EDM class.

Project #13

Cooperative Lesson Plan Activity

Name:   Chris May                                                                                                                                          

Assignment: cooperative Group Activity                                                         

Theme: working with a group to untangle a human knot

Part of Lesson Plan: Introduction

Activity Title: untangling human arms                                                                      

Teaching Style: Indirect and working together

Level: 1                 

Formation: In a circle all holding hands but your hands are crossed-over

Tools/Equipment: none

Music: none

Content Standards: Standards 1-6

Teaching Cues: Students will get in groups of four and all cross their arms over one another, then they will grab hands and try to untangle the knot within the group by working together

Disciplinary Action: When you miss behave or mess with other students, you will receive a warning and if you continue to misbehave then you will have to sit out for the game

Teaching methods/ Methodology: make sure they know that they are not allowed to let go of anyone in their groups’ hands and know their body parts

Assessment strategies: observation

Safety guidelines: keep your hands to yourself

Modifications

Adapt for students with:

Physical: If a student had a broken arm, they can judge whether the group lets go of their hands or not

Emotional: If the student does not like crowded area, I would make sure everyone was evenly spaced out to make that student comfortable

Mental: If the student did not understand the activity, I would use visual aids or demonstrate with myself

Diversity: If the student speaks Spanish, I would show them and make sure they understand the game

Level 2 and 3: I would make the game more difficult by placing the students in a more complex knot to try and untangle