Blog #3

The article was extremely informative and I think that it does a great job of helping us better understand the importance of what we are doing and how making e-portfolios can be a tremendous help to our growth as a teacher as well as a great way for students to access information.  The one that stuck out to me was AFL should promote commitment to learning goals and a shared understanding of the criteria by which they are assessed.  The reason I chose this one is because I think that having an educational portfolio gives you a great way to feel like everything you are working on is part of a bigger project and working toward a goal.

I feel that the oppurtunities for students to grow can be greatly enhanced by portfolios because it is a great way to allow them to find information in one spot that they can easily access.  Also, if they created one themselves that they were responsible for then it would be easier for them to keep up with assignments and easily access them at any moment.  It would also give them more creativity in how they create their individual portfolio and you could easily set out the rules and guidelines for what you expect out of them.  As teachers we would need to make sure to fully explain how hopes for the class and what we are expecting but at the same time let them know that they are in control of their experience in the class.

I think this will only help my development as a teacher and allow me to further use technology to help my students better access and understand what I am trying to convey to them.  Hopefully I will be able to work with it enough to get fully comfortable using it so that way I can better translate that to my students.

Reflective Blog #2

This activity suprised me because I have been using search engines for as long as I can remember and I always assumed that the first couple of web pages were the best options.  Now that I have done these assignments I think I better understand the kind of information that I want might not always be the first couple of web pages.  I learned that for the most part if you look at the ending suffix of the website then it can go along way in letting you know what kind of website it is.  For instance, sites ending in .edu, .org, or .gov are better than just .com sites because they actually come from educational institutions or organizations which are better equipped to help you find what you are looking fo,r not to mention that they are normally more in line with what is considered state approved material.  I wish I would have know this in the past because I would have been more able to sort through the sites that wouldn't be much help instead of getting frustrated because I am not able to find what I am looking for.

This can be a big problem for our students because if they are just going off of the first couple of sites that pop up then they will be more likely to spit out the same information as everyone else and it will become a continous cycle of repeating the same material over and over.  Doing this will hurt their ability to learn new information and more importantly find information that can be the most helpful and from credited sources instead of just some person that started their own blog or web page.  We have to teach or students how to sort through this information so that they might better be able to sort fact from opinion and learn new ideas from different sources.

I feel their a big advantages with using Delicious or Google Reader because they are able to sort information to your liking and it gives you the best possible results for what you are looking for then if you were to just type it into a normal search engine.  Also, you can save these sites and share them with your class so that way you know that the information they are getting is reliable and accurate.  Students will be able to sort through 5 to 10 sites instead of 1000s.

The way I would like to use this in the future is to do a lesson where the students get into small groups and try to find a new sport or game for the class to learn.  They will be responsible for learning the rules and history of the sport.  After they do this they teach the game to the rest of the class and hopefully the class will enjoy a new activity.  I can use sites that I know have tons of ideas so that way they aren't all picking the same thing.  This will give them an oppurtunity to do research and to learn how to implement what they read and learn into actual teaching of a new game to their peers.

The advantages for using wikis is you are able to get ideas that you normally wouldn't be able to because the amount of information possibilities are endless.  Some of the disadvantages are that sometimes the information might not be accurate, therefore actually hindering the learning process.

There are a ton of applications that I would like to use such as foodical.  It could help students better understand their diet and how their eating habits could hurt their health.  It will also give them a way of tracking what they eat so they can make better decisions to lead a healthier lifestyle.

Classroom Technology

In my Physical Education class it can be difficult to incorporate because you have to walk the line of helping them use computers but at the same time you want them to be active so it can be counter-productive.  I have come to the realization that it is best to use technology to enhance their activity level.  For instance, when students use the fitness gram they first take part in numerous physical activities and then they put that information into a program that lets them now if they are healthy or if they might need to work on certain aspects of their health. 

Most teachers think of PE as just a class where students run around and they don't really take it seriously.  In reality physical education is the most important class a student can have because it deals with their own personal health and many children only have healthy moments in school because they go home and eat badly or just sit in front of the xbox or tv.

Blogging in the Classroom

The one thing that I loved about college is that I was able to put my opinions in beliefs in more of my work instead of just reading a book and giving a review.  Early in our lives school is just what we are told and we are never able to further our learning by challenging ourselves to create and implement our own views and beliefs.  If we were able to use blogs to allow students to interact and make them feel more a part of the lesson I feel that it would help them to not only better understand the lesson but will also help them getting used to people having different opinions and views then their own.  This is a great skill that I think goes unlearned in schools because we are too worried about teaching for tessts instead of making sure they are actually understanding the lesson.  It's one thing to teach a student how to be healthy but it's another to inform them why it is important and the benefits of doing so.

Creating a New Culture for Teaching and Learning

In the article he brings up numerous points that really made me think about the way I approach teaching.  The one that stuck with me the most is where he talks about technology not being the future but connecting with people and creating relationships is the most important thing. 

We need to make sure that students are becoming more interactive with their peers, so that way they learn how to create lasting relationships and are able to then use team work through out their lives.  If we are able to think more outside of the box then we can turn ordinary activities and lessons into more challengine and rewarding lessons for our classrooms.

Class Expectations

In this class I hope to find ways to incorporate technology into my classroom and give students new ways to interact and get information.  This year we used the FitnessGram software so that the students could put in their fitness tests result in and see where they stand as far as being healthy or if they need to work on certain things.  This was a great activity and the students struggled with it at the beginning of the year but the second time we did it they were able to go right in and enter their information without any problems.  The struggle for me is to find ways for them to use technology while still being active and not in front of the computer all day.

Concept Map

In my concept map I tried to show the most important parts of Physical Education and what I hope the students gain from my class.