BLOG 5

1. Dr. Robert's presentation was very interesting. It was interesting to see the use of daily media our students use. I thought to my self that I use just as much or more as what he found in his study. I am often working on my lap top with the TV on in the background while checking my Facebook. What I got from Dr. Robert's presentation was the fact that we are leaving in a technical world and in order to keep our students engaged we need to find ways to incorporate technology in our classes. This is great. I truly believe what ever it take to get students to learn and like learning could only be beneficial to them. I however, as a Physical Education teacher left Dr. Robert's presentation thinking I need to do something about my students sitting in front of a TV or on a computer for hours on end. It is my job to motivate them to exercise. I have my students once a day. Students motivation to participate in PE range from super engaged and will do anything to me "pulling teeth" to get students to even walk around. It is those students who will not even try to participate that I worry about the most. I think if every student could at least get one hour of exercise a day that is pretty good, but if there not even getting that in PE I can assume they are not going to be exercising at home. This means that they have no physical activity in any part of their day and that scares me. I feel as if with the increase of media this issue can only get worse. After Dr. Robert's presentation I thought to myself I need to find a way to get these kids up and moving around and show them the benefits of exercise on their overall health. Maybe I can incorporate technology into that?

2& 3. After reading " More Pupils Are Learning Online, Fueling Debate on Quality" from the New York Times I had mixed emotions. I can see the benefits of online courses, such as preparing students for college and allowing students to take classes at a pace that allows students to be successful, I can also see the downside or negative aspects of online courses, such as lack of face-to-face interaction, plagiarizing and cheating students out of the school experience just to save money. Online education may or may not be effective where I work. I work in a low income district with at risk youth. I have assigned students work and asked that the work be typed on the computer and most of my students will come to me and say either they do not have a computer, or they do not have a printer or that there is only one computer in the house and someone else was using it so they could not complete their assignment. These could all just be excuses, or they could be telling the truth and I am not sure I can make that judgement call. If only half a class can find a way to type up an assignment, I am not seeing the online education would work. I am not saying that it might not be beneficial to some of my students though. I can very well see some of my students doing very well and taking ownership in their own education through online course. It might also benefit those student who are constantly getting into fights to avoid their peers at school and focus on their education. On the other hand though, they might have more time during the day to being getting into trouble. Over all, I think that most students need that face-to-face interaction to learn. I think going to school is part of growing up and every one should experience that. I think that as teachers we should incorporate online assignment because it will help when they get to college but a full online education is cheating the students.

4. ·      http://www.slideshare.net/ "Allows you to host PowerPoint presentations on the web."


This resource would be useful in my classroom because it allows you to post powerpoint presentations to the web. As a PE teacher it can sometime be difficult to show power points to students due to no classroom or our my class sizes being to large to fit everyone in a class room to watch a presentation comfortably. With this resource I can assign students to go over a power point presentation online at home for homework and check for understanding the next day.

·      "http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ is a free tool that helps teachers design rubrics."

Again as a PE teacher I often find it hard to evaluate students in a traditional way. Written test are not the most practical in the outdoors and the are not really examining on what I have taught the students to do. Rubistar is a great resource because I can create rubrics to assess my students learning. For example, I can make a rubric for throwing skills and mechanics and as I watch a student complete a throw step by step I can evaluate them on the rubric. It is also nice to allow students to take a rubric home and practice before they are assessed that way they now exactly what is expected from them.

·      "http://teachertube.com is a site where teachers share instructional video content, and is usually accessible from school sites."

I    This would be a useful resource for demonstrations. I would be nice to take a class into the library and show students on teachertube "how to throw a frisbee" have students watch and learn from a video instead of having to listen to me all the time. 

http://www.donorschoose.org:

       Through this website, I can ask for awesome resources to help my students learn. I am excited about what this resource has to offer. I am going to ask for heart rate monitors for each of my students so they can track how well they are exerting their most important muscle their heart. I have been wanting to have heart rate monitors for years but knew they were way out of allowed budget. This is a great way to try and get school supplies that you can not quite afford.