Part III- The trail of the Oregon Standards Newspaper

The online Oregon Standards Newspaper.

I took a look around the Oregon Standards Newspaper and of course clicked my way over to the physical education section first.

(Answer to how will this resource help me identify state standards I must address)

I was first greeted in bold Oregon’s definition of physical education. And then I fell in love.

Physical Education: The study of physical education prepares students for the long-term benefits of an active and healthy life. A physically educated person performs a variety of physical activities, participates regularly in physical activity, and knows the benefits from involvement in physical activity and its contributions to a healthy life.

Long term benefits, an active and healthy life, a variety of physical activities- these terms are music to my ears! What a clear and overall well written definition!

So I also took a walk over to the PE standards for my grades (for my practicum its 3^rd and 4^th grade), and came to find out that Oregon has specified standards for only 3^rd, 5^th, 8^th, and high school. Children are so diverse in their skeletal structure not to mention their broad range of skills and abilities. I’m disappointed that we only have four groups of standards. I won’t complain about this too much however, as it seems that every subject standard focuses on these four grade levels.

Most of the standards are fairly straight forward. I don’t have a problem incorporating most of these standards in my own class, and will probably connect most with 5^th grade level standards. I’m not too worried about this as elementary students vary in skeletal age by a deviation of 3-5 years. I can modify activities if necessary when working with students who are of a lower skeletal age while challenging my other students who have an older skeletal age. Simple!

I also snuck a peak at the health standards for Oregon, just for giggles. These standards are very detailed and are fairly age appropriate. Content standards include accessing information, self management, analyzing influences, interpersonal communication, goal setting, decision making and advocacy. Phew!

Finally I decided to hike over to the Educational Technology Standards. It seems that Oregon is really enthusiastic about using technology in all schools, which makes sense.

This section provided me some cool Microsoft Word handouts regarding the technology standards Oregon adopted in 2008. I liked that digital citizenship was mentioned, it reminded me of the OTEN conference. I know that I can incorporate these standards in my own teaching somehow.

This website works as a great tool for me. I feel very comfortable with this website now that I've explored it quite a bit. The Oregon Department of Education really does provide teachers with everything they need to know about connecting their curriculum with the state standards. This resource will help me identify the state standards necessary for my students. The standards are simple to find as the website is easy to navigate. I know now how my own curriculum goals will tie in with the state standards as this website has provided me with plenty of information.