Attached are two videos that Edy 520 wants us to talk about. We only saw the first one in class, but I wanted to post the second one as it is an updated version. They are quite long and may take a little bit of time to load. Regardless, they are worth watching!!
(I love the second one, especially about Google Books. The YouTube thing kind of freaked me out too. I also LOVE that 40 million people have been Rickroll'd! Very interesting stuff here).
As an aspiring PE Instructor its pretty tough to think about how to incorporate technology into my curriculum. Most traditional physical educators would argue, saying that our number 1 responsibility is to "get those kids moving" and nothing more. Of course, I will encourage movement and physical activity in my PE classes, but what's so bad about trying to add a little bit extra to the curriculum- for the sake of the students? The second video I posted talks about how many folks have cell phones, and more importantly how teens LOVE to text. Kids are using these technologies, there's no doubt about it- so why not try to incorporate these technologies in a way that helps them understand your lesson plans? Why not use cell phones, ipods, laptops, etc as an educational tool? Maybe if we used these resources in our classes (and even in the gym), this will help our students succeed.
Lots of kids today know quite a bit about computers, etc. However, most of the schools in the Salem community are of a low socioeconomic status. Some of these kids don't even have shoes let alone access to the InternetI spoke with Renee yesterday who told me that she had to help a sophomore in high school set up an email account last week. Apparently this student didn't know how emails worked, and struggled through the set up process. So I guess the point I'm trying to make, is that the idea of incorporating technology within the classroom has its pros and cons. But the message I got from the two posted videos says that eventually we will all use technology one way or another in our own lives.
I think introducing technology to our students now rather than in the working realm is a good idea. When you think about it, how can you work without having an email address, or knowing how email works? In order for these kids to get good jobs they will have to know quite a bit about technology.
So.... how does this apply at all (if it does) to PE or Health?
Well, there are tons of new gadgets and gizmos online that can be used to somehow involve PE. For example...
Have you seen http://yodio.com ? Its a clever way of using the internet, cell phones, and photos all in one! In order to use Yodio, you can call a toll free number to record a message or story. The phone line records and saves your message to your account. You can access any of these recordings via your account. You can also add images, or photos (from camera, iphones, cell phones, etc) to make a "slide show" with your message playing at the same time. Amazing! I would probably want to use something like this to check for my students' understanding after a particular unit.
For example, I could have students call a class Yodio account and ask for them to list 3-5 rules/skills/etc that they've learned from my volleyball unit. Students could say that in our basketball unit you have to keep your head up when you dribble, bend your knees, and not slap the ball with your hands. I could also ask them to talk about what they did or did not understand in the unit. For instance, students could say that they liked a particular game or activity because it let them run around more. Some could also say that they didn't feel like they could fully pivot and didn't feel comfortable with the movement yet. As a teacher I can take these messages and develop a better lesson plan and see if I have time to go over pivoting again or even incorporate more running in my activities.
Students can go into the class computer lab and add pictures if they wish, supporting their message. This would probably save time for me as a teacher as I wouldn't have to give out an awful written test. During class time I could ask a handful of students to take my cell phone (I would keep these kids in my line of vision at all times too), and have them call the Yodio line. Checking for understanding done!
Another amazing technology I want to use in my health classes is Google Docs ! If I was teaching middle or high school health, I could create polls/surveys, interactive spreadsheets, or even create a class blog. All of these would be helpful in getting students involved in maintaining a healthier lifestyle. For example, interactive spreadsheets would be great for nutrition logs. Students (if they're comfortable) can create a 3 day food journal via spreadsheet and create an option to label which types of foods are proteins, complex carbohydrates, fats, etc. The spreadsheet has an option to total columns, which could be great for totaling up calorie intake or grams of fat.
The polls and surveys option would also be good for checking students' understanding. I really want to make sure that what I teach gets across to my students. Communicating this is the classroom and online will help me get to the students who may not always raise their hand when they don't understand the material.
Finally, Class blogs would also be great for students to post their assignments. Giving out pages of homework may be troublesome as some students "forget" or "lose" the assignments. And some students don't even care about the homework, turning it in ridiculously late or not at all. Doing the assignments online may make things easier for both of us. Class blogs or discussion boards (there are tons of them online) can connect students and their teachers in a different and perhaps more effective way.
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