THE BIG PICTURE:
Creativity and Innovation and Utilizing technology concepts and tools to learn: students need to use their problem solving skills in order to create new and “original” works. Students can creatively discover how to solve complex issues via the use of technology. An example could be a project in a middle or high school (or even college) health class. Perhaps students have to create a solution to our health care system, using Yodio’s to interview, creating blogs or surveys online to collect data, or even making their own video through iPhoto.
Big picture wise, Oregon says within these standards that students can (and should) creatively answer such issues via the use of technology. Also, students need to transfer their current knowledge to learning of new technologies.
Communication and Collaboration: Students communicate with one another through various forms of media. Similar to the standard above, students need to become familiar with many of the diverse technologies our society has! We can use these technologies to learn about other cultures and even develop our own understanding of how others around the world live their life. A great example I hope to use is Skype and blogger.com with my elementary PE students. I have a friend who works as a PE teacher in Ecuador and think it would be awesome to incorporate their lesson and class with my own. How fun would it be to play “Mission Possible” at the same time with 7-9 year old students in Ecuador!
Big picture wise: Oregon encourages students to explore the realm of technology within their own classes. Oregon tries to stress that technology can be used with any content area, and can even help develop students’ cultural awareness.
Research and Information Fluency and Critical Thinking, problem solving and decision making: Students need to analyze and evaluate issues with various and appropriate digital tools. They need to ensure that what they are researching or evaluating is not biased. Also they need to make sure that the data they find are valid! An example may include finding accurate information about the percentage of overweight or sedentary adults in our country. Students can research this percentage via numerous websites, but perhaps may not find accurate information on a random website compared to Healthy People 2010, which provides accurate data regarding people of various ethnicities and their health.
Big Picture: Oregon wants students to find accurate and minimum biased data. Students need to evaluate the information sources they discover and reason why or why not they are valid.
Digital Citizenship: A favorite of mine, this standard says that students need to be safe and responsible online. Students must practice how to be a good digital citizen by not disclosing certain personal information in addition to being respectful to others on forums or websites online. For example, students in a health class may have to participate in a nutrition log forum. Students need to practice being respectful to their peers by commenting positively and constructively regarding their eating habits.
Big Picture: Writing something rude or disrespectful about a person online STAYS online. Forever! Students need to know the damages they may cause if they are not a digital citizen. Students need to protect themselves and their identities online. They need to be responsible both ethically and legally online.
Challenges....
There are lots of challenges that these strategies face. For example, my elementary school has one to two computers in each classroom. There is one computer lab in the small school and usually students visit the lab 1-2 times every two weeks. In addition, most, if not all of the students are from a low socioeconomic background and do not have such technologies in their home. Students lack the resources while teachers lack the time to visit the computer lab. These are huge issues if we want to try to incorporate the standards Oregon has provided the educational realm.
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 3rd and 4th grade), and came to find out that Oregon has specified standards for only 3rd, 5th, 8th, 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 5th 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.
So for this assignment I was to look at the Oregon Department Of Education’s website. We were to talk about high end learners and had a handful of lovely questions as a prompt. When you first think about “high end learners” in PE, you don’t really think too much about changing or modifying a lesson plan do you? Well guess what? High end learners need to be challenged in every subject, including PE.
We were assigned to read a few chapters of this handout specifically geared towards teaching high end learners. Sadly, there is NO specific section dedicated to physical education OR health. Not a good start Mr. Oregon Department of Education. You have art, social studies, reading, math, and much much more… but you don’t have anything regarding physical education? 20 points from Gryffindor! I will get on my soap box about THAT another time…. No big deal, I suppose I can just make due. (I’ll post about that issue!)
I loved the second section of this packet as it gives teachers a wide list of ways to stimulate students intellectually both high end and low end. (Answering the "How will this be useful question")
First thing the second section says is that we need to encourage students to think about subjects in more abstract and complex ways, to stimulate and encourage higher level thinking skills and to promote self-directed learning.
- I think this can be done in any subject, especially in PE!
- Studies show that physical activity can create new brain cells. That is, PE is the ONLY domain in our school system that can make more cells in our very own BRAINS! Isn’t that incredible? Can you imagine if all our children participated in enjoyable and challenging physical education classes? Can you imagine if they had a PE class like this EVERY DAY for 30 minutes? What about for an hour (the suggested daily amount for children)? Think of how our children would learn much more, while having fewer behavior problems in the classroom!
Its also mentioned in this section how to effectively run a class. The author mentions various elements of thought, which are incredibly important even for PE. Students need to know what skill they are learning, the teacher’s objectives, and more importantly why they are learning this particular skill. This also ties in with the author’s elements of reasoning. This discusses several important questions we as teachers must always address in our classes. The ones I think I really need to focus on for both PE and health include:
What are the fundamental goals and objectives of the lesson? And what is the question or problem at issue you are trying to answer or solve? (very important questions)
Always, ALWAYS have the answers to these in your lesson plan!
I also like this section because it talks about Bloom’s Taxonomy. We need to add both higher and lower levels of this taxonomy in our lesson plans too.
Every student in PE must participate, something the authors of the elements of reasoning also mention in this section. I love that “I don’t know” isn’t acceptable for an answer. “I don’t know” does not exist in PE (at least in MY PE classes). My reasoning for this is because I aspire to ask questions that help students apply and evaluate the concepts we learn. If you’re participating in a specific locomotor unit as an elementary student, you kinesthetically understand the changes in your body through movement. You are learning how your body can move, which is pretty cool! You have an answer, some kind of answer, any answer to how your body moves or how you feel when you transition into a different type of locomotor movement.
So when I ask you, my student about this concept, there doesn’t have to be a specific word or response that I’m looking for. I just want to hear what you think, what you feel, and how you can somehow relate this to your own life (sort of like the theory of constructivism).
My students will hypothesize in class. These can often be simple exercises which promote critical thinking skills. But there will never be an “I don’t know” for such a scenario.
So, what happens when a student’s response isn't a clear as you’d like? What if you have no idea what they're saying? What if you just want to challenge them a little to think more critically?
Our lovely authors take a stab at this, giving amazing examples of questions to ask. My favorites include:
| Could you illustrate what you mean? Could you give me an example? Do we need to consider another point of view? How does this relate to the problem/task? |
So what’s the point of me writing about all these theories and resources? Well I consider them to be effective and appropriate ways of reaching all of my students (especially including my “high end learners”). *** This is the response to question 3 of the first section (How appropriate are these theories and resources for all students?)***
PE is not just rolling out a ball or telling kids to run around for 30 minutes. PE is supposed to stimulate and challenge students to learn more about their own motor development and maturation while gaining the lifelong skills necessary to maintain a healthy life.
So YES, why not challenge them with various high and low end elements of Bloom’s Taxonomy? Why not ask them to figure out the questions or issues they are trying to solve in PE. Why not add some Socratic questioning in our basketball unit? Let’s promote high end learning for all students and ensure that regardless of their level, all students will succeed.
Stay turned for my 3rd response! Peace out girl scouts!
Hi! This is Julia M's blog. I am an aspiring k-12 Physical Educationand Health teacher over at Willamette's School of Education. I am passionate about fitness and health and hope to teach children how to maintain a physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy lifestyle.
I love working with middle school students especially as they tend to be "difficult" and often sarcastic at times. This is such a fun challenge!! I hope to get these students on the right track to decrease their likelihood of having type II diabetes and against childhood obesity. I also want to incorporate physical education with building self esteem. Too many children of this generation suffer from low levels of confidence, and many suffer from stress or anxiety disorders. Girls especially tend to focus solely on their physical appearance as they are heavily influenced with the media. It is my dream to create an environment within my own physical education classes which help kids feel healthy in a physical, emotional and mental way!
I just finished my first marathon (the picture with Mr. Bolt and Mr. Stevens was taken the day before my race) and hope to begin training for my next in Eugene around early May. I am from Tucson, AZ and absolutely love Oregon! Mr. Stevens is my boyfriend and is originally from England! I met him in New Zealand and decided to take him back with me to America. He is a runner and is currently studying at the University of Minnesota. In this photo he's wearing a sling because he broke his arm in a crazy and dangerous bike ride (not really). He likes soccer and can probably demolish David Beckham in a 1 on 1 game if he felt like it.
I enjoy running and weight lifting in my free time. I play the viola have and practiced for about for 13 years. I even used to play at the Willamette University's Chamber Orchestra in addition to the Waller and "Dynamique" Quartet! I also have an electric viola somewhere hiding in my home back in Arizona! I also enjoy computer programming in my free time, and if you promise not to tell anyone- I used to be a big "gamer."
I also enjoy calling my parents on a daily basis (I'm an only child). Both of my parents used to be (music) teachers and eventually both become librarians. Now my mother works at Santa Rosa Public Library. She works with of children from low socio economic status and continues to teach me about working with children. My father, an avid fitness buff, is retired. Due to various medical complications since 1992 my father struggles through many things we often take for granted. He has taught me the importance of being healthy, both mentally and physically. More importantly, he has taught me that many in our society do not take advantage of their healthy and functioning bodies. My father is my hero as he works out daily and continues to run/walk his way to a possible half marathon in May. My dad will always be a "Superman" in my eyes!
This blog is specifically for my Educational Technology course and will continue to have posts related to the assignments on www.willamettemat.com
Keep an eye on this blog for some cool ways of incorporating technology with physical education!
