Curriculum Video

Check out my curriculum video on jump roping and the 9 variations of the basic jump.

Voice Thread

Voice Thread Link

Twitter For Educators

What did I learn from using Twitter?

     What I learned most from participating in Twitter was how quickly information and resources can be gained as your PLN continues to grow.  I found the more people that were connected to my profession and were concerned with the same issues triggered more opportunities for followers and the sharing of information.  The sense of community and the importance of learning from others became contagious.  There were times I had information overloaded because of the overwhelming amount of material that was generated daily.  Each day I felt I was missing something important and could not keep up with all the awesome opportunities that could be applied to my classroom.  I finally accepted that as long as I was able to learn something new each day and incorporate that new information it made me a better educator.

Who was the most interesting person that I followed?

     Mrrobbo (@mrrobbo) is the most interesting person that I’m following at this time.  His focus is on developing technologies for improving student outcomes in physical education.  Mr. Robbo has developed a physical education blog called “The PE Geek” that consists of technology applications and ideas for implementation into the physical education classroom. One application I can apply to my physical education class is a web app. builder.  It’s a free web tool that walks you through the process of developing web-based applications that can be run on any digital device.  This technology offers me the opportunity to share information with the families at my school and to advertise my program.

Will I continue to use Twitter in the future?

     The benefits of Twitter from a professional perspective are priceless.  In the 4 weeks of building my personal learning network I have established resources that have already benefited me as well as the students I teach.  I will not only continue to use Twitter, but I will continue to build my PLN and grow as a teacher.  The collaboration between like- minded individuals encourages learning and the development of best practices among professional educators.  It has changed the way I teach, and has increased the enthusiasm I have for teaching.

Free technology for teachers-Richard Byrne

     I’ve been following Richard Byrne’s blog “Free technology for teachers” (www.freetech4teachers.com) and have been impressed with the amount of information that is available to teachers.  Mr. Byrne has put a lot of time and effort into this blog and I would recommend it to all educators who want to stay on the cutting edge of technology in the classroom.  There are sections in his blog that offer free downloads, plus Google tutorials, information on developing blogs, websites and video creation resources.  I’ve spent quite a bit of time going through these tools and feel like I’ve not even scraped the surface.  The benefit of having one site to reference any number of technology tools that can be applied to your classroom is invaluable.  One activity that I found interesting was the NCAA geography game.  With the basketball tournament being such a popular past time, this is a great tool to incorporate geography into a lesson.  By using this game I could open up discussions about the location of certain schools, their capitals and research little known facts about each team.

     My initial understanding of blogs and how they can be used in the classroom was somewhat lacking before participating in the technology classes at Peru State.  After exploring many different blogs, I soon realized how valuable they are for students and their families.  With one spot where all information can be linked and referenced, families can stay up to date on what is happening in my classroom plus it is a great way to advertise my program.       

My Animoto Video

My Animoto Video

As I worked on my Animoto video I was excited to see the limitless possibilities that this technology could bring to my class.  When presenting new material students can be active participants in the learning process. Through collaboration and development of Animoto presentations students are encouraged to explore and learn more creatively.  Animoto presentations help enrich the learning process for both students and myself.

Podcast

After looking through the list of podcasts on iTunes I decided to subscribe to How To (HD), The Public Speaker’s Quick and Dirty Tips for improving your communication, Ted Talks skills, Before and After how to design cool stuff, and Fitness Boost.  One podcast I found interesting was on Ted Talks. The speaker was Peter Diamandis and the title of his talk was “Abundance is our future”.  An interesting thought that was brought up by Peter was that this generation has the perception that our world is in disarray and that the future is grim.   What he wanted to make clear was there has never been a point in history that has had the abundance of growth that we are currently experiencing.  A few stats that I found intriguing was that in the last 100 years our life spans have increased 2 times, income 3 times, child mortality has decreased 10 times, and in the last 130 years global literacy has gone from 25% to 80%.  We are actually living in the most peaceful time in the world’s history.  The future is not only bright, but is expanding by leaps and bounds.  Mr. Diamandis shared how technology is expanding at rates never seen and that what we perceive as worries today will be insignificant in the future.  This podcast was very encouraging and made me feel very confident for our future.

  

Article Review Multimedia Project

The title of the article I reviewed is "The impact of interactive multimedia on nutrition and physical activity knowledge of high school students".  The authors of this article are Carolyn Dunn, Cathy Thomas, Claudia Green and Julie Mick.