Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Photo by: Ruth Soppet

Looking Back, Looking Ahead
      My subject matter is physical education, class size ranging from 19-40 students, depending on the day of the week.  There is limited time to actually teach the students how to use a tech tool or application, since it is essential for the student to be physically active during most of  the 30 minutes that they are in the gym.  However, through communication with the technologists and classroom teachers at school, it is possible to incorporate some aspects of technology, which the students have already learned, into the physical education class.  Some of the technology tools which  would  have a place to enhance a student's participation might be, imovie, blabberize, glogster, popplet and wordle.   YouTube  is a tool which provides a visual reinforcement of skill concepts, movement ideas,  and physical games.
           If I were asked to teach a specific technology tool or application to students,  I would have to know what that tool was and what level I would be instructing.  As long as I have an opportunity to
learn and practice an aspect  of technology,  I would be comfortable sharing what I know with others. Looking back,  I would have enjoyed more hands on opportunities to explore "the how" of using specific tools, programs or applications that could be used in the elementary level classroom with students.
     Personally, I do feel more comfortable using technology.  Having had limited experience with some aspects of technology use, I found there were a number of times where more time was spent learning how to use the tool, application etc. compared to the creation of the project itself. That was frustrating.  I found  the creative end of the technology process interesting, and wish more time had been available to experiment with different tools of technology in class. Much of what I learned during the course pertained to my own personal development of using technology, which now, at this point, will help me in integrating tech into some of my lessons.
     I am amazed by the vast amount of information available to people via the internet and social media. It is important that educators evaluate information carefully and teach students how to do the same.   In regards to the use of social media, privacy matters remain  a strong concern.  As an American, I have the right to privacy and it should be respected.  As an individual, it is normal and ethical for me to decide what, in social media, should be made available to others,"the outside world", and what information should be deemed private  or unpublished. For whatever the reason, be it simply  because one does not feel the information needs to be shared or whether it is important in protecting oneself and or family, the individual should choose what he or she wants to share.  As the journey of social media continues to evolve, I hope we will all make use of it in positive ways, encouraging students and others to use it as well, cautiously.
   

      
     

Response to Digital Tattoo/Data Mining


    I was not surprised by what we found about an individual using the data mining activity. I was amazed by the information available on an individual. Our group had a spelling error occur at first, so that, in itself was a problem during our search. That being said, I think when doing a search, students, the curious,  etc.  need to check spelling for errors in a person's name, before doing the search.
     I think this activity might be useful in school if a student is researching biographical information. I don't think that this is something lower grades need to explore. There are other methods of finding information on someone.  Questions remain in my mind on this topic. How valid is some of the information about an individual? Are there ways to check the validity of information available about someone?
    It is my belief that all people need to be informed about how much information is available to others out in society.  Perhaps there is a need for discussion on rights to privacy, as in an unlisted phone number or address. Many senior citizens using social media and the like, I am sure, are unaware of the difficulties occurring at death in the digital world and should be informed about how to set up the process of having someone wipe out their information after death.

Wordle

  Wordle

    This wordle page I have created is displaying vocabulary which the student will  hear during the jump rope unit, specifically grades 3 & 4. Some of the words describe different ways of jumping, other words are titles to jump rope rhymes. I came up with two ways in which I could use this as a
learning tool. One way would be to do a word find as group game.  For example,  I could give them the clue, such as: Jumping with two feet side to side is called the_______ jump.  Answer: skier. The group would be awarded a point for the correct answer.
Also, on an individual basis, as a post jump rope unit activity, I could give a similar question aswer without points. Instead, the individual who answers first correctly would get to demonstrate that jump or jump rope rhyme to the class.

Glogster

jockamo4.edu.glogster.com/animal-movements
                                                                   Glogster
  
                               Animal Movements-Yoga

         Glogster is a very user friendly sight.  The user can enter photos, videos, and "cartoon" like shapes for any written work. I was only able, however to create glogster from my ipad.
        The challenge came when I tried to embed it into my website.  I followed all of the steps,.  However the glog piece did not show up. So, I made a link for all to view. I will be using this glog that I created in January in conjunction with the blabberize piece, for presenting some  of the concepts of animal movements- yoga unit, with my first and second grade classes.  I am interested in seeing their reactions to this. 
 

   

   

http://blabberize.com/view/id/134360

Animal Movement Yoga

I have created a blabberize video as part of an enhancement to my teaching of a yoga unit for first and second grade students.   The video tells the student about how yoga will help their body and how we will use yoga movements. It would serve as an introduction to movements in yoga that relate to animals.  Hence,  the viewer sees use of the orangutan in the picture. At a future date, I hope to give it a try and show it via the Apple tv.   I found the picture of the orangutan with arms in depositphotos.com, a free website. there is difficulty in the embedding process.    I did try to embed the blabberize piece. However when the viewer clicks on the area where the piece should show up,  all that shows up is a blue screen. So I created a link for all to view.
 Please click on the link above to view.
    

Digital Stories: Response

            

                                                    Digital Story Response

    Digital story composition, in my opinion gives the user an opportunity to be creative with a topic. My topic was a personal one, due to my interest in the history of different  traditions of Halloween, namely, the pumpkin/jack-o-lantern. Taking photos, finding songs, was the most pleasurable part of doing this.  There was some difficulty that I met up with while trying to create the video itself. I was not familiar with all of the workings of imovie.  This was very frustratingI  I needed to consult with colleagues, then needed to update my version of imovie.
    In reflecting on this assignment, it may have been more beneficial  to learn the  workings of imovie, had  time to play around with it, then do the assignment. I know this is more to learn with imovie.
     I could see a use for this in the classroom for students to view. During January, our students will learn different jump rope movements, then some(4th grade) will be required to create and or perform a short routine. Perhaps they could video each other and do an explanation of what jump rope moves are being used.
     Until I feel more comfortable with the imovie program, I may have to postpone students doing the creating and create the video myself.

Stages of tech.

Am I at stage 1, 2, 3, 4, 5? 

                                
Henry Allport,4yr. old : Machine art!              
My reentry into the teaching profession in the public schools did not begin until the early 90's.At that point, I was a part time physical education teacher, traveling to three different schools, using only equipment available from the other teachers. The only technological piece of equipment we used were stop watches. As time has progressed, our district has provided all departments with laptops and cameras, updating our laptops every so many years, more recently being provided with ipads and the classroom teachers have smartboards. There has always been a variety of tech training for teachers. The relevance of the use of the technology in the special  areas such as  physical education has been more specific to the use by the teacher in how he or she  researches or presents a lesson or recording grades.  Some examples of this are using websites as resources for skill activity and game lessons. More recently, sharing youtube videos of specific sport skills and actively participating in DVD dance videos via the smart board, when available, have been an addition to the use of technology in phys. ed.
     From a professional standpoint, I have always been open to learning about technology as a tool for learning, making sure that it does not take away from the goals of physical education: to aid in  the physical and social emotional growth of students, at various ages, and encouraging children to integrate physical activity into their everyday lives in order to maintain a healthy way of living.
    It is my view that I do not fit into one stage of technology. I feel I fit into some of the categories of three of the stages. From adoption stage 2, I fit into the first description, that being I "adopt one or two tools that makes sense (usually personal productivity tools.)"  From adaptation #3, I "bought into technology, tried  some of it with students."  From Innovation stage 5,
"I am selective in the tech. choices I use in the classroom."  I hope to try to allow the students to use the tech. tools at some point this school year.  But the concern for time being taken away from being physically active to use a technology tool, such as the ipad, is a concern for me.  I am hoping that my colleague and I will find a solution and some lessons in which the student could be physically and technologically active.
    From a personal level, I am some where between categories in stage#3 and #5. Having used tools like ipad, the macbook, and the iphone for texting, photography, downloading music, audio messaging, face time and other apps, has brought me into a new dimension of tech use. And of course, all that I am trying to absorb from this course will bring me further in my tech. skills.