EDU 255 Final Part 2

EDU 255 Final Part 2

While using the program Traineo, I did not like or understand the program very well.  This program is used to maintenance/record your workouts and nutrition for however long you want.  However, the main problem that I had with the program is that for the basic subscription it costs $9.99 which I was instructed not to pay.  So the only thing I could really do on the website was record my weight and look up different types of workouts that other people had created.  If I were to use this program long-term, the weight graph would be good to look at to see at what rate I could lose/gain weight and also to see my BMI.  I really liked the availability of different and unique workouts that were created by people.  These could range from extreme weight lifting workouts or small exercises that could be done in your home.  Unfortunately by not paying the $9.99 I could not record my calorie intake and had trouble recording my workouts.  

I’m using another program similar to this one called Daily Burn.  This program is free and records your nutrition, workouts, sleep, and body weight.  To record your nutrition all you had to do was type in what you ate and it would automatically record the calories, fat, and protein.  This allowed me to quickly record my data without having to go too far out of the way.  The Daily Burn also had pre-recorded calorie output for specific exercises.  These exercises also had video’s that would explain how exactly to do certain exercises.  It also created a guideline for how much I should be eating compared to how much calorie output I am performing.  Between the two programs, I for certain like Daily Burn much better.  However, I would like to stay a part of Traineo just because of the interesting work out plans that are posed on the site.  

Another thing that Daily Burn has included in their program is an iPhone App where the phone can scan the barcodes and it is already registered with the nutritional facts so that whenever you eat something it can be recorded right on the spot.  This prevents people from forgetting what exactly they ate and screwing up their nutritional log.  The website also has many graphs that you can choose from to show your recent activity.  This allows you to see if there is a relationship between certain facts. 

I would use the Traineo website in order to accomplish the NYS Learning Standard 1B to help with the fitness plan.  I would have student’s research different types of exercises on this website that they can include in their fitness plan.  And if the exercises are already set up like a fitness plan, the students will need to take these exercises and put them into a fitness plan format where the calorie output and intake are included.  There are a lot of exercises that are explained on this website that I’m sure students do not know and can use in their fitness plan.  For goals for the group I could have an average weight that students want to work towards.  They could take the beginning average and the ending average to the goal that they want to get to.  

This is an image off of the website Traineo.  This image shows the front page to where you can get different exercises that random people put up for others to enjoy.  You can also notice that on the right side bar it shows what my current weight is, how many calories I can eat throughout the day, and how many more pounds I have to lose to reach my goal. 

 

This is from the same Traineo website and shows a graph where the blue is my weight loss and the black is the rate at what I have to go to reach my goal.  This is good so that you can see if your weight loss rate will reach your goal in time.  It still has the same sidebars that always show your progress.   

 

Here is a screen shot off of the website, Daily Burn.  This is the front page when you log in and it shows you something similar to Traineo.  The graph shows your weight loss however, it doesn't show you a goal that you're striving to reach.  The options on the left hand side bar are things that you submit and track as well as your weight.  

Here is the Track Nutrition section where you record your calorie intake.  As you can see it is giving a area of acceptance for calories, fat, protein, and carbohydrates.  This is based off of information given at sign-up for the site.  I like how this site shows a pie graph where you can see the majority of what you have ate throughout the day.  It also shows a goal of 8 glasses of water a day which you can keep track of. 

This is the work out site on Daily Burn where it tracks what you have done for exercising throughout the day.  As you can see from this shot, today I have burned 464 calories and have lifted 6,000lbs total.  It is also showing that I have not ran yet today.  This is a good thing to see so that you can also see how much you have down throughout the week or lifetime.  Here is a Lesson Plan that could be used in the classroom for extra help. 

EDU 255 Final

After watching this video I was able to respond to questions related to it. 

Brain Gains  http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/indepthanalysis/story/2009/10/06/national-braingains.html

Part 1B

1 )  The web-site is from Toronto ON, Canada.  The school is located in Southern Saskatoon, Canada.  There is also another school mentioned which is in Naperville, USA (near Chicago). 

2 )  I thought this news piece was extremely interesting.  Like the teacher says in the clip, that it’s hard to believe that this actually works unless you are there to witness it, which it is.  Seeing that one of her students increased in the comprehensive area by 400% is incredible.  There is always a lot of talk about how exercise stimulates thinking in the brain but I have never actually seen where the results are so obvious.  The teacher even says that the four months before the exercise program even started there was no increase in academics at all until this program.  It’s amazing how just one simple thing of exercising at a certain heart rate for 20 minutes can have such a benefit on young children who have never had the interest or ability to do school work. 

3 )  We probably don’t hear about this experiment because school is based around the academic portion o f learning.  If there is exercise in the classroom, people will not relate that to the academic success of the school but the ability of the teacher to have the students comprehend what she is teaching.  I will make sure that my PE program will benefit the students and faculty of the school by going outside what I already know and find out ways to help students achieve what they want through physical activity.  This could be not only doing physical activity during the class but also incorporating subjects such as math, science, and history in order to stimulate the brain.  It obviously works when putting physical activity and education together as one and this is my first step in making sure that my PE program is effective. 

4 )  The benefits of this program, I thought, were incredible.  One of the students increased his comprehensive level by 400% along with increasing other areas.  These students were also proven to have increased an entire grade level, which for these students is a huge success when they were starting at a grade 4 level.  With one of the students, when he first came into the program he sounded like he had many life issues and had a bad set path for the rest of his life.  After this program had occurred, this student was starting to think about his future and did he really want to be one of those drug addicts that he’s used to seeing.  One of the other students that cursed a lot and didn’t like many people also made quite a turn-around in his attitude about the material being taught to him.  So the program has proof of shaping students and increasing their academic ability.  I wasn’t really surprised by their findings because I have heard from previous experience that exercise can change a person intellectually and as a person.  These changes relate quite closely with PE Standards, such as for Standards 1A and 1B, students are now able to do basic movement skills and create a fitness plan outside of class to continue their progress.  For Standard 2, there was an obvious change in the student’s attitude and behavior in school in a positive fashion.  These students made the first step in changing their lives around just by using this plan.  For Standard 3, the students took their knowledge outside the classroom to home where they convinced their parents to eat healthier and exercise more. 

5 )  BDNF is a growth factor for the brain which acts like a fertilizer on parts of the brain.  It also helps preserve the nerve cells, make them stronger, and deals with stress.  To increase BDNF, you have to exercise at a certain level for a specific time.  One of the books mentioned in the clip that supports these findings is called “Spark” by Dr. John Ratey.  The other book that supports this thesis is “The Kinesthetic  Classroom” by Traci Lengel and Mike Kuczala.

Part 1C

There are plenty of skills listed in the packet which students should be able to be recreational competent in 6 activities and proficient in 3 in 3 different activity categories.  With all of the activities listed, students should be able to find these activities/skills that they can strive in and that interests them.  If students aren’t finding these activities/skills then we as physical educators are not doing our job.  We need to relate the activities/skills to the person specifically.  I feel that’s what Professor Yang did in our EDU 255 class where in Lab C he allowed us to pick an international sport and for Lab D he gave us something we probably never would have thought we were going to teach in the class.  I think the recommended regents level for NYS Learning Standard 1A should be 90%.  There is no reason that at the 12^th grade level cannot achieve these standards.  The only reason that this is not 100% is that some students just can’t do the skill/activity.  They have their reason’s but most others should be able to do this. 

I feel that when looking at NYS Learning Standard 1B, 100% of 12^th grade students should be able to be competent in creating a fitness plan.  Maybe students can’t actually perform all of the skills needed but they need to be able to create a fitness plan specifically to their own needs which they can follow.  Students need to be able to see their weakness’s and know how to strive to increase that ability.  They also need to realize how to make themselves healthier and skillful by making set plans to increase that level.  This is a skill that will hopefully never end and people will strive to make these self-specific fitness plans for the rest of their lives to continue to stay healthy and enjoy a better life. 

Intramural Official

During this semester, I started working as an Recreational Sports Intramural Official at SUNY Cortland.  This job I think related quite directly to my profession as a Physical Educator.  In order to be proficient at this job I need to know the appropriate rules to the game and be able to follow along as directed.  A large part of this job, especially in flag football, I need to be able to keep in shape in order to stay with the play to be in the best position for the right call.  A lot of these sports that are done in intramural sports are not gone over or practiced in the classes.  I think this gives me a new way to be able to teach when I know exactly what the rules are and I get to see how certain people play the game.  I have been refereeing about 12 hours a week which has given me a lot of experience watching and containing the play of the game.  A lot of my job had to make sure that the affective domain was being upheld.  This has to deal with the attitude and behavior of the players.  Sometimes, inappropriate behavior or cheating occurred which is why i was there to prevent that and give consequences to the ones who did this.  Like I said before, I think this is something very good to do when my major is Physical Education. This relates directly to my future job and will help me be a better educator. 

2010 Physical Education Conference at Turning Stone

 On November 18, I went to Turning Stone in Verona, NY for the annual NYS Physical Education conference.  This was my first time attending this conference and the only thing like it was our Mini-Conference at Cortland, NY.  This was truly a great experience for me as I was able to meet many people and do what I love to do.  There was one presenter/speaker that really surprised me in how well she taught what she wanted.  Mrs. Champion, a middle school physical educator, did two seminars on different types of instant activities that help get the blood pumping really quick in her students.  We did a few of her games and within minutes everyone in the group was sweating.  Another presentation that really sparked my interest was a choreographed hip-hop dance that inspired every person in that room.  Everyone was sweating and I think the reason why many of the younger people enjoyed it was because she used music that was in our era.  Popular hip-hop music that us college students hear almost every day.  I had a great time at this conference and can't wait until the next one.  I was so interested in this conference that I told some of my friends when I was leaving that I will go to this conference until I stop teaching.

Here is one of the seminars that took place at the conference which had to deal with the dance called Tinikling.   It is a dance that doesn't have to always have 4 sticks but sometimes two in which they move in and out opposite of what your feet are moving.  This reminds me of some ritual dancing that would have occurred many years ago.  I also participated in this dance during Rhythms and Dance class at SUNY Cortland and I can say that this is quite a tiring dance.  Music that was used at the conference was "We Will Rock You", which was a good song because it went along directly with the movements of the sticks and your feet which made it easier. 

Lab D - Ice Skating!

This last lab that I did for EDU 255 was ice skating. I was really excited about doing this lab considering I knew how to ice skate and it was something different than usual activities done in physical education. I put a lot of time into preparing for this lab because having 20 minutes to teach really shows how well someone can show their teaching skill while using time management

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One thing that I wanted to make sure was really flashy were my visual aids which I made three of.

Professor Yang also showed me a video on Youtube that I used as part of my hook into the lesson. However, I introduced this video very seriously when the video was a joke on the geography of Canada. The students didn't find the video as funny as I did because I think they were trying to figure out if the news people were actually serious. Here are the two clips that show me in my teaching of Lab D:





During this teaching session. I really worked on my feedback. I tried to get to at least 50% of the class and give good feedback.   I really enjoyed teaching this lab and I think the amount of preparation that I put into the lab really payed off in that I wasn't worried or stressed while teaching because I had gone over everything I wanted to do.  I think the students in my class learned a lot out of what I taught in 20 minutes.  With things such as the stop, I could see improvement within the few minutes that we were working on it.  I think this has to do with my persistence in having the students do it right.  I saw that Ryan Carpenter was doing it the right way so I took him in front of the group and had him demonstrate it so that maybe a different view of it will help others.   Here are the forms that can explain the work I put into my lab and my reflection and analysis of my lab:

Time Coding Form 
Content Development 
Lesson Plan 
Lab D Packet

Tchoukball - Lab C International

This week's lab was one where my partner and I had to decide on an international sport and teach it through the culture and physical.  My lab partner, Ryan Carpenter, and I decided to do a sport that came from Switzerland called Tchoukball.  Tchoukball is like a variation of handball and catch.  The objective of Tchoukball is to throw the handball outside of the perimeter, letting it bounce off the rebound surface, and hit the ground outside of the perimeter without the opposing team catching it.  This game was created by Dr. Hermann Brandt, a scientist from Switzerland.  He decided that the main thing of the game is that there is no defense or contact.  This was to prevent injuries that occur in all other sports.



I really enjoyed teaching this lab because it was something different other than the traditional games that are taught during Physical Education.  I felt like the main thing that I could have done differently during this lab is to slow things down.  Instead of trying to teach all of the material that I had planned out on my lesson plan, I should have stuck with a few select activities to work on in order to increase activity time and less instructional time.  One thing that I have noticed is that I'm no longer worried about standing in front of my peers teaching.  I love this because now I can focus on my lesson rather than how I'm going to make it through the lesson without getting nervous. Here is the Lesson Plan and Task Progressions for the Tchoukball Lab.

The Time Coding form that I have created shows that I need to do more activities rather than instructing the lesson's the whole time.  This just proves that sometimes it's more beneficial to extend activities rather than try to continue teaching new things. To go along with this is the Feedback Analysis Form.  This form shows that I got to giving five people feedback.  Most of the feedback was general simple feedback to the students. Here is the content development form as well that goes along with Lab C.