Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Distance Education

Pros:
1. Students are able to work at their own pace for optimal learning.
2. Students receive a different form of instruction that may be beneficial to their learning type.
3. Students can attend school from anywhere with internet access.
4. Teachers are able to communicate with their students often on a personal level.
5. Students get the opportunity to explore a technology based learning experience

Cons:
1. Students miss the face to face interaction.
2. It may be difficult to monitor student learning.
3. The students miss out on social interaction with their peers.
4. Students will not have the opportunity to experience an interactive physical education class with their peers.
5. Students may miss out on in school or extracurricular activities.

It would be difficult to determine the readiness of students to participate in distance delivery, but some skills that would be necessary to succeed are a good work ethic, time management, and independence. It would be rather difficult to teach physical education in a virtual school, but in order to do it I would need to meet with the students for assessment purposes throughout the year to make sure progress is being made.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Concept Mapping Activity


I could use Concept Mapping in my future classroom by having the students use a template Concept Map to organize their goals for both exercise and nutrition. A Concept Map could also be used when brainstorming ideas in class. I could add ideas for any specific topic into the program and create a great visual for the whole class to see. Students could also use the Concept Mapping program do design their own template. It could be used individually or in groups during brainstorming activities or even create a project of their own.

Concept Mapping could play a major or minor role in student learning within my future classroom depending on learning styles. Visual learners could benefit greatly from Concept Mapping tools and might even be useful for various other learners. I don’t see myself structuring my classroom around concept mapping, but may be a useful tool to use once in a while in a health classroom during brainstorming activities and goal setting. One criterion in order to use Concept Mapping activities in part of a lesson for my students would be during a whole class discussion to organize our brainstorming. Another criterion would be as an individual or group assignment to set goals or organize thoughts. All in all Concept Mapping is a great tool for teachers to know about and use if convenient, but I don’t see myself paying for the software.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

TeacherWeb Reflections

1. Describe at least 2 ways that the use of a class web site like TeacherWeb could be used to support your future teaching. Provide some specific details for each example.
I could use TeacherWeb to keep my grades updated and allow the students to view their grades at any time. Instead of always calculating assignemnts when students would like to know their grades, TeacherWeb allows the students to always view their final grades as scores are entered. I could also use TeacherWeb to post class handouts. Often times students lose their handouts, was absent so didn't recieve a handout, or there may be no need to print the handout so students can just log onto TeacherWeb and get all the information they may need.

2. Identify 2 ways students could use a class web site like TeacherWeb to enhance their learning. Provide some details for each way identified.
TeacherWeb can enhance student learning in many ways including allowing them to use online interactive tools. Student's can use TeacherWeb to navigate to various sites that may have instructional videos or games to enhance their learning of a certain topic. Student's could also use TeacherWeb to take quizes or exams. This could really help many students that struggle taking assessments in the high pressure of a classroom setting. Giving the student an opportunitiy to take a quiz their own environment could be very beneficial to their learning experience.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Blogs and Wikis in the Classroom

Blogs and wikis are being used in many interesting and innovative way including the ability for students and teachers to communicate both inside and outside of the classroom in a fun and unique way. Both teachers and students can have their own pages to share and their work and ideas. Not only can you see anothers progress you can respond to them as well instantly. Teachers are able to post assignments, as well as links to help the student complete the assignment. They have the opportunity to share endless amounts of information that may not be accessable in the classroom. With the blogs and wikis technology in the classroom students have the opportunity to share their classroom experiences with their parents when they get home. All the student has to do is bring up the teachers page and parents can see everything their child is doing in school.

Aggregators are web applications that feed web content such as news headlines, blogs, podcasts, and vlogs in a single location for easy viewing. These could be very beneficial in a classroom setting if the information being viewed was beneficial to the student and teacher. Such information may include the breakfast and lunch schedule, weather, after school programs, or school sponsored events coming up. Besides general information aggregators could be used in specific classrooms such as a world affairs, where the latest news headlines could be fed to the class.

Blogs and wikis in education could be great tools for communication between teachers, students and parents. They are easily accessable and fairly user friendly. Blogs and wikis are also great teaching tools for many computer applications, and would be very beneficial for a microcomputers class. However, blogs and wikis could create a dependency on computers in the classroom if the entire class was based on them. One on one communication is key in the classroom, but blogs and wikis could create a reliance on online communication. While online communication is great and helpful in the classroom we should not use it as the only way for teachers to communiate with students and vice versa.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom


The multiple intelligences I have the most strengths in are kinestetic and intrapersonal where I recieved a score of 100 in both. After reading the characteristics of both intelligences I can see many similarities in my own personality. As a kinesthetic learner I would much rather gain information through feeling, intuition, experiencing and doing. As an intrapersonal learner I will reflect on my learning through thoughts and enjoy studying on my own rather than in large groups.

The core characteristics that best describe me and my learning style are that I do like to be active, and I know that when I am active I am able to retain information much better than if I were sitting in a classroom trying to stay focused on a single person talking. I have a difficult time studying in groups, and rarely am I able to make any progress from them. I study and remember information best when I study alone in a quiet environment.

Students with a kinesthetic learning style enjoy staying active doing hands on activities. They are hands on children that will not do very well in an extremely structured classroom without some variety in their daily routine. As an intrapersonal learner a child may need quiet time within their day to reflect and retain information learned that day. Group work is not always easy for them to share their ideas or gather new information.

Within in my classroom focusing on kinesthetic learning styles will not be a huge issue, since physical education will involve many movements and hands on experiences. There will be times when information will need to be taught however, but it will just be important for me to present it in various ways to reach each student.

Technologies that may stimulate a kinesthetic learner in the classroom may be computer games or music players that allow student's to learn through music and dance. Really any technology that allows a student to experience a more hands on way of learning than lecture and readings.

I will much better be able to impact student learning after applying my new understanding of learning styles and multiple intelligences within my classroom. I now know that it is very important to add variety to your teaching and never teach the same way everyday. Sometimes it is easy to get into a routine of your own teaching style, but that is not teaching to the student. Sometimes teachers must venture out of their comfort zones and get to know their students and the learning environment that is best for them.


Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Welcome!

Hello, my name is Sarah Scates and I am from the small town of Chewelah, Washington. I am a super senior at WSU transfering here from Spokane Falls Community College where I played basketball for two years and softball for one. I am majoring in Health and Fitness Education and cannot wait to graduate and begin my new career within the next year!