Final Blog

1.)  The first 5 things to be done about education:
 1.  Assessment: I would first like to focus on teacher assessment and make teachers more accountable for their work. I would suggest that schools develop some sort of teacher on teacher assessment as opposed to just administration observations. I think that teachers can learn a lot more if other teachers come in and give constructive feedback. Both teachers can benefit from the observations.
2.  More teacher flexibility/freedom: Allow public school teachers to have more of a range of topics they can cover and not just teach towards a test
3. Testing: Rethink and reevaluate state testing and No Child Left Behind.
4.  Teacher Salaries: Provide some kind of bonus incentive for teachers that isn't based on student performance on tests.  Give teachers more money for the work they do. Reward them.
5.  Donations: Create rule and guidelines for both public, private, and charter school donations. Donations great inequality in schools and something needs to be done to equal the playing field.

2.)  Ravitch's book has been eye opening and insightful.  She has brought forth somewhat of a guide to get us through the mess of education.  She doesn't specifically provide solutions, but she gives information on what was thought to have worked and didn't and vise versa.  I think it's important to note that Ravitch has changed her mind over time and has come forth with a book about the school system to let readers know what she thought would have worked at the time, but failed.  I commend her for coming out and writing about her changed views because she is a highly looked at figure in education.  It's meaningful to me that she is essentially saying look here are the facts, here is my experience, here is my opinion, and now you create your own ideas.

3.)   Given the current state of American education, I think it's important to think both as a teacher and citizen. Both go hand and hand. As a teacher, I can only teach and do things that I would want my future children's teachers to do. That means being a positive role model to my students and teaching them about the importance of physical education while I have a hold of them in my classroom.  I think I can do more as teacher by going to union meetings and PTA meetings with outside "citizens" and give my feedback.  As a new teacher, I have sat back and watched other teachers push for change. It's time I get into the battle.

4.) http://www.aahperd.org/ This is one big data base for all teachers who work in Physical Education.  The website gives valuable resources for scholarships, grants, and information to enhance your profession. 

http://www.cahperd.org/  This is the same as the above website, but focused on California teachers.  It provides information on conferences for CA teachers.

5.)  Over the next 3 years, I would like to:
 a.) visit active PE classes and observe what other teachers are doing, visit more gyms to talk to trainers who can provide knowledge on new exercises, interview a veteran teacher who has both taught and coached a sport, go to a conference from CAHPERD, and go to a body works exhibit.
b.) The Physical Education Teacher's Book of Lists, The Yoga Bible, eat this not that supermarket survival guide 2012, The 6 Most Important Decision You'll Ever Make: A Guide for Teens, Pilates for Dummies
c.) JOPERD: Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance http://www.aahperd.org/publications/journals/joperd/ and afPE: Association for Physical Education http://www.afpe.org.uk/
d.)  1. The NASPE Physical Education Teacher Education Conference (PETE) occurs every three years and is the premier professional development and networking event for university PETE faculty. The focus is always on current and future issues, initiatives, and research that impacts physical education teacher education programs.  2. Beyond Boys vs. Girls: Transgender Issues for Health Teachers Conference November 7, 2012
e.) All PE  teachers in Oakland Unified,  The American Heart Association, Blue Cross, Kaiser Permanente, and 24 Hour Fitness. Oh, and Kobe Bryant so he can come and speak to me and my students! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Blog #5 Technology in the Classroom

1.) I thought Dr. Robert's presentation was interesting and really amazing how he has data starting from 1999.  Having started media research 11 years ago, I think it's really cool that he and his researchers have been able to adapt and to the changing digital world. I could only imagine how hard it is to create a comprehensive survey for young students.  During his presentation, I kept thinking about myself and how much time do I spend on technology? Being that it's summer and I'm not working as well as being a student, I find myself on the computer, watching tv, and listening to music all at the same time. I don't think it's a bad thing because I have the sense of mind to make sure I go out and exercise. For children, they aren't overly concerned with the way their body looks or how healthy they are. They think they are invincible and will have a fast metabolism forever.  This is the problem. I think that as a PE teacher it is my job to 1. get students motivated to move (in whatever way works for them and their body because everyone is different)  and 2. understand what being "healthy" means.  Overall, I think that Dr. Robert's presentation brought forth important data that makes you think.  As you can see from the conversation of teachers after the presentation, the idea of incorporating technology in the classroom is a hard one. Some teachers think it's great, others think it's not appropriate, and others think that you need to find a happy medium. It seemed that the teachers that didn't like the idea of technology were primary teachers and secondary teachers were more apt to incorporate it in their lessons.

2.)  Read article.

3.) The NY Times article "More Pupils Are Learning Online, Fueling Debate on Equality," sparks several dangerous implications about online education. I personally can see the benefits of online classes in that they allow students to work at their own pace and it can prepare them for college, however I can see the downfall much clearer. I look at why online education was started and that is simply to save some money. It follows the business model of education of trying to cut corners and find a quick fix.  This is problematic. Students need face to face interaction to learn socially and they shouldn't be allowed to work exclusively at their own pace because if that's the case we would have a bunch of low effort workers. Students and especially high school teenagers need to be pushed and I don't think online courses can do that, teachers can.  Online education is especially scary for PE teachers because people seem to think that just putting in a work out video will suffice in providing quality physical fitness.  This is not the case at all. I think that allowing online education only opens the doors to more elective cuts and my job will be on the line. Overall, online education cuts corners and ultimately cheats the students.

4.)   http://www.slideshare.net/ 

Powerpoints on the Web: This is a great site because it allows you to host power point presentations. I don't do many presentations, but the ones that I do for my health unit are good to have for students online so that they can share the information to their parents or guardians.

http://teachertube.com 

This is cool because you can look for videos that are child friendly and relate to what you are teaching.

"http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ 

Rubric Design: This is great because rubrics make grading a lot easier. Assessment in PE is a tough thing to master and having a rubric creator allows me to make fair and clear grading.

http://www.donorschoose.org  

This is an awesome site because PE classes can always use equipment especially since class sizes are so big and more items are needed. This is a great resource to ask for supplies that you cant afford with a small or nonexistent budget.

Interdisciplinary Resources in the Classroom

As a physical education teacher for 6, 7, and 8th graders, I have a lot of curriculum I can cover throughout the year.  I tend to focus on body mechanics as students at this age are still growing into their bodies and mechanics guide them into understanding how their body works.  However, I do like to touch on eating right and how what they put into their body will affect their body's performance.  Below are 2 websites that I find extremely helpful. The chose my plate website is from the US Department of Agriculture and it touches on a variety of health items. What I like the best is the "My Plate" tab. I always the user to look at what are healthy options to put on their plate and design how they wish to eat. It is based on the food pyramid, but some what dumbs it down and adds more detail.

The second website is AMAZING. It has tabs for parents, kids, and teens. It can also be switched from English to Spanish.  It touches on everything related to being a healthy child or teen. There are question and answer sections about staying healthy, illness and injuries, feelings, etc.  It's important for students to understand that a healthy life doesn't just include doing push ups and mile runs in PE class, but it also requires them to stay emotionally balanced and this website allows them to explore.

Eating Right:

http://www.choosemyplate.gov/

http://kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/food/go_slow_whoa.html

Anatomy:

Another topic I like to get into is the human anatomy. Since I am teaching health for 6th graders, I don't go into depth on the muscular and digestive system, but I do like focus on the major bones and muscles.  Human anatomy is something that we do everyday by reciting the body parts or muscles I point to during warm ups and especially on fitness day work outs. This helps the students critically think about what body part they are activating while working out or playing games. Below is a great website that lists 10 websites for children that relate to the human body and anatomy. A lot have interactive games and ways to study/learn the body parts. They vary from more children oriented to adult based learning. 

http://www.squidoo.com/human-anatomy-kids


The challenges of teaching eating right is that often I find that students are really engaged in what is good food to put into their bodies, but they have no control over what their parents buy. Often I hear students essentially "calling out" their parents and they don't understand why their parents may or may not buy healthy foods. I am constantly telling them to ask for healthy foods and make healthier choices, but not to diss their parents.  It's especially hard working in Oakland where majority of the students come from low socioeconomic households and money is tight. However, providing the knowledge to the students I hope makes them second guess picking some pretzels or fruit over some flaming hot cheetos.

Responded To:
Jenn Arnold
Sarah Uhler
Betsy V.

"Mind the Gap:" Session 2

1.  "The new corporate reformers betray their weak comprehension of education by drawing false analogies between education and business. They think they can fix education by applying the principles of business, organization, management, law, and marketing and by developing a good data collection system that provides the information necessary to incentivize the workplace..." (Ravitch, pg.11).

• We have touched a lot on this idea a lot in class that education policy and structure have been modeled more along the lines of business.  There is this capitalistic view that if a school performs well on state testing than it is successful and if it doesn't perform well it isn't successful. However, this approach doesn't take into consideration the meaning of education as a whole. Education of students goes far beyond test and API scores. I don't think that a school and a teacher can be fully assessed simply based on a collection of data. There are several other avenues to explore to help fix education.

"As I watched both movements gain momentum across the nation, I concluded that curriculum and instruction were far more important than choice and accountabilty...I came to believe that accountability, as written into federal law, was not raising standards but dumbing down the schools as stats and districts strived to meet unrealistic targets" (Ravitch, pg. 12-13).

• This quote piggy backs what I mentioned above about the business model fix of education.  The idea of holding teachers "accountable" based on the results of test scores doesn't solve anything, but it only dumbs down schools. It dumbs down schools in several ways in that teachers become less creative and more test driven in their teaching, students don't critically think for themselves as often because they are bombarded with a vast amount of information, administrators become less teacher focused/driven and try to keep up with API scores, etc. I think that Ravitch said it best, schools are striving in meet "unrealistic targets."

2.  Ravitch describes a well educated person as: "The well education person has learned not to explain ideas and listen respectfully to others" (pg.16). She states that a well educated person has the ability to listen respectfully to others.  This isn't what I would define a well educated person as a whole, but I would say that listening to others is a life skill that helps one to be able to communicate with others. I characterize a well educated person as someone who is open to soaking up as much knowledge as they can and being open minded enough to listen to others perspectives. A well educated person in today's world should know that they should be very open minded. I think the more open minded you are, the more you are able to learn from others and have the ability to see things in a different light. You are forced to critically think outside the box and therefore learning occurs on a deeper level.

3. In thinking about the class discussion on the book, I think that what stands out the most is the idea that we are still a nation at risk 29 years later.  A Nation of Risk was written in 1983 and it's safe to say that the ideas presented than are still relevant in American education today. It's hard to find a single solution to help solve the issue and I think as a class we discussed several different avenues to explore, but everything seems so far fetched or impossible. I feel that as a teacher, I don't have enough power to ignite change on a bigger level outside my classroom. 

4.  Gap in Physical Education State Standards: I think a gap in the state standards for PE is in the high school section.  The standards for high school all focus on promoting lifelong fitness. First, I think that promoting lifelong fitness is impossible to reach for every student, because there are so many things to do for fitness and health that aren't accessible in school.  Often, teachers focus on team sports because that is something that is a lifelong and useful to know outside of school.  However, what works for one student may or may not work for another and the culture of fitness is changing. For example, riding horses and doing equestrian may be an activity that someone feels is great for their health and fitness (both mentally and physically). However, there is nothing at school to teach this. You can teach the basics and importance of health and fitness like weight training, cardio fitness, aerobics, etc., but there are so many other things to do outside a school setting and that are more individual based and not touched on in the state standards.  I feel like when they wrote the standards, they focused a lot on elementary and middle school and than in high school they kind of got lazy. And as a result, this is why high school PE isn't taken as serious and its importance gets lost. I think some old school teachers have taken advantage of this and have become lazy and boring (just like the standards) and just throw the balls out and call it a day. 

Website: http://www.pecentral.org/

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/nyregion/long-island/11gymli.html

Book: http://www.amazon.com/Physical-Education-Exercise-Science-Changing/dp/0763781576/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1341602465&sr=8-10&keywords=physical+education

The website PE central has super helpful to all PE teachers. There is so much to be learned on the website and it's a place where PE teachers all across the world can post lesson plans, ideas of classroom management, adaptive PE, assessment, etc.  What I like the most is the assessment part. Assessment is the hardest thing for me as a teacher, because not everyone has the same skill level in sports and fitness. You have to be super concrete in what you are assessing because you want to be fair in your grading. Overall, PE central is a great place to visit for PE teachers who need new ideas and resources.

5. Lynn, S. (2007). The case for daily physical education. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, 18-21.

This journal article has been very useful to my inquiry because Lynn gives several solutions and ideas to the ever growing childhood obesity epidemic. I felt that the article was a call to action for teachers to wake up and do something to evoke change in Physical Education.  I learned several statistics that were taken form the 2006 Shape of the Nation Report.  Overall, Lynn's article stats facts than gives solutions. Most of the articles I have been researching don't provides solutions to move forward in correcting the health issues of obesity so it was refreshing to read Lynn's ideas. I would definitely seek more from Lynn and use her for more research.

Pate, R., Corbin, C., & Pangrassi, B. (1998). Physical activity for young people. President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, 7.

This article has been useful and helpful because the publication is a journal of collected works from the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.  I liked the work because it focuses on the changing climate of PE in school and gives guidelines on how to promote lifelong physical activity.  Also, I learned statistical data of the percentage of high school students who participate in physical activity, stretching exercises, and strengthening exercise. One downfall was that the data is from 1997, however it will be useful to compare and contrast with another country.

Responded To:

Eddie Izumizaki
Eghosa Obaiza
Mike Rose

Content Knowledge: Blog #1

Content Knowledge: Blog #1

1.  Outside school experiences have deepened my subject area content knowledge 100%. I didn't grow up wanting to be a teacher and it wasn't until I subbed and began coaching basketball that I knew being surrounded by students is where I wanted to be.  I wanted to teach students about the importance of a healthy lifestyle and well as guide young athletes along the path of being a student-athlete.   It's been my outside school experiences that have given me the drive and motivation to continue to do what I do which is teach life skills through sports and exercise. I'm not the stereotypical PE teacher that just throws out balls and let's the kids run around.  I believe in teaching life skills and creating a well balanced individual.  Being a basketball coach and former athlete, I have been able to learn teaching practices and ways to communicate to my students that I could have never have learned by reading a book.  If it weren't for my athletic background and experiences outside the classroom,  I can't say I would be a well balanced PE teacher.

2.  I thought we had a great class discussion on Ball's article.  There were several questions that were asked and it seems that we all could agree that subject matter preparation is a never ending cycle and all teachers should have the will and want to pursue more knowledge outside the classroom textbook.  Also, I think it's clear that there are several other factors in education (tenure, seniority lists, politics, poor administration, etc. ) that make it hard for teachers to remain up to date in content knowledge.  My initial judgment or opinion of Ball hasn't changed based on the discussion.

3.  The more and more I research Physical Education the more questions seem to arise making it hard for me to narrow down a specific question. I know I want to answer the question of what are the mental and physical benefits of having Physical Education in schools, but questions surrounding obesity rates and media are also coming up:

• What are the major factors the have contributed to the rising obesity rates especailly in children? Has budget cuts and the pulling of programs contributed to this?
• Is there a link to child obesity and the deteriorating PE programs in schools?
• What are other countries doing for PE?
• Compare and contrast USA PE to another country

"Youngsters are most likely to develop physically active lifestyles if they are provided with physical activity experiences they enjoy and with which they can be successful." -Russell Pate

4. Umm I don't really know what to put here in the "express yourself" section, but I guess I'll put a picture of me back in the day playing college hoop since that was a time in which I learned a lot about myself as a person and athlete. It's those experiences that make me a better teacher and coach.   Also, I added a pic of one of my favorite group of girls to coach. GO CAL HIGH!





Responded To:
Courtney Lyon
Troy Bristol
Julie Wegher

Guiding Questions

My guiding questions:

1. What is the importance of PE in school?
2. What are the benefits of physical exercise and health awareness on one's self image?
3. How does PE in the USA compare to that of other countries?
4. What are the impacts (mental and physical) of movement on the brain and body?
5. How does a PE teacher contribute to a student's self image? Positive or negative or both?