Reflecting on technology in the classroom

I was not familiar with blogs or wikis when I started this course. It seemed that when people spoke about these I had an idea, but that was about it. During this course we learned how to create our own blog, Create a Wiki, and various other technological ideas that can be used in the classroom. Creating these blogs was quite interesting to hear feedback about a certain issue or blog that I addressed. I find that blogs are a great way to involve participation that can not be done in class. The Wiki was a great example of how students can be placed in groups to create their own for a classroom project. As a physical education teacher students and parents will always question why we are learning this in P.E. Today’s P.E is quite different than previous years where we grew up. Our focus is to introduce students to a healthy lifestyle by incorporating different activities that they can use for a lifespan approach to utilizing physical fitness. Technology in the classroom for P.E is a bit tougher to apply than a general ed classroom. But we have included pedometers, simulation exercise bikes, and Wii’s.

There are a few ways I plan to continue to expand technology to increase student achievement. We use pedometers for our classes regularly. I find that students tend to work harder and move much more when using these pedometers. This is because we tell them to reach certain levels of step. Most of them want to be the best so they try to reach the highest goal. I am devising a lesson which will include using pedometers and a blog for each class. This blog will consist of posting their steps for a week. Each student will record their steps for the day than comment each day about how many steps they did, what kind of activities they did to reach those steps, and what they ate for their nutritional value. This will give the students an idea how calorie intake and weight management work. Students will also have to comment on other student’s blog to keep participation. Each student will have access to our computer lab during the school day where they can log their information if they do not have a computer outside of class.

My long term goals include devising a unit strictly on integrating technology into Physical Education. Blogs, wikis, Technology for physical fitness including GPS orienteering, Simulation Bikes, Pedometer Week where the whole school try’s to reach a certain amount of steps to have a healthy heart. I will develop a technology unit strictly using electronic devices that will aid in physical fitness in the classroom. I will introduce to my faculty the importance of a healthy heart by developing a pedometer healthy step week. This would be a great addition to our school to have students be aware of rewards for exercising regularly. By having the whole school involved it would increase the knowledge of students and faculty to be healthy and active.

Podcast

Here is a link to my podcast that I created. This is my first time working with Podcasts.

http://podcastmachine.com/podcasts/4480/episodes/20270