Assignment #11

Description of Unit (Aim):

In this unit, students will understand the importance of physical activity. By the participation in various different sports, the students will participate in and research the importance of staying active for life. The students will be able to pick any sport that is reviewed over the course of the semester and present with a partner the importance of playing that particular sport and how it can promote a healthy life style.

Learning Objectives:

The purpose of this lesson is to get students to realize the importance of physical activity in there lives in hope to get them to stay active throughout life. 

Through this lesson, it is my hope that through the combination of physical activity and research of the importance of staying active the students will change their outlook on the dreaded "gym class". I know when I was in high school, I loved gym class, but I also knew a majority of people didn’t like gym class and thought it to be "pointless". So as I plan this lesson I am going to be aiming to sway the young learners mindsets through technology to show how important physical activity is in their lives. 

This lesson will help aid and support other activities in this unit by looking at each lesson being reviewed (football, baseball, basketball, soccer, etc) and identifying why it is important to participate. It will ask the students to think outside the box as to why participation in class is not the only reason it is important but why is participation in the desired sport outside of class important to maintain a healthy life style. 

Specific Curriculum Objectives:

Physical Education Objectives:

1.) Movement skill performance is primarily impacted by the quality of instruction, practice, assessment, feedback, and effort. 

                                  2.5.12.A.2&4

-Analyze application of force and motion (weight transfer, power, speed, agility, range of motion) and modify movement to impact performance.

-Critique a movement skill/performance and discuss how each part can be made more interesting, creative, efficient, and effective.   

2.) Taking personal responsibility to develop and maintain physical activity levels provides opportunities for increased health, fitness, enjoyment, challenges, self-expression, and social interaction.

                                  2.6.12.A.1-5  

-Compare the short- and long-term impact on wellness associated with physical inactivity.

-Design, implement, and evaluate a fitness plan that reflects knowledge and application of fitness-training principles.  

-Determine the role of genetics, gender, age, nutrition, activity level, and exercise type on body composition.  

-Compare and contrast the impact of health-related fitness components as a measure of fitness and health.     

-Debate the use of performance-enhancing substances (i.e., anabolic steroids and other legal and illegal substances) to improve performance. 

Technology Objectives: 

1.) The use of technology and digital tools requires knowledge and appropriate use of operations and related applications. 

                                8.1.12.A.2

-Produce and edit a multi-page document for a commercial or professional audience using desktop publishing and/or graphics software.

2.) Technology products and systems impact every aspect of the world in which we live.

                                8.2.12.A.1 

-Design and create a technology product or system that improves the quality of life and identify trade-offs, risks, and benefits.    

Substance of Lesson/Activity 

Technology to be used in this activity: 

Upon completion of this semester, students will be asked to complete, with their partner, a multi-slide presentation using the Microsoft Power-Point application. The students will also be asked to create a calendar, program, or system to assist/aid in their quality of life in the participation of a sport of their choice.

The reason for using this technology is because Power Point is an application that is used throughout college and beyond the walls of the classroom when they reach the working world. It is a tool that can be a tremendous addition to their arsenal if learned at an early age. The second aspect the students are asked to explore involves more creativity where they can travel down a number of different paths to create a calendar, program, or system (using any form of technology) that can aid or assist in the promotion of an active/healthy life style. 

Students will be asked to learn how to create a presentation using pictures, sounds, and will be asked to post the presentation onto a class workspace where students can go on and view them. The students will also be asked to use another application of their choice (other than Power Point) where they create the second aspect of this assignment. The students must demonstrate a considerable effort to go beyond the normal functions of these applications. 

Activity Timeline/Procedures:

There will be one class day assigned for teacher demonstrations of previous assignments that are acceptable, questions to be asked, and any extra time can be used for student selection of partners and then brainstorming possible topics. This assignment must be done outside of the classroom with the student’s partner and will be submitted the Monday before midterm exams. 

The unit will be divided up by 8 sports/activities over 4 months. Since the semester is 5 months long that will leave the students one month to choose from all the offered sports/activities to complete their assignment. Sports will include:

                                      - Football                        - Baseball

                                      - Basketball                    - Soccer

                                      - Floor Hockey               - Track & Field

                                      - Volleyball                     - Lacrosse

Students will come prepared to class each day with appropriate clothes to participate in. The students will be taught to essentials of each sport for one week of the lesson and the final week of the lesson will be attributed to competition and games. Each lesson will last for a half of a month each and the students will be asked to come to class at the conclusion of each lesson on the sport with one reason as to why and how participating in the sport can help me reach my daily recommended requirement for physical activity and stay active for life? This question is an acceptable question to ask students as it lists in Bridgewater-Raritan curriculum's page. As the teacher, It will be my job to relay as many important aspects of the sports as possible to the students to make sure they have a broad view of each sport and they can choose an area to research that is outside of their comfort zone. Students will be given websites to look at that promote healthy lifestyles and general knowledge of sports and it's background. I will also bring to the attention when sports are in the news and ask that the students bring clippings in to discuss how their article relates to society today as we are aiming to maintain a healthy life style. 

Assessment:

Assessment is applying a procedure to measure the results of efforts toward a desired
goal. Also, taken from the Bridgewater-Raritan High School curriculum website, during their physical education classes the following techniques might be used:

• Observation                 • Performance activities
• Performance projects   • Portfolios
• Rubrics                        • Skill checklist
• Motor skill checklist    • Tests and quizzes
• Open ended questions  • Student logs
• Student journals           • Role playing

However, I would think that I would use observation, performance in activities (effort given by student), and the majority of their grade will be dependent on their completion of the semester assignment. Also, as the students will be posting their presentations on the class workspace, I will ask each group to watch and listen to their classmates presentations and ask them to provide their own feed back that will be sent for me to view only. Student’s assessment will be responsible for 60% of their grade, as I will compose the remaining 40%. 

Criteria for success will be based on creativity, thinking outside the box, level of difficulty, and clear and concise delivery. I would like to see evidence that the students have spent a significant amount of time on this project. 

I believe that I will know when the students have had a learning experience accomplished by the learning goals I set out for them by the type of work I receive from them. I think that because this project gives them a lot of different sports to choose from they will be able to choose something they are slightly interested in and then look even further into that sport to find something that may spark their interest even more.

Assignment #10

I can remember when I was in high school and using a calling card to call my Mom to come pick me up (don't laugh, it was once cool to get picked up by your mom). Back then, in my high school, it was the norm to receive a cell phone once you got your drivers license. Even when you had it only the coolest of the cool phones had texting capabilities. Therefore, there were not problems in my school with sexting - at least I'd like to think there were not. I think this is a problem today - most kids have access to cell phones today and are taking advantage of little liberties and privileges. I believe technology is a very powerful tool and if used to correct way can be beneficial, however, when used the wrong way can easily snowball and get out of control. I think this snowballing effect on the use of technology when teamed up with bullying has proved to be extremely costly. It is because of this, I feel that there should be more of a roll schools should take in teaching the proper use of technology. I don't have a perfect plan in place, but I do think that there must be some preventative steps that could be taken to prevent the improper use of text messaging. I think everyone can agree that times have changed and when times change, people change, therefore, why do we fight addressing some of this huge issues?
Bullying is something that no child should ever have to experience. Growing up in a huge family myself, I was on the short end of the stick with some misfortunes when I was younger. However, I think what I went through and bullying are two totally different topics. Bullying seems to take things to the next level of inappropriateness. I know it is not easy to do, but identifying a way to prevent things before they become a problem would be key in situations like this.
I would love to see some changes made in schools that can prevent inappropriate use of technology. I watch my little sister text with out even looking at her phone, which proves to me that she has found ways to text during school without being caught. I think things like this need to be addressed, I feel like she is not getting the most out of her day in school.

Assignment #9

Fair use, where to begin? Well let me say that I did not do as well on the fair use quiz as I anticipated. I guess some things a lot of people take for granted and really don't understand what's right and what's wrong. I have really developed a new found respect for copyright laws. Please don't think that I am the copyright pirate, because I am not. I am, however, guilty, of downloading a ton of music, free of charge when Napster was first sprung into the world wide web - don't act like you havent done it either! In the article, Copyright 101written by Kate Thompson, copyright is defined as a form of protection provided by U.S. law to the creators of original works of authorship. Copyright laws and intellectual property laws in general are based on two basic beliefs:1. Anyone who creates an original, tangible work deserves to be compensated for that work. 2. That person should be able to control how that work is used. I think these beliefs state what copyright is in it's most literal of terms.

I believe that this should be a topic that should be discussed in schools. There are so many different "short-cuts" available to help get you things and this could be an infraction of a copyright law. If anything, by teaching students about copyright laws, you are protecting them and your institution. When I was younger, I never even thought twice when I was copying music for free, or even buying bootleg movies. These are just examples but as we read in the articles, there are many other laws broken pertaining to copyright. I don't blame the people who have created something and getting upset when someone steals their idea or work, I'd imagine I would be upset also.

Assignment #8

Looking at the Technology Integration Matrix, I chose to look at the cell that describes an active learning environment for the students and the teacher is asked to infuse their teachings in this environment. The active learning and infusion level of the matrix on a shared level, is used to describe how one class creates a magazine. I thought this lesson was very engaging because they were asked to relate a real life scenerio to their own class lesson. The students magazine was based on literature and short stories where each student had a responsibility for the writing, layouts, advertisement, and pictures.
Using the NETS for Teachers, the specific standards that the matrix example addresses in regards to teacher skills is that it shows how to design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences in the creation of the magazine from cover to cover. It also calls for the students to provide an assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources (computers, internet, advertising, management) to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitude. In this case the teacher customize and personalized a learning activity to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources. This strategy is described in section 2-C of the NETS for Teachers.
Since the beginning of this instruction I feel as if my knowledge and comfortability of the use of technology has increased dramatically. I never once thought that I would be able to: 1.) Create a blog 2.) Create a website 3.) Develop the ability to "embed" 4.) Create a slidecast/podcast. These things to me were all extremely foreign and I wouldn't even know how to go about getting started to accomplish them. This being said, I feel as if I am at the Infusion category and I think that is being generous because I still think there is far more for me to learn. However, I do think that I have a much better attitude towards learning news skills in technology. 

Assignment #7

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In this assignment I would ask my students to think of one obtainable goal they would like to achieve that is outside of their comfort zone. The purpose of this lesson is to get comfortable when in the face of adversity. I believe it is prudent to work on this skill because there are multiple situations we go through in life where we can be better prepared for and dealing with pressure has much to do with that. The key to this lesson is setting a deadline where the student would give themselves enough time to reaching their goal.

Assignment #6 - Task 2

After watching the video Do Schools Kill Creativity narrated by Sir Ken Robinson, I was very intrigued by what he had to say. I have to admit, when I first went to watch the film, I saw that it was twenty minutes long, and I was not happy about watching a clip that was that long. While watching, I found myself getting more and more interested in what Sir Robinson had to say. I thought he made a very compelling argument as to why the schools had the arts at the bottom of their curriculum. He started off by asking why he believed it to be okay to make mistakes. Children, he says, are not afraid to be wrong and he wonders where this fear goes from their youth to when they become older.
He also says that we don't grow into creativity, we grow out of it. I thought this to be an interesting take and it really made me think and I couldn't agree more. He then says that ceativity is the process of having original ideas that have value. Based off this definition and based off the idea of how we don't grow into creativity these thoughts have merit.
I think that there is room for more creativity in schools and these ideas listed above need to be addressed. We need to be apart of schools that encourage students to be creative, and that it is okay to make mistakes. It is important to make mistakes so that we learn from them. Now so, more than ever, we should make room for more creativity in schools because of today's current economic situation. If there is more creativity, there will be more ideas that have value. I think we all can agree that we can use some more innovative ideas that have value in today's society. By encouraging students to be more creative throughout their education, instead of just their early education, we will have more people who are able to have ideas with value.

Assignment #6 - Task 1

I believe that the implementation of 21st century skills should be more of a part in schools curriculum's today. "The United States is facing an increasingly competitive world market driven by digital globalization" states Susan McLester and Todd McIntire in the article The Workforce Readiness Crisis and I believe that because of this these 21st Century skills must become more polished in our youth today. 
I can easily relate to this debate because I was hired out of college to work in finance. When being interviewed I was asked the question: are you able to use technology as an effective tool? I would answer "yes" thinking I was an advanced technology learner. I came to learn quickly that I was not as proficient in technology as I originally thought. I remember feeling embarrassed that I did not know some things that my fellow colleagues knew. I wish there was some way I could have been taught this information so that I could have been more prepared. 
I don't think that the education I had was worthless but I do think that the integration between academics and life skills could have been more evident. As stated in the article: The Value of Teaching 21 Century Skills: "Some teachers will need additional training to get there, the frameworks will need to be enhanced, and the vision of a "typical" classroom will need to be rethought." I think that with time comes change and this statement is merely just another way to relate it to education. 
Therefore, I do believe that teaching more students like skills or 21st Century skills is the key to success for students today.