Continuing with Technology

Here I come!!

I would just like to inform you all that I am officially the public relations officer for APEM, our Majors Club here on campus, next year!!! This position uses technology to get the word out with what is new in our majors club. I will be doing things like updating the groups Facebook and Twitter accounts. I am so excited!! I will have to say that I applied for this position because of my confidence and experience that I received from being in Professor Stephen Yang's 201 and 255 class this past year. So a special thanks to Professor  Stephen Yang!! I cannot wait until next semester when I can start integrating technology into more peoples lives, starting with the students at SUNY Cortland!!!!

ExerGaming, Oh Yeah!!

 Exergaming Oh Yeah!!

On Wednesday I taught Lab D and it went amazing!! I had a ton of fun teaching everyone how to use the technology that I had set up! I used a variety of equipment for this lesson. I used bikes, steppers, the Wii, the eye toy, and the PlayStation. I had posters at each station so that my students could read what to do and then start playing the game without one to one instruction. Once everyone got to their station I went around and gave each student positive, corrective feedback on what they were doing. 

When going through my videos all of my students looked as though they were having a great time! This made me feel great! Knowing that I was the one that did that for them. All of the students participated enthusiastically during my lesson which was great. At times a few of the students were frustrated but that is to be expected. The students got through it though, they all were able to figure out what to do and so can you!!

At each station of the lesson there were challenges and tasks to make what you were doing easier. You could challenge yourself. There were variations at each station that the students were able to do. The little bike for example 3 people at once could be using it at one time.  There are many different ways that you can use a piece of equipment, you just have to be creative.




After teaching this lesson I think that it went extremely well. I had to learn how to set and use all of this equipment up but I am so glad that I did. At times it was challenging, but you are not doing your job as a physical educator if you take the easy way out. You have to always be willing to learn something new! All of the students loved the activities that I had set up for them and they could not wait to go to the lab again! I asked at the end of my lesson if my students wanted to come back next week, the response that I received was I want to come back tomorrow! After hearing that statement I knew that this was a success. I believe that more teachers should learn how to incorporate technology into their lessons! It is something that is new yes, but it is something that gets people active and excited about physical education at the same time!!!

Exergaming?! The new pe, I say yes!!!

Last night I went into the lab and set up some of the equipment for a fraternity that had asked to use the room. It was a lot of fun. The fraternity brothers that came down were so amazed by this technology. The one thing that they all said before they left was that was a workout. Using this equipment really does give you a workout! I know that personally I sweat when I use this equipment and I can feel my legs burning when I am done at a station.  I think that more people should try this equipment out, it may look intimidating at first but once you have learned how to use it, it becomes a blast!!!

Table Tennis?! I say YES!!

In 255 the other day we went to the squash courts and were taught how to do two moves in table tennis. Table tennis definitely is not my sport but it was a lot of fun to be honest! The thing that I remember distinctly from this lessons is how the teachers dealt with the relationship issues that were happening. Both teachers were given a relationship issue in order to deal with. Mr. Banks had to deal with a cheating issue with three of his students. I think that Mr. Banks handled the situation very well. He had one of the students leave the room after she had an outbreak during the classroom. That was not his first reprimand however, he first got closer to the group and the students acted better for just a moment. Then the outbreak happened and further steps were taken. The student causing problems was taken out of the room, talked to, and then let back into the class when she repeated the classroom rules. I think that when he made her repeat the rules, it was great!! I never had thought about doing that before but it is a great idea and I am going to use that from now on!!

The other lesson Justin taught and had to deal with his students flirting with him. Two female students made advances on him but he handled it very well.  They wanted to be on his team and demonstrate everything for hi. They were obviously flirting with him but he was very professional and he told the girls what to do. The asked them politely to go to the other end of the tennis table at some points, but he also still let them demonstrate the activity which I thought was good. One of the students ran her fingers through his hair and he told her that was inappropriate and not to do that again. I thought that he handled that well, it was definitely shocking but he did a good job handling the situation.





I just hope that I can handle situations like these as well as these two student teachers did in their table tennis lessons. Great job Eric and Justin!!

Zumba with a twist

The other day Dan taught a great Zumba lesson!!! He recorded himself doing a Zumba lesson, but I was blind for the lesson so I was unable to see the video. I was told however that it was great though.

When I first told Dan that I was blind he was shocked but he handled it very well!! Dan adapted extremely well and fast, by calling out the steps for me and describing the steps so that I could visualize what they were. I was very frustrated throughout the lesson though because I wished that I could just see what was going on but knowing that I couldn't. In all honesty I could not tell you were I was in the gymnasium for the majority of the lesson.

At the lesson we had to make a routine, and follow the ones that led their routine as well. That was extremely difficult because when I had to follow the other groups I had no idea if I was doing the dances correctly. I felt that everyone was staring at me and that I was making a fool of myself. Even though I was self conscious and frustrated throughout the lesson, I still had a great time. I also gained a better understanding of what a person that is blind has to go through on a day to day basis. Even though it was only a glimpse it still changed my perspective immensely. I just hope that if I have a student with a disablility that I will be able to do all that I can for them in order to make them feel as though they are just as comfortable as the other students in the class. Great job Dan!!!

Yoga!!!

Ms. Clark did a great job opening up for lab D! I loved her instant activity it was really creative!! It really left me with a feeling about how important it is for us to combat obesity. We wore heavy backpacks and we when we were it for walking tag. The backpacks were about an extra twenty pounds for us to carry around so for some people it was definitely difficult. I thought that her lesson was as equally as good! She had us get into pairs and then go to stations.

The stations were great. I really liked the idea of having us record ourselves at one of the stations with her iPad. It was a really clever idea! Another thing that I really liked about the lesson was that Trish made a routine that we did at the end of the lesson.







Overall I would have to say that I had a great time doing yoga in this lesson and I cannot wait until I get to do it again!!!!

I would just like to say that this is my group that I TA for in 201 and they are amazing!!! I wanted to say thank you for being so great this semester and including me in everything that you guys do!! P.S. I love that I am in the group name!!! Thanks so much for the shirt as well!!!! I wouldn't trade you guys for the world.

Thank you Max Stern, Jordan Bari, and Joe Bono!!!!!

My 201 Group and Their Video!!!!! Check it out!!!

These lyrics will stick with you forever, but hey that's the point!! Learn something new, they have a lot to teach you!!! Glad that I was able to help them out!!!

Yeah Guys!!! You Belt It Out!!!

Scavenger Hunt!!!

Today in 255 instead of our normal class we participated in a scavenger hunt throughout park center!!! It was so much fun I wouldn't mind doing that a more times at all. It was a great way to integrate technology into physical education. We split up into groups and we used smart phones to scan bar codes that were set up throughout the building, that lead us to other clues. There were ten places that we needed to find and each place had a letter and a clue to the next bar code. The letters that we got we had to unscramble and figure out what the letters spelt. This is a great way to get the students thinking cognitively. The final phrase was red dragons which is our school mascot which I thought was cool. The scavenger hunt was also an amazing way to get out heart rate up and to get us active. I had more than 2 thousand steps within less than an hour from doing this activity which is great!!! I am actually keeping track of my steps online with http://www.peclogit.org and it is great!! I get to see how many step I take a day seeing those numbers really will shock you!! I suggest that everyone get a pedometer and track your step count with this because it is easy to use and free!! I personally love the site and I think that you will too!!


 Thank you Steve Miner for coming up with the scavenger hunt I think that it was amazing, and I would love to do it again!!! Oh and PS in case you were wondering my team won the scavenger hunt!!! Yeah Baby!!

Intraurals!!! Yeah it was a blast!!

Over the past few months I played on a basketball intramurals team and I had a ton of fun!! I used to play on the  varsity team at my previous college but I did not like that at all so I decided here I would not try out for the team but I would just do intramurals instead. It was more of a family on this team and that is how I was taught a basketball team should be. I love being able to just get out there and do something that I love to do. I have played basketball every since the 3rd grade and I am a junior in college at this point in time so to say the least I have played quite a few games! That also tells you that I have really enjoyed playing this sport.

 I wanted to encourage anyone that is thinking about doing an intramural team to just do it, whether you know the sport or not!! My freshman year of college I played broomball and I had a blast!! I will never forget how much fun that I had just getting out there and doing it!!

ExerGaming!!!

LEARNING HOW TO DO SOMETHING NEW!!!

ARE YOU UP FOR THE CHALLENGE???

Well this is something that is so interesting and fun!!!! Exergaming is what I will be using for my lab D. I am going to be doing a cardio-vascular unit with the equipment that is in the lab! I went in on Friday for class and played iDance which was a ton of fun!!! After class I stayed and learned how to set up the Kinect which was a real feat for me!! I have never been very technologically inclined so learning this is good for me! When I took 201 I remember thinking that after the first day there was no way I would be able to do any of the technology stuff but now I have a new confidence in myself and a want to learn so much more about how to integrate technology into my teaching. Setting equipment up is still something that I have to learn how to do but it is something that I am going to end up becoming very good at!!! You wait and see!!!

1K and 5K walk/run at St. Mary's

This weekend at St. Mary's was the 1K and 5K walk/ run race for the stars that I volunteered at with 4 of my classmates. It was a lot of fun! We were assigned to direct the runners the correct way as well as hand out water at the water station. We first did the 1K and that was mainly students that did that, but they had some impressive times. During that race I stood on the corner of Kinney Drugs and directed the runners to the final stretch. I tried to motivate the students to run the last bit of it, especially the ones that looked like they were running out of gas. After that we quickly went to the water station and handed out the water to the older competetors. It is amazing how many times people told us thank you for volunteering our time to help out with this, I really felt good about helping out!!! I would do it again next year I can only hope though that it isn't raining/ snowing. However I did it once I can do it again. After the race was done we were taken care of by being fed pankakes, and bacon :)

We were just trying to keep everyone safe and happy on their run on saturday and I would have to say that we succeeded!!

Volunteering at St. Mary's

On March 25 I went to St. Mary's and reffed the annual alumni basketball game. It was seriously a blast!!!  The My friend Maggie reffed along with me which made it fun as well! I think that the alumni basketball game is a great idea! Students that are in 7th through 12th grade that went to St. Mary's for elementary school come back and play against each other. There were two teams and the boys and the girls of all ages played. The best part of the tournament was seeing how much fun everyone was having. It reminded me of my old elementary school where we had an annual tournament that let the students play against their parents.  I mean this tournament was eye opening. There were students there with a wide variety of skills.  Some of the students were dunking where others were at very elementary levels of play but that was because they were just starting out in their basketball career. It was great to see everyone working together. I was shocked when a seventh grade boy sunk about 5 three pointers in one period. I really had a great time volunteering and I was very thankful that Mrs. Boyland gave me this opportunity. I told everyone that I will definitely be back next year to do it again!