Whistle Talk

PE gets a bad wrap at at times because of how it "used to be". I have heard horror stories of how PE teachers "roll out the ball" and sit with a newspaper or just focus on the super star athletes. If you had this type of PE experience, I sincerely apologize. Not all of us are like this. As a matter of fact, more and more PE teachers are trying to be innovative and create quality PE programs. Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, PE is one of the first subjects to be cut or downsized. Schools have one or two PE teachers with class sizes upwards to 40-50 with minimal equipment, non-existent budgets and hardly any support. Thankfully, the digital world does not disappoint. I can't tell you how many times Twitter has saved my lessons or saved a rain day for me. It's so easy to find new ideas on Twitter or bounce ideas off of other PE teachers to get a fresh point of view. In module 6 of my Foundations of Technology class, we learned all about Professional ...

It's been a hot second since I had to write a research paper. From the beginning, I was less than thrilled to have to go back to high school/college and remember everything that goes into a research paper. I got a bit overwhelmed just thinking about writing it even though writing is kind of my thing. I really enjoy creative writing and I leave the research to the professionals. I did procrastinate a little bit on it because it was not on the top of my "To-Do" list. However, once I got started it turned out to be one of the more interesting assignments that we were asked to complete. Our assignment "Trends in Technology Research Paper" asked us to dive into the world of the 21st century learner and the importance of preparing our students for the global society. I chose tackle this more from the student side rather than the teacher. I wanted to research how educators are preparing their students to be future ready. In my research, I put together a timeline of e...

I've mentioned a few times throughout this journey into the tech world that I struggle with using technology in PE. My first priority has always been to get the kids moving as much as possible. Throughout this course, I felt like I was able to dig deeper into many of the tech tools that were introduced. I was familiar with many of the tools, but I was able to enhance my learning and figure out ways to adapt the tools into my PE classes. The tools presented in this course allowed me to not only work through some of my struggles, but problem solve my reservations. The assignments/modules that I found most beneficial were: Module 6-Growing Professionally in the Digital World Module 7-Managing Devices in the Classroom Assignment-Trends in Technology Research Paper I have always been pretty active on social media, but it was more for entertainment and keeping up with friends. Once I started taking classes through USF, I found a whole professional world full of information and id...

When it was time to dive into Module 6, I was very excited to learn the module was all about online portfolios and goal setting. In this particular assignment, we were asked to create a three part plan for our students to self-assess, set a goal and then reflect. I created this Google Sheet  for my students to plan out their goals for their fitness tests.  Each quarter, my students participate in the FitnessGram fitness tests.  Before taking this class, I didn't really do much with them. I sent a copy to the district, but after that, I have no idea where they go or what is done with them.  In creating this assignment, I am going to change the way I am do fitness testing. In order to truly allow my students to grow and progress I need to complete the fitness test at least twice a quarter so students can see their growth. Starting in 2nd quarter, I am going to try to implement this goal sheet to one of my classes to see how it goes. My concern is time.  These fitn...

In module 2, we learned about formative assessments and some tech tools that support different types of formative assessments. For our assignment, we were asked to create an infographic comparing two different tech tool used for formative assessments. An infographic is a comparison tool which helps summarize lots of information in an organized and interesting manner. For my infographic, I used the online platform, Vengage and compared Plickers and Kahoot. I like the concept on an infographic and I would like to try to somehow incorporate it into my PE classes.  I thought about having my students compare sports, fitness concepts, athletes, etc. It may be something they do at home or if we have a rain day and we don't have space to have PE. It's still just and idea, but I'm pretty sure I can get it off the ground by next quarter. Both Plickers and Kahoot! have wonderful features that can be used for a variety of assessments. In PE, it can be difficult to organize a tech ass...

Assessment was always a scary word for me. I always thought they required pencil, paper, and a time limit. As I have been working though the course work for this endorsement, I have learned that assessments can be anything to help you realize if your students are learning what you have intended. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this particular course. I felt that all of the assignments we were asked to create were things that I could use in my PE classes. Module 3 dove into the development of summative and formative assessments.  One of the articles written by the faculty of the NIU Development and Instructional Design Center broke down the components of each type of assessment and explained what each one entails. You can read the full article here . This article can be used as a starting point for many teachers, myself included. However, the more I dove into this article and the others in this module, I realized that I was doing most of the examples in my class...

The art of bread making. I'm not sure which I liked more, making the bread or eating the bread.  There is something to say about homemade bread.  It definitely took me back to my grandma's kitchen when she would make her bread and the house would forever smell like fresh bread. My sister Ellen brought the bread baking back to the family a few months ago when she found herself with too much extra time during the work day.  I know how that sounds but you have to understand a little piece of information about Ellen...she is a very impatient person.  She gets stuff done in an efficient manner which can lead to having a lot of down time, especially since she works from home.  Ellen can and will sit in her home office and just hammer out her work until it's done.  She was finding that she would be done with work in the early afternoon and would have nothing to do.  She found small tasks to occupy her time, but even those she'd get done quickly and still ha...