Mark's Blog

Smashing Pumpkins

2008-11-16T20:32:00.000-08:00

(This is a photo of my foot after me and some of my classmates spent about 5-10 minutes kicking/throwing pumpkins at each other).

On the day that we went to the pumpkin patch with our EDS 150 class, we had a lot of fun. Some might say that we had too much fun, however i feel that this is rarely the case for anyone. Upon arriving at the pumpkin patch, the lady who worked there explained that many of the pumpkins in the field were rotting and told us that it was okay if some of us wanted to bust up the pumpkins if they were rotten. I of course had never done this before so when I found myself in the field with a group of my friends i could barely control my inquiring mind when it asked the simple question, "What might happen if I kick a pumpkin very hard?" Well, as you can see, I did not let that question go unanswered.

I think that this was a great experience at the pumpkin patch and it truly taught me some things that I did not know before hand, and I also did a lot of thinking about what happened during this experience while it was happening and on my way home. The thing about inquiry is that it works best when you're doing something and when I was kicking these pumpkins it might have been ridiculous, but i really did learn a lot. I learned that if pumpkins rot they smell awful, the become soft on the outside, the seeds remain inside the pumpkin still, and that depending on how rotten a pumpkin is should definitely be a determining factor when it comes to whether or not it is a good idea to kick it. I think that through this experience I learned that when I am teaching in the future that it is very important that while having fun can be an important byproduct of an activity, it should never be the goal, and certainly there should be something to learn from it. I also think I learned that it is very helpful to learn as a community, and that when you have fun you retain the knowledge gained much easier then you would have otherwise.

Adapted Physical Education.

2008-11-16T20:16:00.000-08:00

In my previous semester here at Berea College I took a P.E. class that was titled Adapted P.E. In this class we were paired up with a "buddy" from Berea Community School and we worked with them for 4 sessions in the pool and 4 sessions in the gymnasium. My buddy had a rare affliction known as Jouberts Syndrome, which is a very rare genetic disorder in which there are congenital problems such as:
Absence/underdevelopment of part of the brain that controls balance and coordination,
A malformed brain stem, which may cause an abnormal breathing patterns,
Abnormal eye and tongue movements,
Decreased Muscle Tone,
and Seizures.
My buddy also was unable to communicate with words and knew very few sings to communicate with his hands, but he didn't have a problem with comprehending what I said to him. He also had 11 fingers and I believe 13 toes, and even though he was 13 he looked like he was around the age and size of a 6 year old.
However, none of these things really let you know very much about him at all, and the joy that I received from working with him. He did many things in the gym that he wouldn't have done before hand, and on our first pool day he flat out refused to get into the pool deep enough to allow water to go above his waist, and on our last day in the pool he stood with it up to his neck and was putting his head in the water.

This opportunity I had to work with kids with special needs was amazing, and truly helped me appreciate the work that many teachers do on a daily basis. I feel like this is one of the best experience that I have had while I have been in school, and I hope that the experiences gained because of this class will prepare me to be a great teacher for the students that I might teach in school who are very diverse in their learning needs and abilities.

Teaching Aquatics to Babies!

2008-11-16T20:07:00.000-08:00

Sadly i don't have any pictures from the topic of this blog entry, but as you can see from my title I am going to talk about an experience I have had while here in college that was a lot of fun and very informational. In my Aquatics class, we taught children from the ages of 6 months up to a possible age of higher 3's or lower 4's. It was amazing fun, and while we were not actually teaching these children how to swim, it was definitely a good learning experience for them and their parents. The purpose of this class was to introduce these children to a pool/water environment and hopefully teach them some of the very basic swimming skills that they will need in the future to learn how to swim.

I think that in this experience i was able to gain a great deal when it comes to teaching. Not only was I with a very diverse age group which will definitely help me as a teacher in the future to have had some practice working with younger children, but it also helped me gain some practice working with children in a very diverse atmosphere.

Teaching

2008-11-13T06:03:00.000-08:00

In this entry I don't have any pictures, but I am writing about a teaching opportunity i had with a group of kids from a local elementary school. Looking back on it now, i think that there were a lot of things i learned there that were not easy to take out and extract from that experience at first as they are now.

In that class, we got to teach at an elementary school, and it was a lot of fun. It also was very informative and educational because I was able to see what it would be like to be a P.E. teacher for younger kids. I had an idea, but it was good to see from more of a firsthand perspective what it would be like to do that every day, and I have to say that I would love going to work if I got to spend my day with kids like that. Even though they’re learning things during P.E. class, they don’t necessarily realize it. They can be learning fitness ideas and skills, but think that they’re only playing a game. And almost every child has a desire to be active, if not only to have fun. So that experience definitely did not turn me off from teaching, in fact, it kind of instilled the desire deeper inside of me. It helped reinforce my desire to be a teacher.

Experiences like these teach me a lot I think, and I believe that there is little that can replace the knowledge gained from actually teaching kids and working with them. I think it is the experiences like these, actually working in the field, that really reinforce my desire to become a teacher.

Cooking Pumpkins!

2008-11-12T21:56:00.001-08:00

(In this picture, from left to right, me, Brittany, Haven, and Sonja's Boyfriend are cooking candied pumpkin in our EDS 150 class)

This may seem like it is just a silly fun assignment in class, but there are many things that can be taught during this activity. Understanding the importance of teaching across the curriculum boundaries, or teaching multiple subjects at once, is crucial when it comes to being a teacher. During this activity we learned how to cook candied pumpkin. In the process, we needed to read (English), work with fractions and measurements (Math), and most obvious of all would be a Home Economics class. There are other things that were also covered during this activity, but i simply listed some.

This was a great way for us to learn about teaching multiple subjects at once. I feel that because of this experience I have learned more about what it means to teach more than one thing at a time to my future students, and I feel like I have gained a better understanding of how to teach multiple content areas at once.

Working with Students

2008-11-12T21:41:00.000-08:00

(This is a picture from when I was at Silver Creek Elementary School, and I was helping a group lead a P.E. class period.)

In my PED 244 class, we spend some time going to various local elementary schools and we practice teaching. In this particular instance I am the one leading the group rather than watching my classmates. To prepare for these times at the school we have to create a lesson plan and follow it with the kids that we are there with. We create the plans on our own with the assistance of our text book, however the groups that we are in are not assisted while teaching.

This type of field work is great when it comes to getting practice for my future job as a teacher. When working out in the classes, it is definitely possible to gain knowledge. I've heard teachers and other people say something along the lines of, "There are certain things that you can learn from text books, and other things that you can only learn through experience." I definitely feel that this is true, and believe that experiences like these are some of the best ways to learn the things that are most important when it comes to learning.

Teaching the young!

2008-11-12T21:24:00.000-08:00

(In this picture I am teaching a class of 4th graders at Silver Creek Elementary School in their Physical Education class.)

In my PED 244 class, we spend some time going to various local elementary schools and we practice teaching. In this particular instance I am the one leading the group rather than watching my classmates. To prepare for these times at the school we have to create a lesson plan and follow it with the kids that we are there with. We create the plans on our own with the assistance of our text book, however the groups that we are in are not assisted while teaching.

I feel like this as well as other opportunities I've had throughout my college career have helped set me up and prepare me for the various groups that i could possibly be teaching. In this particular instance I am learning first hand about the ways in which to best teach elementary students. I feel like this is definitely a great thing that can prepare me to be able to teach a diverse student body, especially if the differences among students is their age. All in all, i feel that experiences like this are truly what can help me prepare the most when it comes to teaching, and since I will not know what age group I will be teaching until I actually get a job because my certification will be for grades P-12th grade.

The Moon Log

2008-10-27T20:18:00.001-07:00

(This picture was taken in Louisville, Ky.)
This is a picture of the moon I took one night while i was looking for the moon so i could write a moon log entry. As a class, each night we are supposed to go outside at least once and try and look for the moon so we are able to write about it in our moon logs. Every so often when we meet up in class we will discuss what we've seen and chart what we've seen of the moon. We are trying to look for some kind of pattern with the moon, not based upon sciences, but based upon what we see for ourselves when viewing the moon daily.
I think this is a great way to learn in a different way. This activity shows us about learning, and the nature of learning. When we learn by doing, we learn more and remember what it is that we learn. So when we do the kind of work that requires us to think and imagine possible situations and outcomes, and predict what might happen, we are learning because we are having to think "outside the box". This is a great way for people to learn, and this project is a great way to look at and show the nature of learning. This activity that we're doing is something that has taught me that as a teacher, I need to be able to think outside the box and help my students DO things that will help them learn, because when you experience something you remember it.

Blogspot Day in EDS 150!!!!!

2008-10-27T19:21:00.000-07:00

(In this picture Dorothy is sharing with the class about how to improve our blogs)

(This is a picture of my computer as I am working on it during this class session)
These pictures come from a class that we had in EDS 150. In this class we are going over some of the best ways to set up and work on our blogs. We learned how best to use the technology available to us in order to make even better blogs. During this class we talked about the problems that we have been having while working on our blogs. It was good to hear the different people in class talk about issues that they've been having when creating blogs, because it let me know that i was not the only person who at times found that it was difficult to work on blog entries.

I think that this was a great day to learn about the technology available to us in our class. I think that it's important to know different ways to learn. As a teacher, i feel like it is important to be able to teach students in ways that are different. I especially feel that it is good to be well versed in the kind of technology there is out there that can benefit me and my students that I will teach.

KAHPERD- Fit4Learning Session

2008-10-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

This picture is from the opening session of KAHPERD (Kentucky Association of Physical Education Recreation and Dance), taught by Cathie Summerford, the president and founder of Fit4Learning. The entire presentation was about teaching for learning through physical activity. She gave a very fast presentation that was definitely focused on involvement. She moved quickly, covered a lot of ground, and actively engaged all of us. The style of her presentation not only made it possible to cover a lot of content very quickly, but in my opinion it also helped send her message home. There is research and information out there that proves that children learn better when they are active and moving.
I feel like this experience has easily taught me the importance of movement in the classroom. When children move, their brains work so much better than when they’re sitting still. It’s sad that a majority of the time when a child gets out of their seat, they get yelled at. The information that she shared and presented with the people there was wonderful, because it enlightened us to how important it is to a child’s learning to be able to move. When the body moves, the brain works much better than when it is sitting still. This makes me very excited as a future P.E. because I will be able to help children learn, not only by what I teach them in my classroom, but when they leave my class. Combining curriculums in P.E. is a great way to help children learn because they’re already moving, and they can combine informational knowledge with movement. This has helped me learn how to become a better teacher and increased my knowledge of how to be a teacher that will not only teach, but teach for learning.

Diversity

2008-10-14T06:12:00.000-07:00

I will show that I know it is very important to be diverse in teaching and in the learning experiences planned for all children.

Teaching in PED 244, Friday Oct. 10th

2008-10-14T05:57:00.000-07:00

This picture is from a teaching experience that classmates of mine had in our PED 244 class. As a class we went down to Berea Community and taught the elementary students there, but since my group had already taught, two different groups taught this time. Watching these groups, I learned a lot about teaching, especially about PE teaching. It was easy to tell that the kids enjoyed physical activity, and it goes along with what we learned in our book for that class, that all children have a motivation to be active. I also saw that students don't need to be motivated about winning a competition. In fact, they don't really need to be told it is a competition, because they can turn it into one on their own. While one group was teaching, it was very easy to tell that they had not thoroughly planned out their lesson because there was a lot of standing around time, and during a Physical Education class, especially one that only lasts for 30 minutes, it is very important to keep the students moving as much as possible!

Journal Entry for 10-9-2008

2008-10-14T05:50:00.000-07:00

To start out, I’m going to respond to the last journal. When my group finished early when we were doing the list about Bloom’s Taxonomy, I think we finished first perhaps because we talked about some of the things we were going to be writing down during our ramp exercise. Maybe, without thinking about it, we had already covered some of the topics that we were going to answer that day in class. Last time I printed my paper, I went and looked for the moon and was unable to see it because it was way too cloudy. I hope that tonight I will be able to see it, however late it is when I go to print this paper.
Last class period, we talked about our glue experience with two different classmates. My partners were Sonja and Henry, and I thought it was really cool to hear the different things that they had to say about their pictures. They both had really good answers to what they experienced during the glue experiment, and I didn’t think that different people could experience as many different things about just one topic. But looking back, it makes sense because with that experiment so many different things could have happened because we were given the freedom to learn on our own and combine things in any order and amount we wanted. Henry’s glue became almost like soup, because he poured a lot of something into his bowl that was not starch. So his experience was different from mine, because he spent almost the entire time either trying to fix his experiment, or cleaning it up after he decided it was a complete failure. Sonja’s project went well, so for her it wasn’t as big an issue trying to figure out what exactly to do, because it worked out well. And my project, it went not so well to begin with, but eventually when I was on the verge of giving up, I figured out a way to make it all work out well and it ended up being okay. I think that from this I learned that even though things may feel like a failure at the time, if you don’t give up and you keep on trying and working on it, then you will be able to figure out things and accomplish things that you would never think possible.
Getting started on the blogspot over the break was a bit hard. It seemed to me that whatever kind of ideas I had last Thursday just kind of left my head, and it definitely did not help things to not have class this past Tuesday. I would have been glad to have had class then, because I feel that when I miss class or we don’t have class, that my so called “creative juices” would not be able to “flow”. I think that it would have helped me to be able to see other people’s blogs still, but so far I only have Trey and Brittany’s blog url’s, and that’s because I was sitting next to them in class. Even still, it was very helpful to look at Brittany’s, because I even borrowed a picture from her blog because I was actually in one from a day that we taught in a Physical Education class that we have together.
In that class, we got to teach at an elementary school, and it was a lot of fun. It also was very informative and educational because I was able to see what it would be like to be a P.E. teacher for younger kids. I had an idea, but it was good to see from more of a firsthand perspective what it would be like to do that every day, and I have to say that I would love going to work if I got to spend my day with kids like that. Even though they’re learning things during P.E. class, they don’t necessarily realize it. They can be learning fitness ideas and skills, but think that they’re only playing a game. And almost every child has a desire to be active, if not only to have fun. So that experience definitely did not turn me off from teaching, in fact, it kind of instilled the desire deeper inside of me. It helped reinforce my desire to be a teacher.
In class Thursday, we also did a practice mid-term exam where we practiced naming the different members of the class and saying three things about them. I thought that I would do well on it, but not as well as I did. I was very happy and impressed with how well I did, because I only missed 2, and I definitely had more than 3 things to say about the people that I missed the facts on, and one of the misses was a technicality because the metal was in her leg, not ankle.

Learning Centers

2008-10-14T05:32:00.000-07:00

In class on Thursday, we went over the learning centers and the processes that we will be following when it comes to making them. I think it was very helpful to do these ahead of time like we did, because we now have much more time to work on them than they had last year. I think overall it shouldn't be to bad, because if we can think of something that would be fun for us to do, then it should just catch our interest, and the time should go by fast when it comes to working on it. I think because of that class period, i now have a better understanding of what it is that we're to cover in our projects, and therefore have more knowledge about the content of the class.

Green Glue!

2008-10-08T22:54:00.000-07:00

This is a picture from class when we were mixing glue and starch to see what would happen. Well, i came to find out that it was supposed to make some kind putty. And my project, it went not so well to begin with, but eventually when I was on the verge of giving up, I figured out a way to make it all work out well and it ended up being okay. I think that from this I learned that even though things may feel like a failure at the time, if you don’t give up and you keep on trying and working on it, then you will be able to figure out things and accomplish things that you would never think possible.

Flashlight teacher.

2008-10-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

In this picture, I am presenting a sketch book entry where I had to do an entry on how as a teacher, I am like a flashlight. In this project i had to look at myself, and think about myself and how i might be like a flashlight, then write it out in metaphors. I think that this is clearly an entry for Personal Development, because i had to look at my self personally.

Balloon!

2008-10-08T18:49:00.000-07:00

This picture is from a day in class where we were trying to get our balloon to float a certain height above the ground. We didn't have any other instructions or directions other than our balloon had to float so high off the ground.
Doing this experiment made me think about what there could possibly be to do to make it stay in the air without touching the ground. I think that this experience falls under inquiry, because we were thinking about and trying to figure out how to do this.

Teaching in PED 244

2008-10-08T18:43:00.001-07:00

This picture is from a teaching experience at Kingston Elementary school, where me and some other students lead a P.E. class for some of the students there.
I feel like this experience should fall under Field Work, because what else is better to prepare me for teaching P.E. in the future than practicing it with real kids in a school.

Journal Entry for 9-23-2008

2008-09-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

Well, to begin this journal I’m going to respond to things from my last journal. When I worked on my sketch book, I of course did the pre writing pages. After these two pages, I started with the writing of the metaphor. I thought it would be easier to do it in this order because if I knew what I was writing about before I started with the art work; it helped me think of ideas for the artwork much more easily. So once I finished my writing, I moved on to deciding what to draw about. This took a while, because I wanted to think of a way to combine the flashlight with my ideas that I wrote about in my metaphor, and decided on someone finding a bookshelf in a cave, which I meant to represent learning and or knowledge.
One thing that you mentioned in class the other day was our use of paragraphs, or lack of them. I thought that I could be brought into this group of students you were mentioning because in all of my previous journals, you’ll notice that I never used paragraphs but in this entry, I shall. The reason I did not before this is not because I don’t understand how to use paragraphs in a paper, but it is because I did not realize that it was necessary in the journal. I figured it would make less wasted space.
In class we talked about making connections in new learning and previous knowledge. We learned about new term called constructivism. I think that constructivism is a way of learning/ teaching where the teacher does not give answers and information straight to the students, but leads them in the correct direction and gives them the tools they need in order to accomplish the desired learning. When we built the ramps during class on Thursday I wasn’t sure of the connections you were guiding us towards. At first I thought that it was in a way some kind of metaphor for how students learn. I thought it might be that students are at often times graded for their performance, but when given the proper materials they can learn, and should be given credit for attempting to strive for perfection. After I realized that this was not it, or at least not what it was that you had planned for us to learn, at least in part. When we started talking about how our brains were learning, I thought that was really interesting. I noticed that when I thought about the way that I was learning, that my brain was making connections when building the ramp. I think at times, we have become so used to the way that our minds work that we forget to realize what it is they are doing. Until I thought about it I did not realize that I made connections quickly to combine my previous knowledge with what was going on with our ramp to make the ball stop at 6 feet. Seeing our ramp in action not only gave me some new knowledge that I could use and learn, but it also helped me remember old knowledge that I hadn’t thought about in a long time. After bringing up these lost thoughts and bits of knowledge, it does help make even more connections.
Towards the end of class, when you were talking about the way that constructivism and the way it works, I was then thinking about how a teacher that I had previously taught us by using constructivism. He allowed us to teach the lessons in class, so not only would we learn the content, but we would get practice in teaching. Then I realized that he also was allowing us to construct our own knowledge by letting us learn for ourselves. When we taught, we could learn what it was that we needed to change for the second time we taught in the class. I realized that this was constructivism. And I stopped and thought, and realized that in fact, at that point in time when I was thinking about the class I had in which I was teaching others, and the class we were having where we were talking about constrictive learning, that I was participating in constructive learning at that very moment because I was taking knowledge from a previous learning experience and combining it with new knowledge that we had learned in class. And like when I was working on the ramps, it happened without me realizing it initially, as it has happened before in the past without me noticing. So it seemed to me that one of the things I learned the most last Thursday was not entirely a new way of thinking, or a new way of learning, but to acknowledge that I have learned that way before, but just that I never noticed before.

Journal Entry for 9-16-2008

2008-09-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

The assignment we had to do in our sketch book seemed like it would be very easy to do at first, because in class I seemed to have an easy time going through the pre writing, and coming up with tons of metaphors for cucumber seeds, but when it came to writing about a flashlight this past week, it seemed like my mind was drawing blanks. I think part of the problem is that once I left the classroom, that environment where I can think easily was gone, and all the other distractions that are present during the week and school year were back and so it wasn’t as simple as just coming up with the metaphors because I simply couldn’t focus well. The overall write up wasn’t as bad as the pre writing was, because by the time I wrote this I had already thought about it so much that a page came out without me hardly thinking about what I was writing. Eventually I needed to look down at my notes for help because I was getting stuck, but then I asked my roommate what did me and a flashlight have in common and he helped me out with some metaphors there. I was a little worried for the drawing part or the artistic part, I suppose it didn’t have to be drawing, but that was what I wanted to do. So I was worried about that because I’m not very confident in my drawing skills, and that took me a long time to get started because I kept wondering what it would look like when I finally sat down and worked on it. Eventually I decided what I wanted to draw and I got to work, and it turned out much better than I thought it would. All in all, it turned out to be harder than I thought it would be because it took me much longer than I imagined it would, however it wasn’t as bad or as much of a grueling process as I first envisioned it to be. I really did enjoy it, except when I was working on it at my girlfriend’s house and her dad was laughing about the flashlight, but then I reminded her that she hoped to be an education major and is applying for Berea for next fall, and she was like “yeah I know, it looks like I’ll enjoy that class cause that assignment looks fun.” I feel like when I grade myself that it’s not fair, because I like to give myself good grades. The reason though that I don’t feel guilty about my grades is because when I look at the rubric, I work towards the highest score, not the lowest ones, and where I’m giving myself the grade I usually work until I’ve either done my best, or I’ve done enough to deserve and get the grade that want to get on my projects. Instead of simply finishing it and calling it quits, I think grading myself causes me to want to do a better job, that way there is no question as to why I got a certain grade on a project, or why I graded myself a certain way. Is this maybe why you have us grading ourselves? It really makes me feel much more responsible for my work because of the self grading that we do. I think the journals might be getting easier now, because I’m doing a lot better job at just letting my thoughts flow out instead of thinking each word through. I think doing these journals helped a lot when it came to the assignment because I was used to writing for two pages, so when I looked down after I was finished I already had enough words so it wasn’t a problem at all to write over 750 words. In response some to my last journal entry, I do coach Bailey R, she’s one of our two girls on the team and she’s the faster of the pair. Again, I’m not entirely sure about the bullying act, but thank you that is what it’s called. I just don’t know how it works entirely, but all I keep hearing from my friends in high school, or the younger ones even is that you have to watch what you say or can’t play around and push one of your friends. I suppose it would be something good for me to do some research on since it is a new law that is involved in the field that I hope to go into, and now that I think about it it’s probably a great idea to do some research into that topic. One of the things that I put in my metaphors is that I hope I can be the kid of teacher that makes kids excited to come to class, and makes school fun, kind of like how moths are drawn to flames because of their light, I hope I can be that way as well since I’m a flashlight shining, and I think it’s pretty amazing that at this college so far I’ve come across many professors that make school fun and interesting enough to make me Want to come to class, not just have to.

Journal Entry for 9-9-2008

2008-09-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

Well, to start anyways I suppose I will respond to things from my previous journal. I said that I was assistant coaching, however I neglected to say what I was coaching! I’m the assistant coach for the Berea Community Cross Country team, and this is my third season. I’m very excited about this because I think it will definitely look good on my resume, and at the very least it can’t hurt. In reference to the second page of my previous entry, I said something about teaching younger students and omitting certain parts of lesson plans or perhaps adapting them because of their age, which is what I would think is probably the best course of action. I suppose I look at this with a very P.E. type of perspective, which I’d say is a good thing. With older kids you would be able to do probably more in the way of sport type activities than you would with younger children, though of course the reason that this is possible is because they have hopefully learned the skills needed for these sports at a younger age, perhaps during a P.E. class. So instead of not doing anything with them at a young age, I think a good way to adapt them would be to do lessons that would be bits and pieces the games that they could possibly play in the future. Thinking about teaching and teachers having reasons for everything done in the classroom has made me think about some of my classes so far this semester. At first it seemed like we were wasting time in one of my classes, because it’s supposed to be about elementary physical education, but so far in the class almost all we have worked on is track and field. At first I thought this was just because the professor loves the sport, which he does, but there were also other reasons. An obvious reason was the Boomer Games that took place this pervious Saturday, because our class was doing the track and field portion of the games. However, thinking about it more, I think that it also was intended to help us grow closer as a class because we got to go outside and have fun learning about some of the track events, and it also covered one of the later chapters in our text book. Thinking like this has caused me to look back on some of previous classroom experiences, and then some of the reasons for doing what we were doing at the time. I remember in elementary school, we used to do ABC trunk twisters, where we would spin our upper bodies left and right without moving our feet and say our ABC’s. We always made fun of this as we got older and thought we were hot stuff in 4^th grade and to mature for those types of activities, but now I can see some of the reasons for them. Not only did it serve as a stretch and warm up, but it also tied in another curriculum to a physical activity, and helped us reinforce the brain pathway that helped us remember the ABC’s. One thing I’ve been hearing a lot about lately is this new education act in the state of Kentucky, where students and faculty alike are no longer allowed to say anything negative to anyone else within school or at a school function then a police report must be filed. I think that in a way this can be a good thing, but on the other hand I think that it can be highly overdone. Maybe keep records of it in the school, and after so many then file a report to the police, however I think the way it is right now the police will be getting call after call about little kids just saying things that aren’t meant to be taken in a mean way and then get blown out of proportion and having a police report filed against them. I’m not sure if I’ve got this entirely correct, but I think it is something that interests me, because I know that it affects this state, and once something is taken as a law in one state it could possibly spread to others. Maybe it is good though, because although some friends are mean to each other in a fun and non-mean spirited way, I think that kids should learn to express themselves in ways that aren’t mean, because sometimes even though someone doesn’t want to say it to be mean, but it can be taken that way regardless of the meaning. I also think that there could easily be some teachers being written up for saying things that could be taken out of context, but again, these things should probably be learned to be said differently also. I liked what we did on class this past week when we talked about our most memorable learning experience. I thought it was really interesting and cool to see how much almost all of them had in common. It also makes me happy that I am becoming a PE teacher, because hopefully I will be able to teach someone something that they will remember not only because of the information, but because it was a fun experience.

Journal Entry for 9-2-2008

2008-09-25T08:26:00.001-07:00

I guess when I first fully decided to become a teacher it was last spring, although I suppose I could have known that I wanted to be before that. I know that around middle school I decided that I wanted to coach track and field, or cross country, so I suppose that becoming a P.E. teacher isn’t far off from that. I’m already assistant coaching and I love my P.E. classes where I get to work with kids from the community schools. One of the things that worry me the most about teaching is the concern that I will be a good teacher. I know that I’m smart enough to do the job, and that I’m a people person, so maybe it’s that I’m nervous. I just really want to do a good job and be the kind of teacher that students like to see when they come to class, and I suppose that my desire to be that kind of teacher will in turn help it come true. Another concern of mine is not knowing which grades that I want to teach. I would really enjoy elementary school because I think that I could act really carefree and the kids would just have fun with me, but with middle and high school kids I could focus more on sports and games than just developmental things. However, middle school kids don’t wear deodorant, and high school kids would be fun to teach but I don’t think that it would be the best option to begin with straight out of college. I wonder if the best possible solution is to just keep my options open and see what kind of job options I get before I commit myself to any one grade level or school level anyway. I really enjoyed what we did in class Thursday. I liked the popsicle sticks as a way to separate the class into groups, and then also letting us know that it wasn’t you who would put us into groups without our friends should we find ourselves without them. Also, I thought it was funny how you said we should separate by numbers, and if nothing else it was a good way to break the ice and make us loosen up. With the separating of the groups, at first I think I was a little confused, because I didn’t know what the other groups were doing and I think that we all, in my group anyways, felt like that we didn’t know exactly what we were supposed to do. I think that our combined uncertainty helped though, because at least if we came together and all worked on it then it was the four of us that would be doing it wrong together if we did do it wrong, instead of an individual doing it wrong and messing up. It did help me feel comfortable that one of my better friends, and someone that I have three classes with this semester was in my group, but I think it would have happened the same way if there were different people in my group. I thought it was really cool when we started noticing how much more learning was accomplished when more freedom was given. Could the age of students change how much freedom you can give them? And if this is the case, then does that make it harder to teach multiple things to younger students, or does it simply mean that at times you will have to do things different instead of not doing them at all? I like the self discovery way of learning, because like you said I think that it is one of the best ways to learn, and also that it is one of the most practical ways to learn because for the most part in life you really do need to either learn on your own or with the assistance of others, but not always with 100% guidance. I will tell you that I’m afraid that at times I will feel apprehensive because of this, because I am one of those types of people who like to know exactly what I am doing at times, and likes to know if I’m doing something wrong or right almost before I get started that way I don’t have to start over again, though I feel I am getting better and being more flexible in these types of situations since I’ve started going to college. I think teaching is something that should hopefully come natural to me because my mom is essentially a teacher, and my dad works at a preschool. One of the biggest reasons that I know that I want to be a P.E. teacher in my opinion is the way I feel when someone asks me what I’m doing in college, or what it is that I am going to school to be, I tell them that I’m going to be a teacher, and I almost always get a goofy smile on my face and then start talking about all the different reasons why I think that I want to be a teacher and everything that will make it fun, and what could make it hard, but still it’s what I want to do anyway!

Definition of Personal Development

2008-09-25T08:25:00.001-07:00

I can prove that i take personal responsibility for my own learning and development as a teacher.

Definition of Teaching for Learning

2008-09-25T08:24:00.001-07:00

I can show that i know how to plan learning experiences for students that learn in all different ways.

Definition of Nature of Learning

2008-09-25T08:23:00.001-07:00

I can prove that the ways of learning listed (inquiry, experience, time, interest, self correction, external criticism) make sense to me.

Definition of Understanding of Content

2008-09-25T08:22:00.001-07:00

I will demonstrate that I have general knowledge and an in depth understanding of the content covered in this class.

Definition of Inquiry

2008-09-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

I don't have a definition created for this category yet, but this is the website that we were directed to read and search.
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/

2008-09-25T08:10:00.001-07:00

Sample blog entry for Personal Goals

2008-09-25T07:38:00.000-07:00

So this summer I went to Mississippi on a mission trip, and this is one of the photos we took after a church service one evening. I think it's an awesome picture!

2008-09-25T07:31:00.001-07:00

Sample post for Philosophy