Jacki's Epiphanies of Learning
TCH 219
What is Text?
Before discussing chapter 2 from Broadening the Lens of Literacy, I had not thought much about what a text really is. One of the epiphanies I had in TCH 219 was realizing all of the texts used in Physical Education and how important they are. I just thought of texts as written in a textbook. I was able to take this knowledge and bring it to my clinical. My mentor teacher was also unaware of what a text really is. I had to explain to her that she uses texts everyday in her classes. Throughout her CPR/first aid unit, she used videos, a manual, and demonstrations to teach her students the material. She assessed their knowledge through a final CPR/first aid exam. Using a variety of texts will help reach out to the diverse learners in my classroom. TCH 219 has pushed me (in a good way) to search online for cool texts to use within my units. Students will respond much better to a fun, creative text that they can relate to.
Below is a video that would work great as a text in a CPR unit!! It would capture students' attention and give them helpful reminders while performing CPR. I would definitely use this in future CPR/first aid class!
Ken Jeong AHA Hands-Only CPR video
Instructional Strategies
TCH 219 taught me a variety of ways to instruct and engage my class. In physical education, we stress the importance of our students being engaged in activity learning time (ALT) for over 50% of class time. This means that our students are active and learning the material. At first it was hard for me to open up to these different instructional strategies because I thought they would take up too much ALT time, but I realized they don't have to! Some can be done outside of class as homework or alternative assessments, while some are part of a usual, everyday P.E. class! Using these different types of instructional strategies will help to keep my class from being dull and boring with the same approach to every new activity. Most of these allow my students to be more actively engaged than what I was used to planning in my lessons.
Below are some examples I would use in a typical P.E. class:
- Goal setting concept maps
- Think/Pair/Share
- Demonstrations
- Blogging
- Visual Displays
- Self assessment
I am hopeful in trying out more of these instructional strategies on my middle schoolers next semester!
Technology
Before TCH 219, I thought technology in P.E. was just about apps, iPads, heart rate monitors, and pedometers. Although I griped and complained about completing the variety of technological assignments, I found them extremely beneficial for myself as an educator. I loved working with blendspace and spicy nodes. I created a great start to health-related fitness unit with both of them. I am now much more open to using different online organizers for my units. Students will respond well to them because they have grown up with this technology and know it better than any of us old folks! I will definitely be using different online organizers as I teach.
SpicyNodes
Health-Related Fitness
Blendspace
Health-Related Fitness