The Use of VoiceThread with distance learning

Below is a link to the VoiceThread message and written message that I sent my students to help with saving documents and turning in assignments in Google Classroom. Hopefully, my students and their parents find it useful.

Hey everyone, attached is a video walk through of how to save lesson attachments onto your computer. This will give you the opportunity save a Google Doc and then be able to add your answers to submit. If this doesn't work, I'll have to get creative, so watch out ;-) lol. Hope everyone isn't going crazy being locked at home.

Hola a todos, adjunto hay un video de cómo guardar los archivos adjuntos de las lecciones en su computadora. Esto le dará la oportunidad de guardar un documento de Google y luego podrá agregar sus respuestas para enviar. Si esto no funciona, tendré que ser creativo, así que ten cuidado ;-) jajaja. Espero que todos no se vuelvan locos siendo encerrados en casa.

https://voicethread.com/share/14259515/

Constructionist and constructivist learning theories share a healthy relationship. They believe that knowledge is student-driven through their life experiences. Constructionists support the main idea of constructionism, “it emphasizes the particular constructions of external artifacts that are shared by learners” (Orey, 2010 p. 130). This outlook with these two learning theories works perfectly with student-centered teaching strategies, like problem-based and project-based learning. Adding the technology tools available (i.e., Microsoft Office 365, Google Suite of Apps, etc.) allows students to spend time on what is essential in the assignment instead of spending time collecting and sorting the information needed (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012). Giving our students this invaluable tool helps create robust self-centered learning through empowering students to be active in their education, then creating a meaningful experience to foster a deep understanding of the material (ISTE, 2016). This relationship is shown strongly during project-based learning situations due to the collaborative nature, where students are working together sharing their experiences to gain a deep understanding of the intended learning objectives. B.J. Roopashree (2014) shows the importance of collaboration when he says, “learning in PBL a collaborative process aimed at stimulating students towards interactions that are intended to have a positive effect on learning” (p. 10).

 I currently use the constructivist-based instructional strategy during what I call ‘Burn the Crazies’, where the students have structured free time to explore various equipment. I feel this is using constructivist-based instruction because the students can figure out what activities are possible with equipment like hula hoops, jump ropes, and scooters. They are developing their knowledge of each piece of equipment based on their enjoyment during play. They are figuring out things like their enjoyment level or safety level, which can lead to them wanting to use that piece of equipment again. Unfortunately, in my current teaching situation, we do not have access to some of the technology tools that would help the students organize or develop questions to apply what they know and what is possible of the equipment they choose to play with (Pitler et al., 2012). If I had to resources or I was able to collaborate with classroom teachers, using Microsoft Excel would be a valuable tool in organizing the data. Excel being an interactive technology tool, the students can enter their data, organize, and received immediate feedback (Pitler et al., 2012).

I have gained valuable information from reading about constructionism and constructivist learning theories. Like the tools that I can use to foster great student-centered learning, is going to be easily integrated into my project-based learning experience. They would be able to use a tool like Microsoft Excel while working collaboratively to share ideas and feelings about specific activities they enjoy. They would be able to create and test hypotheses to which activities they feel will best to stay physically active the most. Once all the data was is inputted, they can interpret the data in various ways, like finding the activity they participated in the least to the most. Having that information will significantly help the students then finish their plan of increasing their fitness or activity level. The knowledge I gained during this time will help me develop an even more substantial student-centered learning experience of my students.

References

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E.R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2010). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://textbookequity.org/Textbooks/Orey_Emergin_Perspectives_Learning.pdf

International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE). (2016). Standards for students. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/for-students-2016

Behaviorist Learning Theories

After reading about behaviorism, critical instructional strategies, and the technical tools we have available to us in our classroom, I realized their relationship is intertwined with a secure connection to student success or failure. We, as human beings, desire attention for things we are working on or towards; this attention can through negative/positive reinforcement or punishment. Our goal as teachers is to use reinforcement to increase the chances of approved reaction or behavior, where our instructional strategies come into play to make sure the students are successful. We want to be able to reward our students for working collaboratively (Alberta Learning, 2002) and effectively with positive recognition or something as simple as a “homework pass” (Orey 2010, p. 274). Technology, if used as a data collection tool, can be used to keep students aware of their process where they can show and get praise from their parents. The outcomes of our students will depend on how the teacher uses behaviorism, instructional strategies, and technology.

An example of how instructional strategies and technology support student learning would be how rubrics work during a cooperative learning assignment. Having a rubric with clear and precise expectations that the students use throughout the task, will give the students a feeling of being able to control the outcome by improving their self-drive to succeed (Pitler, Hubbell, and Kuhn, 2012).

            In my gymnasium, I use both Pavlovian conditioning (as a conditioned stimulus) and operant conditioning (punisher) in hopes of getting the behaviors I expect from my students. I use music daily as my conditioned stimulus. Depending on the type of music played and its volume, my students know the speed and amount of control they should have. The louder and fast the tempo of the music means a free expression of how they feel, where softer slower music means moving in controlled space at slower speeds. At the beginning of each class, I use the first five minutes to let the kids ‘Burn the Crazy’ before I start the intro of my class. It gives the students five minutes to act and move as crazy as they wish, using select equipment. However, if I do not see the appropriate behaviors as they enter the gymnasium or anytime, I need to explain directions; they lose that five minutes. I hope that this punishment will decrease these unwanted behaviors in the future (Orey, 2010). I feel by using these strategies, I am advocating for an equitable learning environment for all my students (ISTE, 2008).

The sources I have read and researched for this module’s assignment have taught me strategies to increase the effort of my students as they journey through their project-based learning project of becoming and staying physically active. Having read Pitler, Hubbell, and Kuhn’s (2012) chapter on reinforcing effort has made me realize that I need to make all feedback “task- or process-oriented” (p.62). With feedback set up, that way will hopefully have positive effects on their self-motivation to succeed. I have also learned that having stronger connections with my students and how they handle success and failure will depend on which reinforcement strategy used when they are struggling. Each student may handle positive or negative reinforcements differently, and I need to connect deeper with them to pinpoint which approach will work best.

References

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2010). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://textbookequity.org/Textbooks/Orey_Emergin_Perspectives_Learning.pdf

Alberta Learning. (2002). Instructional strategies. Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/media/482311/is.pdf

My students and I used a graphic organizer, from www.lucidchart.com, as a brainstorming session before attending the virtual field trip presented by the NFL’s Play60. We brainstormed ideas to the question of How can we get moving for 60min/day? Their plans for activities are dark pink circles. Once we had the activities, we labeled (blue circles) were those activities can take place. Then we participated in the six segments of Huddle Up and Get Moving. Once our virtual field trip was over, we went back to our mind map and labeled each activity based on the categories (muscle strength, bone strength, and endurance) presented to us on the field trip (cloud spaced circles). The link to the map is https://www.lucidchart.com/documents/view/9805a47c-cec2-4d14-8d67-8b81eacdb298/0_0

and a visual of our mind map is below:

References:

American Heart Association & NFL Play 60. (2020). Huddle Up and Get Moving. Retrieved from https://aha-nflplay60.discoveryeducation.com/field-trip

Lucid Chart. (2020). Mind Map. Retrieved from www.lucidchart.com

During this course, everything we have done has expanded my view of what is possible with the limited technologies I have available to me in my gymnasium. I have become aware that I have turned into the type of teacher that was afraid of setting out my comfort box. But having learned through both the video segments and readings by Will Richardson that it is beneficial for my students to see me attempt new strategies, whether they are successful or not, has changed my viewpoint. Having set up a Twitter account for the first time and have only used for professional resources has opened my eyes to a much broader world of technology-specific to Physical Education. Without that professional use of Twitter, I would have never known of www.connectedpe.com, and it’s a wealth of resources along with professional development opportunities. Another lasting result of this course has been the use of collaboration with other teachers inside my school. Since I have extremely limited resources to use in my gymnasium, while the classroom teacher as extensive use of, through collaboration between the two of us, we shared ideas and resources for student engagement and improvement (ISTE, 2008). If not for this class, I would not have ventured out of my comfort zone and collaborated with fellow teachers, having the students miss the successful lesson created because of it.

The knowledge that I have gained, which will help me facilitate changing my classroom, is the realization that my students can learn just as much outside of my gymnasium as they can while participating in activities in it. With the creation of Web 2.0 tools, Will Richardson (2015) stresses to his readers that we need to be just as comfortable to be learners as we are as educators. Our student’s exposure to various types of technology from birth is far greater than any adults, and we need to teach them to navigate those technologies safely more than telling them what they can and cannot do. “All around us, kids are creating content in ways that most adults haven’t yet tried” (Richardson, 2010, p.7). By using Twitter and staying connected with my students outside of school, we can keep up to date with what everyone in the class is doing outside of school to stay active. Making it okay to learn and explore ideas we find out about in school outside of school.

With the goal of increasing my student’s activity levels outside of school, a classroom Twitter account may help in achieving this goal. After reading the article, Inspiring Learning Outcomes with Twitter in the Kindergarten Classroom by K. Walsh (2011), I realized using Twitter as the modern pen pal template for my students to learn what other children their ages are doing for fun. The only roadblock I have is having my district allow the use of twitter in my classroom, so as a class, we can keep up to date with the other classes. If I can get through this roadblock, where I advocate for this educational technology (ISTE, 2008), the benefits for my students are limitless. From becoming a digital citizen (ISTE, 2016) to collaborating and creating activities with other students from around the world becoming keen 21st-century learners.

Using smart goals will help me stay on task and specific while improving my chances of reaching each goal. I have come up with two SMART goals to prepare my students for their futures in society and their workplaces. First is, I want my students to increase their weekly physical activity levels 15% each school year for the next two years.  This SMART goal will be accomplished two ways, first by exposing them to as many different types of activities possible during their Physical Education class and having them document activity outside of school. The second way this goal will be accomplished is by implementing a Family Fun Fitness night at school to increase parental awareness of the importance of increasing activity time. My second goal is, I want to replace 10% of my current curriculum activities in each of the next two school years with student-driven ideas derived from student surveys. This goal will be completed through quick surveys at the end of units to finding enjoyment levels, the possibilities of out of school use, and games/activities suggestions they feel would meet the objectives and goals of the unit. I think these two SMART goals will help transition my Physical Education program into a 21st-century learning environment.

With my experience within this course of the last two months, I have learned that technology has weaved itself into every facet of our lives. Technology has become something in our personal and professional lives to take advantage of to work smarter not harder. This holds true even in Physical Education, from the interactive video games that our students play to the overabundance of wearable fitness monitors you see on many adult and children’s wrists. The challenge with the amount of usable technology to make our lives healthier is narrowing down the options to make sure we are reaching goals we set for ourselves to improve physical activity levels, along with using the technology correctly.

References
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Richardson, W. (2015). From master teacher to master learner. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
International Socitey for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2008). Standards for teachers. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/standards-for-teachers

The PE Geek. 100 Ways to use technology in physical education. Online Professional development retrieved from www.connectedpe.com.

Walsh, K. (2011). Inspiring learning outcomes with Twitter in the kindergarten classroom. Retrieved from http://www.emergingedtech.com/2011/04/inspiring-learning-outcomes-with-twitter-in-the-kindergarten-classroom/

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2016). Standards for students. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/for-students-2016.

My Goal of this Blog

The goal of this education blog is to share my love of being physically active with my students while giving ideas and suggestions to increase their activity levels outside of school. By showing students that physical activity is not only about doing push-ups and sit-ups, they are exposed to alternate ways to take total control of their health and wellness. Using this medium, I am giving the students the ability to interact and dive deeper into this topic which will ultimately enrich their learning. An additional benefit of the students using the blog is so that they become more active individuals outside of the classroom while they practice skills learned in their classrooms. This interdisciplinary activity, as Richardson (2010) mentions, will strengthen their understanding of the skills while supporting differentiated learning. A blog that is designed for my population of students will allow them to connect their in school learning with their physical activity outside of school. 

Currently, I teach Physical Education in a Title I Elementary School in Connecticut. I have taught in this school district for 18 school years, and my goal has always been to increase my student’s awareness of skills and games so they may live a more active lifestyle. By using a blog as an interactive resource, I am able to increase their exposure to a variety of activities that they may enjoy playing with their family and friends. Students are not only given the opportunity to choose from a various activities, but they have a model or visuals to refer to so they are able to follow along and be confident in doing so.  No one participates in a physical, mental, emotional, or social activity in which they do not find any enjoyment. In an article by Hopple (2018), he mentions that each person has their own rationale for why they feel physical activity is fun.  Having a choice and guidance from the blog supports a fun physical fitness experience. Being physically active allows people to deeply connect to themselves or others, whether it is through the competition, the comradery, or the relaxing nature of the exercise.

The creation of this blog is going to help me and my students meet the International Society for Technology Education standards. Using the technology-enriched environment and sharing the most current information regarding the importance of health and wellness, I will be creating an online learning environment that allows my students to “pursue their individual curiosities” (ISTE, 2008) all while sharing “relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers” (ISTE, 2008). The internet will allow my students the chance to make connections with other students around the globe. By participating in the blog, they will have the opportunity to learn about different games and activities from around the world. This will ultimately help them learn about different cultures through play. The population of students with whom I work are very diverse as well. Incorporating their interests and cultural experiences will help them to connect to learning and to each other. This creation of personal networks and collaboration will “broaden mutual understanding and learning” (ISTE, 2016), forming necessary skills my students will be able to use for the rest of their lives.

It is working

I just walked inside from 3rd-grade recess duty with the biggest smile. As I was walking around and interacting with the kids, I noticed the students playing the games I've been introducing them too in order to be more active.
I have slowly been introducing them to games like Spud, Red Rover (old school kids games) and various tag games. All of these have been games they haven't seen or heard of before I started teaching at this school 4 years ago. So for me to see them playing in small groups, safely and cooperatively just made my day.

Let's do this together!

What a way to start the New Year! Together we can help share what we love to do to live an activity and healthy lifestyle.

With all the New Year's resolutions fresh in our mind, and the energy to forge through, what are some of the things you are doing to remain active during these tough winter months?

It is tough up here in the Northeast, especially this winter because the weather has been so sporadic. It hasn't stayed cold enough long enough for the little snow we've had to stay, which limits some of the 'normal' outdoor activities here in New England. On the plus side it has been warm enough to put together our families new basketball hoop, and also using it!

I want to hear what everyone has been doing! Maybe some of us can get new ideas and activities to try