Sometimes it is nice to mix things up a bit. I wanted to find someone who implement technology in the classroom, but is part of a department other than mathematics. It seems like a good idea to get other view points on technology and share these ideas across the curriculum. I would like to thank Lisa Emendorfer for taking the time to write this guest blog.
I hope you enjoy!
I hope you enjoy!
My use of Technology in the Physical Education/Health Promotion Classroom
First a little background about me, I have been in education since 1989, I taught K-12 physical education for 15 years in public and parochial schools and then came to UW-Platteville to the Health and Human Performance department where I have been for 14 years. While at UW-Platteville, I have also taught courses in the School of Education, ironically I have taught technology classes for both the School of Education and the Health and Human Performance department. While I enjoy utilizing technology, I can't say it was my favorite class to teach.
As a younger teacher in the K-12 physical education classroom my use of technology was limited, mostly because “high tech” was a cassette vs an eight track followed by a CD. I did use cassettes and CD’s in my classrooms because I liked to integrate a lot of music into my physical education classrooms. It appeared to help my students stay focused and engaged in the learning activities. I did not have opportunity to utilize pedometers and heart rate monitors because they were only available during the end of my tenure in K-12 education and were cost prohibitive initially.
Fast forward to what I use now; pedometers, heart rate monitors, movement trackers of all sorts, smart phones, weebly both for portfolio use and to engage students in learning as an instructional strategy. I try to stay current to what is viewed by my students as interesting or engaging, however, I do not tweet, Snapchat or utilize Facebook and I use text minimally. I find the risk vs reward with those forms of technology to be too high. They are easily taken out of context, easily misunderstood and serve a very minimal role in instruction to my mind.
How do I use pedometers, heart rate monitors and movement trackers? I use these pieces of technology with my teacher education students to show them best practice in assessing effort and helping to motivate the student who is unsure in the physical education setting. I use the same equipment with health promotion students to illustrate to them how to motivate and engage their clients in taking an interest in their personal health. Any time I can use technology to engage my students, change the pace of the classroom or illustrate how it impacts best practice, I am going to take the time to learn how to utilize the technology effectively for that purpose.
It is easy as a 25 year veteran in education to get complacent and repeat what has worked and not enrich the classroom in new technology or methods. Fortunately for me, it is not in my personality I enjoy change in my professional life, I like to switch things up and adapt new practice. I feel when that is no longer a part of who I am as a teacher it will be time to “change it up” and do something different in my professional life.
First a little background about me, I have been in education since 1989, I taught K-12 physical education for 15 years in public and parochial schools and then came to UW-Platteville to the Health and Human Performance department where I have been for 14 years. While at UW-Platteville, I have also taught courses in the School of Education, ironically I have taught technology classes for both the School of Education and the Health and Human Performance department. While I enjoy utilizing technology, I can't say it was my favorite class to teach.
As a younger teacher in the K-12 physical education classroom my use of technology was limited, mostly because “high tech” was a cassette vs an eight track followed by a CD. I did use cassettes and CD’s in my classrooms because I liked to integrate a lot of music into my physical education classrooms. It appeared to help my students stay focused and engaged in the learning activities. I did not have opportunity to utilize pedometers and heart rate monitors because they were only available during the end of my tenure in K-12 education and were cost prohibitive initially.
Fast forward to what I use now; pedometers, heart rate monitors, movement trackers of all sorts, smart phones, weebly both for portfolio use and to engage students in learning as an instructional strategy. I try to stay current to what is viewed by my students as interesting or engaging, however, I do not tweet, Snapchat or utilize Facebook and I use text minimally. I find the risk vs reward with those forms of technology to be too high. They are easily taken out of context, easily misunderstood and serve a very minimal role in instruction to my mind.
How do I use pedometers, heart rate monitors and movement trackers? I use these pieces of technology with my teacher education students to show them best practice in assessing effort and helping to motivate the student who is unsure in the physical education setting. I use the same equipment with health promotion students to illustrate to them how to motivate and engage their clients in taking an interest in their personal health. Any time I can use technology to engage my students, change the pace of the classroom or illustrate how it impacts best practice, I am going to take the time to learn how to utilize the technology effectively for that purpose.
It is easy as a 25 year veteran in education to get complacent and repeat what has worked and not enrich the classroom in new technology or methods. Fortunately for me, it is not in my personality I enjoy change in my professional life, I like to switch things up and adapt new practice. I feel when that is no longer a part of who I am as a teacher it will be time to “change it up” and do something different in my professional life.