Letter to Superintendent

Mr. Superintendent,
I am writing to you on the behalf of myself and my students to request funds for a video gaming system. As you know it is important to keep variety in the classroom and hold the interest of students, I feel this would be very beneficial to that statement. I just finished a yoga unit that my students enjoyed very much. They asked me if I had ever used the Nintendo Wii video game system to practice my yoga before. I had played a couple times and thought this would be a  great tool for class, but I don't currently own that system. The Nintendo Wii is a system controlled by wireless movements that causes the player to be physically active while playing. In an article from the Huffington Post, a survey was taken of how many children played video games. The survey came back at 97 percent played. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/16/survey-97-percent-of-chil_n_126948.html To keep the class more stimulated a video game system incorporated into a physically active lesson could be a great teaching tool for the class. Since many people do enjoy video games and the students enjoyed the yoga unit, putting those two things together would be a great experience for many students. A student has offered to let us borrow the Wii to show the school board an example of yoga on the Wii and an opportunity to try the game for themselves. I would like to invite you to come to this presentation to get a better idea what I would like to accomplish for the students. The presentation will be may 29th at 7pm in the main gym. If you have any questions or need to contact me my email is gino.bisceglia@gmail.com


Sincerely

Gino Bisceglia

Gino Part 1C

What do your impressions of using Daily Burn;Do you currently use another form of online exercise and nutrition tracker? If so what is it and which features do you like better? If not, why not and will you consider staying apart of our Rockstar Group? Be sure to include your screen shots (at least 3) that you took and cropped.

This is a great website. I use to use another website that just track what I ate, but not my exercises. There is a lot more applications to use and there is a lot of food choices to pick from if you eat a lot of brand name foods. A cool thing was that you could use your Ipod phone to scan a food and it would transfer it to your log. I will definitely stay apart of the RockStar group and continue to use this website.

How would you use this website to accomplish our Recommended Regent’s Level for LS #1B? What modifications would you use to establish a group or individual’s goals?
I would tell my students to set a weight goal if they wanted to too, but I really want my students to be mindful of what they eat and if they are active. I know when I don’t see any exercise on my log I just want o do some push-ups just so I feel better about doing something that day. I would want my students to be able to make their own fitness plan and have some knowledge of how to stay healthy. I would make walking goals for each week for everyone in the class to collectively hit a certain number of miles and to have at least everyone contribute to the group so one person isn’t doing all the walking.

What electronic tool could you see as being useful for capturing data and reporting for the Recommended Regent’s Level for LS #1A?  Describe how this tool might work in a High School Setting.  If you plan to use Excel, or Google Forms, be sure to include a sample that can tried out online.

I love the heart rate monitors, especially the Activio software. I think it is a great idea to have the students be able to see their heart rate and see if they are really being active in class. Also I can keep records of how everyone’s heart rate was in the class. I could show students, parents, and administrators graphs and examples of how much activity my students exert in my class.

Gino Part 1A

Where is the web-site from?  Where in the world?  Which country?  What city and state/province is the story from? This is a Canadian website/Canadian broadcasting channel. It is located North America in Canada. The city is Saskatoon in Saskatchewan.

What do you think about this news piece....interesting...why or why not? I think this a very great news piece, but it was disappointed to hear that there wasn’t a PE teacher being mentioned.There have been many studies that say that exercise stimulates the mind and it’s about time that it is more broadcasted. Many people do not realize how important physical activity is and this news piece was a great example of that. It is amazing how everyone’s skills improved over the course of four months.

Why don’t we hear anything about the PE teacher being involved with City Park Collegiate experiment? How will ensure that your PE program will be a benefit to the students and faculty of your school. The school probably didn’t have a strong program or the teacher in the classroom wouldn’t have had to take the initiative and put equipment in her classroom. I will teach the way we are taught to each and not throw out a couple balls and say have fun. I will keep my class active while making it fun and interesting. I will have a variety of activities that my students can participate in long after high school.

What are were the main outcomes/benefits of the program? Were you surprised from their findings? Are these outcomes similar to our New York State PE Standards?  Explain your answer by giving details and examples, while comparing and contrasting. Every student in the classroom improved. Especially Bernie who improved by 400% in comprehension. Many of the students were skeptical, but eventually many of the students couldn’t wait to exercise again. The teacher kept them active and that fulfilled standard one and the students had a couple options to pick from so they had the beginnings of a fitness plan which fulfills standard two. Standard three wasn’t fulfilled, but the classroom is not a physical education setting. I’m sure if a student asked the teacher where other places they could got to exercise she would have some answers.


What is BDNF and what does it have to do with PE and learning? How do you get BDNF or other associated goodies? What are the names of two of the “key” books and their authors that currently outline the benefits of exercise and learning/academics? At least one is mentioned in the news piece. BDNF is a protein that allows the brain to retain more information. BDNF is vital to learning, memory, and higher thinking. BDNF is released after extended periods of acitivty. The two books were Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain” by John J. Ratey and “Natures Ritalin for the Marathon Mind” by Stephen C. Putnam.

Yoga

Yoga

View more presentations from GinoPE.

Lab D Refelction

I was very excited to teach my lab D. The reason why was because the lesson was t be on yoga. I enjoy doing yoga and I like to get others hooked on the exercise. It is not only relaxing, but a workout as well and that was want I wanted to convey in my lesson. The lesson started off with a bang and I had everyone try some new yoga poses by having poly spots spread all over the studio for everyone to try. The instant activity was a great introduction on what I was going to teach that day. Some of the poses on the poly spots were poses we were going to go over that day. I kept the lesson upbeat with some techno music and hip hop to keep everyone engaged. The yoga poses were broken down into steps and everyone seemed to enjoy the slow progressions and amount of practice time. I adapted most poses for people that had trouble balancing their body weight or had an injury. Everyone enjoyed the all the feedback I gave them and  I promised I would get to everyone and I did. After everyone go the hang of all the poses we put everything to together and that’s where everyone started to realize why yoga is also a workout. I had everyone hold the poses for eight seconds. By the end of the whole vinyasa students were really feeling the burn. After a couple vinyasas I gave students the opportunity to try yoga on the Wii fit

The differences between lab c and d were that in lab c I didn’t give as much feedback and this time I gave feed back to everyone. Some people I gave feedback multiple times. My approach was a little more personal than command. In lab C I did a lot of ordering around and the class didn’t seem as fun. The positives were I broke down all the poses step by step, gave a lot of feedback and adaptations. I also had good visual aids and demonstrated poses in different angles. Had upbeat music and the Wii Fit. The negatives were I should have brought the speaker next to me so I didn’t have to run over to it every time I wanted to start or stop something. I forgot it was wireless. Also the Wii Fit’s batteries were dead so I should have brought some extra. All in all I thought it was a good lesson.

Also I only had 11 minutes out of my lesson on video tape so I didn't get to fully complete my assignments because it wasn't recorded.

Time Coding 

Lesson Plan 

Feedback Analysis 

Content Development  

Self C-9 

Transcript (Bonus)

Lab C Review

This lesson had the good and the bad. The good was that I spoke a lot more clearly and kept my umms and ahs to a minimum. I kept the class organized and together and for the most part everyone understood the tasks. The bad was I didn't get to finish my lesson. I had a game at the end and I was going to give most of the feedback then and pin point. Since I didn't get that far in my lesson it stunk. I also had brought two lap tops for the class to watch a video of how to cross over on the turn if they needed additional help. I would have like to have had got to that part of my lesson. I was a little commanding, but that was because I wanted to get to the game at the end and get through the drills as quickly as possible.
Time Coding
Transcript
Feedback
Video

Lab B2 Review

 I think my lab B went well. I worked a lot better with speaking a lot more clearly, but I still have trouble not saying you guys. I'm going to really have to work on that a lot. I think I handled the scenario about the relationship well, I was short, quick, and respectful and told her to go back to her group.I went around and gave some decent specific feedback. It was harder to not give specific feedback because everyone was working in a group, but everyone was having the same problem so it was kind of in between.
lab 2 feedback
lab b2 Time coding
Audio
Transcript

Day 12 and Lab Review

Everyone finished up there lessons and Dr. Bailey supervised the class since Yang wasn't there today. Not much to talk about except did a lot of lessons. Homework was to do our lesson.



Audio
Time Coding B
Transcript B
Feedback Analysis B

Day 11

 

Today was an interesting day. There was quite a mix up with what everyone was being taught. I thought that I wasn't teaching my lesson until Friday because it was one of the hardest and we were going from easiest to hardest/backwards alphabetically. We weren't teaching our hard lesson, we were teaching the easy ones first so I found out when I got there I would be teaching. I'm glad it was the easy skills today because that would have been embarrassing to not be ready for a lesson and can't do it. After me everyone else did their lessons too and it was a great learning experience. I got to see how other people taught and what I liked and disliked about what they did and compared the lesson to mine. I didn't think mine was the best because I am a hard grader on myself and right now it doesn't matter if you are the best. This is a learning experience and I am making all the mistakes now so I can learn from them and become a better teacher. I uploaded my basic jump audio here.
 Basic Jump Lesson

Lab A2 Sprinting Lesson

I was very pleased with my redo of a lesson. Even though I didn't expect to do the lesson on Monday I think I adapted well. There wasn't much equipment to pick from like on Friday so I decided to teach about proper sprinting mechanics. I used Usain Bolt and the Olympics as my hook. I kept the cues simple by only having three cues. I did an okay job of keeping my ums and ahs to a minimum. The thing that I noticed I did a lot was say you guys so I need to work on not saying that. I also wished I had picked a better activity to preform the skill. I might have been able to give more feedback if I had the class do a up and down lap in the gym. I forgot to pin point a boy and a girl. This would have also caused the class to catch their breath because many of them were starting to get tired and their form was breaking down. So give more specific feedback, pinpoint, keep ums and ahs out, don't say you guys. Things I did well-had a loud voice, had a signal for attention, checked for understanding and made sure the class knew the cues, made sure the class knew the zig zag route, and gave feedback to boys and girls.

Time Coding A2
Transcript A2
Feedback Analysis A2

Day 10

Today's instant activity had black history month tied into exercise. There was stations set up all around the gymnasium. We read a little article about a famous African American and then did an exercise like push-ups or jumping jacks. In between the stations we had to crawl on the floor, skip, and other ways to keep the class moving. I had to teach a lesson after the instant activity and I didn't have any equipment so I decided to teach proper sprinting form. The next assignment is to critique it so I will save that for my next blog. After that Phil did his lesson over on the right handed lay up and then we broke up into groups with our TA's and talked about the jump rope lessons we'll have to teach this Wednesday and Friday. I have one the hardest skills so I am a little nervous. I am going to start working on it tomorrow for Friday's lesson.

Day 9 in Boston

I missed my lesson, but I am doing it this coming Monday. I was at a big track and field meet in Boston. I broke the 400 meter and 4x400 meter records again. I am going to Nationals and very excited to go! Here's the video of the races for people that want to see it!
400 meter race
4x400 meter race

Disappointing Time Coding :(

I was really disappointed in myself even more when I broke down my lesson. I had a lot of instruction time and not enough activity. The only thing that I received a point for was not having any waiting time. I was thrown off with the question of how to make a spiral with your hand. I should have been confident and not self-guessed myself and said if you execute the throw correctly the ball will spiral. I wasted about thirty seconds and I should have been a little faster with my instruction to maximize engaged activity. I could have used scaffolding by referring back to the softball unit and drawing parallels between the two and made the instruction time. I think when I did the basketball layup after I did a good job of keeping the cues quick and simple. I need to remember not to make the cues to complicated and shorten the instruction time.
https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AUTPYQ3U9-NBZGh6N2hjdF8wZjJjcmc4bm4&hl=en

Day 8

WE

Today we were in class still, but Professor Yang did a little activity for us. He read my blog and gave us an activity to do with bubble wrap. The idea was to get into groups and make a song/rhythm using the bubble wrap. I did Pop Lock and Drop with my partner. We were still in class talking about our lesson plans and other paper work. We went over the time coding sheet. The time coding sheet is used to evaluate our lessons. We break our lesson up into management, activity, instruction, and waiting time. The idea is to have little or no waiting time, at least 51% of activity time. Also keep instruction time short and simple while having even less management time.

ExerGames Experience!!!

Woooow what a day! This was a great experience. I had the opportunity to help Professor Yang out with an interview about his work in Exergames. I didn't have much knowledge about ExerGames, but I was very curious about what it exactly was. I helped set up all the equipment with Melissa Fromm (APEM president) and Professor Yang. There was a Nintendo Wii with the game Wii Resort. There are many things you can do with the Wii. There are many of games that have workouts and other gamers to make someone be active while having fun. The whole idea of ExerGames is to make being active fun while incorporating technology. There was another gadget called the I-toy that had a camera that projected your image on the screen and your body was the controller. You had to move your whole body around to play the different games. The next thing that was really cool was this gadget that let you play any game you wanted. The only catch is you either are on a stepper machine or on a stationary bike and you have to be constantly be moving. If you stop moving then the game pauses and resumes once you begin moving again. My favorite gadget that had to do with ExerGames, but wasn't a toy was the heart rate monitors. It wasn't the heart rate monitors themselves, but the technology that went along with it. The software on the computer allowed the person to see up to twenty heart rate monitor readings at a time. It is great for a teacher and coaching setting. I would love to use this technology for both. The interviewers from Syracuse interviewed me and asked a couple questions about ExerGames. I told them that today was my first experience with ExerGames, but I already knew that I wanted to incorporate this into my teaching. This is a new fun way to get my future students excited about going to PE class. Having a class of stations for I-dance/DDR, I-toy, the Wii, and the exercise bike and stepper would be a wonderful opportunity for the students to enjoy being active. This experience has made me even more excited about becoming a P.E. teacher.

Day 7

Today was less active which kind of stinks when you're a phys ed. major. Jack Murphy put together a slide show of the Edu 255 class last semester aka. the celebs at work. After that we went over the Higher Standards, Increased Accountability sheet. We went over the NYS. Standards and I definitely agreed with Professor Yang that there should be 4 standards instead of having a 1A and 1b. We talked a little more about the "School Report Card" and how as physical education teachers we should be fighting to get out class on the report card and make it standardized. After that we split up into groups and went over the blank lesson plan with the TA's and talked about the psychomotor, cognitive, and affective domains. Each objective must include Situation, Task, and Criteria. It was a very informational day which was good, but no activity which was sad. Let me play!

Blog Intro and Lesson Intro

I really enjoyed doing my blog intro. The first time I did it in class I wasn't ready and it was a horrible misrepresentation of me. This time I showed what I enjoy doing in my free time and I felt I was on a more personable level. I thought my voice was loud enough and my body language was showing that I enjoy being active. My only critique would be that my video wasn't in sync with my audio. When I recorded the video the audio was fine, but when it was downloaded onto you tube it had a delay.

First off I would like to say that I did a lot better with my lesson than I did the first day. With this lesson I was ready to teach and I wasn't caught off guard with having to teach. I kept the cues short and simple. I did a good job with the demonstration and showed the lay up more than once. I was precise of how I wanted a right handed layup to be preformed. My hands and feet were part of the demonstration so I didn't fiddle with the "ball" in my hand. I kept my umms and ahhs to a minumum. I introduced myself and clearly stated what my signal for attention was. With the positive there is always room for improvement. My voice could have been a little louder and in my introduction and stating my signal for attention I could have slowed down my speech. At the end of my lesson I kind of checked for understanding, but I should have maybe said a safety statement and asked what my signal for attention was. If there was a next time, I would maybe show the left handed layup. If it was possible I would have liked to be changed and had an actual basketball. It would have been nice to demonstrate an actual layup too. I would have like to have talk about how the layup is one of the easiest ways to score a point in basketball and add some type of hook to my lesson. I was very pleased with my Lesson Intro.

Day 6

Before the instant activity we had a quick quiz on what we have learned so far. On this day Regina and Amanda coordinated the instant activity. This instant activity involved getting into groups of four and five people and making formations with our bodies. Some people were part of the formations and the other people were spotters for safety. Everyone in my group was a guy probably at least 170 pounds or more so some of the formations were a little harder when we had to stand on each other. It was still fun though, we got a good laugh out of it. Then after completing three or four formations we brought all the groups in together in the center of the gymnasium. They split the class up into two groups and did a more complicated formation that involved more people. The people that weren't directly involved were spotters. After that the class was split up into groups of two people to demonstrate a certain aspect of the pedology. It was a great learning experience because we got direct feedback form Professor Yang and the teaching assistants. If we did something wrong then Professor Yang had us try it again. I liked how he had us demonstrate the skill until we did it right. After that the class went to the classroom and we talked about APEM and other things to come this semester. Then after class I did my intro lesson on the basketball layup because I didn't get to do it the last two classes.

Day 5

We started class with an instant activity again. Everyday someone new will do an instant activity each day before the star of class. The instant activity had to do with different stations of jump roping. There was jumping on one foot, side to side , and many other variations. My favorite variation was the partner jump rope where you held one part of your partner's rope and they held one side of yours and you tried to jump together over both ropes. After that Mr. Murphy taught a mini-lesson on how to jump rope. He had quite an exciting hook to draw his students in. He talked about going on a hike in the jungle and using a snake as a jump rope. His hook crossed over into the jump rope cues. He used  a poster with the cues written on as a visual aid. He demonstrated well and also asked someone from the group to demonstrate to check for understanding too. His whistle was his signal of attention. Had us spread out and jump rope. He went around and gave us feedback and did inter task variation task by trying to jump rope backwards. He then had someone demonstrate again and then brought us back in to close. My only critique is that he had his back to some students sometimes. Then after that went over the pedology again and split up into groups and practice different parts of the pedology. First time we did it pretty slow, and then the second time after debriefing we went really fast. All in all a very productive day.

Day 4

Today was started with an instant activity. There was a poster of brain teasers and we had to do a type of motor skill while we tried to find the right answer. The answers were spread out around the gym on little pieces of paper. We discussed the pedology and then had to find a partner and think of our introduction, signal of attention, and do a little demonstration of a skill to be video taped. I didn't get to do it because we went right into a game to work on our gymnasium voices. We split up into two different lines and played Ain't No Flies on Me. A game that involved singing the song as loud as you can and whoever is the loudest wins. This works on not being embarrassed of being too loud because everyone was doing it.

Teaching on Day 1 Review

During my lesson I did a good job of using visual cues. I broke down the forward pass with four steps. Hold at chest level, pull back at 90 degree angle with elbow up/point with opposite hand to target, step (weight transfer), and follow through with hand in the pocket. I showed what the correct grip to use and also explained if you were left handed what position would look like. I checked for understanding by asking if there was any questions. I did a good job of walking around and providing corrective feedback.

I need to work on not saying umm and ahh so much in between my sentances. I also should have brought the group in closer especially since it was loud in the gym. I should have asked for a volunteer to help me demonstrate the pass. I also shouldn't have been flustered by the question ask of how the ball should leave the fingers to get a spiral. I should have been confident with my teaching skills and not try to think if I was wrong when the question was asked.

I will be more confident if I don't say umm. I know the material and once I start talking I am fine, it is just the transitions into other cues or activities that make me say that. If I would have planned the lesson I would have definitely asked for a volunteer and would have been more clear on the cues. I should also stick to my cues and be ready for any question. If I can do these things I will become a better teacher.

Day 3

The day started off with a quiz of everyone's name and song from the last class. I got everyone right off the bat except for one girl. I remembered her song, but I couldn't remember her name. Next class I am going to ask her. After that Professor Yang had everyone do the greeting of everyone's own blog. Also say what you believe in  as a physical educator. I wish I had more time to think because I wasn't ready and I'm glad I can do it over later. Then everyone got into groups of 2 or 3 and experimented with using different types of contact points with their partner or partners. Some challenges were 1 hand and two feet, two hands and 1 foot, and many others. then we got in groups of 4 and did the same thing. Luckily most people have had adventure activities and weren't too uncomfortable with getting in each others personal space. Then at the end of class everyone tried to fit in a small square and it didn't take long to complete the task. Everyone fit in and then Regina climbed on top of everyone for all of us to become successful.

Day 2

  
Today was better than the first day. I came ready to participate in activities and was excited to see what was on today's agenda. First activity we did was a name game, but with a twist. Instead of an action we did a part from our favorite song. This was designed to bring everyone out of their comfort zone and have everyone introduce themselves to the class. The song was also another bonus that help us remember the person's name so we could connect the person's song to their name. After that Mr. Murphy with the help of Mr. Wingler introduced Xavier the Penguin to the class. The court was split up into four different quadrants with two hula hoops in each quadrant. There was two crawl tubes set up in two of the quadrants. The object of the game was to get all the balls from your quadrant to the other quadrant that was assigned to you. You had the opportunity to use the scooter once and pile on as many balls as you wanted while someone pulled you with a pool noodle. You could carry two small balls at once, but you had to crawl with the balls to get to the other side. You also had to crawl through tube if it was in your designated area. If you had a medium size ball you had to skip, gallop, or slide with the ball. If you had a medicine ball you had to bend over and carry the ball in between your legs over to the hula hoop. If you had a pill shape object you had to carry the pill with another person. After the first game a couple modifications were made. Some were you had to take the pill through the tube with the other person and you had to jog instead of skipping. There were point values designated to each ball, but we didn't bother counting up the balls. To further bring forward some education Mr. Murphy then told us that the layout of the gymnasium and the obstacles emulated the structure of the heart. The path the classes took serves as the bloodstream path and the balls represented different contents that would be in the bloodstream. Mr. Murphy did a fantastic job directing and teaching the class through this activity. His intensity and enthusiasm was something I would like to take away from his teaching style. All in all-Awesome class!

Day 1

The first day of 255 was very exciting. The only thing I didn't like was that I was wearing boots. I usually come prepared for classes, but with the rainy weather I forgot to bring sneakers. I definitely was caught off guard with having to teach the first day. I didn't mind teaching, but I realized I didn't clearly understand how I was teaching. I just got out of tactical and a couple other classes that had me teach so I felt pretty comfortable, but I thought I had to just teach how to teach a skill. I taught how to throw a football. I didn't realize that I had to do anything after speaking so I didn't like how I felt a little ridiculous when I thought I was done. I enjoyed the first class, it was a good way to meet the other students because I had different partners. I really liked the intensity and enthusiasm of the class setting and look forward of what else is to come.