Final Reflection

I had a love/hate relationship with this class. At times I would get really frustrated because I had no idea what the heck I was doing, but once I finally figured it out I enjoyed the class. There were two things that I think I will use the most after this class. The first is Studiocode. That was very beneficial for us to learn because we will have to use it for the rest of our time here at BYU. In our teaching classes we will have to evaluate our teaching using this program. I know how to use it now, and if I forget what to do, I have a very helpful packet that will tell me what to do next! The second thing that I think was most useful was creating the class website. That is something I will for sure use in the future, and I know some people are already using it for their classes right now. Using technology in P.E. is a little more difficult than using it in the classroom, but it still can be beneficial. Someways that it is beneficial for teaching are, conveying a concept, having websites for students to see what is on the schedule for the next day, and having presentations for students to see the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

This class has definitely changed how I think about teaching and also about technology. I did not understand before this class just how intertwined these two subjects are, but now I can see the benefits of technology in teaching. I also have seen that technology is a good thing, and if I don't know how to do something on the computer I can figure it out and eventually be able to use it. I would not say that I now love technology, but it is no longer a love/hate relationship. I would now call it a "like" relationship!

Thank you Dan for always helping me with my technology problems! You were a great teacher!

Web 2.0

One of the tools we talked about in class today that would help further education are the sites that have interactive educational games for children to play. We all know that no matter what, children are always going to be on the computer, so as long as they are going to be on the computer they might as well be doing something productive. The site that I found had games for children to play that had to do with adding and subtracting fractions, English sentences, and many other educational concepts. In my teaching these games do not really apply because I would rather have the students outside playing games than being on the computer, but for the other subjects this site would be really useful.

Studiocode Project

Having to analyze my teaching in studiocode really helps me see exactly how many times I give instruction, and how much time is spent on managing the class. For my instruction, I had three categories; circulation, cues, and demonstration. From my analyzing I found out that I demonstrate the most when I am teaching. I circulate some, while the students are performing the task. The topic that I did the least was saying the cues.

From my analysis I did not spend too much time managing the class. I used "when before what" some, my transitions were successful, but I need to work on giving more signals. For the topics under management, I performed the transitions the best. The students knew exactly where they were supposed to be and there was no confusion when they had to line up.

This entire process helped me to see where I need to make changes for the next time I teach. The first thing I would change for my teaching is to say more cues and reinforce them throughout the entire lesson. Secondly, I need to circulate throughout the entire lesson, rotate the front of the room to different sides so that different children are at the front. I also need to use "when before what" more often. Lastly, I need to reinforce my signals more so the students know what I want them to do when I whistle or give a command.

Reviewing Film

Every week that we teach a lesson, we are filmed. After the lesson we have to go back and watch the film and evaluate our teaching. By doing this it helps me to see how I am teaching and ways that I need to improve. When I am teaching everything goes by kinda in a blur, but then when I watch the video I can see everything that went on. Filming helps me see the little things that I do that I need to improve, and I can hear the words that I say over and over again. All the filming and evaluating helps me to become a better teacher because I know exactly what I want to do!

TRX

Here is my movie!




In my teaching, instructional videos can be used to put on my website, so if a child does not completely understand what I say in class, they can watch the video at home to get a better understanding of what to do. Also, if a student is absent, they can go to the my class website and watch the video of what we did while they were gone so that they are not as far behind.

Using a video would be great for teaching simple concepts, so when the students come to class you do not have to waste time on the simple things and you can go straight to the more complex concepts. For instance, if you were teaching a basketball section, it would be great to make a video on dribbling and have the students watch the video and then practice on their own, so when they come to class, the teacher can focus on shooting.

The only way this would work is if the students actually watched the videos. To enforce that, watching the videos could be for a grade, most of the time students will do something if it is for a grade.

Making instructional videos can potentially be used effectively if they are done right and actually are informative!

iMovie Outline

For my movie I am going to teach people how to do an atomic push-up using a TRX. Not many people know what a TRX is, so first I will have to describe the equipment and what it is best used for.

Outline
I. Title Page
a. TRX across the page with music and effects to make it exciting and make people want to watch it

II. Have a demonstration on how to use the TRX and perform an atomic push-up correctly. For this I will use video that I shoot and have a roommate perform the activity so I can be explaining

III. Have many still pictures come across the screen with background music going on

IV. Credits

This is a very brief outline, because I am not sure what I will be able to do with iMovie!

iMovie

We are starting our iMovie project! I am excited for this one, it should be pretty fun. I enjoyed last class just playing around and trying to figure out how to use all the different tools found on iMovie. I made a movie on iMovie a couple years ago in my photography class, but it has been a very long time since I have used a Mac to make a movie! I hope I will remember what to do, but you know with Mac that every 6 months they come out with new equipment! I am sure the iMovie program that I used is completely different than the program we are using now! Hopefully I will be able to make a great movie!

Internet Safety

I have always known that it is important to be careful about what information I send over the internet, but I have never done anything about it. I guess I am a pretty naive person, I never think that people are actually going to try and get someone's personal information to do bad things with it. I can not comprehend why someone would want to send viruses and other harmful things to people, but apparently people do those types of things for fun. Right after class I went and changed all my security settings on my facebook account to make it more private. While I was reading online about internet safety, the most common thing that I read was to not put your full name, entire birthdate, telephone number, address, and any other personal identification numbers online.
It is important that as a teacher I teach the students about internet safety. Some parents may not teach their children about it, so where else are they going to learn about being safe on the internet? Even if a student's parent does teach them, it is never a bad thing to be constantly reminded about it.
After researching internet safety, I went home and taught my roommates about it. Right after I finished talking, everyone went and changed their security settings on facebook, and made sure their banking site had an "s" after the http.
I have learned a lot from studying internet safety, and I will definitely be more careful about what I share over the internet!

My Webpage!

Here is my webpage! I don't know how I figured some things out, but it is finished!

http://sites.google.com/site/mstarynsclass/

Website

I have never made a website before, so this is going to be interesting! The first thing I put on my page was a map, and I already had to get help! How hard can it be? All I had to do was press a couple buttons and I could not even do that without having to ask for help! Hopefully as I start working more on the website I will become more familiar with it and be able to figure things out on my own. I am sure I will be writing more when I need to ask questions!

Copyright Laws and Fair Use

In class the other day we learned about copyright laws and the fair use clause. I think that copyright laws are great to protect the people who have creative talents and abilities. If there were no copyright laws the creativity of people may decrease because they do not get anything for their work. The times I do not like copyright laws are when I want to use something for selfish reasons. When my friend has music that I want, I am only thinking about me and not the people who produced the song. A popular thought is that the artists have enough money and they don't need anymore so I don't need to buy the song. I don't have the right to say when someone has enough money or not. I need to buy the songs myself so that I do not violate copyright laws.
Copyright laws are extremely vague. If I were to change one thing I would make them a little clearer. I personally do not do well with having to interpret what something means and if I am allowed to do it or not. Also, I did not know any of the copyright laws before this class. I think students need to start learning about copyright laws when they are young so they grow up knowing what is and is not allowed.

New Resources

In class a few days ago we learned about many sites on the internet that can potentially help us a great deal with our homework. Some of the sites that we talked about were diigo.com and zotero.org. The first site allows you to highlight text online and place sticky notes on web pages. I have a hard time reading long passages online, so this website probably will not be very useful to me. I much prefer to have the passage in paper in front of me and highlight myself the material. I can see how this website would be very useful for people who read just fine on the computer. The second website allows you to sort all resources found online and cites all the material for you. This will be a wonderful website when it comes to doing research papers! I love finding materials that help make research papers easier!

Gadgets

I love countdowns! I am constantly counting down to something. Whether it is my birthday, a day off from school, or a college sport game, there are always countdowns in my planner! By putting a countdown on my blog I don't have to worry if I counted right! The computer just does the counting down for me!

I also added a gadget that tells me where people are from that look at my blog. Because I lived in a foreign country, I have become in love with maps! I love to see where countries are located on a map, and plan trips I would love to take. It is fun for me to have a map on my blog so I can see where people are from.

Umm...Peter, I need help!

I have a very limited background in technology! Computers and I are not always the best of friends. Most of the time I have to call my brother and have him help me with a problem I am having. More often than not, he laughs at me for the question I am asking.
I have many goals for this semester. The first goal is to be able to feel comfortable using the computer and many different computer programs. Second, I want to be able to understand the computer better so I do not always have to call my brother, but I can try and figure out the problem myself. Lastly, I wan to enjoy technology. At this point, most of the time I do not enjoy working on the computer. Hopefully by the end of the semester I will LOVE technology!