EDU 355 Lab 3

1. Select one of the locomotor skills and create your own set of cues. The locomotor skill that I chose was galloping. Three cues for galloping would be heel to toe, back then front and low legs.

2. Identify specific pathways used in each of the low organized games presented in the lesson focus. The pathways we used during the low organized games are circular pathway, straight and curved. The game, Forest Ranger utilized a circular pathway, mouse trap used a circle of people holding hands, a new way to walk used linear, circular and curved.

3. Selecting a topic for a class talk and outline the questions and key points that would help you guide a class talk. What does it mean to be physically fit? Key points for this topic could be muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiorespiratory endurance, flexibility and body composition. Being physically fit is the ability to accomplish and engage in physical activity and be able to do everyday functions like walking around, and any other things you do everyday without becoming sore or out of breath. Can talk about the advantages of being physically fit. Can ask what the students do to be physically fit.

4. Make a checklist of performance points to look for in one of the locomotor movements.
1. Follows the three cues
     -Heel to Toe
     - Back then front
    - Low legs
2. Consistency of Movement
3. Overall ability to do movement
4. Amount of Concentration needed to accomplish movement

Different Ways of Learning

Did you know that all people do not learn the same? Did you know that different people learn better is different environments? I know that I do not learn well when there is loud music blaring and a lot of people talking. I prefer a fairly quiet environment that does not involve a lot of distractions. I believe there are a lot of people in the world that learn similar to the way I do, but I know that there are many who do not. As educators, it is important to acknowledge that there are different learning styles and learn to recognize and teach according to the different types of learning styles. The first type of learning style is cognitive. People have different ways of remembering and learning information. Some can just read their textbook and remember the information while others make flash cards and go through them over and over. The second type of learning style if the affective style. Motivation plays a big part in the affective style. How motivated a student is can make a huge different in the success of that particular student, but may not effect another student very much at all. Attitudes, values and emotions also are included in the affective domain. The third learning style is physiology. Physiology takes into account different things that can occur in the body and their effects on the person. For example, if you are tired and hungry you will be less likely to do well that a well rested student. Some students learn better in the day, while others do better deep into the night.

What I am really getting at here is that not everyone will learn the same. One student may learn better very early in the morning, while their best friend works best at midnight into the early morning. Every person is unique in the way they learn and the environment they feel most comfortable learning in. As a future educator, it is my job to adapt my lessons to fit my students and provide them with the best possible atmosphere for learning. It will be difficult to make my teaching fit all of my students, but since when has anything great been easy? Some of the best things in life take hard work and teaching is one of those things that takes hard work to accomplish.

EDU 355 Lab 2

1. Explain why exercises such as sit-ups and push-ups have to be modified for kindergarten and first grade students in the DVL 1 group. Sit-ups and push-ups have to be modified because the students do not have the physical and core strength to accomplish these exercises. Always modifying these exercise can make doing exercises like a sit-up more enjoyable if you add a song to it.

2. Why is rhythmic activity important for young children? Rhythmic activity is important because it is a different way to get the children moving and active that can be fun and interesting. Dancing, zumba and singing can be fun to do and you do not have to be talented at either in order to do it. Incorporating a variety of activities, including rhythmic activity is important for the child's overall development.

3. Define laterality and explain why tracing giant letters helps reinforce cognitive learning. Laterality means developing dominance on one side of the body. Tracing giant letters helps cognitive learning because the student is learning the letters in multiple different ways. They can see them, trace them with their fingers and hear the letters as well. Some people are auditory learners, some of visual and others are kinesthetic. Everyone learns just a bit different than another but combining at three different types in the tracing of giant letters helps to learn the letters and think cognitively.

4. Why are educators concerned about young children not being able to keep an internal beat. Educators are concerned because students are unable to excel in certain areas like dance, playing musical instruments and music in general. All music has a beat in it and following along with that beat can be difficult. Music can be a very enjoyable thing and there are a variety of different activities that can be done, as well as just sitting down and listening to it.

5. Define homo-lateral and cross lateral movements. Homo-lateral means the same side of the body while cross lateral means using both sides are crossing from one to the other. An example of a homo lateral movement would be a quad stretch in which you hold the toe of your foot behind your body, bending at the knee. An example of a cross lateral movement would be marching and when you raise your leg tap it with the opposite arm. So right leg is tapped by left hand and so on.

Diversity of Students

As a teacher you will have a lot of different types of students in your classes. No two of your students will ever be exactly the same. Language, race, culture and environment can have huge effects on a students. Different races and cultures have different customs and were brought up differently than I was when I was growing up. Americans tend to be very ethnocentric, meaning Americans believe the different things we do are the best. This can cause problems in schools and the students that are not Americans may have difficulty fitting in and becoming comfortable in school. Language may be one of the biggest barriers to success in school. Imagine moving to a country in which you do not know the language very well. Imagine having to go to class everyday and have difficulty just understanding the basic instructions for class that day, let alone succeeding at a high level. I took Spanish from 7th grade up to 11th grade. Ask me something in Spanish and chances are I will have no idea what you are saying and will be unable to respond to you. I wish I had the ability to speak another language like Spanish because it will most likely come in handy some day. I bet that one of my students in my classes over the years will speak a language other than English. I remember completing my ESL assignment for my EDU 256 notebook. In one of the sections I recall having to listen to people that spoke very broken and unclear English and having to try and understand what they were saying. In another section of that assignment I listened to more people that spoke languages other than English and read short pieces written in other languages as well. As I was completing the ESL assignment I stepped into the shoes and had the opportunity to see what ESL, English as a second language, students go through everyday. As a teacher you have to figure out ways to get through and help all of your students learn. No student should be left behind.

Phys ed is just just about the physical

The overall opinion of phys ed to the general public is that physical education teachers just teach physical skills like dribbling a basketball, but that is not all phys ed teachers should be doing. Phys ed teachers should be teaching their students about physical concepts but also including other school subjects in their classrooms. Including aspects of social studies like geography would be as simple as having an international games unit and including different games from around the world. The are a lot of great games like kinball, sepak takraw, team handball, fist ball and wallyball. The international games that I had the chance to play during EDU 255 were a lot of fun and I would love to play them more. Talking to the other school teachers and finding out what they are doing in their units throughout the year is a great way to incorporate different subjects into your phys ed classes. Phys ed should not be taught by simply tossing a few balls out on the gym floor and telling the students to play 5 on 5 basketball or 6 on 6 volleyball. The students need to become physically educated people and rolling the ball out does not accomplish that. The way our culture is today, how someone's body looks has become far too important of an issue, but that is how America is. Self-image is a big problem for students in school, and for a lot of people in this country. Some of those people may have had poor physical education experiences which turned them off to physical activity in general. Having your students interested in moving and being active can go a long way to helping their self-image and feeling better as a person. I know that when I work out or go out and play tennis with a friend I always feel really good afterwards. I feel like I am taking good care of my body and I feel awake and ready to go. Exercise actually has positive effects on how your brain works. (http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/exercise.html#physicalexercise) (http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/train-your-brain-with-exercise) Those two articles present evidence of how exercise can help train your brain. Being active can make your body and your mind feel great all at the same time. The mind and the body work as one, so get out there and exercise and train your brain. Phys ed needs to get away from rolling out the ball and move into activities, games and resources available to keep students active and healthy.

EDU 355- Lab 1

Lab 1 for EDU 355 was a very interesting lab. It was a lot of fun and Dr.Baert was very energetic and fun to learn from.

1. Why do class management and effective teaching go hand in hand throughout every day of teaching? Class management and effective teaching go hand in head in teaching because in order to do the things you want to as a teacher and be effective, you have to control your class and make sure they understand your class rules. If you can effectively manage the class you will be able to teach more effectively and most likely more material and everyone, the students and the teacher, will enjoy the class more.

2. Why should your list of class rules be short and positive? Your list of rules should be short and positive because if it is is a long list the students are more likely to forget the rules at the bottom. Also, if the rule says "no" in it, the students are more likely to rebel against that and do the opposite. Telling a student be positive and respectful is better than saying do not insult your classmates. Plus being positive makes the atmosphere more fun and enjoyable to be in than the mainly negative style.

3. List three reasons why students enjoy the squad square structure as well as three reasons why teachers benefit from employing the squad squad structure for management. One reason is that everyone can see every in the square. People can get to know each other easily and chat with their squad. A second reason is that the teacher can see all of their students and be able to manage and handle them easily. A third reason is that it is a good start to move into other activities and to clean up equipment. You can have squad one pick up the hula-hoops, squad two get half of the bean bags, squad three get the cones and squad four get the other half of the bean bags. Everyone is involved and the clean up will get done quickly.

4. What common elements do all of the activities in this management lab share? The common elements are easy management between activities, strategies for class management, organization and how to start your first week or two of teaching.

5. How is the affective domain addressed in this lesson? how is the psychomotor domain addressed in this lesson? How is the cognitive domain addressed in this lesson? The affective domain is addressed with the rules. It provides a positive set of rules that lead to responsible social and personal behavior. Positive rules lead to a positive atmosphere which could lead to more enthusiasm and enjoyment in PE. The psychomotor domain is addressed by demonstrating different movement skills like galloping, sliding, running, jogging, walking and skipping. The cognitive domain is addressed by giving the students rules and management techniques they need to know. When the teacher says freeze, the students have to bend their knees and put their hands on their knees every time.

6. Find a different management game and share it. http://www.pecentral.org/lessonideas/ViewLesson.asp?ID=9044         Drum to the Beat

My inspiration for becoming a teacher

I did not always want to become a teacher. There was a day when I had no idea what I wanted to do and college seemed a long way away. But luckily for me my father motivated me to want and do better for myself. My dad is a carpenter/construction work and he has been for over 25 years. My dad needed some help with some side jobs and asked if I would be willing to help. Naturally I said yes, but I quickly found out that I wished I hadn't. Working construction was very tough manual labor and by the end of day 1 I was exhausted and sore. As the days rolled on I wondered exactly why my dad had asked me to help him with these jobs. He had been working side jobs for a long time and never asked me to help before. So, I decided one day to ask him exactly why I was there. My dad turned to me and said "I don't want you to be doing what I am 15 years from now. As soon as he said that it hit me that I needed to change my ways. I could no longer coast through school doing enough to get by and expect to get where I wanted to in life. I knew that I need to work hard and take what I wanted. The things I wanted, like a good job, would not be handed to me. When the time came to apply to college, I applied to Cortland, Brockport, Oswego and Buffalo State. Even though I applied to 4 different schools, I knew where I wanted to go. I wanted to go to Cortland and nowhere else. So, when the day came to open that letter and see what colleges I was accepted to, I was saddened to see that I did not get accepted to Cortland, Brockport or Oswego. That day I decided that even though I was trying hard, I was not doing everything I could do. So, I enrolled at Onondaga Community College and ended up staying there for 2 years. In my third semester at OCC, I took activity planning. The class was about learning basic teaching skills and actually teaching small portions of lessons. The class was the reason I wanted to become a teacher and teach for a living. But, my father is the reason I am here writing this blog and achieving my goals. Thanks dad for making me work construction, I will never do it again.

Elementary school teacher? Could be.

When I decided that I wanted to be a physical education teacher, I never really thought that I would ever end up teaching at the elementary level. I always envisioned myself teaching in high school and coaching at some level. But, being at Cortland and attending conferences like the Cortland Mini Conference and the NYS AHPERD conference, my ideas on what level I want to teach at have changed. I always thought that it would be near impossible to control young children inside the gym. But, I have learned that it is not all about what students are in the class, but how the teacher handles the classroom. This past semester I had the opportunity to work with students at Dryden Elementary School (http://www.dryden.k12.ny.us/schools/DESSite/). Every Thursday for six weeks my group and I went to Dryden and worked with the kids in the gym and outside. This was the first time I ever had to teach and lead activities at the elementary level. I had observed elementary class while I was at OCC, but I never actually taught. Going into the Dryden experience, I did not know exactly what to expect, how many kids we would have or what age of kids we would have. I learned quickly that you may have a lot of kids to work with ranging from first grade up to sixth grade. The first week was very rough and preparation and creativity was lacking. But, as the weeks went on I became more confident and found out that working with young kids can be a lot of fun. You need to have fun with what your doing and enjoy your time with the kids. They will most likely have fun if you look like you are enjoying yourself. This semester I will have the opportunity to observe and assist an elementary teacher. I am excited to be able to work more at the elementary level. It is a lot of fun to work with elementary aged kids and I look forward to the opportunity.

256 interview tomorrow

Tomorrow at 5:30 is my post 256 field experience presentation and interview. I will be interviewed by Dr. Walkuski and Ms. Hovey on how my field experience went. I will have to explain how my experience went and relate it to NASPE standard 6. I will also present an additional NASPE standard of my choice and will answer questions of the interviewers choice relating to my field experience. When my interview is complete I will receive a grade of target, acceptable or unacceptable. This interview with be the culmination of all of the hard work I have put in over the last semester plus winter break. Wish me luck!

In class on Friday I had the opportunity to be involved in an activity that I have not done in a very long time. My PED 257 class is currently involved in our ice skating unit. Ice skating is definitely not an activity that I have done often, let alone in physical education. As the class went on I figured out quickly that ice skating is very active and involves a lot of the muscles in the lower body. I do not know if every town has an ice rink that they physical education teachers would be able to rent out or use, but I know my home town has one or two ice rinks rather close. Ice skating is an activity that you do not have to be in great shape to enjoy. Almost anyone can get out on the ice and skate around a bit. Getting good at ice skating takes quite a bit of practice and becoming comfortable can take just as long. Use ice skates to glide across the ice is much different than walking on the ground. But, give it some time and you will most likely really enjoy ice skating.Add ice skating to the list of activities you can do if you are 7 or 77. Grab your skates and hit the ice. Have fun.

Video Taped in 470, very interesting

Today in 470 we were video taped talking about what we will do, what we hope and what we believe. Being on camera is definitely not something I am used to doing so when Dr.Yang mentioned it I was quite nervous. Each time it was my turn to speak, every second before the camera started rolling I was nervous. Should I say this, or that? Is that a good idea or is this idea better? Those are my thoughts before it is my turn to step in front of the camera and talk. Writing what you believe on a blog or a piece of paper is easy. How you say the words or your expressions or tone of voice do not come into play when you write down your words. But on video everything comes into play. Before I stepped in front of the camera I had words written down that I wanted to say. Words that I thought were good. But, when the moment came to actually speak, those words went away. The words I had originally written did not truly come from my heart. When I was in front of the camera I let my heart talk, well the second statement at least.. My first statement felt rehearsed, like there was no feelings behind it. The first statement felt like something you are taught at school and repeat like a robot. My second statement was quite different than my first however. I was going back and forth on what I wanted to say until the moment came and Dr. Yang pointed at me as my signal to start talking. When I started talking I felt my true feelings and thoughts just come out.


When you are at college you will learn a lot of information that will be important later on. But, what your professors cannot tell you is how you react when you meet an important person at a conference. Say you are walking around at the NYS AHPERD conference and you happen to meet a phys ed teacher who happens to be retiring at the end of the year. You know that there will be hundreds of others applying for that same job you want. You know you have to make a good impression the first time or else the job will pass you by. For me, speaking in front of that camera in 470 was like speaking to a superintendent or a principal of a school. And if that camera would have been a person, my first impression would not have been to my liking. Experience can be as important, or more important, that attending your classes everyday. Speaking in front of that camera was a very important experience that will help to prepare me for an interview or a conversation with an important person at a conference. This experience in 470 was a great opportunity to get a feel for what it is to really speak your thoughts and beliefs. 

I will, I hope, I believe

I hope to inspire the students I will teach to enjoy physical education and physical activity as much as I do. Physical activity can provide someone with a lot of enjoyment and get them in shape at the same time. I hope that I can spark a student's interest in an activity that they can do while in school and after they graduate. Many phys ed curriculum are team sport based activities. Team sports do have there place in phys ed in my opinion because team work and cooperation with others are important life skills. But, this leads me to my I believe. I believe that physical education should provide students with games and activities they can do after they graduate from high school. I was an athlete in high school and I played volleyball and baseball. Although I do play volleyball during the summer at times, I have not played baseball since I graduate. Other sports from PE like soccer, basketball and floor hockey are difficult to engage in by yourself. I believe that physical education needs to provide activities for someone to do on their own. Bike riding, rollerblading, cross country skiing, snowshoeing and golf are all activities that get a person moving and active but can be done alone. I am not saying that a person needs to exercise alone but as I have found out since graduating high school, it is necessary to have activities to do if you do not have anyone around at that time. I wished my physical education program from my high school would have given me more ideas of activities I could engage in post graduation. I will learn as much as I can while I am at Cortland so that when I teach my own class I will be able to provide a good PE atmosphere for everyone. I will give my all everyday that I teach my students. I will attempt to make phys ed as enjoyable for everyone as I can. I will, I hope and I believe.

470, my introduction to blogging

We had our first EDU 470 class yesterday morning at 8 am. This was the first class with Dr.Yang, but I had been looking forward to taking one of his class. I had heard that Dr.Yang liked to include technology and social media into his class and that is definitely true. I was nervous about starting my own blog and using twitter a lot. I have made a twitter account in the past but I never really got used to using it. I found it difficult to get into using because I do not have a smartphone, which in my opinion makes it much easier to tweet on the go. But, twitter seems to have become an important information transfer system in the world today. I will have to get used to using twitter more often than I have in the past, but I think it will be good for me to learn more about twitter and experience what it has to offer. Blogging however is a totally new concept to me. I have never really read any blogs and I have never had my own to write in. The only place I had heard of blogging was some of the people that are interviewed on Sportscenter or Mike and Mike in the Morning have there own blogs that are quite popular. I did not really know what to expect when I created my own blog but thus far I am enjoying it. I am still finding my way around the whole blog thing but I will learn as I go. I am excited to continue my journey to becoming a physical educator. SUNY Cortland has brought me along way on my path to becoming a phys ed teacher, but it was not always this good. I attended Onondaga Community College (OCC) for my freshmen and sophomore years of college. My first three semester at OCC I did not intend of majoring in PE. I originally was an exercise science majoring trying to become an athletic trainer for a professional sports team. But, when I took a class in which I had to teach adventure activities, my whole career path changed. From that class on I knew that I wanted to be a phys ed teacher. I hope that I am able to find a job somewhere, whether it be in New York or another state. But, I look forward to the day that I have to opportunity to teach students about physical education.

1st Post for 470

Second post on my blog and I am still getting used to it. I am still figuring out how it all works and how to make my blog the best it can be. My winter break went by very quickly this year. By the time I knew it I was back in my dorm room and unpacking my clothes. Over my winter break I had a great opportunity to observe two teachers at two different schools for two weeks. My host teachers welcomed me with open arms and did everything possible to make me feel comfortable and get the full experience of being a teacher. These schools I observed at were Cicero North Syracuse (CNS) High School and Gillette Road Middle School. While at CNS High School I got my first experience in team teaching in physical education. Multiple teachers were in the gym at the same time, but one teacher would lead the lesson while the others assisted in anyway that was necessary. The phys ed classes at that school are the largest I have ever seen. It was overwhelming at first to see so many students in one class and have to teach them in an effective way. Gillette Road was quite a bit different than the high school. Younger students present a different challenge, but it was a great experience to get to observe so many different age groups over winter break. After completing my two weeks of observation I was sad to have to leave. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to kind of live the life of a teacher. Waking up at 6:30 am was quite different than the time i wake up while at college. Helping my host teachers and having the opportunity to work with the students was great. I learned a lot about teaching, and about myself while I was observing. I learned that teaching takes a lot of preparation, but preparation alone will not allow someone to become an effective teacher. You have to be able to adapt to different situations because every class you teach will be different. Everyday you teach something different will happen than the day before. I learned that I need to be confident in my abilities and believe that I can achieve anything I put my mind to. I tend to second guess myself and some of the ideas that come to my head. But, I know that I have the ability and the passion to be a great teacher. Confidence is important in success in my opinion. With confidence and passion you can achieve anything and I know I will achieve any goal that I have. This was PE With Tom E, come back again soon.

Welcome to PE with Tom E- Lab 0

Welcome world. My name is Tom Everson and I am a junior physical education major at SUNY Cortland. This is going to be my second semester here at Cortland after transferring in from Onondaga Community College this past fall. I am originally from Liverpool, New York were I have lived my entire life. When I have free time from school and work you can find me playing tennis and volleyball with friends from school and home. I also like to go down to Onondaga Lake during the summer and ride my bike around the lake or play Kan Jam in the park with some friends. My experience working with elementary aged children is fairly limited. I observed elementary school classes at Long Branch Elementary School when I was a sophomore. Last semester I had the opportunity to travel to Dryden Elementary School and with my lab group of four other students we organized games and activities for the after school program at Dryden. Over my winter break in the last month, I spent a week at Gillette Road Middle School and had the opportunity to observe a terrific teacher named Eric Smith. Although Gillette Road is an elementary school, when I was in elementary school 5th and 6th grade was not part of middle school. This was a great experience because I had the opportunity to kind of live the life of a teacher for a week and truly see what is involved in working with children.  From this class I expect to become more experienced working with elementary aged children. Working with elementary aged children can be quite a lot of fun and maybe one day I will get the opportunity to be an elementary phys ed teacher.