Adapted PE project

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For my adapted physical education class we had to find some sort of assessment tool and present it to our class. I decided to present a handbook titled Physical Best and Individuals With Disabilities: A Handbook for Inclusion in Fitness Programs. This handbook was developed to help provide more knowledge and skills needed to help increase and facilitate the movement experience of individuals with disabilities. Another purpose of the handbook was to modify and change some of the traditional assessments in PE in order to increase inclusion and meet the needs of children with disabilities. One item that was stressed by the handbook was the concentration of assessing the quality of the movement instead of measuring the quantity of the movement. Concentration on the quality of the movement helps to prevent students from performing test receptively using the wrong form than can be very harmful to the individual. Lastly the handbook offered ways to assess individuals with severe disabilities who cannot be assessed by traditional means. The book suggested to use an instructional strategy called task analysis to help assess students with sever disabilities. This can be done by breaking a skill/task down into small sections or ordered steps. An example of this using the bench press would be to assess one movement at a time (Lie on back on bench, place both feet on each side of bench, arms are extended to reach for bar, etc). Overall I really believe that every physical education teacher should be informed of how to assess students with disabilities. This handbook helped inform me of many ways that I can now make assessment in an inclusion setting fun and enjoyable for students with disabilities.

Individual Presentations

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I really enjoyed hearing everyones presentations on Tuesday night. Everyone did an awesome job and really had some creative lessons that they taught. You guys all set the bar high, I hope the rest of us present just as good as you all did. Congratulations, you can finally sit back and relax now.

Tatical Games Approach

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Last week Coach Haley came to our class to give a presentation on tactical games. I really enjoyed his presentation and really believe that I would use this type of teaching model to my physical education class. I thought it was great how the students actually play the game first, and then they themselves come up with ways to modify the game using the teachers assistance. Instead of students just learning one skill at a time, they are learning a wide range of skills while also developing a sense of how these skills are helpful in game like situations. One thing that I really believe that this type of model does is that it decreases general instruction time for the PE teacher. As shown in many studies, PE teachers have a tendency to spend to much time on giving general instructions. Spending an increase time on giving general instructions leads to a decrease of class time being spent on physical activity. The tactical game approach not only helps to decrease general instruction time but it increases physical activity time and student enjoyment. All students in physical education love playing the actual games, and this model helps to do just that. I just wanted to thank Coach Haley for taking the time to present this model to our class.

Interview Process

Since I am going to be interviewing for a job as a PE teacher someday, I really want to be well prepared ahead of time for this process. I was just wondering if anyone knew about if there is a prep workshop or anything that I can go to that can give me some information of how the interview process goes. I have an idea of how it should go but I would really would like more information about it. I am hoping that Springfield College has some type of workshop that can help me with this. So if anyone has an idea, please let me know, thanks.

MTEL

So this is my 4th time taking the writing portion of the MTEL test. I really hope I was successful this time because I really am getting sick of taking this test and also paying for this test. I past the reading the first time I took it but the writing test is giving me more trouble to complete. I have had a tutor help me with studying for this test but I haven't taken the prep course here at Springfield College yet. Has anyone taken this course, and if they have, how much did it help you? Anyway, I get the results back at the end of this month. I am done with all my grad classes but since I haven't passed the MTEL I can't do my student teaching and that is what I'm really looking forward to. Well hopefully I did it this time.

Group Presentations

Well all the group presentations are done now. Every group who presented did an awesome job. I learned so much about all the models and I now have a wide range of information on how to successfully run them when I become a PE teacher someday. I really loved doing this project and hope that everyone else did as well. Once again great job everyone. I cant wait to see how the individual presentations go.

More Tiger News

Is anyone sick of turning on ESPN or any other news channels and hearing all the Tiger Woods gossip. I really believe all the Tiger Woods news has been going on way to much. Even though he made a mistake I think the ongoing bashing into his personal life is just wrong. People have said that this could have an affect on his career. I mean this is just crazy to hear. He still is and will remain to be the best golfer of all times. What happens in his personal life should be between him and his own family. I mean doesn't the media have more important news to talk about like the current state of our economy. Athletes are and will remain very much in the public eye, and the decisions they make in their personal life will always be revealed one way or another, but to consistently talk about one mans bad choices is just wrong. Can we please start talking about more important things.

CPR & First Aid

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Last night I received my CPR and First Aid certification. I took it at Springfield College with Coach Klatka who is the men's head track and field coach. This class was extremely interesting and important to know. There are many situations where CPR and first aid are vital to know in order to save someones life. Coach Klatka taught us what to do in all of the following situation: drowning, choking, broken back or neck, heart attacks, strokes, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, burns, and many other situations. Another important note that I learned is that once a persons heart stops, the loss of oxygenated blood can cause permanent brain damage and even death. Early intervention of CPR can help keep oxygenated blood flow to many vital organs, that's why it is crucial to know how to administer CPR. I believe that every one should be required to get CPR and first aid certifications. You'll never know it but you just might save someones life someday.

X-mas

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Well Christmas time is just around the corner. Christmas is by far one of my favorite holidays. My birthday is also during Christmas which was always awesome when I was young because I got double the amount of presents. Anyway, the other night my mother asked everyone at the dinner table to say what is their favorite Christmas song. My favorite Christmas song ever is Christmas Time Is Here which is on the Charlie Brown Christmas album. I would like to ask everyone else in our class the same question, what is all of your favorite Christmas Songs?

Teaching experience

My undergraduate students in the Movement Concepts class are now assessing their peers while they teach lessons. As one student teaches to the class another student uses a teacher assessment form to assess their fellow classmate. After the lesson is over with, the student doing the assessment goes over everything that they thought was good and bad about the lesson and even records a grade on the lesson. I believe that this is a great opportunity for my undergraduate students to take a step back and view what they think are good and bad examples of teaching. Lastly I believe that each observer can learn new ways to be creative through peer assessment in order to make their own lessons better in the future.

Teaching for Personal and Social Responsibility

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I thought that Lewis and Virginia did an awesome job with their presentation. Not only was it interesting but the class spider web activity was really fun. The reason why I loved this activity was because it made us work together as a team to complete a common goal. One goal of this activity was that everyone had to be willing to except their peers judgement and criticism. Another objective of this activity was that everyone had to except responsibility for their actions and others. This was also one of the main objectives of the TPSR model. Even though my group couldn't complete the spider web activity we all learned how to work together cooperatively and we all learned that everyone has different strengths that they can bring to the table. Overall I really enjoyed this presentation, great job Lewis and Virginia.

Getting a dog

I'm thinking about getting a puppy in the Spring/Summer. I'm hoping it will be easier to train a dog when the weather is a little nicer out. My fiance and I are looking into getting a darker, reddish golden retriever. Her family has an eight year old golden, and he's a great dog. Golden retrievers are friendly, loyal, and smart. We are planning on getting a male, but have not yet come up with a name. Any ideas???

Christmas is getting earlier every year!

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Even though I love Christmas, it seems like each year Christmas is coming sooner and sooner. Christmas is now beginning even before Halloween! The Christmas lights, music, decorations, commercials on t.v., and Santas in the mall seem to be showing up earlier each year. I do think it's getting a little out of control, but I am still looking forward to Christmas.

Teaching Experince

This past week I had the opportunity to let one of my movement concept students grade her fellow classmates while they were teaching. I thought this was a great idea because it gave her the opportunity to assess her fellow peers and offer suggestions to how they can improve their teaching techniques. After she was done she said that she had an awesome time assessing other students like a real teacher. It also helped her to notice things that will help her improve her own teaching techniques.

Sport Ed Presentation

I was really pleased about how me and Kyles presentation on the SE model went. The SE model is extremely fun and offers a number of different student benefits. Some of these benefits include the following: increase socialization networks between students, increase student participation, and increase student enjoyment and physical activity. I thought that everyone had an awesome time playing our floor hockey season during our presentation. I would like to just thank everyone for participating in our presentation and hope everyone learned a lot about the SE Model.

Teaching

I am still a teachers assistant for a movement concept class hear at Springfield College. Each week my undergraduate students are getting better and better when teaching individual lessons. One thing that all of them need to work on is their level of enthusiasm. Even though they are only teaching each other they still need to show and incorporate more enthusiasm. Showing elementary students how enthused you are as a PE teacher will help increase student participation and enjoyment PE. I always encourage the undergraduate students to teach as if they want all their elementary students to know that PE is the best class in the world. Overall, they all are continuing to show improvements with each lesson.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays ever. My family however does this holiday a little different than other families. Usually families have a traditional Thanksgiving turkey for dinner, my family has never had turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. My family usually has either prime rib, or filet mignon rapped with spinach and gorgonzola. My mom always makes a family favorite twice baked potato's and for dessert an amazing pecan pie. Of course their is lots of other food that is cooked as well but those are my favorite. Lastly we always drink awesome red wine to help accompany all the food. One thing that I love about this day is that everyone helps with the cooking. My family loves to cook, and when we all cook together the meal is always better than any restaurant that I have ever been too. I can't wait for this years Thanksgiving.

PSI

Michelle Bongiovanni came to our class last week and gave an awesome presentation on the PSI model in PE. I really enjoyed learning how to use this model and think that it would be a great model to use in PE. The PSI model is a great way to help students keep track and make appropriate progressions when performing a skill. Thanks again Michelle for taking the time to present the PSI model to our class.

Yanks Win 27th World Series

http://espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs/2009/matchup/_/teams/phillies-yankees

OHH YEA................ the New York Yankees are World Series Champs once again. It couldn't get any sweeter than this if your a Yankee fan. The game was absolutely amazing. It was great to see Andy Pettitte pitch such an amazing game for the yanks. Hideki Matsui, who won the MVP award, hit a record tying 6 runs to help clinch the win for the Yankees. To end this amazing game Mariano Rivera, who is the best closer in the history of baseball, threw the last pitch that was hit to Cano to end the game. What a game....... congrats to the NY Yankees and to all Yankee fans all over the world. GO YANKS!!!!!!

Tennis

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This past year I got really into the sport of tennis. If the weather is nice my fiancee and I will try to play at least 3 to 4 times a week. We both have improved our tennis game a lot. Overall, tennis is a great sport that is fun and is a very good work out. I highly recommend the sport of tennis to anyone, its a game that one can play at all ages.

Understanding what Models are in PE

One of our fellow classmates gave an excellent presentation last week about models in PE. Our classmate explained that a model is like a blue print/foundation for a house. I thought that his example was a great way to explain the basics of what a model is. A model which is just like a blue print is already done for you. You as the PE teacher now have the opportunity to build and improve any items with in that blue print. One important aspect of adding to a model is to always remember that whatever you add must be developmentally appropriate to your class. Thanks again Lewis for helping our class get a better understanding of how a model works.

Yankees still lead series 3-2

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs/2009/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=4613099

The Phillies gain another game on the New York Yankees last night. With another great performance on the mound by Lee and 2 more home runs by Utley, the Phillies will head back to New York to play game 6 on Wednesday night. Even though I am a big Yankee fan I still love to watch good baseball and this series has been a great one. Lets hope Andy Pettitte can finish this series out with a big win on Wednesday night. GO YANKS!!!!!!!

Good and bad examples of teaching practices

In the chapter two slides titled describing instructional models for physical education, gives some good examples of developmentally inappropriate and appropriate teaching practices. One example of general instruction that would be inappropriate, would be for a teacher to use words or terms that the students are not capable of understanding. The teacher should always use words and terms that the students can relate to in order to achieve full understanding. Another bad or inappropriate teaching technique is having the students pick their own teams during an activity. If this happens their will always be a team organized by just athletes. The teacher must select the teams before class begins in-order for an activity to be fair and everyone in the class can enjoy. These were just some interesting facts that I learned from reading this power point slide.

Teaching Experince

Last week I had the opportunity to observe undergraduate students teach adapted physical education classes. I saw many positive teaching aspects and also some negative ones as well. One positive teaching aspect that I saw was that some student teachers offered rewards for good behavior. When teaching students with disabilities one aspect that I really believe in is rewarding good behavior. A number of different student teachers that I observed offered stickers when a child completed a skill. Other rewards that I liked is that the students teachers let the child choose what activity they wanted to do for the remainder of class. One negative aspect that I observed was the lack of enthusiasm shown by some students. All physical educators must be enthused when teaching, this not only helps to motivate your students but it also helps them stay on task and increases their overall enjoyment. Every PE teacher must give it their all when teaching in efforts to have a positive effect on all students.

Outdoor Adventure

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The outdoor adventure class offered at Springfield college is something that I highly recommend taking. This class helped me learned a wide range of great teaching skills. One thing that I loved about this class was the team building exercises. Team building exercises incorporates everything from peer teaching to cooperative learning. Every person on the team must work together to solve a task. Usually their is always one person to take charge but that person also must be considerate and listen to what others have to say as well. Every team member brings a certain strength to the class, and this can be incorporated within each group activity. Another aspect of the class that I really enjoyed is the trust factor. When climbing certain activity the climber must have complete trust in their fellow student who is belaying. The student belaying must know all the proper techniques and safety issues when attempting to belay.

Overall I believe that incorporating an outdoor adventure course in all physical education programs would be very motivational to all students. Of course all high elements should be taught at a secondary PE level but their are many low elements that upper elementary students can participate in as well. Lastly all students, athletes and non athletes, can have a chance to shine and stand out during outdoor adventure. That's what makes this course so amazing.

Yankees to the World Series

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/?cnn=yes

The NY Yankees make it back to the World Series to play the Phillies. This is the first time since 2003 that the Yanks have been back to the World Series. CC Sabathia who was the MVP of the ALCS is expected to get the start for the Yankees on Wednesday Night at New York. This is an extremely exciting time for all Yankee fans. Hope everyone gets a chance to watch Wednesday nights game. GO YANKS!!!!

Introduction to a lesson

I always stress the importance of the introduction to a lesson with my movement concepts students. Some things that I tell all the movement concepts students to do is as followed: review of previous class activities, review of that days activities, SAFETY ISSUES, and have questions and demos to spark the students interests. Lastly, I believe that when you are conducting the introduction to elementary students that you should always get down to their level by kneeling on the ground with them. I was wondering if of the teachers in the class had any new and creative ways that I can make the introduction to a lesson more interesting.

Coaching Basketball

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Coaching basketball has always been a big passion of mine. Even though its hard to coach basketball while I am in grad school due to a lot of night classes, I hope to get back into it when I become a PE teacher. My basketball coaching experience is as followed: varsity summer league basketball coach, worked at a summer basketball camp, and was an assistant varsity basketball coach at Ichabod Crane High School. One of my all time favorite basketball coaches is Coach Mike Krzyzewki of Duke University.

cooperative learning

In chapter 10 of our instructional models text, Metzler describes the concept of cooperative learning and even goes over some positives of using it. Metzler described the cooperative learning as learning teams where students are organized into teams and work together to achieve a common goal. One major advantage that I believe helps in using cooperative learning is that students are put into situations where they have to socialize and be respectful to one another. Opening good socialization networks between students is always beneficial because each student has something to offer when trying to solve a problem. Another advantage from using the cooperative learning style is that it takes away from general instruction of the physical educator. This helps to increase student involvement in class activity rather than sitting and listening to a teacher give instructions. Also working together as a team to achieve a certain goal helps to enhance overall academic achievement. I really believe that the cooperative learning style of teaching is a great teaching technique that all PE teachers can use.

Playoffs tonight

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/joe_posnanski/10/17/sabathia.game.1/index.html

The playoffs series between the Yankees and the Angels has been extremely exciting to watch. Even though the loss to the Yanks yesterday afternoon was bad, we have our top ace pitching tonight. CC Sabathia will be pitching tonight for another exciting game of playoffs baseball. The game starts at 8:00 so I hope you all will be watching the game tonight. GO YANKS!!!

Using questions for learning

Chapter 5 in Metzlers book talks about using questions for learning. Metzler describes many different forms of how PE teachers ask questions. Two specific forms of questions that I would like to talk about is convergent and divergent questions. Convergent questions (also called close-ended questions) are questions that the teacher has only 1 correct answer in mind. An example of a convergent question would be "can you show me the sideline boundary in singles tennis. Divergent questions (also called open-ended questions) are questions that have multiple choices to respond. An example of a divergent question would be "when would you use the high, deep serve in badminton. Although both questions are used a lot by a PE teacher, divergent questions would are the best as described by Metzler. Divergent questions require more thought processing by students. Overall, asking students questions are good ways to engage student in thought and also helps encourage more student understanding of PE content material.

Sport Education Model

I really believe that the Sport Education Model is one of the best models that all secondary PE teachers should use in their curriculum. The SE model is set up so that students are organized into teams where each team member has a duty or a job to take part in. The team jobs include a coach, team captain, score keepers, referees, etc. The PE teacher selects a unit like volleyball, basketball, or soccer, and each team conducts their own practices before the actual games begin. Once games begin the students mark on the class poster their own standings. At the end of each season the top seated teams compete in a final game. I really believe that the SE models is a great way to reduce general instruction time, and helps to increase student physical activity levels. Lastly the SE model is a great way to increase student motivation and helps to encourage student enjoyment in sports outside of the PE classroom.

Hiking and Camping

Camping and hiking are two things that I absolutely love to do. Every summer, spring, and early fall, my friends and I plan camping trips. We have gone camping in the Adirondacks, the Berkshires, Catskill Mountains, Lake George, and the Finger Lakes. We are always looking for new places to go so if anyone has any ideas that would be great. Even though camping requires a lot of planning and packing it is always worth it once you get there. Hiking on the other hand, doesn't require a lot of packing and is also something that I love to do as well. Hiking can also be done all year round. Even though fall is one of my favorite times to go hiking, I also love to hike with snow shoes during the winter time. Above are a few pictures of the camping and hiking trips that I have gone on.

Current Event

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/photos?photoId=2354552&gameId=291011109

The New York Yankees swept the Twins last night and move onto play the Angels in the next round of the playoffs. It was an awesome weekend for Yankee fans everywhere. The pitching is great, the hitting is awesome, and now we move on to the Angels. Sorry Boston fans, it would of been great to play you guys in the next round. GOOOOO YANKS!!!!!!

minimizing off-task behavior

Chapter 4 in Graham talks about minimizing off-task behavior. The three strategies that Graham described were as followed: back-to-the-wall, proximity control, and with-it-ness. Back-to-the-wall is describe as when a teacher is standing on the outside of the boundaries of the gymnasium so that they can better see what is going on in the classroom. Proximity control is used by simply walking over to the direction of the off task student or students while you are still teaching, and giving the students a look to let them know they are off task. Lastly, with-it-ness combining both back-to-the-wall and proximity control, this lets the students know that you are watching them at all times. If you ask me I believe that using all three would work best but since I don't have lots of teaching experience yet, I am curious to know what the teachers in our class believe works best, or maybe they have a different method. If so maybe you could share this helpful information to me.

Somewhat of a Current Event

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/06/massachusetts.sharks/index.html?iref=newssearch

Two great white sharks were tagged off the coast of Cape Cod on September 7. CNN reported that this was the first time that a great white shark was successfully tagged in the Atlantic Ocean off the U.S. coast. The beaches in Chatham were closed to the public after the shark sightings. CNN also reported that three of them were seen as close as 75 yards off the coastline of the beach. This article was extremely interesting to me because I thought that it was very rare for great whites to be seen so far north of the Atlantic Ocean. I guess not.

Fishing

I have been fishing with my father all my life and I absolutely love it. Every year at the end of May my father and I take our annual trout fishing trip. This is by far one of my favorite weekends of the year. We usually get up at 5am every morning and make a full day of fishing. Sometimes we don't always get lucky but when you finally get that one great fish there is nothing else like it. One thing that is great about fishing is that all age groups of people can fish. It is truly one sport that is absolutely relaxing and can be done through out your life time. The pictures above are not from our trout fishing trip but are from our family vacation in Maine.

Getting the Lesson Started

Chapter 5 in Grahams book talks about the effective ways of starting a lesson. This was also a topic that we discussed in class last week. Instant activity was described as getting a student involved with an activity as soon as they enter the physical education classroom. The two approaches that I believe work best is by using a bulletin board or using music. Using a bulletin broad can be good because the teacher doesn't have to say anything as the students enter the gym. The students will look at the activity written on the bulletin board and will start the activity right away. Music is another great approach at getting the lesson started. Activities involving music are not only fun but they help to motivate the interest of the students. When I observed one PE teacher use music as a lesson starter not only did he dance with the students but 3 teachers came into the gymnasium and participated in the activity as well. Overall, I believe that both methods are great approaches that help encourage instant student activity.

Teaching experience

Twice a week I have the opportunity to become a teachers assistant for an undergraduate elementary movements concept class. During this class the undergraduates are supposed to teach a lesson to their fellow classmates while I have the opportunity to grade them as they teach. I can say that I really enjoy helping out this class. As much as I am helping my undergraduate students to improve their lessons, I am also learning lots of from them. One of the issues that I try to address and make sure that they cover before they even start their lesson is addressing safety issues. Addressing safety issues before starting a lesson is extremely important in the protection of yourself and also your students. My students help me to learn new and interesting ways of how to improve my own teaching experiences. They come up with some of the most interesting games that will help me gain some new ideas when I become a teacher. Overall I really enjoy this experience and hope to teach as well as learn much more.

Cooking tips for the week

This past weekend I went to Rhode Island with my fiancees family. On Saturday night I decided that I would cook a little appetizer before dinner. So I went to one of the local food markets and decided I would grill a piece of white fish. This was actually the first time I had ever cooked white fish but I have seen my parents do it plenty of times so I had a good idea how to do it. The white fish I decided to cook was cod. It came out great and was a great starter to an awesome dinner. Here is how I grilled the cod.

1. Start by searching the fillet of cod for any small tiny bones (you DO NOT want any bones in the fish).

2. Then salt and pepper both sides of the cod.

3. Then take a small fillet/saute or frying pan and coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil.

4. Put the burner on high until olive oil is hot.

5. Then dice about a half of onion along with 3 or 4 cloves of garlic.

6. Add the onions into the hot olive oil (add more salt to soften up the onions).

7. Once the onions have been cooking for a couple of minutes add the diced garlic.

8. Once the onions and garlic have been cooked down and start have started to slightly brown you can add about an inch of butter or about a little less than a half cup of white wine.

9. Lastly take some cherry tomato's cut them in half, salt and pepper them, and throw them into the pan. Cook the cherry tomatoes just until they are starting to soften up.

10. Then take a big piece of aluminum foil and spread butter along the bottom of it. Then place your the raw fillet of cod on top of the aluminum foil.

11. Take the your pan of sauteed onions, garlic, and cherry tomato's, and pour it over top of the raw fillet of cod.

12. Once the cod is covered with the sauteed onions, garlic, and cherry tomato's, cut a couple of slices of lemon (take the seeds out) and place them over top of the fish. Then tightly wrap up or cover the top the cod with the aluminum foil.

13. Once your grill is nice and hot place the cod that is now tightly wrapped up in aluminum foil on the grill and turn down the heat to medium and cook for about 25 to 30 min.

14. Now you don't have too but I always add about an inch of butter in the cod about 3 minutes before I take it off the grill (Now I know what your all thinking butter is so bad...but it makes the cod taste that much better).

15. Lastly take the cod off the grill, unwrap the aluminum foil, take off the lemon peals and sit back and enjoy your grilled cod with a nice glass of wine or beer.

Topics from lecture

One of the topics that we discussed in class last week was assessment in physical education. The three styles or themes that were mentioned were authentic, traditional, and alternative. I believe that alternative assessing would by far be the best form of assessment. One example of the alternative style of assessment as learned in Dr. Lorenzo's class was having students create their own dance video or having students assess their own progressions by using a checklist or writing in a journal. I believe that the alternative style of assessment is the best way that students will continue to assess themselves outside of the physical education setting.

Current Event

http://search.espn.go.com/yankees-win-division/

I am also going to congratulate the NY Yankees for winning the division. Living in the Mass area and being surrounded by so many Boston fans can be very tough. I have always been a big Yankee fan growing up and seeing what happened last year was very difficult. I think its going to be an awesome October and cant wait to watch every playoff game. GO YANKS!!!!!!!

Topic from chapter 1

In chapter one of Metzlers Instructional Models for Physical Education, explains that boys and girls are now taking interest in one or more forms of dance, exercise, sport, and other games. Metzler goes on and explains the importance of the physical educator to continue to learn new content knowledge that will help spark the interest of all students. I believe that Metzler is right on the money with his statements. Today many students are now into new and exciting ways to exercise. For example outdoor adventure content like backpacking, ropes courses, and snowshoeing are just a few new activities that PE teachers must continue to learn how to teach. These new and exciting activities are and will continue to help increase student enjoyment and participation in regular physical activity. That's why I believe that it is crucial for every PE teacher to keep learning new and exciting content knowledge.

your choice: Scalzo tomato sauce weekend

Every labor day weekend my family has our traditional "tomato sauce weekend." It has been going on in my family for years. Being Italian, we tend to eat a lot of pasta and sauce, so for tomato weekend we can/jar enough sauce to last our family(immediate and extended) for the year. We start early in the morning by washing each tomato carefully. After, we squeeze the water out of the tomatoes and cut them up. Next, we put the tomatoes through the blender and tomato machine, which takes out the skin and seeds. The sauce is then boiled twice and stirred. Finally, we jar the sauce. This year we had 180 jars of tomato sauce. It takes a full day to complete, but we have a great time doing it.

Learning experience: Gary Atwood

As you all know, Gary Atwood came to our class the other day to talk about copyright issues. I never knew how often copyrighting problems occur when taking pictures off the Internet. I will now always remember to get the full URL (along with permission) when taking pictures off the Internet for a PowerPoint presentation. His presentation was interesting and very informative. Thanks again Gary for taking the time to explain copyright issues to our class.

current event

image: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/21/politics/main5327341.shtml

President Barack Obama gave a speech today at Hudson Valley Community College ( a local community college near my home town and one I took summer courses at). An Advance team looked at many different colleges before choosing HVCC. HVCC, including the 13,500 students who attend, learned about the exciting news on Wednesday. Obama's speech, among many other topics, will include his plans for the federal government to invest 12 billion in the nation's two-year colleges in the next decade.

1st Blog

1. One reason why I chose Springfield College was because it was the only Graduate School that offered entry with out already having a teaching license. The other reason why I chose Springfield College was because it was known to have one of the best (if not the best) physical education programs in the MA area.
2. I believe that an effective physical education teacher/coach is a person who has the enthusiasm to properly motivate the needs of all students and athletes.
3. Some of my real-life experiences as a coach are as followed: I have been coach for both the junior varsity and varsity summer league basketball at Ichabod Crane High School for 3 summers. I also had the opportunity to be an assistant varsity basketball coach at Ichabod Crane High School before entering graduate school. I have also worked at Ichabod Crane summer basketball camp as well. As for physical education teaching, I haven't had much experience due to not having an undergraduate degree in physical education. The only real life experience I have had at teaching is PHED 510 at Springfield College and I absolutely loved it and cant wait to teach more. The last real life experience I have had is working as a camp counselor for a couple of summers.
4. My current research area topic is physical activity in elementary physical education. I'm interested in two aspects, first I want to see how much physical activity is being achieved in some elementary schools, secondly I'm interested in seeing how physical education teachers can increase physical activity levels by cutting down the time spent giving general instructions.
5. My expectations for the current class is to continue gain more know about how to become a better physical education teacher.