Digital Storytelling

Discuss the benefits and challenges that you anticipate from integrating video into your classroom. How can you best leverage this content to provide your students with enhanced learning opportunities?

I think this would work great in Driver Ed to have an instructional video(s) for the students/parents to have their information filled out in advance of class starting.

 Do you use existing sources for high quality, relevant materials for your curricular area? If so, list the top two and briefly critique each resource. How can you integrate these resources into your curriculum in a meaningful way for your students?

I have not used them yet, but I do see where they would be a valuable tool.  

PodCasting

I used PodOmatic to make my first podcast.  I did a basic introduction about what I do in the district.  It can be found here.

What challenges and potential benefits can you see in utilizing podcasting technology in the classroom? 
I think the biggest challenge would be the same as many projects: finding the time to fit it in the schedule and to listen to all of them. 

Although we often use podcasts to convey information to our students, what are the benefits of having students develop their own podcasts?
Having students develop their own podcasts will help them feel comfortable to do them later on in college or their careers.

 How can you incorporate the concept of long term student podcasting in your curriculum (students recording a series of podcasts over the course of a semester)?

You could give them a series of subjects to record about.  It would be a compilation of what they learned throughout the semester and how they have used prior information to learn new.

Wiki

Here is my wiki page!!  Nothing on it yet and I think I would have to invite you.  I would use a wiki page as a collaborative research effort.  I would assign the students a subject (right now we are on the drug unit and I would give them a particular drug) and invite them to a wiki page where they would have to fill in information. I could manage it and see who was contributing and how much they did.

Classroom Culture

For my activity I focused on Internet research and citation.  My students are sophomores and it is important that they are able to use correct resources and cite them as they move forward in their high school and college career. I am going to use an existing project in which they do research on two communicable diseases and they will use the Cornell University Website to evaluate their sources and cite them.

Sportstracker 5.3.0

I downloaded a program called Sportstracker 5.3.0.  I am going to have the students download it on their netbooks and use it to track their fitness and activity.  I think open source software is obviously compatible with our philosophies at d219.  The students are using netbooks that uses an open source operating system and software.  Using this software will help the students learn to become part of the open source software community.

Skype

I think using Skype in the classroom could be a very valuable tool for the students to learn from experts in the field.  We could schedule a conference call with an official at the CDC for health or at the local police department for Drivers Ed.  It would be cool for the students to ask their questions directly.

Google Docs

I have posted a study guide to our exam Friday in Health.  As part of this assignment I posted a collaborative study guide.  This is designed to allow the students to ask (and answer) questions to me and each other.  This is more or less in the trial stages now because it is probably too late to actually help for this exam.  We don't have class until Thursday and I will be out of class for an articulation.  It is there and up and running and in the future should work great.

Click here for my page

RSS Feeds

Here is a link to my RSS Feeds

Diigo Bookmarks

I seem to have lost some of my bookmarks on this computer.  I will add more later.

Diigo Link

About Me

I am a PE teacher who teaches strength and conditioning.  I am starting to see the benefits of changing my personal workouts from the old traditional format to one that involves lots of super-sets and focuses on keeping the heart rate elevated. I have moved away from the traditional 3x8 with rest (and talking) in between.  I have felt the benefit personally through lower body fat and increased endurance.  We are having the kids use this approach and their overall fitness levels have increased.