1.What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a teacher?
There are many advantages and disadvantages of being a teacher, all of which can vary depending on individual opinion. Some advantages are fulfilling the desire to work with young people, the love of a specific subject, and value of education (p.3). Other advantages include building relationships with colleagues, job security/benefits, lifetime growth, and summers off. Some disadvantages of being a teacher include inadequate salary, poor working conditions, heavy workloads, discipline issues, negative attitude of students, and lack of parental support (p. 4). Each of these advantages and disadvantages vary from school to school due to factors such as school funding, levels of poverty, location of the school and administration.
2. What are the satisfactions—and complaints—of today's teachers?
Most teachers reported in the National Education Association Survey that they are satisfied with their job, collegial relationships, challenge of work, job security (tenure), and their autonomy in the classroom (p. 3). Within this survey most teachers agreed that they had adequate resources and a solid supervising staff. Some complaints, as stated in question 1, included teachers salary, heavy workloads, poor conditions, lack of teacher involvement, disciplinary issues, negative attitudes towards education by students, and lack of influence over school polices.
3. Can we consider teaching to be a profession?
When looking at the tables on page 11 and 12 and comparing the criteria for a profession and critera for a semi-profession, I found that teachers may not meet every criteria to be considered a profession, but checking of certain criteria for a semi-profession would be selling teacher short. To prepare to be a teacher one must provide essential services to the individual and society (education is essential), teaching is concerned with an identified area or need for function- education, teachers possess a specific body of knowledge and skills (subject matter), teaching requires a preparation program at a college or university, and teachers are usually characterized by a strong service motivation and a lifetime commitment to competence. These are just five examples of professional criteria teachers meet, yet the professionalism is still questioned.
4. How has teacher preparation changed over the years?
In colonial America teachers rarely had formal preparation, and rarely attended a secondary school. College completion was more common in Europe than in America. Teachers were expected to have some knowledge of their subject, but not required to complete any form of education. Teaching was not considered a career but as temporary employment (p 14). In 1823 there was a Normal School developed to provide elementary school graduates with some formal training in teaching skills. This school, opened by Reverend Samuel Hall, marked the beginning of teacher Education in America (p. 14). Years later Horace Mann opened another normal school in Lexington. During the 1900s normal school was the expectation to become a teacher. Teaching also use to be female oriented and held in a low regard. As time went on Normal schools became three or four year schools to learn how to teach. Into the 1980s a demand for professionalism increased for teachers. This called for a masters level degree in teaching. In '87 the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards was developed to recognize outstanding teachers. This Board aimed to award board certification to extraordinary teachers (p. 15). The board had 5 specific criteria- mastery of subject area, commitment to students, ability to effectively manage a classroom, continuous analysis of teaching performance, and a commitment to learning and self improvement. Today teachers must go through specific requirements depending on state standards. Teachers must earn a B.A. or an M.A. or have a 5th year of study to obtain a teachers license.
5. What are the differences between the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers?
The National Education Association was created in 1857 and is the largest professional and employee organization in the nation with 3 million members (p. 21). NEA provides free legal services, training opportunities, and is also a political force and works to make sure pro education candidates get elected and promotes laws to be passed that are beneficial to teachers and students.
The American Federation of Teachers was created in 1916 and has over a million members and has a leadership role in education reform. The AFT supports national standards for teachers, charter schools, and induction programs, that enable new teachers to work with master teachers and recruits people of color into the teaching profession.
6. What traits and characteristics are needed for successful teaching?
Teachers must be compassionate, knowledgeable of their subject matter, punctual, professional, and personable. Teachers must be committed to educating their students and caring about them. Teaching is a profession that you need to put in extra hours, extra research and be compassionate about your students and professional with your colleagues to be successful.
7. Is teaching a "good fit" for you?
I believe that teaching is a good fit for me, especially physical education. I love being around kids, and helping people. I also think that physical education is one of the most important things for people to learn and understand. Regardless of what your interests are and what you want to do in your life, you will always need to take care of your body to be successful. Teaching students lifetime fitness and aspects of nutrition will ensure a greater quality of life.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
First Night of APE
Last night was our first lab for Adapted Physical Education. I was super excited, and a bit nervous. It was kind of scary to go into a lab with students who have different abilities than you are used to. We got a bit of background information on our students, but you can never understand someone from whats written down on paper, you must actually meet them and speak with them to figure out who they are, what their likes and dislikes are and build a relationship with that student.
I prepared a lesson plan in which I got to know the students with a beach ball game. I planned on having a beach ball, and depending on which color your right thumb lands on when you catch a pass from a fellow student or teacher, youd have a specific question to answer. These questions were my way of getting to know the girls interests and seeing what kind of activities theyd enjoy later in the year. I also had a few games in which the girls would participate in movements that I can assess using the Adapted aquatics for Individuals with Disabilities Skills Checklist. Although I planned plenty of games and planned a pre-assessment. But any teacher candidate knows things seldom go according to plan.
I met my girls and was very excited to finally see them face to face. They both were excited and were very happy about their lesson in the gym they had just before. I asked them if they had fun and what kind of games they played. They told me they had a lot of fun and played a numbers game, but didnt want to explain it to me. I learned a little bit about them as we walked down to the locker room, and helped them change then get into the pool. The girls were excited to get in and pretty good listeners which is exciting for me, because I can plan some fun activities. As far as my lesson plan went, I attempted to implement some of the activities I had planned, but the girls wanted to do their own thing. Within the little games they wanted to do, I could convince them to hop on one foot, or go under water and spin, a few things that are on the aquatics checklist. Both girls are pretty good swimmers.
As far as teaching in the pool, this was my first time, and it was a bit difficult. I know the girls enjoyed what we did, but It wasnt much teaching. Hopefully next week they will participate in my activities, and Ill have an incentive at the end for them if they did well.
All in all week one went well and Im excited for the rest of the weeks to come!
I prepared a lesson plan in which I got to know the students with a beach ball game. I planned on having a beach ball, and depending on which color your right thumb lands on when you catch a pass from a fellow student or teacher, youd have a specific question to answer. These questions were my way of getting to know the girls interests and seeing what kind of activities theyd enjoy later in the year. I also had a few games in which the girls would participate in movements that I can assess using the Adapted aquatics for Individuals with Disabilities Skills Checklist. Although I planned plenty of games and planned a pre-assessment. But any teacher candidate knows things seldom go according to plan.
I met my girls and was very excited to finally see them face to face. They both were excited and were very happy about their lesson in the gym they had just before. I asked them if they had fun and what kind of games they played. They told me they had a lot of fun and played a numbers game, but didnt want to explain it to me. I learned a little bit about them as we walked down to the locker room, and helped them change then get into the pool. The girls were excited to get in and pretty good listeners which is exciting for me, because I can plan some fun activities. As far as my lesson plan went, I attempted to implement some of the activities I had planned, but the girls wanted to do their own thing. Within the little games they wanted to do, I could convince them to hop on one foot, or go under water and spin, a few things that are on the aquatics checklist. Both girls are pretty good swimmers.
As far as teaching in the pool, this was my first time, and it was a bit difficult. I know the girls enjoyed what we did, but It wasnt much teaching. Hopefully next week they will participate in my activities, and Ill have an incentive at the end for them if they did well.
All in all week one went well and Im excited for the rest of the weeks to come!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Similarities in Class
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
I Hope, I Believe, I Will..
I hope to make a difference. I hope to make a difference in students lives, a difference with their parents, faculty members, and within my community. A knowledge of physical education and lifetime difference at any age will make a difference
I Believe I will have a positive impact on students lives. I believe I will be great teacher. I believe I will remain passionate about PE and adamant about healthy and active youth.
I Will make a commitment to better myself to help others. I will keep up on my knowledge of physical education, nutrition, and lifetime fitness and share this wealth of knowledge to help others.
I Believe I will have a positive impact on students lives. I believe I will be great teacher. I believe I will remain passionate about PE and adamant about healthy and active youth.
I Will make a commitment to better myself to help others. I will keep up on my knowledge of physical education, nutrition, and lifetime fitness and share this wealth of knowledge to help others.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
255 Final
The website if from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The school is in South Saskatoon, Canada.
This news story was awesome! I'm surprised I hadn't heard of it yet. It is something I'd like to share with those who are still in denial that the condition of the body directly effects the mind. I think all teachers, PE or not should look into grants and programs to help them gain equipment to have such programs in their own school.
We don't hear about the Physical Education class because it is just another typical, sub-par PE Class. The PE teacher isn't doing anything amazingly special or comparing data to prove the need for physical activity.
By the end of this program many students had a higher performance in many subject areas than they had before the implementation of treadmills within the classroom. Not only did the students benefit in their grades, their behavior was noticeably different. Before the program students wouldn't stay in their seats more than 5 minutes. They swore and talked back and were rarely focused. Students actually began coming to class and being excited to be there, giving them so many more opportunities to learn. If you don't go to class, you don't learn. Now that students were regularly attending, they had so much more potential for learning. This program does meet the NYS Learning Standards. Standard 1A and 1B were met when the students began running, biking, and walking. They gained knowledge on those basic motor skills. Also the use of heart monitors and used that information towards creating a plan of their own meets standard 1B. Throughout this program a more positive learning environment was created. With the implementation of exercise, the students behavioral problems decreased and created a safer classroom, meeting Standard 2. One parent mentioned that their child encouraged them to go on walks at home out of the classroom. This shows Standard 3 at work, having students be aware of things to do outside the classroom.
B.D.N.F.= Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
This is a growth factor found in the brain that helps neurons in the brain and also helps growth and development of new neurons. This causes the brain cells to become stronger. Research shows that aerobic activities help increase BDNF!
There are countless activities that meet standards 1A and 1B. 6&3 across 3 means that by their senior year students should be recreation ally competent in 6 activities, proficient in 6 across 3 different categories. I know in my experience this was not the case. In many classes students in PE were graded on attendance, if they were dressed, and then on participation. No emphasis was put on motivation or effort in PE, students did just enough to get by. In my experience in asking fellow students and thinking back to my years in PE I do not believe many schools in the State are using the 6&3 / 3 as a grading standard. Students in a PE class should be able to meet the 6&3 across 3 by their senior year. Students have been instructed in PE since kindergarten. If the curriculum is built from the bottom up and is well planned and written, at least 85% of grade 12 students should be able to meet this goal.
Standard 1B is extremely important. Once students leave their high school PE class, they are on their own physically unless they are an athlete playing at a collegiate level. Students should be able to have the skills and tools needed to create and follow their own fitness plan in order to stay active even when they aren't being told to by a teacher. Students should be able to develop a fitness plan a few weeks into school, and follow it while logging progress for around 4 weeks after. This shows they can create their own fitness plan, and follow it.
The percentage of students who can write and follow a fitness plan should be around 90%. Students should also be required to research proper nutrition and log their eating habits- here you could use DAILY BURN!
check out DAILY BURN
(http://dailyburn.com/locker_room)
So far using daily burn has been helpful. There are a lot of tools and tricks on the website to be explored. I like the graphics and think they would be aesthetically pleasing to high school kids.
A teacher could have students track their daily activity and nutrition, and take snap shots to track their progress. Here the PE teacher will be able to assess the students progress and ability in Standard B 1.
For students to accomplish the regents level for Standard 1B, students can track their work outs along with their nutrition. This gives the students the opportunity to track their progress through the semester and see how their fitness progressed and visually see weight loss.In today's day and age students are always on facebook, texting, or on their iPod. Adding one more step for them to do for homework on a visually stimulating website should be simple for both the PE teacher and the students. Adding pedometers to track students steps through out the day would be a great idea. This could also be tracked online. If the students are having a difficult time with the concept of using the Daily Burn website, the teacher could always record their steps.The Daily Burn is a great tool. It has everything available at your fingertips. You can search all foods you ate and track them, you can find any type of exercise and record it. This website is a great visual for progress for your students.For individual goals. In the beginning process where you's select why you're working out I wouldn't encourage students to pick losing weight. As we all know in any classroom everyone is different and this goes for PE as well. Students won't be expected to lose weight, just use the program in a way that benefits them the most.Grading would be noticing their recorded data, not checking if they ate the right things or worked out enough.
Students would learn how to use screen shots to help in their grading. I would also have students keep up a PE blog, and post these screen shots on their blog documenting their progress. Using screen shots gives documentation that students are participating in this physical activity.
The school is in South Saskatoon, Canada.
This news story was awesome! I'm surprised I hadn't heard of it yet. It is something I'd like to share with those who are still in denial that the condition of the body directly effects the mind. I think all teachers, PE or not should look into grants and programs to help them gain equipment to have such programs in their own school.
We don't hear about the Physical Education class because it is just another typical, sub-par PE Class. The PE teacher isn't doing anything amazingly special or comparing data to prove the need for physical activity.
By the end of this program many students had a higher performance in many subject areas than they had before the implementation of treadmills within the classroom. Not only did the students benefit in their grades, their behavior was noticeably different. Before the program students wouldn't stay in their seats more than 5 minutes. They swore and talked back and were rarely focused. Students actually began coming to class and being excited to be there, giving them so many more opportunities to learn. If you don't go to class, you don't learn. Now that students were regularly attending, they had so much more potential for learning. This program does meet the NYS Learning Standards. Standard 1A and 1B were met when the students began running, biking, and walking. They gained knowledge on those basic motor skills. Also the use of heart monitors and used that information towards creating a plan of their own meets standard 1B. Throughout this program a more positive learning environment was created. With the implementation of exercise, the students behavioral problems decreased and created a safer classroom, meeting Standard 2. One parent mentioned that their child encouraged them to go on walks at home out of the classroom. This shows Standard 3 at work, having students be aware of things to do outside the classroom.
B.D.N.F.= Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
This is a growth factor found in the brain that helps neurons in the brain and also helps growth and development of new neurons. This causes the brain cells to become stronger. Research shows that aerobic activities help increase BDNF!
Standard 1B is extremely important. Once students leave their high school PE class, they are on their own physically unless they are an athlete playing at a collegiate level. Students should be able to have the skills and tools needed to create and follow their own fitness plan in order to stay active even when they aren't being told to by a teacher. Students should be able to develop a fitness plan a few weeks into school, and follow it while logging progress for around 4 weeks after. This shows they can create their own fitness plan, and follow it.
The percentage of students who can write and follow a fitness plan should be around 90%. Students should also be required to research proper nutrition and log their eating habits- here you could use DAILY BURN!
check out DAILY BURN
(http://dailyburn.com/locker_room)
So far using daily burn has been helpful. There are a lot of tools and tricks on the website to be explored. I like the graphics and think they would be aesthetically pleasing to high school kids. A teacher could have students track their daily activity and nutrition, and take snap shots to track their progress. Here the PE teacher will be able to assess the students progress and ability in Standard B 1.
For students to accomplish the regents level for Standard 1B, students can track their work outs along with their nutrition. This gives the students the opportunity to track their progress through the semester and see how their fitness progressed and visually see weight loss.In today's day and age students are always on facebook, texting, or on their iPod. Adding one more step for them to do for homework on a visually stimulating website should be simple for both the PE teacher and the students. Adding pedometers to track students steps through out the day would be a great idea. This could also be tracked online. If the students are having a difficult time with the concept of using the Daily Burn website, the teacher could always record their steps.The Daily Burn is a great tool. It has everything available at your fingertips. You can search all foods you ate and track them, you can find any type of exercise and record it. This website is a great visual for progress for your students.For individual goals. In the beginning process where you's select why you're working out I wouldn't encourage students to pick losing weight. As we all know in any classroom everyone is different and this goes for PE as well. Students won't be expected to lose weight, just use the program in a way that benefits them the most.Grading would be noticing their recorded data, not checking if they ate the right things or worked out enough. 
Students would learn how to use screen shots to help in their grading. I would also have students keep up a PE blog, and post these screen shots on their blog documenting their progress. Using screen shots gives documentation that students are participating in this physical activity.
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