Another Week Down...

As the sun sets over Jacksonville State University tonight, we reflect on the progress made this week in our 21st Century Physical Education classroom.  Little by little, our students are taking ownership and responsibility for their own learning.

Blogger...our students have a current and purposeful working blog that they are building and adding to daily. By the semester's end, they will be full of information that they will utilize when they begin their teaching careers.

Twitter...we have Tweeted, and Tweeted, and Tweeted this week!  Cross Curricular Physical Education games, favorite blogs pertinent to Physical Education, professional development & continuing education opportunities,  Educational Technology uses in the classroom, and elementary and secondary games are a few examples of how we are using social media to enhance learning. They've then posted this information to their active blogs.

You Tube...we have used planned You Tube videos for instructional purposes as well as for "on the spot" classroom discussions.  Students searched YouTube for examples of various physical education teaching approaches then shared them with the class.  This activity provided students with a clearer understanding of how to effectively implement these strategies into their instruction.

Socrative...its becoming a "bad word" in our class now!  (meaning...a quiz is coming!!).  We use Socrative as a paperless testing device and also as a classroom response system (similar to clickers) to provoke outward thought and discussion.  Socrative has been one of the best means of creating collaboration within our classroom.

Flipping...This was the pilot week for the "flipped classroom test" in our PE classroom.  Students in both 200 and 400 Block were assigned an Educreation video (created by us) on a lecture topic that we usually spend over 90 minutes discussing. (these lessons were "How to Write a Daily Physical Education Lesson Plan" for 200 Block, and How to Write a Yearly and Weekly Plan" for 400 Block).   They were to watch the flipped lesson videos (embedded in Edmodo) at their convenience prior to class.  To make them accountable and to ensure video lesson understanding,  students were given an assignment to go along with the video.  Like most other submissions, shared Dropbox folders were utilized for the transfer of information.  We also assessed them in class using a short Socrative Quiz.  Rather than spending the entire class period lecturing on a topic, students came to class with the basic knowledge, and also a rough draft of their lesson plans - and class time was spent addressing each student's individual needs instead of delivering content.  Our students LOVED IT and their work reflected it! Additionally, students were given the opportunity to "flip" a lesson themselves.  In both 200 and 400 levels, students as collaborative groups will create lessons then have class time for activity and reinforcement.  The Physical Education setting is ideal for the flipped classroom idea.  Providing our students and later their students with the ability to flip the traditional "lecture" portion of their content then utilizing class time for the "homework" portion (activity & reinforcement of content) will set them apart from their peers in their endeavors to fight for coveted jobs. 

Screen casting...Educreations....What an amazing FREE product!    We have used this to make flipped videos for our students, as well as offered it (among others such as Jing, Doceri, Explain Everything & Screencast-o-matic) to our students to create their own.  Students will spend this weekend creating a cross-curricular game with these tools.  We are anxiously anticipating the results!

Google Docs....GD, GD, GD for everything!!!  They are embedded in Edmodo so they are easy use.  Our students are using GD to check out PE equipment, to check in and out of schools they are observing for HPE 411 Practicum, and to complete a NASPE PE Checklist on Quality PE Programs during their observations at each school.  As soon as the students complete these forms, the information is instantly sent to us via a GD spreadsheet on our iPhones and iPads! Students will be creating their own GD that will be later used as an e-marketing tool to evaluate the effectiveness of their program and seek out the interests of their future students. 

Pinterest...yes, even the guys are pinning!  Our students have learned what a valuable resource Pinterest can be for education.  PE games, ideas, videos, and cutting edge technology can be found on Pinterest boards.  This week our students pinned several elementary PE games on their own boards to begin their collection.

And finally....we have burst out of the classroom walls and ventured into the GYM where we are most comfortable!  Our unit this week was elementary kicking/soccer games....and our 200 Block students were dumbfounded (as they are every semester) when they finally SEE that Physical Education soccer games are not even remotely similar to youth or organized soccer.  It is so rewarding to watch them as they learn, grow, and transform from college students to physical education pre-professionals.