My Slideshow of 2011!!

My Best & Worst Moments in Movement! Check It Out!!

Christmas is Around the Corner!!

I have seen myself grow as a teacher and physical education student throughout the semester and I'm happy to say St. Mary's has had a big impact on that. I'm proud to be a Cortland Physical Education student and I'm proud to know the children and staff of 

St. Mary's Elementary School!!

 As my time at St. Mary's Elementary for this semester comes to an end I'm so grateful for this experience and I am also glad to say that next semester I will be back to see those great children as a Teacher's Assistant! 

This week in lab we brought the Christmas spirit and had a lot of fun playing a bunch of different games! We had a lot of physical activity today which was really great! The game the children enjoyed the most was guard ball, seen below. To make sure no one sat out, each time the ball went through your legs you had to skip around the circle singing 'Jingle Bells!' 

The kids loved it! 

!! Happy Holidays to All !!

My lab group that I worked with this semester was great in every way! Our TA helped us greatly and each member did their part! We worked great together as a group and we were one of the children's' favorite groups out of everyone else!

Click here to view my reflections from lab 6 :)

This was a great class to work with! And a big thank you to Professor Yang!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 

My Professional Portfolio!

I've been working on my ePortfolio & it's been recently updated!
Check it out!
Click here to view or the link above my About Me!

NYS AHPERD Conference!

The 74th annual NYS AHPERD Conference took place this past weekend & I was able to attend Friday's events. Walking around the place was buzzing with Physical Education enthusiasts. I was able to go to over six different presentations as well as eleven exhibits, allowing me to learn new activities and new ways to incorporate health into Physical Education. It was a great educational experience and I even got to meet a ton of new people.
Listed are some of the exhibit booths I went to:
Biospace Inc., Greek Peak, GTM, Healthy Highway, NASP, Potato Hill Farm, Pykamo Golf, Ski Areas of NY Inc.,  SUNY Cortland, Tchoukball Inc., USTAE Inc. 

My most memorable person I met that day was Elaine from Potato Hill Farm's Outdoor Education Center which is located just outside of the Adirondack State Park.  

The OEC is a non-profit organization that enables children to explore the outdoors while learning during school months. The program is free for schools and students from qualified districts. 

After talking to Elaine for over 20 minutes, she began to tell me about an internship program that is available at the center for two weeks during the summer. I explained my interest in the outdoors and possibly teaching in the Adirondack's in the future. She then told me that if I was interested in becoming an intern this summer that they would be delighted to have me.  We exchanged contact information and will be discussing the internship this upcoming week.  

Going to the conference, even for just one day, was worth it! It was a great learning experience and it was pretty cool to see all the colleges coming together for Physical Education. 

Above are two pictures of different sessions I attended. All in all I attended six different sessions throughout the day:

- Tchoukball -Rope Jumping - W.E.L.L. 

- Teaching Lacrosse - Using Physical 2 Address NASPE 2 

-Add some A.R.T. to PE

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble @ St. Mary's!!!

The theme this week was Thanksgiving in celebration of the upcoming holiday!!

I dressed as a Native American and the children loved it! 

I worked with the cafeteria group for the first time which let us have a lot

of gymnasium time & get some good exercise! 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Click here to view my reflection! 

Learning Infant Reflexes With The Crazy Kickers!!!

Hope you enjoy our video on Infant Reflexes! 

Halloween Isn't Over Yet at St. Mary's Elementary!

Halloween week brought the spirit out in all of us at lab this week and we all dressed up in our best costumes! The kids enjoyed it and couldn't wait to talk about what costumes they wore out themselves Halloween night! Our games and activities kept the halloween vibe going for just one more day and the children had a blast! 

Here I am as Mrs. Potato Head! :) 

Our one last day of Halloween also brought a surprisingly nice November day outside!

We had the opportunity to enjoy the weather and play some activities on the play ground!

I got to work in small groups with the children this week so I had some great one-on-one time with a student who told me all about his hero, his father who is a fire fighter!

He imagined a game for us to play where we were our own heroes, I got to see just how great his imagination was! 

To view my lab reflection, Click Here!

Walk For A Cure!

To end the month of October I returned to my home town to participate in my former high school's annual cancer walk! While in high school I participated and volunteered in the walk every year so it was great to go back home and partake in an event for a wonderful cause! My father and I walked a little over 3 miles along with over 60 other people to raise money for breast cancer awareness! 

It was a great event & I am proud to have partaken in it!

Making Connections With Australia!!!

This morning I came upon a website of a man who is a Physical Educator in Victoria, Australia!

His name is Jarrod Robinson and runs the website 

The PE Geek!

With over 120,000 blog hits from around the world and 

nomination for the first runner up for the 2010 EDUBLOG Awards,

I couldn't think of anyone better to get in touch with to expand my connections! 

I emailed Jarrod and explained how intrigued I was by his blog and how he uses modern technology to engage his students and make Physical Education even more enjoyable! I explained where I went to school and he had nothing but praise about our program here at SUNY Cortland. This afternoon he emailed me back and he even looked at my blog and gave me some positive feedback which was great! He gave suggestions about the abroad program in Australia. In later discussions he informed me to email him if I ever do partake in the abroad program and he would be glad to give me advice and suggestions. It was great to connect to someone across the world about a similar interest that we are both passionate about! I'm sure I'll be in touch with Mr. Robbo in the future! Take a look at his website!

We're All Super Heroes At St. Mary's!!!!

For my third lab at St. Mary's Elementary I had a blast! 

I worked with the Pre-K group which was very exciting! 

We all laughed and smiled throughout the afternoon, making this experience even more worth while. 

The joy I receive when working with my peers and the students at St. Mary's is 

exactly why I am becoming a physical education teacher! 

A smile can change everything!

Click here to see my reflection & observations!

Reading....

Learning how to use scissors :) 

Flying our Super Heroes!! 

First Short Skit!

Here's the short 1 minute skit we did in lab this week! We chose N'Sync's 'Bye Bye Bye' Enjoy!

Lab #2 from St. Mary's Elementary!!

Here is my Lab Write-Up  for my second lab at St. Mary's Elementary! 
Today I got to observe and interact with the children while they played in the gymnasium. I also got to lead a closing activity in which the children had a blast & led a dance, the Cotton Eyed Joe! It tied in very well for our western theme and it was a great time!

 All in all, working with the children at St. Mary's

 is such a great time and this whole experience 

is a great learning tool that I am so grateful for!!!

Dodgeball: To Play or Not To Play....

I want to first make it clear what side I am on for this argument and I then will support my argument with key points. I am all for dodgeball in the Physical Education program. A proficient Physical Educator shall be able to use different variations and regulations in dodgeball to be able to make it a very physical activity as well as an activity that can be used to assess a student's skills. The first point I will make is that dodgeball can be played in a wide variety of environments, not just a gymnasium.
           The ability to be able to play an activity in different environments is at an upmost importance in the school setting. Especially considering the cut-backs that are occurring forcing the physical education program in small or restricting settings. But dodgeball can be played almost everywhere. Any size gymnasium, even a cleared, decent sized classroom, or outdoors. Another key thing is that if you were to take dodgeball outdoors you can play on almost any surface including, but not restricted to, any grass area, tennis courts, concrete, basketball courts, etc. And setting up boundaries are as easy as using cones, book bags, or tape lines.
           A lot of the people against dodgeball say that it is a dangerous, violent game and puts children at risk of getting injured. I highly disagree with that. Equipment for dodgeball is in fact very safe, gator balls. They are soft, very cushioned balls that in fact absorb force as soon as impact is made. Of my 3 years as a camp counselor I have never, ever seen a detrimental injury due to getting hit by a gator ball. Even if you were to search online or ask teachers, it is most likely that they have never had a serious or even minor injury from a child getting struck with a gator ball. On the other hand, sports and activities that include bats, baseballs, softballs, golf balls, gymnastics, etc. have seen serious and even fatal injuries. There is a safety risk in every activity that is incorporated in the physical education curriculum but I do not believe dodgeball is a high-risk activity.

           Another point I would like to make is that dodgeball is an activity in which a physical educator would be capable of using assessment tools to assess their students. Assessing a student's skills in dodgeball is as simple as assessing a student's skills in basketball or baseball. A physical educated person should be capable of developing a skill assessment for a dodgeball setting, as well as in any activity. You can assess students on throwing, catching, running, agility, jumping, strategizing, and much more. You can assess a large variety of fine motor skills in a efficient amount of time. Dodgeball also makes it possible for a physical educator to interact with the students during the activity and assess them first hand.
            The last point I would like to make is that with the proper variations, dodgeball can be a very active activity in which way more than 50% of the overall student population is participating for over a third of the duration of the activity. Variations such as Medic, Star Wars, Corner Ball, Octopus, Spider, Etc. make it possible for children to constantly be active during the duration of the game. Rules also make the game more active, safer, and more skills demanding. For example, a rule I have used before is that once you receive the ball you only get four steps and then you must throw the ball. Another that can be used to keep the game active is that if you get out, you must run to the designated spot, do an activity such as jumping jacks and then return into the game. Another is that if you catch an opponents ball, one of your teammates returns into the game. With so much freedom to make the game of dodgeball your own with rules and variations should encourage a physical education teacher to make this a very enjoyable, useful, and learning game.

             In conclusion, I want to state that dodgeball can be used as a progressive learning activity as well as an assessment tool for teachers. Teaching proper, educated dodgeball and variations of dodgeball can not be done by anyone. A physically educated person will be able to take this activity, make it their own and use it as an important teaching activity.

Lab Number 1

Here is my write-up for Motor Development Lab #1 from St. Mary's Elementary!!  

The Importance of Fundamental Skill Development & Assessment

Fundamental skill development is key for young children to have because it sets the building blocks for future use of motor, cognitive and affective skills. With fundamental skill development and assessment being so important for the learning child, us as physical educators must make it a top priority to ensure proper development of children's skills. The specific lessons, behaviors, and experiences that are taught to developing children should always be influenced by the fundamental skills that the children already know and/or need to learn. There are genetic and environmental factors that physical educators need to take into consideration when teaching fundamental skills to children. By doing this we ensure the best possible development of fundamental skills. The present as well as future health of our students depends on a proper physical education program.

All of the NASPE standards play a factor in proper fundamental skill development but I feel there are three specific ones associated to this particular topic:

• I. Demonstrates competency in many movement forms & proficiency in a few movement forms
• II. Applies movement concepts & principles to the learning and development of motor skills
• VI. Demonstrates understanding & respect for differences amount people in physical activity settings
• [ www.aahperd.org/naspe ]

By abiding by these standards, it is possible for a physical educator to teach the proper lessons to children in order for them to develop fundamental skills no matter the individual skill level of each child. 

In conclusion, fundamental skill development and assessment are so important to our profession and the health of our students because it is imperative for young children to properly learn and perform these motor,  cognitive and affective skills. If we can help students successfully develop these basic movement skills they are more likely to live a healthier and more active lifestyle. 

First Blog

First blog to activate my account :)