How do the live classes work?

You might be wondering if we ever interact with our students beyond email messages. Well, yes, as a matter of fact. I hold live classes for my students each week. In fact, I conduct a few during the day and one in the evening to give the students that work during the day, or have conflicting schedules, a chance to meet as well.

I can talk to the students and they can hear me. They can talk to me, too. We can text chat as well during the session. I can show them pictures to help illustrate key points. I can post several different kind of questions to guage their understanding of various concepts as well as to get an opinion on important matters. I can play music, I can open up additional browsers for students to review as well as video clips. Teachers at our school will eventually utilize webcams attached to our computer to make yet another visible connection. At this time, students do not have this capability. However, with advent of laptops with built in cameras, we probably will be experiencing something comparable to a face to face video conference in the not so distant future.

For our purposes, nothing beats the meeting in gymnasiums but this is a start and chance for students to connect a little with each other and the teacher. We have been experiencing great live class attendance this year. It is a start and we see things getting better.

Gym teacher, the movie?

Did anybody see this movie on Nickelodeon last month? Kind of like the 1970's without the wide lapels and side burns.

See for yourself in this short clip: http://www.nickatnite.com/gymteacher/

I watched it this evening. It was humorous and kind of interesting. It was also massively stereotypical as well.

Sure PE teachers are known to wear the long white tube socks, the tight polyester shorts, carry the whistle and be all about sports, dodge ball and climbing ropes.

Perhaps most of us still are but we go about it in a different way these days. We now focus on more fitness oriented lessons and as well more student centered instruction. Whistles are not so important these days and we dress to be comfortable and not to fit a dubious image. We don't even refer to ourselves as gym teachers anymore, although many parents still consider as as such.

We also use technology now more than ever to augment instruction and student participation. Heck, we even have preceptors nowadays that practice our craft via use of the Internet.

Well, if you have not seen the film yet, give it a whirl. Just don't believe everything you see in the movies!

The topic of physical education has been featured in many motion pictures over the past couple of decades. What movie reminds you most of PE or gym class?

Student work....

Somebody asked earlier this month if it was possible to show some cyber school PE student work. Well, after securing permission from the students, I thought I would post a few worthy projects. Now granted these are two of the better submissions I have received recently but worthy of mention.

11th grade PE submission for the Interval training assignment:

"1. Describe what activity you selected and performed for this interval training assignment?
(examples: running, swimming, biking, etc….)

I chose lap swimming because I’m already on the team and we do interval training already.

2. How did you incorporate intervals in your activity? (an interval is a period of time where did the activity. Another interval is when you took a rest after the activity)

Since we are still at the beginning of the season we did 2 sets of 5x100s on two minutes. The faster we did the 100s the more break we would get.

3. SELF-EVALUATION: Explain, illustrate or summarize what your experience was like during your interval training activities?

It was alright. When our coach makes us do sets like that it tires me out really easily, but I feel the burn more and it makes competing in the actual races easier because if me work at it hard it slowly conditions me so that I get better without really realizing it."

12th grade Example for the Isometric, Isotonic, Isokinetic activity:

"List an example for each “iso” activity: (use the links on the blackboard)
3 pts.

Isotonic: lifting free weights

Isometric: hand wall press

Isokinetic: swimming


Try to do some of these activities on your own. What did you do for each one? 3 pts.

Isotonic:
Sit ups, getting up from squat position, lifting objects over head, throwing a ball, walking

Isometric:
Curling arm while applying pressure with the other, wall pushes, chair leg extension, Hand Press

Isokinetic:
I wasn’t sure what to do…most of the exercises said machines were needed…

Cite an example for both of the following: 2 points

Concentric contraction -
Bicep curl

Eccentric contraction –
Running downhill

Take a look at the principles of exercise glossary terms (overload, specificity, progression). You can find them in the glossary on the PE blackboard.

Which principle would you apply to isotonic exercises and why? 6 points

Principle:

Specificity
Definition:

Principle of exercise that says: Specific kinds of exercises must be done to develop specific aspects of the body/ fitness.
Why did you select this:

Isotonic exercises are suppose to enhance certain parts of the body like the chest, without going at an extreme pace or gradually increasing (progression); or having people exercise under high intensity or going exercise crazy (Overload). So, I chose Specificity since it seemed to fit the bill.

Matching: (review the ISO video for insight) 6 points

A. Isotonic B. Isometric C. Isokinetic

1. Which one is most likely to be used in therapy/rehabilitation? (swimming?)
2. Bench and leg presses are most likely which type of Iso activities? (up and down motion)
3. Which of the three offers the least amount of concentric and eccentric muscle contractions? (which one pushes against the wall)

Letter Number
C1
A2
B3"

Check out these video clips.....

Check out both of the videos posted below. As promised in my last post, I would show the videos of yours truly in action as soon as I got them. So here goes...enjoy.

It took me a little longer than planned to get up the wall but I made it. The zip line was just cool drop.

In-service day.....

Yesterday, teachers around Allegheny county took a break from teaching classes as it was Columbus Day. Instead, we participated in some type of in-service training, either in house or somewhere else around the area.

My colleagues and I roughed it at the Camp Guyasuta Ropes Course in Sharpsburg. We took part in the team building and initiative activities in the morning. After lunch we hit the high ropes course, which turned out to be the highlight of the day.

I had done stuff like this in the past but not this high off the ground. I belayed and repelled the 50 foot wall. I made my way up to the zip line and traversed across the course. I also tried my luck with the vine line and the 3 rope line as well.

Fortunately, we brought our school's video camera to capture some of the action. We plan to use it as instructional video for upcoming rock climbing lessons/activities.

In addition, there is a good chance we will set up a field trip for some of our students to attend next spring. The videos and pictures we took yesterday, along with experiences we have to share, would likely drum up quite a bit of interest from the student body.

With a little luck I hope to show a video clip of yours truly scaling the great climbing wall of Sharpsburg and flying the sky scraping zip line across the fierce Guyasuta topography.

Aftermath of the PALO open house....

Well an open house came and went this week. It was a success by all accounts. We had more students and parents attend than we did a year ago. In addition, our school continues to show its pride by welcoming visitors to a receptive room with food, lighting, music, videos, PowerPoint's, food, art supplies, instruments, books, toys, food, smiles, laughter, food and even opportunities to win prizes. OK, I went a little overboard with the food but it was there if one wanted it.

I had no fewer than 20 students/parents approach me during the two hours. It was a positive experience on all accounts. We just want to now keep the momentum going for a good finish to the first quarter.

Coming soon---- a post with some student work.

Open House....

This week our school is conducting its annual open house for all students and parents. It is a chance for cyber school teachers and students to meet, even if for only an hour or two.

Students will get a chance to interact with teachers and school officials but will also get a chance to visit with their peers as well. This is all in an effort to foster some unity and resiliency on the part of the school, teachers and students as well.

The event will be held at night in our offices for about 2 hours. The PE department plans to show off some great videos that we have used for instruction as well as an informative PowerPoint highlighting what we do. I look forward to meeting students taking my class this semester. It can only help to support a better rapport with the student body. In turn, that hopefully makes a more productive student base.

Working the phones....

Part of being a cyber school teacher, regardless of teaching discipline, is to use the telephones to get in touch with students. I spent about 7 hours on the phone one day this week getting in touch with as many 11th and 12th grade PE students that I could.

I talked to some students, some parents, and left a number of encouraging or reminder like messages. This was all in an effort to get students to either catch up on missed assignments or to encourage them to keep up the good efforts.

Our school actually will issue mid-quarter grades early next week. I am pleased to say that majority of my students will be earning a passing grade. That may not sound like much but it is not as easy as it seems. We expect our students to complete and submit as many assignments as possible during the grading period, and that includes high school PE.

The fact is, I am experiencing my best year at this school and I have been there since early 2004. The FAQ's about how we teach PE online are still there but it gets a little easier to explain with each semester. Things are gradually falling into place.