Saturday, June 5, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Letter to Superintendent
Dear Superintendent,
It has come to my attention that our Physical Education program is becoming stale. The students are becoming quite bored with the same activities every year and would like to become acquainted with something. My proposal to this problem is to add a dance unit in the P.E. curriculum. Not the type of recreational dancing that kids tend to dislike, but more modern dancing that is associated with today's popular music. Being able to dance to enjoyable songs would certainly motivate the students to become physically active. The benefits would include receiving a good cardio work out, being able to socialize with friends, and discovery a life time physical fitness activity.
In addition to including the dance unit, it would be valuable to add a dance studio to the facility. This would be needed to maximize the learning for the activity. The studio would include a smooth wooden floor, which is needed for smooth transitions during dances. It would also need a long mirror so that the teacher may teach the class in the same direction and still be able to keep an eye on everyone. If the mirror were to be missing, then the teacher would have to teach facing the class, making it more difficult for the students. I know this is a huge move for the school, but perhaps we can start small. We could start off with getting a long mirror set up in the gym that could moved or covered. If we see this being a success, then we could move on to planning a bigger expansion.
I hope you take this proposition in consideration and realize how beneficial this addition would be for the student body. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Phil DeHuff
It has come to my attention that our Physical Education program is becoming stale. The students are becoming quite bored with the same activities every year and would like to become acquainted with something. My proposal to this problem is to add a dance unit in the P.E. curriculum. Not the type of recreational dancing that kids tend to dislike, but more modern dancing that is associated with today's popular music. Being able to dance to enjoyable songs would certainly motivate the students to become physically active. The benefits would include receiving a good cardio work out, being able to socialize with friends, and discovery a life time physical fitness activity.
In addition to including the dance unit, it would be valuable to add a dance studio to the facility. This would be needed to maximize the learning for the activity. The studio would include a smooth wooden floor, which is needed for smooth transitions during dances. It would also need a long mirror so that the teacher may teach the class in the same direction and still be able to keep an eye on everyone. If the mirror were to be missing, then the teacher would have to teach facing the class, making it more difficult for the students. I know this is a huge move for the school, but perhaps we can start small. We could start off with getting a long mirror set up in the gym that could moved or covered. If we see this being a success, then we could move on to planning a bigger expansion.
I hope you take this proposition in consideration and realize how beneficial this addition would be for the student body. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Phil DeHuff
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Final Part 1c
1. I am not much of a fan of the Daily Burn. First of all, it is a bit confusing. If you are not fully familiar with the health area, then there is a lot of information on the site that may seem useless to you. The site does not seem to be convenient. You need to type in all of your exercises and repetitions, it is really no different than writing it on a spreadsheet. Being able to keep track of your nutrition on this site is not a bad idea, but it will not always be accurate. You have to search for the foods that you consumed, but the preparation of food is always different if it is not from a chain restaurant. 
So if you are concentrating on weight loss, the tracking on the site may not be truly accurate unless you are fully aware of the calories you are consuming.
2. To accomplish the recommended Regent's level for LS#1B, students can use Daily Burn to keep track of the particular areas of health. Whether it should be nutrition or work-outs, students can log in and organize what they have done throughout the school year. I do not think students would be too thrilled having to log onto the website and track everything that they have done. If everyone had advanced enough phones, there is sure to be an application that does the same tracking as the site. It would just be more convenient and possibly more simple. Step counts and heart rate monitors would be just as useful and would not require anymore tracking that writing down the appearing numbers.
3. Taking screenshots, like the ones seen in this blog, can certainly capture the results from the program. It would give a clear view to the teacher and could be shared without outside people taking a look at them. The privacy can be contained through Google docs in which the student can share a document with the teacher, containing screenshots of the required results.
So if you are concentrating on weight loss, the tracking on the site may not be truly accurate unless you are fully aware of the calories you are consuming.2. To accomplish the recommended Regent's level for LS#1B, students can use Daily Burn to keep track of the particular areas of health. Whether it should be nutrition or work-outs, students can log in and organize what they have done throughout the school year. I do not think students would be too thrilled having to log onto the website and track everything that they have done. If everyone had advanced enough phones, there is sure to be an application that does the same tracking as the site. It would just be more convenient and possibly more simple. Step counts and heart rate monitors would be just as useful and would not require anymore tracking that writing down the appearing numbers.
3. Taking screenshots, like the ones seen in this blog, can certainly capture the results from the program. It would give a clear view to the teacher and could be shared without outside people taking a look at them. The privacy can be contained through Google docs in which the student can share a document with the teacher, containing screenshots of the required results.
Final Part 1a&b
The video "Brain Gains" is found on the website CBC.ca, which is developed Canada. The story itself takes place at a school called City Park Collegiate in Saskatoon.
The news piece is quite interesting as it is about how teachers set up an exercise program for the students in order to achieve higher grades. The school is for more troublesome students for are not as capable as other students there own age, in addition to having behavioral problems. The program created at the school was aimed to help these students grow more brain cells and fixate behavioral problems.
The PE teacher at the school is not talked about, but PE programs in general are discussed. It is stated how the majority of students in PE classes do not participate and would rather just "chill" in class. The people who actually participate are athletes, but they are already active from their sports and do not need the class for health benefits. As a teacher, it will be important to find activities that everyone would be able to participate and benefit from. This program in particular seems to be a great idea locating at the outcomes from City Park Collegiate.
The main outcomes from the program were that the students' grades improved a whole letter grade and their behavior improved as well. Even though I have heard that students who participate in exercise are more successful in school, I was bit surprised by the results. These students were not motivated whatsoever and their behavior was distracting to everyone. These type of students generally become drop-outs and have trouble in life. I was proved wrong after seeing the success of this program became for them all. It is not just any physical activity that is supposed to give these benefits. The NYS PE standards do not get the same outcomes as this program has a specific set up. The exercise is sustained aerobic movement. The heart rate must be at 65% to 75% of the student's maximum heart rate and be held for 20 minutes. This exercise helps grow brain cells, which results in improved learning.
BDNF stands for brain derived neurotrophic factor, which is a protein that helps growth and differentiation of neurons. The "key" booked the exercise program was based on was Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John Ratey. He explains in the video that the students who benefit from the program become more attentive, less impulsive, and less fidgety, thus benefiting from the BDNF's.
The news piece is quite interesting as it is about how teachers set up an exercise program for the students in order to achieve higher grades. The school is for more troublesome students for are not as capable as other students there own age, in addition to having behavioral problems. The program created at the school was aimed to help these students grow more brain cells and fixate behavioral problems.
The PE teacher at the school is not talked about, but PE programs in general are discussed. It is stated how the majority of students in PE classes do not participate and would rather just "chill" in class. The people who actually participate are athletes, but they are already active from their sports and do not need the class for health benefits. As a teacher, it will be important to find activities that everyone would be able to participate and benefit from. This program in particular seems to be a great idea locating at the outcomes from City Park Collegiate.
The main outcomes from the program were that the students' grades improved a whole letter grade and their behavior improved as well. Even though I have heard that students who participate in exercise are more successful in school, I was bit surprised by the results. These students were not motivated whatsoever and their behavior was distracting to everyone. These type of students generally become drop-outs and have trouble in life. I was proved wrong after seeing the success of this program became for them all. It is not just any physical activity that is supposed to give these benefits. The NYS PE standards do not get the same outcomes as this program has a specific set up. The exercise is sustained aerobic movement. The heart rate must be at 65% to 75% of the student's maximum heart rate and be held for 20 minutes. This exercise helps grow brain cells, which results in improved learning.
BDNF stands for brain derived neurotrophic factor, which is a protein that helps growth and differentiation of neurons. The "key" booked the exercise program was based on was Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John Ratey. He explains in the video that the students who benefit from the program become more attentive, less impulsive, and less fidgety, thus benefiting from the BDNF's.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Conclusion in Leadership hours
In addition to the hours I put in at my church, I just concluded my intramural soccer season as acting captain. The reason I say acting captain is because I am not the person who signed and put the team together. However, with my previous soccer experience. I took hold the team and lead it to numerous victories.
The season started at a slow point since we lost our first 3 games. At this point, it was obvious that we needed to make changes as a team. I began me role as acting captain by explaining what we needed to do in order to come on top, such as marking opponents and calling out open passes. Little by little, our team worked these improvements and started winning games. Our record for the regular season ended up being 3-3.
Playoffs were now here and everyone on the team was now confident that we could make it to the top. In preparation, I started having practices so that we could strategize and touch up on our skills. The practice paid off as we won our first game in the playoff bracket. Unfortunately we did not make it passed the next team. However, this only prevented us from winning the all school league. We were now put in the rec league playoff bracket for another chance of victory. We ended up winning the first game in the bracket, thus leading us into the championship game. In the end, we ended up with a 0-2 heartbreaking loss. I explained to everyone to keep their heads up as we played a great game against a good team. Not to mention the game was on a turf field, which was a new environment for everyone. I also told them how we improved immensely as a team since we started the season off with losses. Next year holds more opportunities for us and I look forward to leading my team again. This season gives me a substantial amount of leadership hours needed for the course.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
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