Final Project Reflection

The process of working through the development of my project was something I have been mentioning in previous posts as well as in my summary of learning.  Working as a educational consultant I find myself constantly helping teachers with implementing new ideas and practices to actualize curriculum.  To me it is all about building capacity.  I want to leave knowing the teacher now has more tools in the toolbox.  This past fall as in years past, I received calls from teachers wanting me to work with the students on geocaching.  I always enjoy my time of working with students and teachers but began to think of how I could make this experience happen more often for the kids.  Such a simple activity needs to happen more than once a year for these students.  Teachers need to build capacity.  This will allow geocaching to happen on the school yard at all times of the year with many subject areas.

I began creating a module on my site that would lead teachers through the process.  I framed out what it is that I would do with the students and tried to create videos that would help explain things to teachers.   I know it is important to not overwhelm teachers as well.  So I needed to be concise enough and simple enough.  I thought it would be good to have an Outcome and Indicators right at the top of the page so the teacher would know what he or she was getting into!

Outcome:  Examine and apply effective strategies for implementing alternate environment activities.

Indicators:

• create and incorporate geocaching experience into various subject areas.
• develop and share resources for specific grade levels and subject areas.
• demonstrate understanding of technology with relationship to geocaching.

The videos were somewhat time consuming, but I feel are likely the most important piece.  From my conversations with teachers, I kept hearing that a short video is a great way to get information across.  Teachers are inundated with curriculum and we need to find efficient ways of getting ideas to them.  I posted these videos on youtube and also used Jing to create a screencast of how to navigate through the module.  I know this will help teachers.

Working through the class, the biggest lesson I have learned is sharing.  I emulate sharing in my project by using Google Docs.  I first posted some examples in google docs and had it set up that permission was needed to edit.  After doing some thinking I changed that.  I want anyone and everyone to contribute to the caches.  Someone asked me the other day if I am going to look through them all periodically to ensure there is nothing inappropriate written.  I never had thought about it???  I don’t believe I will.  I think that is a great piece that comes with sharing.  I think other educators would ‘police’ the pages as well.  I do not want to limit ideas by only allowing selected people to edit.  Too often we think about the negative when it comes to sharing.

I am excited what this module will be able to do for teachers and for students.  Many of the resources that I am planning right now will have a component that will allow teachers to build and to share.  I will get the ball rolling and hope the rest keep the momentum going.  When I first began creating resources for my site, I was doing all the work on my own.  The hope in the future is to tap in to all the great minds out there in the physical education world.  I hope my module around geocaching is something that my fellow eci831 classmates can use!  Thanks everyone for an exceptional experience.

Every Finish Line is also a Start Line

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For me to really get my head around how I have progressed in this class I needed to think of where I was at prior to ECI831.

I had a website that had a great deal of information on it.  I have spent countless hours creating videos and assessment tools etc that directly connected to provincial curriculum.  The amount of information on my site was growing every day and I wanted to come up with a way to let people know when new resources were added.  The site itself is just a static being that contains material.  I needed to start finding ways to keep bringing teachers back to the site.  I did not want viewers to spend a great deal of time trying to find out what is new on the website.  I first came up with the idea of using a ‘new’ icon with everything I put on the site.

Looking back, the educator still needs to do too much as far as navigating the site.  I came up with the idea of creating a blog that I could have educators follow.  The thought was to simply post every time that I have added something to the website.  Teachers that are following my blog would then be made aware of the latest updates.   I was only then posting to my blog when I was adding new resources.  The posts themselves were limited to sharing what was new to the website.  My posts were meant to spur on conversation or get teachers thinking, but I think with limited followers and minimal presentation, the posts were not that engaging.

Perhaps I was naive, but I figured that over time more and more teachers would begin to use the blog.  I promoted the blog by connecting it to the home page of my website.  It wasn’t enough to just have the site and the blog; I needed to get people connected to it. 

I also had started a youtube channel with my website to contain the collection of videos that I was creating.  Youtube was used simply to upload video and every now and then I would have a comment or someone subscribe to the channel.  Any type of messaging that is available through youtube was not being used at this time.

I had spent a great deal of time researching and reviewing literature with regards to the content I was building on my website.  I felt I had a great understand of what needs to be on a site like mine, and what that should look like.  I have developed criteria for any resources that I plan on having on the site.  I have also created a vetting group to help with the selection of resources.  I felt comfortable with the content process.  I understood that I needed to do a great deal of work on the delivery process.

Then came ECI 831!

In one of our first classes we spent some time talking about blogs and what should and perhaps should not be a part of a great blog post.  I spent some time looking at blog posts and began following classmates blogs.  I quickly saw that a great post has strong content but also strong design.  If the post is not appealing I do not think it can be as affective.  Some simple changes to my posts and my blog itself happened.  I took the advice from the class and always ensured that a picture was included in the blog.  Creating links within the post was another easy change that added to the post itself.  I ensured that RSS feeds were available on my blog so it can be easily added to ones reader.  Looking back at my posts, it is obvious to me that the posts have improved tremendously.

Very early into the class I also began to use Twitter.  I created an account, began to experiment with hash tags and began to follow.  Twitter became another way to make educators aware of new resources added to my site.  I added a link to Twitter both on my blog and on my website.  Slowly but surely I began to grow my list of followers and spent time finding people to follow in the physical education world. 

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I quickly made a connection to a fellow classmate and began sharing ideas and conversation via Twitter.  The power of Twitter and connecting through a professional learning network was beginning to take shape.  Only because of the connection in the class and through common interests did we connect through Twitter.  We are now working collaboratively on a fitness assessment resource that will benefit all Regina high schools.  It was about making the connection and I was now understanding that great work can be achieved with a little time spent seeking out those with common interests. 

I was still using Twitter primarily as a way of receiving information.  It was creating my own newspaper every morning.  It wasn’t until the presentations by Cormier and Shareski that I began to taking the initiative to share.  Instead of just receiving information via Twitter, I began to try and share more often.  I would tweet with every blog post and also began retweeting.  Twitter also became a place that I could pose questions and get answers back from physical educators around the world.

I noticed as well that the number of people accessing my blog increased.  An exciting time for me was when I was contacted by a physical educator in Australia.  He was creating a physical education app for itunes and he was hoping he could use some of the content from my website.  He discovered my site via Twitter.  It was this exchange that helped me truly understand the power of Twitter and other social media.

I found that now when I was posting on my blog, I was ensuring that the post was beneficial to the intended audience and that time went into making the post appealing as well.  I always knew that my posts were being read, but now I truly understood how far they reach.  I think as a professional I just felt that I wanted to make my posts and anything I tweet worthwhile to the audience.  As Dean Shareski says, we are now the filters.  I think I want to make quality resources for physical educators in our province, in Canada and throughout the world essentially.

Sharing did matter.  I started to spend more time as well with youtube.  I have had many people start to subscribe to my channel.  Up until now, I would never have replied to any comments posted on my channel.  Now, I ensure that I do my best to respond.  I had a teacher just recently as me about the fitness a thon event I organize.  It looks like I am going to give him a hand with planning such an event his community. 

Through Twitter and from conversations within my PLN I have purchased a ipad in order to take advantage of all the physical education apps that are available.   It is great to ask the question, “What is a good app for youth yoga?” and receive responses from credible people.  What an amazing tool. 

As far as my final project I think I have modeled the idea of collaborative work and developing a professional learning network.  To me, open education and teacher education happens when one can build capacity and sustainability.  I could go out to a school year after year to show the students how to geocache.  What I want to see is the teachers becoming self-sufficient.  Social media and openness can help in the attainment of this self-sufficiency.  The intent of my project is to provide teachers with the necessary information needed to successfully incorporate the use of GPS units into all subject areas.  All teachers in the province and essentially through out the world will be able to access this information.  My growth I feel is evident in the process of creating the caches for the website.  Through the use of Google Docs, educators from anywhere and everywhere can contribute to the module. The idea of sharing and giving back is encouraged to all educators.

I am still very new to the world of Twitter and the powerful use of social media in the world of education and more specifically in physical education.  In May, I will be presenting to physical educators at the provincial conference (SPEA).  I intend to present on the idea of Twitter and how it and other social media options are such an invaluable professional development opportunity.  I feel this session will be as crucial to physical educators as any curriculum session.  This to me is more about curriculum then some may think.  I know I once was one of the ‘outsiders’ that did not truly understand social media and openness/sharing.

Only when I truly began to share did I see things take off for me.  My initial use of twitter was to simply have information come to me.  I finally saw the light when I listened to Dean Shareski and realized that I had an obligation to share.  Dean helped me understand that.  I started to share on twitter and great and exciting things began to happen.  My blog posts also had more ‘meat’ to them as well.  I think part of it has to do with the idea that everyone is going to see them.  Anything I work on I want to be the best I can make it.  I always knew that anyone could read a post.  When I started to connect with those that were reading them, it then really hit me.  This information I am putting out there is helping others.

Telling a story

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I have been spending some time playing around with some of the storytelling options that were shared in eci831 last night.  I created a small story in Vuvox Collage.  It is amazing what is available for free on the web.  What is powerpoint? 

Alan Levine was amazing and has given me a great deal to think about when it comes to sharing stories.  We are really only limited these days to our imagination and how much time we want to take to look into the options.

One thing I thought about after seeing all of these 50 plus options is how it can connect.  There are times when teachers find a new technology and just start using it for the sake of using it.  I think it is important that there is direction with whatever tool is chosen.  Making that connection is not difficult but needs to happen.

Take for example the fun we had last night with pechafickr.  I would love to do that in my class (if I had one).  Besides the obvious fun, it needs to still be a teaching tool.  Of course this is a great way to get kids speaking and improvisation.  I guess I am saying, we just cannot lose focus of why we are using the technology.

This short story took me just a few minutes.  Not bad for a first time I would say.  From my limited time with Vuvox, I think the tool is quite easy to use and very visually appealing.

The project continues

Still working on getting my project to where I need it to be.  I have just finished with all the ‘how to’ videos and I hope they will help the teacher get an understanding of what needs to be done.  I happened to share the link for these videos through twitter and had some great responses.  Connected with a PE teacher named Matthew Pomeroy.  He just started doing some great work with his grade 7 and 8 students and he was going to use the videos.  I also had my videos featured in Geocaching News.  Loving how resources can be shared and used by so many.

My final video was created using Jing.  This short clip was created to help teachers understand how to create the caches for the experience using Google Docs.  I also had a few ideas from reading Kevin’s blog post around the idea of designing instructional plans.  It is around the idea of indicating the learning objectives or as I put it in my project, defining the outcome and providing indicators.  I think it helps the learner to have an idea of what it is he/she will get out of the module or web page.  Thanks again Kevin for the post.

 

 

KISS

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Growing up in small town playing hockey I always remember coaches instilling the idea of KISS (Keep it simple stupid).  Well I prefer to replace stupid with silly but the idea is what is important.  As I work to develop resources for physical educators, I try to remember the acronym.  For my project I am working on teaching teachers how to implement GPS units and geocaching into the school day.  I am definately a visual learner and if I can see a 5 minute video on something I am set!  So far I have a couple of videos up on the geocaching page.   The hope is that these clips have enough information but are not a major time commitment to teachers.  If this is not simple for the teachers, I do not think it will something that will happen in the schools.   Any feedback would be appreciated.

Teaching To Share

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I have been doing a great deal of thinking after listening to Dean Shareski last week.  My master’s project really centers around the idea of building community and sharing what we have with others.  What is it that stops us from sharing?  I think part of it has to do with the fact that many teachers are humble and often timid when it comes to telling others the great things they do.  From a teacher perspective, I think it is a matter of making it easier for them to share.  I think this is where school divisions can play a role.  In RCS we have been housing a great deal of resources on Moodle.  The issue that I have always had with this is the fact that other teachers outside of our division cannot access these resources.  To me that makes zero sense.  I know that there are similar issues in other divisions as well.  Why can’t there simply be one hub in the province to add to?  Is it crazy to think that anything that a division has on Health Education, could be uploaded to the Health Ed. page of a provincial site?  You may be thinking that this is what the Ministry should be doing.  From my experience we will be waiting a long time.  Lets just get it done!  Like Dean said, let the educators be the filter.

Obviously there would need to be parameters set and criteria established to list resources on these sites.  When I create something for the physical educators in my system, I want all teachers to have access to it.  If another school division does not find it useful, they choose not the use it.  I still get confused as to why we are making things difficult.  Perhaps school divisions are like teachers. Maybe divisions are as modest as teachers? Perhaps divisions do not want to look like they are on the cutting edge?  Why are we all inventing small wheels when it comes to new curriculum?
I came across an article on teaching preschool kids to share.  Having a 3 year old niece, I can relate to the article.  I think we as adults can take a great deal from the article.

The following list is taken from How To Teach Your Preschooler to Share by Amanda Rock, About.com Guide

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Here’s How:

1. Set a good example. If you want your preschooler to learn to share, then you must share with her.
2. Remember that your preschoolers things and toys are his world. Respect them.
3. Make sure your preschooler knows what sharing is and that when you share a toy with someone, they don’t get to keep it forever.
4. Find out why your preschooler doesn’t want to share a particular item.
5. Sometimes you can hit a stumbling block when another child won’t share with your little one, but it’s still a great opportunity for teaching.
6. Show her that sharing is a fun thing.
7. Recognize when it is OK not to share.

The part that really made me giggle was the Time Required…. varies on the child!

Setting a good example is number one on the list.  I am going to continue to work on creating and finding great resources and do my best to share.

Active Learners – getting the body and mind moving

 

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So I came across the book Fitness Education for Children.  The author, Stephen Virgilio says that students are drawn to physical activity.  Virgilio lists 10 motivational strategies to help teachers get children involved in physical activities.  Now I know what many are wondering. Why am I writing about physical activity in ECI 831?  Sometimes I think it is all I talk about!  However, I do see similarities between motivating kids to be active and to be active learners.  I mean that is the goal of us as educators.  We talked with Dave Cormier  as to why we educate.  It was interesting to see the various answers.  I do not think my focus is to ensure that students take away specific outcomes.  I am more concerned with helping ‘produce’ life long learners that are active learners.

So back to the top ten list.  Because I want all educators to promote and enhance physical activity levels in students, I will have a hidden agenda (well not really hidden) as I share the list.  I will provide the ideas around motivation from Virgilio and then I will pose some thoughts/questions of my own. 

1. Teach Basic Skills.  These are skills such as running and curl-ups.  “When teachers take the time to instruct students on proper form and technique, students will assume teachers really care about improving the kids’ physical development,” says Virgilio.  The same could be said for technology in the classroom I suppose.  Sometimes we are too concerned with getting technology into the classroom and do not spend enough time truly using the technology to its potential.  Many have smartboards, but how many use them as was intended?
2. Choose success-orientated activities.  When children feel successful, they will repeat an activity and gain the confidence to advance to more difficult activities. I had the discussion around what is fair and what is equal and how that connects to learning.  Damian Cooper would say we as educators need to make things equal so that all see success.  I think it is easy to get caught up in being fair.  How many times have you heard kids say, “ That is not fair”.
3. Have Fun.  “Children should laugh, sing, play, and interact while engaging in physical activity”, says Virgilio.  I think this one is obvious.  This is why the technology can be so powerful.  Students enjoy using smart phones, so let them!
4. Add creative equipment.  Introduce new and exciting equipment to add to classes.  Too often we use the same equipment year after year.  This is why I think it is so great to be an educator.  It is too easy to find new and exciting ways to do things.  Who teaches a lesson the same way twice anymore?  Technology is evolving so quickly, what one used last year may be obsolete the following.
5. Add new activities.  Always be on the lookout for new activities to add to programs.  How much fun was it the first time you used Skype in your classroom?  Not only is it great for the kids, I think it keeps us as educators young at heart.
6. Create a colorful environment.  Decorate the gym with colorful posters, exercise charts, and bulletin boards or have a monthly theme.  How can technology help with the creation of a colorful learning environment?  If we talk about colorful from a figurative perspective, I feel technology plays a big role in brightening things up.
7. Provide Incentives.  Students need support and encouragement for their hard work in class.  As a teacher I always had an issue with giving students treats for doing what should be done.   When we provide incentives we need to be creative.  If we have made the learning unique and connected to the students’ incentives will not be the driving force.
8. Be a role model.  Exercise with your classes, eat healthy foods at lunch, and keep nutritious snacks at your desk.  Role model technology.  Do not fear technology; rather experience it with the students.  Be a role model by trying new things in the classroom. Role model change!
9. Accentuate the positive.  Positive reinforcement strengthens existing habits and encourages students’ progress.  From my experience, a great deal needs to be done with Formative Assessment.  Once teachers understand the power of this assessment, students will flourish.
10. Organize a club.  Students who join the club can work on individual goals or participate in a group physical activity.  Organizing any type of club in your school will help students feel part of a team and provide them with opportunities to take risks, experiment and connect with others. 

I think the ideas from this list can work for any teacher, at any level, with any subject content.  Again, this all goes beyond the curriculum.    I would love the hear your thoughts.

Building Capacity

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When I talk to people outside of the teaching world, I am often asked what I do as a curriculum consultant.  I try to explain how I help teachers actualize the curriculum by team teaching, sharing ideas, providing resources, etc.  What I am trying to do is build capacity.  I want to help teachers become better at what they do.  I am looking to make that teacher independent and able to integrate new ideas.  If I need to go out to work with a teacher year after year on the same thing, I have not done my job with that teacher.  My job is not to go out every year and teach the educational gymnastics for a teacher.  My job is to help that teacher gain the understanding, competence and confidence to teach educational gymnastics.

Through my website, I have been trying to build capacity.  This fall I have spent a great deal of time out with schools geocaching.  What a great fall we have had!  I love going out and setting up courses and working with the students, but this is something I want teachers to be able to do without me.  Geocaching is an easy and exciting way to integrate physical education into any subject area.  I want these kids to experience this wonderful learning opportunity on a regular basis.  I want to see this become an integral part of the teachers planning.

For my project I will be adding a place on my website that will teach the teacher “how to” set up a geocaching experience.  I plan on creating videos to explain what GPS is, how to set up your experience, as well as how to make your caches.  I am teaming with other curriculum consultants to create the caches or treasures.  I have work to do but feel free to take a look.  Remember this is under construction.

Wayfinding

As I mentioned in my last post, it is important that there is connection in what we do.  If someone can relate or connect work to passion I think there are endless opportunities. Once again I use an example from the #physed world to try and make sense of the conversation last week with George Siemens.  I began to think of the discussion around the idea of fragmented information and narratives and how we need to make sense of the information available and find our way through the messiness of it.  Again for me it comes back to making it meaningful to the learner. 

When I start to look at all the information available to me and my focus with physical education, it can become overwhelming.  I need to find my way and I have know idea what that path really looks like.  Take for example Twitter.  I am now receiving a great deal of fantastic information but need to take time to decided what I can use and what I decide not to use.  I begin to prioritize.   Do we allow that with our students?  Do we allow the students to decide the path? 

When I work with students with Geocaching, the entire process of working with the GPS units is to ‘find your way’.  At one time I would spend  a great deal of time telling the students how to find their way with the GPS as your tool.  Now I do more along the lines of letting them figure it out and decide what it is they need to know to achieve success.  It can get messy, and I know that perhaps this example is somewhat simplistic, however it works.  Through discussion, errors, and maybe going the wrong way, students really begin to learn!  We as educators need to allow for this wayfinding in our classes.  We need to allow students to become lost.  When a student using a GPS becomes lost and then finds his/her way they have a complete understanding of how that tool works.  If I simply set everything up for the class, programmthe devices and step them through it, the learning will be minimal.

Let me use the idea of “Fitness Testing” for example in physical education.  Why would we ’test’ kids on their personal fitness levels and put a mark to it?  Instead we as physical educators should be having the students ‘appraise’ personal fitness levels.  By making sense of the data and given the opportunity, students could then begin to find their way to improving fitness levels.  It becomes personal and relevant to the student instead of just a mark.  I would argue that the “testing”  would actually deter students from improving personal health.  If we support the students in navigating their way, greater benefits will be gained.  If the journey is meaningful and connects, the wayfinding becomes enjoyable.

Connecting

I have been doing some thinking over the last couple of weeks on the idea of community and connecting.  I am really starting to see just how connected I can be with people I have never met.  It all comes down to common interest and where is the passion.  I tweeted about how I enjoyed the session I did on Friday with High School Wellness 10 teachers.  There is nothing better professionally than working with people who share your passion.  I think that is why I am loving Twitter!  Every morning I cannot wait to read what is happening within the community I building and a part of. 

Something really clicked with me during my Friday session.  Wellness 10 is going through a transition right now.  The curricula is currently in the pilot stage.  The cool thing about what is coming, is the fact that students are going to be able to select some of the outcomes.  The comment was made that we as teachers sometimes think we know what students want and need to know.  I am very big into physical fitness and likely lean towards that some in my teaching.  But what about those kids that need and want help on other outcomes.  I received a tweet from New York Times Health that focused in on mental health.  The clip was very moving to me.  Learning to Cope with a mind’s Taunting Voices is a link all should take a look at.  Do we have students dealing with mental illness?  Of course we do. 

The point I am trying to make is that we need to allow students to have a voice into what they want to learn.  Then there will be authentic learning.  That way there is a connection.  Just like the group I am starting to get to know on Twitter.  I have that connection and haven’t met any of them personally.  I see how connection goes deeper than saying ‘hello’ to someone face to face.  I do not want to learn and spend time on things that are not of interest to me.  I love that we are starting to move that way with the Wellness 10.