Is Microsoft Publisher obsolete to our students?

Is Microsoft Publisher a program our students will use in the future?

The reason I ask - I gave my Sports Medicine class an assignment to create a brochure for a lower leg injury. My purpose? So each student may become an "expert" in one injury and share the information with the rest of the class. The students have to research the injury by finding specifics - What is the injury? What ligaments, tendons, bones, muscles are involved? What are the signs and symptoms? Specific treatment, rehabilitation, prevention and so on... The method of delivery to the rest of the class is through presenting the brochure while students fill out a chart I have given them for each of the injuries. The brochures are then posted around the room for students to get a better look and now that we have an LCD projector in the room I pull up the brochures during presentations. You get idea...

As I was explaining and demonstrating to the class how to use the brochure portion of Publisher I thought, "Do they need to know this?" What other methods could I use? (I use ppt. for a different unit.) I like the brochure idea because they look very nice and professional and the information is easy to read but is there something else I could be doing? Any ideas? Thanks.

What matters?

I have the privilege to teach Personal Survival (health) to high school juniors. At this point in a 16 year old's life I have asked myself, "what matters?" What do these student's care about within the realm of the health field? So I have set off to find out.

By using a gallery walk format, I have posed questions to the students about each of our units in class. Through their answers I will be able to modify my lessons to include their interests and concerns.

I want these juniors to take ownership of their learning in my health class. So, "what matters" to 16 year old students when in comes to 1st Aid, CPR, fitness, nutrition, relationships, sexuality, cancer, substance abuse, and stress management? We shall see...

Back to School

I am reminded of a favorite movie of mine every year at this time. Billy Madison, although a comedy and a slapstick one at that, shows the nervousness of each new school year through a one year span. The excitement, the disappointments and the successes. "Back to school, back to school, to prove to dad I'm no fool," is a song Billy Madison, played by Adam Sandler, sings before heading off to his first day of Kindergarten as a grown man. In the story, Billy is trying to prove to his father that he can take over the family business.

I think of all of the new students at school and wonder where they are coming from, what is their background, what are their experiences, what do they bring to the conversation??? What do they have to prove? As a teacher, how do I find that out? I want to know what my new students are "experts" at and what they would like to learn more about. I usually start off the new school year by asking students what they did over the summer. This year I am going to add to that by asking what they would consider their "area of expertise." This will hopefully spark some conversations amongst the freshmen and lead to some sharing of knowledge. I will let you know how this goes.

I am excited for this school year because I have only FOUR preps first semester and five second semester. In my eight years of teaching this is the smallest number of different courses I have had to prepare for! I am excited to have a couple repeat courses and the opportunity to adjust and experiment with some new lessons. I feel like I have quite a bit to do before now and the first day with the students! I need to get going!!! Have a great school year!

It has been a while...

I have left every 21 Century class with all good intentions of blogging my thoughts and ideas. I have had many conversations with collegues on different theories and strategies of working with students. Apparently, I have not shared these thoughts and ideas with the group through blogging. I am making a concious effort to share these ideas and ask for feedback. This is "homework" that I have not made a priority. After reading others' blogs and the feedback they receive I know now how important it is. So, here it goes:

Today I would like to discuss two major issues facing our students today; problem- solving and decision making with real world implications.

For adolescents it is difficult to see beyond the here and now. Problem-solving issues can be as simple as what I should wear for the day? Or more complex situations like deciding what college should I go to? As educators we are asked questions all day long. Students ask us to help with projects, homework, reading skills, math skills, and, for me, how to throw a ball. These are what we know how to teach and what we were trained for. It is our specialty. These are not the problem-solving issues I am talking about.

So many times I have had students come into my office looking for guidance. For example, I left my Physical Education clothes at home or my lock is stuck. It is relatively simple to help the student come up with ideas on how to "fix." Ask questions to help guide the student to an idea that will alleiviate the problem. I try to not tell them how to "fix" it. Some students don't have the experience or maturity to think critically of a situation they have never been in before. That is our job to help them discover a way to make the situation work. Again, these are all of the "small things" but they still need some guidance from us to find the solution.

True problem-solving involves seeing the big picture - future implications and challenges that arise from the decisions made. We, as educators, can share our knowlege, guide and be there to listen but after that, we have to let them go. Hopefully students will make good choices. My health class is all about that - making SMART choices. How much more can we give them? They on their own after this.

1/23/07 Session Blog

The information presented on Tuesday was very helpful. Tracy's overview of the subscription services at Arapahoe was very informative and useful. I wish I had known about these sooner. Maybe something we could do as a voluntary faculty meeting. I can't wait to use these for Personal Survival and Sports Medicine. I am very interested in getting the teen health subscription for Physical Education and I hope it will be something well all use. Thanks, Tracy.
On a side note, I am also looking for an online athletic training text for Sports Medicine. The information changes frequently for injury rehabilitation and evaluations.

I really enjoyed the chapter 5 article on Structuring Learning around Primary Concepts. I learned a few years ago how to discuss "big picture" and breaking it down into little pieces. I learned from Cara S. - in volleyball she would show the skill and then break it down into little parts that were easy for the players to understand. She also explained why the skill was important and where it was used. I use this in my classes all of the time now.
My group was discussing the difference between constructivist teaching and active learning. I know I think I am using constructivist teaching sometimes and it's really active learning. I think the two blend into each other and can work well together but they are not the same.

I feel this session was useful. I will definitely use the "big picture" concept when breaking down skills in class. I will also use the subscription services for my class research projects instead of just using Google. Information from different sources is important so the students get more than one opinion or angle on the subject.
Thanks planning team! What a useful and motivational session!

Take Five 1/20/07

Returning to teaching after being on maternity leave for 11 weeks has been a little difficult. While I am excited to be involved with student processing and learning; I wonder what my 3 month old daughter is processing and learning as well. I think what am I missing - what will she figure out when I am not with her? In the future will her first steps or words be at daycare? Will I feel guilty? But in the last three weeks I have seen amazing progress in her socialization skills. I contribute this to being with other kids at daycare. She is stimulated all day long with other children talking to her and showing her how to play with different toys. They are teaching her how to communicate, socialize and share. Her personality has really come out. If she were home with me, I could not give all of that too her. Still, if I could be home with her I think I would. There are positives and negatives to both situations and I am trying to find all of the positives I can in my situation.
What has helped tremendously is the support from other staff members who are in the same situation or have had to do the same in the past. Arapahoe's faculty and staff is so friendly and sincere. I love working at this school because of my friends (faculty and staff) and the students. I appreciate every one's help and support. Arapahoe is a great place to work and it has made coming back into the "adult" world an easier transition that I thought it would be.

11/30/06 Session Blog

It was nice to get out of the house and be with friends for a few hours. I have been a bit behind on my blogging and 21C information but I watched the 2020 presentation that Karl put together Wednesday night and it got me thinking again about teaching and our students. Every session I have been to has motivated me to help our students become producers. I think with communication and clear goals we can encourage students to be curious, to ask questions and to become thinkers.

I would really like to state that I have enjoyed our sessions and I feel I take knowledge from each class. But more than anything the 21C sessions make me want to be a better teacher - they make me strive for excellence and helping my students become better learners. It motivates me when I see other teachers trying new things for our students because it is about them and their future.

1. The Text-Based Seminar method, in theory, was well thought out but it did not work very well with our group. I think if we had gotten the handout before we started our discussions it would have helped guide our discussion. We had a integrated group of different disciplines and it was difficult to really discuss what "our" department would do or what standards we could focus on.

For me, having group discussions like this are a bit frustrating. It makes sense to me how certain things work in the classroom but in my area that's not always attainable. I enjoy hearing other's ideas and think about how I can incorporate that into my classes but in reality it doesn't go over so well. I have to have a different approach in physical activities classes.

The information about the laptops was useful. Anne's passion about her laptop classrooms is amazing. Anne, Brian, and Brad are not changing their expectations of the student or the curriculum but they are incorporating the technology aspect and using the information from the web to enhance student learning. They are teaching the students to be self-reliant instead of always depending on others to tell them the answers. I really need to watch one of their classes to see the laptops in use - it intrigues me.

I would really like to talk to Physical Educators who are using technology and constructivist teaching in class. I need ideas from outside of the traditional classroom. I have a few myself but I am cautious to use them because I want to see what others have used. I don't know if I am going down the right path. I want to be successful and have the students really buy into what we are doing with physical fitness and health. I know there are PE teachers out there doing this and I would like to find them.

2. The activities today were well-planned but I am curious about what plan Melissa and Ray had first. I did feel lost during the text-based seminar - I did not read chapter 4 because I had missed the previous session - no excuses - but I felt because of the cross curricular group and my not being prepared that we really didn't do what we were supposed to. Though we had some nice conversation and sharing on the topic.

I know we didn't get to everything that was on the learning goals but I feel quality is better than quantity. I really enjoy the reflection and sharing time with other teachers. I like getting ideas from others.

3. The potential I see in the information presented today is something I can share with my department. I know they would be interested in what is happening the laptop classrooms and what ideas we have shared on teaching students to become producers of their learning.

4. Planning team, I have been thinking about the grading issues we discussed a couple months ago. Joan H. had some great ideas about grading as far as skills go. Where do I find the balance between skills based testing, responsibility, following directions, etc.? What is important? This is a question for the PE department. I feel good about my health class and sports medicine and the constructivist teaching and technology but I am having a difficult time with incorporating this into my activities classes. How do I make this relevant for a basketball class, yoga class or swimming class? Do you have any tips?

Take 5 - 10/16/06

My, what questions Tony sparked with me in our last meeting. I am really trying to incorporate his ideas into physical education. I see this working with Sports Medicine and Personal Survival but I don't know how it will look in an activities class. So much of our grade in class is based upon attendance and participation. A student can have poor skills and still get an A in class if his/her participation levels are good. I see this as more of a responsibility grade than anything. Should I make skills worth more points? The problem I see with this is that many "skilled" students don't put forth the effort in participation that they could and in this they actually receive a lower grade. How do I find that happy medium. I don't want to reward natural athleticism if the student can't follow directions or come prepared to class but I want the student who isn't so naturally skilled, who tries hard and improves to have a "successful" grade. I do grade skills - fitness and sport skills- but the points are not equal to what student's earn through attendance and participation. I think our society is split on pushing for everyone winning and noone's feelings getting hurt - no scores in youth soccer games to an unbelievable amount of pressure put on kids to play club soccer at the age of 8!!! Everyone wins and winning is everything.
So, here is my problem or issue: What is more important? Being a responsible student or being a good athlete? Can I find the balance in my grading that will reward both, yet SHOW where each needs improvement? Joan brought up a good point in our last meeting about PASSION. Someone may not have the talent but they have the love for the activity. There must be an answer in balancing the two but where is it?
I will have to experiment a bit with different ideas. I am planning on talking to Tony more about this. I would love to see what other teachers in similar subjects are doing.