Engelstone S Article Health Journal

Movement is vital to learning! How often do we hear this, yet studies show our children continue to tip the scales and spend more time in front of the television and computer. There are many technology options for our students today, and though it is vital and necessary to use, it is also important for our students to get up and move to stimulate their brains. By simply giving your students a brief movement time in the classroom, it will help them tremendously when they do have to sit and listen. I believe classroom teachers will benefit from the "move more and sit less" expectation. Moving helps boost learning and helps keep our students healthy. In a book written recently by John J. Ratey called "Spark," he explains that the "brain works just as muscles do - growing with use, withering with inactivity - and shows why getting your heart and lungs pumping can mean the difference between a calm, focused mind and a harried, inattentive self." There is a connection between exercise and the brain, and as educators, we need to remember this when we are planning our lessons, and incorporate more movement into our classrooms.

Software and assessment

Jenn and I are going to learn and use with our students the open source software Google earth.
It is an incredible piece of software that allows you to plug in any address and visually see this destination. I am going to target one 5th grade class to use google earth by inputting their home address and Sunset Elementary School's address. I will have them locate parks and recreational activities close to their home and have them find out how many miles these are from their home, as well as how many miles they live from school. I'm going to use a zoomerang survey to find out these distances, as well as incorporate some questions about their activity level and how often they walk to or use the parks and recreational facilities near their homes. After researching various assessment tools, I liked the choices of zoomerang in making your own survey or using premade ones. I will write my own questions, and am excited to use this new tool.

cyberbullying

Cyber-bullying involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others.^[1]

In September 2006, ABC News reported on a survey prepared by I-Safe.Org. This 2004 survey of 1,500 students between grades 4-8 reported:

• 42% of kids have been bullied while online. One in four have had it happen more than once.
• 35% of kids have been threatened online. Nearly one in five had had it happen more than once.
• 21% of kids have received mean or threatening e-mails or other messages.
• 58% of kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online. More than four out of ten say it has happened more than once.
• 58% have not told their parents or an adult about something mean or hurtful that happened to them online.

Cyberbullying is a huge problem with tweens and teens. Many have moved from being physical to bullying others online which cause tremendous stress in their lives. All technology users must be given specific rules with how to treat others online and bullying must not be tolerated!!

Helpful websites: www.stopcyberbullying.org; www.digizen.org.

Netiquette

"What is Netiquette? Simply stated, it's network etiquette -- that is, the etiquette of cyberspace. And "etiquette" means "the forms required by good breeding or prescribed by authority to be required in social or official life." In other words, Netiquette is a set of rules for behaving properly online. " Virginia Shea, Netiquette.

I enjoyed finding information about netiquette - good manners when communicating online. I feel it is very important to teach our students, as well as our children, the proper rules when using technology. Like Sam said in class - we teach our students rules on the playground, rules in games, rules how to behave in our classrooms, so we need to teach them how to properly behave when they are online!! Virginia lists these 10 rules as follows:

• Rule 1: Remember the Human

• Rule 2: Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life

• Rule 3: Know where you are in cyberspace

• Rule 4: Respect other people's time and bandwidth

• Rule 5: Make yourself look good online

• Rule 6: Share expert knowledge

• Rule 7: Help keep flame wars under control

• Rule 8: Respect other people's privacy

• Rule 9: Don't abuse your power

• Rule 10: Be forgiving of other people's mistakes

Good sites for information: www.wikipedia.com, www.bpl.org/kids/netiquette, www.livinginternet.com

Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling is an excellent way for anyone to share pictures while writing about the adventures associated with those pictures.  I found a website with a wealth of information not only for the beginner, but for teachers to use in their classrooms, for the mac user, and for anyone needing tips on how to put a story together.  This website is www.kenton.k12.ky.us/digitalstory.dstindex.htm.

Blogs

Wow!! This world of blogging is absolutely fascinating to me!! I had never entered this world until I had to start my own blog. After researching educational blogs on google, I am simply amazed not only by the number of blogs out there, but by how helpful they are to educators and to anyone else!! I researched the top 100 education blogs and found many sub topics. They included categories such as college, e-learning, education news, education policies, internet culture, learning, library and research, specialty, teaching, and technology. Though I did not agree with many of these blogs political views, being a conservative myself, I still found them extremely helpful and informative.
A history teacher can connect with other history teachers around the world to share ideas. A new computer teacher can ask for help from other teachers about what rubrics to use and how to challenge her students. The options are endless and it brings teachers together that can share not only their curriculum, but how to reach their students to make a lesson relevent. There are blogs on internet safety, education technology review, and tips for new bloggers (I liked this one!). There are blogs for health, saving money, and even cute animal pictures!! Blogs are beneficial not only for teachers, but for the students, as well. Students can use blogs to communicate with one another, to find out how to apply to college, and use the many resourses out there to connect with someone in their area of interest. Blogs are here to stay and they provide an avenue for anyone to not only write and express their views, but to connect and communicate with others in their field of interest.

Educational Journal

I'm posting my educational journal that is very relevent to my subject area.
It's the Health Journal and has wonderful articles about health, nurtition, and fitness.
Enjoy!!

http://health-journal.info/categories/fitness

PowerPoint as an educational tool

PowerPoint is an excellent tool for students to not only showcase what they know, but it allows them to be interactive and learn a powerful tool. It is not only educational, but fun!! It allows the students to be as creative as they want to be, or it can simply be informative. It is also a wonderful tool for teachers to present their curriculum to the parents.

Prensky

I agree with Prensky that immigrants need to learn the new way - how to reach digital natives effectively, by changing their teaching styles without compromising content. As a digital immigrant myself, I am amazed at the abilities of my digital native daughters. By growing up with computers, cell phones, ipods, etc., not only are they comfortable using this equipment, but they learn by playing with it!! That is so foreign to me! As effective educators, we need to equip ourselves by learning how to reach our students; but first we better play with the equipment and become familiar with it. Only then will we be effective educators!!

Introduction

I have been teaching physical education for 6 years at Sunset Elementary School in the Issaquah School District after spending 8 years at home raising my two beautiful daughters. I taught physical education at Woodinville High School for 5 years prior to that and coached basketball, volleyball, and tennis. My passions include anything athletic or fitness related, especially biking, reading, and spending time with my daughters and black lab, Kona.