Dear Superintndent Chalmers

Dear Superintendent Chalmers,
            
            I am writing this letter on behalf of the Physical Education Department at the North Shore Academy located just outside of Las Angeles, CA. I am not sure if you are aware of the dilemma that the population is having with children being over weight. Studies show that today's children will not out live us adults. Scary, yes I know that is what I am here for. I would like to represent this new gaming system that I just became a Master Trainer in. The new game is called iDance, this game is similar to Dance Dance Revolution but the game play, movements and effort needed is much higher than the old gaming system of Dance Dance Revolution. Another reason that iDance is much more efficient and effective on the students bodies and heart rates is that the game allows you to have up to 32 users at the same time, as with Dance Dance Revolution you where allowed 2-4 users. iDance is also a better system because it is wireless as with DDR it is wired to the game council.
            During the training I received from the creator, designer, Mr Bas we did a study that should on the first attempts the users were struggling because it was new to many and also they did not understand how to use the machine properly. After a few trials (songs) Bas showed everyone that when you are using the machine you need to keep moving and stay with the rythme. After the Pre-test each participant whould fill out a series of papers asking how they liked it, how much there precived excursion was, and the heart rate was also calculated and scored. The Post-test showed masive amounts of increased energy, it became more fun, because they understood the system.
            This system would be great for out school, not only would it help our students become more physically active it shows them something knew that they can do, as opposed to playing traditional games. The game system iDance is really neat because it uses technology in to the game creating interests in many different ways. If you have any more comments or concers please feel free to email me, call, or stop into my office. Here are the links to the research that was performed on the iDance system.

http://www.positivegaming.com/index.php?id=103&mode=deliver&deliver=82

 http://www.positivegaming.com/index.php?id=103&mode=deliver&deliver=37

Thank you so much for your time,
                    Sincerely,
                        Bradley Velten  
                             Head of the Physical Education Department at North Shore Academy 

Animoto.com

Volunteer Coaching

During the month of September I was able to be a coach for the Walton Booster Club Soccer program in Walton, NY. I was asked by my old football coaches wife if I would like to volunteer to help out the program. I was so excited to put in what I have learned from SUNY Cortland and help out the students. I was the coach of the red team, and I taught the children the fundamentals of soccer including the rules and regulations the age group that I coached was five and six year old children.During the month of September I traveled back to Walton, NY(my home town) every weekend to coach my team and help the kids enjoy the sport of soccer. Saturdays where the days that I taught the children the rules and fundamentals of soccer and on Sundays we would have our games, they were a lot of fun and after each game I would chat with the parents asking them what there children have said about the program and I would also ask them if they had any ideas to improve the program. I had so much fun for the 17.5 hours that I was there for and I was asked by the head director Mrs. Jacobs if I would come back next year and coach and I was so excited and of course I said yes.

NYS AHPERD 2009

Thursday, November 19, 2009 was day one at The 72nd Annual Conference at the Turning Stone Resort and Convention center was absolutely incredible.
Upon attending the conference I was nervous because of all the powerful figures in our field in attendance. Walking into the Casino Richard Esposito and myself needed to find where the registration table was. We found it right away, we just followed the signs, the individuals at the registration desk handed us this great booklet with all of the information needed for the state conference. When looking through the packet we planed out our day with which events we wanted to attend. The first session that caught both of our eyes was the "Thriller...Dance with a Modern Inner City Twist". Before this event started I had twenty minutes so I decided to check out the what vendors were available. The first vendor I attended was a vendor about bowling, and bowling equipment that can be purchased for use in the gymnasium setting. While talking to the vendor she gave me a CD-ROM with ever thing needed for teaching a bowling unit, this would have been very helpful to have a week before since I taught bowling Lab D. Through out the exhibitor time I made my was to many different types of vendors from rugby to rock climbing to fitness monopoly. Each vendor was very egar to talk to future professionals, such as myself, to share their experiences, and talk about what they provided. The vendors provided pamphlets, CD-Roms, booklets, and business cards. It was an experience in it self to see the ideas and games created to make a statement in the teaching field. Next Richard Esposito and I ventured over to the session on "Professional Growth: What's Your Game Plan?" This was an outstanding presentation, presented by SUNY Cortland's own Dr. Jeff Walkuski. The idea behind his presentation was to get future professionals to think about their professional development, and how to make themselves more marketable, competent, and involved. This presentation concluded my first day of the 2009 conference and I already learned so much information. I thought to myself " What can Friday hold", I was excited I could hardly sleep.
Friday, November 20, 2009 was upon us, this was day to and I was ready to learn.
I began Friday at the conference attending a presentation by Rose Gelrod(Harlem Day Charter School) called "Maximum Fun, Minimum Equipment: Great K-3 Games". The games that were presented were not just created for kids, they were kid tested. These use minimal to no equipment and create maximal fun all while getting the students to meet the National Standards for Physical Education. Next it was time to go the the Keynote Presentation, presented by Brian Luke Seaward. His presentation was a heart touching presentation called "Essential Keys to Wellness: Recreating Life's Vitality. At this session I meet up with Jack Murphy and Mike Koral and many other Cortland colleges were in attendance. Dr. Seaward's presentation was just outstanding, it made me open my eyes and think. One of his quotes was "to know and not do, is not to know". This was the best presentation that I have ever been to, after walking out of the presentation I felt like a new person and I was ready to take on the world. All of this happened before 11 AM, that's the point I decided I will always be in attendance to all of these conferences. Directly after this presentation we all hurried upstairs to the session "Future Professionals Section Business Meeting and Luncheon." The reason we went to this session was because Cortland's own Ryan Ingalls was elected Section President. This was a very exciting for exciting moment for Ryan and a proud moment for all of SUNY Cortland for him to become the Section President. The next session I attended was outstanding because it was presented by Laura Peterson-Shaw the 2009 Elementary Teacher of the year. The session was titled "Great Games and Activities for Elementary Physical Education classes. " She did such a great job presenting new ideas for the classroom and she presented great games. She asked for volunteers so myself, Jack Murphy and Mike Koral all participated during the entire presentation. She incorporated other class subjects as well such as science, math, English, and even history. I learned so much, plus I had a great time with the activates and games. Next on my agenda was to attend "Fitness Frenzy/Fueling For Performance~Movers and Groovers." This session was presented by Helen Robinson, Sharon McGuire and Stephen Spink. This session was great because it got everyone in attendance moving and grooving to music all while performing aerobic movements. "Who knew Penguins Could Fly?" was the next session I attended. This was presented by three students form Roberts Wesleyan College, this is the second year this college has offered Physical Education as a major, and I think that these students represented their college very well. When they began they asked for volunteers and of course I can not turn down anything that involves activities and movement, so once again I was moving around. They presented games for elementary students with a winter themed output. The games they presented were fantastic, I can not wait to use some of them in my student observation this winter at Franklin Central School . It was time for the last session of the the day and John Modena and I decided to attend "Best of the West" which was presented by Lori Potter and Jenn Bell. We learned a lot of exciting and interesting games. They stared with putting a course of dome comes on the ground and had us walk across them, this was a progression for rock climbing.
Before the Jay B. Nash Dinner I was sitting in my hotel room reflecting on the past two days, thinking to myself "Where am I going to save all of this information and games I just learned." For some reason an image of a toolbox entered my mind, I was excited because this made sense I can have a toolbox of ideas. Before the dinner SUNY Cortland held a social for its future professionals, professionals and alumni. This was a great time to get my name out there and I started talking to alumni and professors about any and everything. I left the social with ten different businesses cards. The Jay B. Nash Dinner was great it was nice to see how many people were in attendance at the conference. I must say that Cortland was the school that was best represented with our one hundred plus students in attendance. All I have to say about that is WOW! After the dinner it was time to cut loose and hang out with the professional educators at the conference in a social setting. At the evening social there was a live band and everyone was on the dance floor, future professionals and professionals it was great. It gave everyone time to wind down and enjoy themselves. This social concluded the long amazing day.
Unfortunately I was unable to attend the sessions on Saturday. I really wanted to attend the session, "Spice up your Warm Up" because Jack Murphy was presenting and I knew Jack had a few tricks up his sleeve to make it memorable. I recommend to every future professional and professional to attend this conference every year because it is simply amazing. If you attend you will learn more during the conference than imaginable. I know I plan on attending every NYS AHPERD conference from here on out.

Bingo Bowling

On Monday November 9, 2009, it was the first day of Lab D. Lab D is our last teaching lab of the year, and this lab is designed to get you out of your comfort zone. My teaching assignment was set in the local bowling alley. The students were responsible to meet at the bowling alley at the start of class time. Every student showed up early so we could all get our bowling shoes and our bowling balls. Class started a little late due to a men's league at the bowling alley but we knew that we could do a good job with the lesson. Lab D is a solo mission and is designed to have each student teach fifteen minutes since the class started late I was only able to teach for twelve minutes.
So for Lab D I was last to teach behind my classmates Chris and Jason. During the week we meet up and discussed who was going to teach what part of bowling since there is only so much. So as I started my lesson I had the class look at my visual aid to go over my cues which where, approach, push away, pendulum swing, and then the release. On my visual aid I had a diagram of a bowling lane and then the set up of the pins. For my demonstration I had a student who I knew who perform well and he did by hitting the exact location I asked him to, which was the one three pocket of the pins. So after the demonstration I had the class preorganized before I taught so it would save time, each student knew what lane to go to. I had the class play a game a made up called "pockets". The idea behind "pockets" is to have right handed throwers aim for the one-three pocket of the pins, and have left handed throwers aim for pocket one-two. The students had a lot of fun with this game, I was able to tell with the feedback I gave and the smiles that I saw.
After a few minutes I had the students regroup and I was ready to set them up with there next challenge and game, which was Bingo Bowling. But during my re-grouping I had a student misbehave and start saying how stupid this game was and how stupid bowling was. At first I asked the student why the game was stupid, and he kept replying. After a few answers and questions back and forth I realized that the student was just seeking attention. So within a minute I was apply to tell the student that I would deal with him in a second, and then i finished setting up the rest of the class. So after the little interruption I was able to get the students into the game. I found a Bingo Bowling scorecard online that I gave out to the teams of two that I had placed in order before class started. The idea behind the game was first to have fun and then have the students work on taking angles to try to mark of the score sheet. I used the Bingo Bowling score card for my assessment, which was required for lab D. After I set the class on there way I had to go talk to the student who was not having fun bowling. I talked to him for a little bit and then I thought to ask him, " What is your favorite animal", and he replied "I like Penguins." You can here me guide this student through the lesson in my recorded audio. So after I found out that he liked penguins I asked him to waddle like a penguine with me as we approach the lane and prepair to roll the bowling ball. After we went up and bowled like his favorite animal he enjoyed the rest of the class. As I walked around and checked up on the progress of the game and gave feedback to my students which you can see in my feedback anylasis.




During my lesson closer, I tried to end my lesson with asking where bowling was invented, but I gave the anwser by accidetn instead of saying bowling. In my lesson plan you can see that I had a few questions about the history and about the cues. To end my lesson I gave a hook into the next class by saying we will have a round robin tournement the next class and the winner will recieve three free games of bowling. I felt really good about my lesson then I realized that I never gave my class a saftey statement, I noticed this after filling out my C-9 form for this lesson.

The art of Curling

On Wednesday October 28, 2009 it was my groups turn to teach and we where set to teach first. Lab C is described as an International lab and it is taught in pairs, I began the lesson and my partner, Ricky Sternkopf, closed the lesson. The idea behind Lab C was to find information on a game that originated in a different country, while reaching the idea with my partner we came a cross the idea of teaching the Olympic sport of curling. When looking up information on we need to discover some history and culture.

During Lab C we got paired up with partners and my partner was Ricky Sternkopf. When looking up information on curling we decided that I was going to teach first. Together we needed to create a lesson plan with different tasks. Before we could get set to teach we needed to think of how we where going to create equipment and I thought for the stone in curling we could use one gallon ice tea jugs. After planning on using these ice tea jugs we needed to get to work and drink nine one gallon ice tea jugs. As we began getting our collection of “stones” together we asked our roommates if they could contribute and they did. We

planned on freezing the jugs and performing a test run on Monday, it was a good thing we planned on this because some of our jugs cracked and therefore where no longer good. Then we decided to just fill them full of water and glue the tops on, this worked. We had brought nine jugs the amount we needed for the class, and Ricky had a great idea of bringing an extra just in case. Sure enough on the way inside the building one slipped and exploded all over the parking lot, good thing we planned ahead.

Curling was originated in Scotland and is played on the ice; it is very similar to shuffleboard. So as I got ready to teach Curling I needed to insure that my classmates would be safe on the ice. Before I began my lesson I described the risks and dangers that will take place in the ice arena, I provided helmets for every student only one student decided to where a helmet. I was very nervous as I began to teach because I did not want to fall during my lesson and/or I did not want any of my students to get hurt. To start on the ice I had the students slide their feet around the ice so they could get used to the slippery surface. As I began the lesson I talked about how the Olympic sport of curling started and talked a little bit about the country and its language. After describing the three “L’s” of curling, Locate, Lean and Let Go, I incorporated the language of the Scot’s using there number system to help with the lesson. Instead of saying one, two, three, I counted and had my students count using Ane, Twe, and Tre. Through out the lesson as the students passed the stone back and forth I counted, had them count with me, and I asked students to using the Scottish language saying Ane, Twe, and Tre. Also I asked students what the cues where during the task having them tell the class what they where so they would remember the three “L’s”.

Through out the lesson I could tell that the students where having a blast using the draw throw, to send there “stone” to their partner. I saw that some of my students where getting this task very easy so I remembered my activity progression and had some of them switch to there left had and try to get the “stone” into the house, which is the target area. I felt during my lesson that I hit every target on the C-9 sheet that was required. During the task I was able to give feedback to over half of the class, which is what is desired. Also when looking at my videos you can see that I managed my time very well leaving lots of room for the activity. As you can see from my time coding sheet that I was able to accomplish everything desired.

Teaching curling was a great experience for Ricky and I. I believe that it was an outstanding experience for the students to get into a new environment such as the ice arena. Teaching on the ice is an experience in it self because of all the safety concerns and the different sounds that the arena produces. I really enjoyed the teaching of an international sport, and also having to think of how to create my own equipment.

Lab B Can You Here Me Know

During Lab B we switched up the topics and we all taught an aspect of Ultimate Frisbee. I was excited about this lesson because I love Ultimate Frisbee. Having a six minute lesson as apposed to a four minute lesson really gives you more time to plan and change the task for the class. After Pat started the class of great, it was my turn to teach throwing to a moving target. I was excited to teach this aspect of the ultimate because it is fun and it gets the class moving. The first drill I ran was a moving triangle with passing. It allowed for the students to move and get comfortable throwing to a moving target like in a game situation. After each group was ready for a new task I decided to have the groups add a defender this way the thrower has to move and the receiver has to get open. During my lesson I noticed that I still need to work on controlling the speed of my voice to some point and also I need to project my voice more. I think the reason I talk so fast when I teach is because I get so excited about my lessons that I do not realize that I am talking fast. The one major problem I had with my lesson was when I had the second group demonstrate the new task I forgot one of my students name. I felt really bad because I knew his name and it was on the tip of my tongue and the "cat grabbed my tongue". I felt through out my lesson I gave adequate feedback to the majority of the students. As you can hear in my lesson I was pointing out what the student did well not just always saying "good job". I used the cues that I have in the lesson, for example "Great job Rachael way to anticipate the throw to Martino". I felt I did a good job with my lesson, and of course there are still many things that I need to improve on. As you can see in my verbal transcript that I gave a lot of feedback to the majority of my students.

Do not let this happen to YOU!

During this video it shows how some teachers are there just to get the pay check. If you want to be an inspiring teacher you need to get to know every single student no matter the class size. It is a funny video to the plain eye but as a future teacher candidate you start to think how embarrassing that is for a teacher like that. Here at SUNY Cortland we are taught to be teachers that get involved with there class. Every class I have ever taken here it is always started with a name game or activity so the students meet and it helps the teacher remember the names as well.

Keep it in Schools

The video describes how to keep physical education in school. It tells how to get involved and how to be a better teacher. It tells of ways to change the idea of "rolling out the ball" and actually getting involved in the students lives.

mini teaching exercise Take 2

Friday September 18th 2009 was our second chance to reteach our mini lesson that was on the first day of class. Since our first initial teaching episode our class has been working each day with Professor Yang and the lab assistance, on the steps to creating a great lesson and a proper lesson plain. During the past few classes we have broken down the components of a lesson and we broke up in groups and each group taught a section in the desired components of a lesson.

During the teaching exercise the goal was to teach a task to the students in a time limit of four minutes. Part of this exercise was to break down our teaching episode by every ten seconds to see how best to manage my time as seen in my time code sheet I need to give less instruction. I choose the task of the overhead throw in soccer. The over head throw is to get the ball back into play when it is kicked out. I started strong with a great hook which enabled my class to get involved in the lesson. When describing the task of the over head throwing I went into to much detail and had to many cues, I should have focused the majority of my time on the activity you can see this in my time coding sheet. Once I split my class into groups of two I had them practice the over head throw. As I was teaching I did a poor job of giving feedback because I was still focused on getting my cues across to my class. I gave feedback to three students, which was very poor I should have focused on the class and not the task. As I was teaching Professor Yang threw a curve ball at me and had one of my students not pay attention and start doing there own thing, then had the student perform the task wrong. During the video it is clear that when the student on the far end of the line on the left side turns around and throws the ball against the wall. Then the student picks up the ball and then starts to perform the task in the incorrect way. As I am teaching I need to keep my focus on the entirety of the class. I noticed the student performing the task incorrectly after the third time and I was able to give him some one on one teaching. During my lesson I should have giving the class a challenge and then once they accomplished what was asked have a new level of difficulty ready.




After my lesson the lab assistance gave me some feedback on the lesson I just taught. The main points of the critique that I received was that I need to be more vocal and that I need to slow down when I am speaking to my class. After watching my video I realized that I need to give two to three cues to the task and then demonstrate and check for understanding. I discovered after my verbal transcription of my lesson that I need to use less slang words. As I was teaching I was still trying to cover information when it was completely unnecessary because I should have been working on feedback. As you can tell by my feedback analysis that did not go as planned. I thought that overall my lesson went good, I had a good hook and I was very enthused as I was teaching.

Questions and responses about initial micro-teaching episode

Can you tell he was passionate, relaxed and excited to be performing?

- Yes Danyl was very excited to be singing and performing to try and get a record deal. He is a teacher but he was very passionate about singing, you can tell that he is a great teacher. He looks very energetic in what he does no matter what it is.

What do you look like in your initial micro-teaching episode?

-I look that I had the attention of every one that was being taught. I had everyone in a semi-circle and I had them listening and after I demonstrated what the task was. Then I had everyone get comfortable and had them play

Can you see any excitement and enjoyment while teaching?

- I think that I could have been more excited and shown more enjoyment of what I was doing. I love teaching but I need to be more involved with my class and get into the spirit of teaching and helping my students.

How will you convey your interests in helping your students learn?

- I will convey my interests by getting excited and getting them excited in what is being done. I like the idea that you taught of play teach play

Voice, body language, preparedness, confidence, props, calmness, etc...?

-I need to be louder and I think that I had good awareness of the surroundings of the teaching area. In the video I can see my self walking around and moving the obstacles for safety.

How will you make your classes so that students want to come back and want to participate?

- I will switch things up with different types of lessons and different types of sports. I will be excited about teaching witch will make my students interested.

initial micro-teaching episode