Artifact #2- USF679

One of the other projects that we were assigned and had some opportunity to work learn more about was "Genius Hour". While I have heard of Genius Hour or 20% time, I never really had the opportunity to explore. Ironically, that is exactly the idea of Genius Hour. To allow students the opportunity to just explore/learn about what they want to. While there shouldn't be constraints on what the student explores, I find it difficult that teachers would just give up time, I know I would. However, I did spend my "hour" doing something that I probably wouldn't have done and realized that it wouldn't be a bad thing to do to break-up the monotony the semester. Below is my "genius hour" work

Reflection:

This was a timely project injunction with a family vacation.  My daughter’s (5yo) favorite animal when we go to any zoo is the Okapi.  I think it stems from a character on the Disney Cartoon “The Lion Guard”.  Anyway, she loves them and is fascinated with them. While on a Disney Vacation and spending the day at the Animal Kingdom, we saw Okapi while on the Safari ride. She then found an Okapi stuffed animal.  She didn’t let go all day and during the time we got talking with an employee about sponsoring/adopting an Okapi. My daughter was beyond excited about this potential. I would never would have thought about doing something like this, but in the conversation with the girl from Animal Kingdom, I sat down and decided to see what I could find.  I ended up finding more information about Okapi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and why the Okapi are important to the people of the DRC.

   

Artifact #1- USF679

During the past 8 weeks, there were plenty of opportunities for "an old dog, to learn new tricks".  Being a PE teacher, makes the application of new tricks a little more difficult, but I feel that each will have a time and/or place to be used.  One of these new tricks was learning how to create a Digital Badge and a Digital Badge Pathway.  While on the surface, I am not sure how receptive high school students would be to the "digital badge" reward, I think it can be useful in, even in PE. Depending on how the Pathway is constructed, could allow students to be self directed learners and allow students to learn at their own pace.  This would push the focus of the classroom from teacher led to student led.  It could potentially allow students to explore other areas of a topic based on interest and ability.  The following link contains examples of a couple pathways that I constructed for my Sports Medicine class.  Part of that assignment/activity was also creating the badge that would go to the student upon completion of the Pathway.

Reflections of... EEND679

Taking a class that starts as your school year finally (sometimes painfully) comes to an end and extends into the summer, isn't the easiest.  However, this class occurred at the perfect time.  Some of the best learning occurs when reflection can occur.  Considering that this class centered on student assessment and with the school year ending, both formative and summative assessments were still fresh in the head, it made things easier to do.  I found a few of the modules to be beneficial when reflecting on my current practices. The first being Module 2: Formative Assessments.  This module assignment allowed us the opportunity to build an infographic that compared different formative assessments.  What I liked about this more so than looking at different types of formative assessments, was having to create an Infographic to do so.  I have my students create infographics, at times in class, but I have never done one before.  The best way to understand how a tool can be used, is to personally use it.  I have a better understanding, not only of formative assessments that I use, but how an infographic can be developed and used to increase understanding of a topic.

The second module that I found to be beneficial during this course was Module 6: Digital Portfolios & Self Assessment.  During this module, I was able to reflect on some of my new practices in my new Sports Medicine 2 class, along with ways to possibly incorporate it into other areas of my PE curriculum.  Being in a PE curriculum, a traditional portfolio might not work, but there are elements of it that can be enriching to the students and allow for a personal connection to the curriculum.  Self-assessment is a powerful tool, especially in PE.  There needs to be a connection from the individual to the curriculum and back again to complete the feedback loop.  

All in all, this class has made me reflect on current practices in student assessment, student self assessment, and the use of technology.  It has confirmed things that I am doing right and found areas in which I definitely could be doing more to benefit my students.

Genius Hour

I have heard of Genius Hour before this class and have always found the idea to be intriguing.  However, being a PE teacher, never found a proper place for it.  Considering that my job is to make sure kids are being physically active for a vast majority of the time, its tough.  I am assuming many traditional classroom teachers feel the same way about Genius hour.  How can they be expected to meet state standards, but yet give up 20% of their time in class to let kids discover anything they want.  I do feel that there should be a happy medium to allow this to occur.  I have given a topic to a class and told them they can create anything they want within the scope of the topic.  I think this allows a student a wide range of productivity and creativity.

I enjoy doing things on my own and when given the opportunity to investigate whatever I want, i do feel more empowered.  I am sure students would do the same (at least most would).  This type of project, in my opinion, would work in most classes, but not all.  Not ALL students would be motivated to do anything and actually find this to be a bigger pain, because they don't want to do it (especially in HS).  

I think a modified version of this would work really well for most, if not all classes.  giving a broad topic and allowing students to create anything under that umbrella.  I do this a couple times as an assignment in my sports medicine class.  Students can choose any type of athletic injury they want and then explore/research that injury.

My last Hello

Greetings-   Well...this is the last class in the series which make this the "last hello" blog.  Below are excerpts from the very 1st introductory blog last summer.  Time flies.. Last week of Seniors at the HS.. the end is near...

My name is Mark Florence, i am known as Flo. I am a Physical Education instructor at Naperville Central HS.  I just finished my 5th year at NCHS, but have been teaching for over 15 years.  I spent 10 years at Neuqua Valley HS prior to making a move to NCHS.  In addition to my duties as a PE teacher, I am also the Head Athletic Trainer. 



I have been a digital learning leader for NCHS the past couple years (since our school went 1:1). During the past couple years, I have had the opportunity to be part of Google training.  I am level 1 certified and part of the process has been learning great features to Google suite and other technology that can be used in classrooms.  I actually had a blog started, but forgot about it, until this assignment. This is through Blogger.  It is very Google Friendly.

USF 678 Artifact #2

This course centered on using/infusing technology into existing curriculum.  One of the assignments that we had to complete was looking into Project Based Learning (PBL) with the use of technology in our content area.  PE is not the first content area that is thought of when thinking PBL, however, i was surprised when i sat down to think about it, that there were avenues that could be explored.  This link is the results of sitting down to think of PBL units.  More specifically, it was created with thinking about the end product first using Understanding by Design.  I found that thinking about what I want the students to produce, will help guide how to get there. 

USF 678 Artifact #1

This class had a variety of activities that allowed me to expand my horizon as a teacher.  One of those activities, was learning about grant writing.  I have always heard about grant writing and our district's educational foundation does an amazing job giving money out to teachers looking to expand their classrooms for students.  I have never written a grant before, nor have I thought about it.  The Naperville Education Foundation (NEF), has it's own application process for the teachers in the district. This class "forced" me to look into it and made me realize that the process isn't as daunting as I thought it was.
 This link is the grant I wrote for class assignment using the NEF Application for the 2017-2018 school year.  At the time I completed this assignment the NEF was no longer accepting proposals.  However, I might look into submitting this proposal next school year when the proposal portal opens.

EEND 6872 Reflection Post

As with many courses that I take, I find the most beneficial information doesn't come from a textbook or research article, but rather from communicating (listening/talking) with others in class and then applying that to my setting.

The discussions that were had during the week of Problem/Project Based Learning, was by far the most interesting for me.  I think giving students an authentic learning experience could be the most powerful thing we, as educators, can give to students.  It allows them to be personally invested in the topic, allows them personal expression, and allows them to pursue the "why's", "what's", and "how's" of a problem.  More importantly it will allow them learn through failure in a safe environment.  

The video in Week 3.. "Gold Standard" was a great resources to start with as it helped give the "Why's and What's" of PBL.  In week 4 learning about "UbD" was a great to have with PBL.  It allowed to look at the end and then work back to the beginning as a teacher plans a project.

Overall, i feel that i have a better understanding on how using technology as part of a PBL can maximize the over affect that my content area can have.  It allows students to move to the center of the curriculum and lets them drive the knowledge content.

EEDN 667 Artifact #2

There were some assignments that we completed during class, that wouldn't have a direct fit into my curriculum as a PE teacher.  However, it did allow me to explore other applications that are available to both teachers and students in creating.  I think that that is just as powerful as finding an application to my curriculum.  Expanding my knowledge base, will help me in the long run.  During one of our assignment we had to create a video book trailer or advertisement.  I created a PowToon, that was a fictional adventure for students.  I might look to explore PowToon  for other areas in my curriculum to see if there is a natural fit or way to use it.

EEND 667 Artifact #1

During one of the weeks of this class we talked about Screencasts.  I had done screencasts before (not many) but the assignment did allow me to reflect on how I could use a screencast efficiently/effectively.  The reflection process is an important part when implementing new ideas/strategies.  This assignment also allowed me to see how others might use screencasts in their classrooms.  My screencast that I had created was using Screencastify.  I had learned about screencastify during a session through my district.  I used screecastify, when i was absent from my class, but wanted students to listen/view a slide presentation that would explain how to find their heart rate.  enjoy.

In Reality...I'm Virtually Augmented....

This week's module contained resources on both augmented reality and virtual reality.  Being a PE teacher, i really haven't found any use for VR.  I am not saying, there couldn't be a use for it, I just haven't found a place for it.  Being a performance based curriculum, I would rather have reality vs virtual reality.  However, AR is unique and I have used the Aurasma App.  It's great for creating circuit workouts and giving students the ability to see what an exercise looks like vs just a poster/picture.  The use of Aurasma is pretty simple to use and allows pictures to literally come alive. 
Overall, this class has been interesting.  It definitely has pushed me outside of my curricular area, which is a good thing.  However, there were things that we learned (storytelling, book trailers, podcasting) that I will never use.  While I can see the benefits in some curricular areas, there is not a natural fit in mine.  I think teachers need to continue to look at ways that technology naturally enhances curriculum, not create curriculum around technology. 

Tell me in a Graphic.....

   Traditional style education, where teachers spew information and students write down that info, has its place even today's classroom. However, is that what's best for today's student?  The current generation of students, have grown up in a completely different generation than their teachers.  The use of technology can and has transformed the classroom and the learning experience.  One example of this transformation is the use of graphic designs, sometimes called info-graphics (see example below).

Infographics can not only get information across in a traditional manner, it allows for pictures/designs to be used.  This will make the information aesthetically appealing, which will increase the intake of information.  Students need to be stimulated in many different ways to allow learning to occur.  There are many easy to use programs that allow infographics to be created.  This can make it easy for teachers to develop more "exciting' material for their students.  More importantly, the ease of use, can allow students to create their own material.  This places the learning on the students and away from the teacher. While this is difficult for many teachers to "let go" of the learning process, it becomes more authentic and more personal to the student when they are able to create.  This "ownership" gives meaning to the learning process to the student.