K-12 online Learning

I know a fair amount about K-12 online learning. I know that many elective classes in our building are being offered as hybrid classes. These classes have students meet once a week and then the other days are online learning days. I also know that our school uses American school as an online learning way for students to make up credits that they are behind. Online learning at our school happens on Blackboard. Similar to the way that the IT program uses it. I believe that most online learning is happening outside the “core” classes.

                I think it takes a self motivated, organized, and discipline student in order to be successful in an online environment. The students are responsible for staying on task and up to date on things that are happening in the course. The students must be organized in an effort to meet deadlines that they set within the structure of the class. The students must also take time to learn material on their own and look for additional sources in areas that they feel they may need more help or information. 

Judging the Quality of Wikis and Non-vetted Sites

As far as Wikipedia goes I do allow my students to use it as a source. I ask them to trey and validate all the information they find by using multiple sources for the information that they include into their projects. I think allowing kids to use all types of sources and then try and validate that information with other sources gives  them a realistic idea of how to find credible information. In my opinion Wikipedia may not be the best source for information but it often one of the first places that people can get information from. This is something that people tend to look for when accessing information. People want the quick easy answer, therefore, I think it’s a good idea to teach students how to get quick correct information.

At my school YouTube is blocked on all student accounts. Teacher do have access to the videos placed on YouTube. I don’t allow students to use youtube videos in their projects but I do use some videos for class. I show the students the Tony Gwynn OTL video from ESPN in my health class. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pEAjphgW7s

Building and Refining your PLN

http://peandme.com/

                This is a blog I added to my list because I follow and like their ideas on twitter. I am not sure that it counts so I did four but I figured if I like their twitter post I’ll probably enjoy their blog too.

http://handheldlearninginpe.com/contact-me/

                This blog gives technology ideas that may be useful within physical education. Obviously this is something that caught my interest.

https://evsport.wordpress.com/

                This blog gives a lot of ideas on getting kids especially girls involved in physical education. It also gives advice for fellow PE teachers.

http://chrishornerpe.com/

                I selected this blog as I found a link to it on the Guardian website. It was under the heading of physical education blogs I should read. The blog gives lots of ideas on physical education.

Followed

@ChrisHorner

I followed because I started reading his blogs

@DylanBlain

I followed him to see the PE trends in the UK

@PEteacherProbs

Followed to get some ideas for class

@MLSPE

Followed him because he is a presenter at many PE conferences

@HHLinPhysEd

Gives technology ideas for PE teachers

I feel have used the twitter tools a lot this semester. I usually seem to see ideas for class or games pop up on my timeline at least 3 or 4 times a week. The twitter ideas are not something that I have tried yet but they are something that I would like to begin to use in my classes. I think the Pinterest and Youtube things that I have added have been less useful. I do not use Pinterest or Youtube that often so that may be why I have not gotten much out of the sites. Overall I would say that the PLN things I have added have already been beneficial to me as it has gotten me interested in adding new games to my current classes. 

IT 6230 Unit 2 Blog

I currently teach at Lakeshore high school in St. Clair Shores Michigan. I teach physical education and a few sections of health. In this current trimester I am teaching more health then in the last two years. Therefore I'm going to use health as the class and lesson for my example of the Web 2.0 lessons. 
 
For the substitution in my health class I currently allow students to take notes using your tablet or their phone. This allows the students to have access to their notes as long as they have their phone or tablet. It also allows students to take pictures of slides that may be part of my presentation.

For the augmentation step in the SAMR model, I am going to start using the app my fitness pal as a way to track and record your weekly diet. I used to do an assignment that had the students track the food that they ate throughout a three day. They then looked at how much of each food group they ate and wrote a short essay on what they would like to change in their diet. Using the my fitness pal app, which is free on all smart phones and tablets, the students no can look up the brands of the food they eat and scan bar codes to get more accurate data for their diet. 

As for the modification step my thought is to have students began using Google Drive and Google docs as they write their research papers and do the drug PowerPoint presentation. This will make the group work and assignments easier for the students to share responsibilities within their assignment. This will also allow them to share them with me and for me to help them throughout the assignment.

After the students have done the assignment of tracking guy at using my fitness pal, I will have them write a blog using blogger. The blog will focus on explaining what they have found to be the main concerns within the normal teenage diet as well as the healthy portions of their diet. The students will use the information that they recorded using the my fitness pal app for baseline data for their block. The students will include a list of changes and reasons for making the changes to create a healthier plan of eating. Finally the students will post the blog and share the link to the blog with at least one nutrition expert by using a source like Twitter.

IT 6230 Unit 1 Blog

As a high school teacher I have only worked with students in the Millenial generation. I am a part of that generation as well as I am 30 years old and born in 1984. I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when some of the events they mentioned happened. The biggest one that I feel I have lived through is 9/11. This is a day that many people will never forget. It happened my senior year of high school. I remember watching the news footage in my zoology class. I have friends that have been a part of the Iraq wars. I think the events that they mentioned definitely impacted our generation and my life. Another event I would add is the power outage that went on in 2003. One part in the video I thought was very interesting was when the girl held up a sign that said only 18% of her teachers knew her name. When I think about how education changes and moves to online and hybrid classes, I wonder how much technology will effect students and their relationships with their teachers. I also found it alarming that 63% of teachers do not let their students use technology to create as assignment.

I feel some of the things that they have used to describe our generation are true. I think my students are big into gaming. As a teacher I try and relate things to the games they play. Most recently I used the trivia crack app as an example in class. I also feel that my students are very socially conscious. The students seem to care a lot about the opinions of their peers. A negative opinion or rumor has a huge impact on a lot of students in class. This is something that I think does describe a majority of students I teach, but I’m not sure I would say the same for myself or my friends. Students in this generation are big time multi-taskers. An example I would give is students have a much easier time staying focused on work in class while listening to music. Many students study to music. This is something that is very true for me. The last thing I find to be true is the thought that our generation is tech savvy. I know that many students help their parents use technology.

One thing I disagree with is a characteristic given in the introduction video. I would not say that today’s students are spoiled rotten. I have many students that work to support their family or that have to wait for 2 hours after school for a ride home. As a coach I often have to drive my athletes home from games or practices. I think that there are some students who are spoiled but I believe the majority of today’s students are not spoiled. Another thing I would disagree with is that the generation is healthy lifestyle. I think that the opposite is true. Many students spend time on technology now instead of being active.

ON YOUR OWN BLOG

My name is William Puvalowski. I am a teacher at Lake Shore High School. I teach Physical Education as well as Health. I am in my 5^th year teaching. I graduated from Wayne State University. I am in my second to last semester in the IT program at Wayne State. I will finish my capstone this spring summer.

Sports and coaching are my two major hobbies. I currently coach three sports at Lake Shore. I coach football. I am the varsity Offensive Coordinator at Lake Shore. I coach freshman Basketball and I am the Varsity head softball coach. Outside of sports I enjoy playing cards with friends and also playing trivia.

I am in this class and the IT program because I have always liked using technology and I feel it is a great thing to use in our classes. Students are more engage in the material when a teacher uses technology. Using things technology helps students relate to the material being taught.  I know that education is moving to a more internet and online type of format and I would like to stay ahead of the curve, so I chose this program.