13.1 Use a reflective cycle involving description of teaching, justification of teaching performance, critique of the teaching performance, the setting of teaching goals, and implementation of change.

The following lesson plan shows the continuous process of evaluating and re-evaluating my lesson plans and modifications I regularly make to them.

13.2 Consult professional literature, colleagues, and other resources to develop professionally.

Research Summary Paper for Kines 315 on; Woods ML, Karp GG, Miao H., Perlman, D. Physical educators’ technology competencies and usage. Circulation. Spring 2008: Phys Educ 65 no2: 82-99

SummaryThis study is interested in how comfortable educators are with using technology and which technologies they are implementing. The

educators in this study responded to an email and answered the Physical Education Technology Usage Survey. This survey assessed the educators’ own opinions of their technological competency, the reasons and way that they implemented technology. The survey also addresses issues teachers face while trying to use technology in their classrooms. The finale inquiry of the survey was how these educators learned to use technology and what was the most effective way to acquire this information.

Most teachers with more teaching experience tended to use technology less in the classroom. This is because younger educators have had more experience and are more familiar with technology than many more experienced educators. The educators in the survey were kept anonymous but were identified by the grade level they taught, years of teaching experience and gender. On most of the questions they selected whether they were novice, proficient, or experts. Only on a few questions allowed for the educators to respond by writing in.

The survey found that there was a significant difference between men and women when it came to how they perceived their level of competence. Men perceived themselves higher than women, while there was no difference between years of teaching experience. There was a difference in perceived ability by grade level taught. Elementary teachers rated themselves as less competent than both middle and high school educators.

The survey showed a wide range of ways the teachers’ acquired education about technology including through their own personal gyms. Teachers indicated that they used technology for a couple of reasons. Some teachers stated that they mainly used technology to aid their visual learners such as showing videos, pictures, and LCD projectors. Technology was also used to aid individual development through the use of fitness software, pedometers, heart rate monitors and videotape analysis. Finally technology was used for student assessment including but not limited to video analysis and inputting information into computer programs. The final area addressed were the reasons for not using and implementing technology. These reasons included financial concerns, accessibility, and lack of class time, training needs, and inadequate space.

AnalysisThe reliability of the survey was checked by the Cronbach’s alpha on both general and physical education technology. The results showed

that both were reliable because they were over .70, .97 and .84 respectively. An analysis of variance calculated on general technology usage and specific technology usage in physical education based on gender, school level, and years teaching. The statistical significance was deemed acceptable with a level of .05. A test of variance was done for each question with a multiple-choice response while a content analysis was used on the responses for open-ended question. Open-ended questions were used to asses difficulties educators face in implementing technology in physical education classrooms and their suggestions for effective teacher preparation for technology use.

The use of a survey limits the way participants can respond. The multiple choice responses force the participants to pick a category that may not correctly assess there understand and use of technology in the classrooms. The open-ended questions allowed for an explanation but no follow up questions were allowed to be asked because of the use of the survey. Also subjects may understate or overstate their use of technology depending on their own interpretations of the survey. Though the use of a survey may have limited responses it did expand the number of participants and decreased the amount of time needed to conduct the study.

The research found denied beliefs that younger teachers included technology more often in their classroom. But more research needs to be done to understand why there was a gender difference between perceived technology usage. Also the difference in grade level and technology use was explained by the time constraints in an elementary classroom. The elementary teacher has limited classroom time and must educate their students about use and also keep children from damaging the expensive technology.

This study is promising because it addressed many of the reasons physical educators do not use technology. Now more research can be done to find ways to correct these problems. Specifically, if technology can become commonplace in elementary schools students will be used and expect technology to be used in all of their classes. This repeated exposure to technology will make it easier for the teachers and also for the students to continue their use of technology with physical activities after school.

Overall the study shows that physical educators are trying to implement technology into their classrooms. More research needs to be done to be sure that teachers are implementing technology in the correct ways and at the levels that they say they are. But there needs to be more funding for training and purchasing of technology so physical educators can help their students benefit through the use of technology.

13.3 Participate in the professional physical education community (local, state, district, and national) and within the broader education field.

While attending the University of Wisconsin I had the opportunity to join other educators from across the state of Wisconsin for a training in the use of Fitness Gram fitness testing program. During the training we covered the rationale for the program, research behind the methods and the proper way to execute the test. I heard from back from current teachers using the test at their schools and they discussed potential issues with the program. From this experience I gained first hand knowledge of how to introduce a fitness test to a community and how to show it’s proven effectiveness compared to other methods.

13.4 Reflect upon the appropriateness of program design on the development of physically educated individualsKinesiology 315

Assignment: Physical Education Program Evaluation Tool

Today you will be creating a PE program evaluation tool. Use the following resources to complete the task:

Divide up to review the resources below. Each person or group should review one of the resources and create a list of indicators that should be included in a PE program evaluation tool.

Bring your lists together and organize the indicators by topic

As a class, place the indicators in an easy-to-use format, and develop a scoring system to use.

Moving into the Future: National Standards for Physical Education, 2nd Edition

Quality Physical Education

One of NASPE’s key beliefs is that every student in our nation’s schools, from kindergarten through grade 12, should have the opportunity to participate in quality physical education. It is the unique role of quality physical education programs to help all students develop health-related fitness, physical competence, cognitive understanding, and positive attitudes about physical activity so that they can adopt healthy and physically active lifestyles. Quality physical education programs are also important because they provide learning experiences that meet youngsters’ developmental needs, which in turn helps to improve their mental alertness, academic performance, and readiness and enthusiasm for learning.

According to NASPE guidelines, a high-quality physical education program includes the following components: opportunity to learn, meaningful content, and appropriate instruction.

Opportunity to Learn:

Instructional periods totaling 150 minutes per week (elementary) and 225 minutes per week (middle and secondary school) Qualified physical education specialist providing a developmentally appropriate program Adequate equipment and facilities

Related NASPE documents that ensure students the “opportunity to learn” in physical education include:

Opportunity to learn

Meaningful Content:

Instruction in a variety of motor skills that are designed to enhance the physical, mental, and social/emotional development of every child Fitness education and assessment to help children understand, improve and/or maintain their physical well-being Development of cognitive concepts about motor skill and fitness Opportunities to improve their emerging social and cooperative skills and gain a multi-cultural perspective Promotion of regular amounts of appropriate physical activity now and throughout life

NASPE documents that specify meaningful content -- what students “should know and be able to do” relative to physical activity and exercise include:

National PE standards What every student needs to know PA guidelines for children PA activity guidelines2

Appropriate Instruction:

Full inclusion of all students Maximum practice opportunities for class activities Well-designed lessons that facilitate student learning Out of school assignments that support learning and practice No physical activity for punishment Uses regular assessment to monitor and reinforce student learning

NASPE documents that offer appropriate instructional practice at elementary, middle, and high school levels include:

MS Appropriate practices HS appropriate practices K-5 appropriate practices

One final component for a high quality physical education program is qualified teachers:

Beginning PE teacher education standards