Last One, Lab D

Last week I taught my last lesson in EDU 255 on Dance Dance Revolution. This lesson was the culmination of everything I had learned throughout the course of the semester. And it is a safe bet to say I learned a lot, just look at the difference from my first lesson, to my last and the steps I took in between. This lesson was the first time I had to write a lesson plan which I believe helped a lot in the planning of my lesson and the actual teaching of my lesson. The lesson plan laid out everything I was going to do during the lesson. I think my lesson went very smooth. The activity progression sheet also helped. I felt much more confident teaching this lesson, then I had in my previous lessons. The only thing that bothered me was skipping my instant activity which I was excited to do, and then cutting my lesson a little short because of time constraints, so my lesson was about 12 minutes and 40 seconds instead of 15 minutes. I think it may have thrown off my time coding sheet a little bit because I cut out the activity time involved in the instant activity and the last activity I planned to do, "Lord of the Dance Pads". However as teachers, our environment can always change and we have to adapt. I think I adapted pretty well to the changes. It is a little hard to hear my feedback to the students due to the music and the fact that I didn't have a microphone on, however I did the best I could on my feedback form from memory and the video. I gave feedback to the class as a whole and to more than half the class individually. I used names, tried to stay as positive as possible and gave feedback congruent with my cues and tasks. I also filled out my own C-9 form for the first time and I think I hit almost all the spots. I think the only thing I missed was my timing. I had some waiting time in between songs which I wish I could have avoided. I don't think some waiting time is bad because students might need some rest in between dances, however I still wish I didn't have as much. I think I handled my behavioral issues pretty well because I noticed the problems relatively early and got my students back on task. Below is a quick clip of me handling one of the behavioral issues. Over all I am happy with this lesson, I really enjoyed teaching it. I've had so much fun in EDU 255 through out the semester and I learned so much! It has been an awesome experience learning from Dr. Yang, the lab assistants, and even my classmates.

2009 AAHPERD Tampa Conference

A week ago I had the privilege to attend the national conference for the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance in Tampa Bay, Florida. It was an awesome experience. There are so many sessions and activities to do at the conference that I wish I had more time to attend them all. I learned so many new games, concepts and ideas to use when I am teaching. I have tons of notes about games and best of all, a lot of the information is posted on the AAHPERD website. I met so many people and made friends with about 20 other SUNY Cortland P.E. majors who I might have never gotten to know if I didn't go on this trip. I met leaders in the P.E. world, I met famous athletes like Carl Lewis and Garry Sheffield. Most importantly I networked with a bunch of people who can help foster my career. I attended some sessions on current issues that are going on in the P.E. and Health World. I learned about obesity issues, adaptive physical education issues, women's body image and more. I also had the opportunity to help Dr. Stephen Yang present a session on Exergames: Bridging the Gap Between Video Games, Activity, and Fun. It was a great experience for me to help teach P.E. teachers, who have more experience than me in P.E., about Exergames. I got to show them how to use some of the games and tell them about how they can be used in a P.E. setting.
I went down to Tampa with the intent of absorbing as much info as I could. I realize that I have almost two years left before I enter the job field so I wasn't in the mode of trying to land a job. However the seniors who went with us on the trip were, and it was awesome to watch and learn from them how they networked. A lot of them made connections with grad school programs and now I know what I will do in future conferences.
Lastly, I couldn't believe how popular Cortland was. I met so many alumni and everywhere we went, people saw our Cortland polos and complimented the Cortland program. A lot of people complimented how we represented ourselves and Cortland. It was an awesome feeling to hear all the positive comments about SUNY Cortland's Alliance of Physical Education Majors! I'm so happy that I went, I have memories for a life time and I can't wait to go to another conference. I strongly recommend attending the conference to everyone involved in P.E.!