Category: Technology

This category recognizes the ways that rapidly changing technology can impact teaching. Read more about how to effectively use the latest technology to enhance student learning and support new and innovative teaching strategies.

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Get HyPE: Using Wordle for Teacher Reflection

As part of the teacher evaluation process in my school district, students are administered mid-year client surveys (student perception surveys) in specific classes. The surveys are a combination of free-response and quantitative (Likert scale) questions. Students complete the surveys online with a proctor, and the process takes about five minutes.

According to Hanover Research, “student surveys are a reliable measure of teacher effectiveness,” and “student ratings [are] significantly more accurate in predicting student achievement than teacher’s self-ratings, principal ratings, and principal summative ratings.” What our students have to say about our teaching is incredibly valuable. They see (and hear) it all.

How can we effectively sort through our students’ comments so they help us improve our teaching practice? Where do we begin? Do we focus on the negative comments, the things we might change or improve, or the positive comments, the things we already do well?

I met with my supervising principal last week to discuss my survey results. He explained that many teachers dwell on the negative comments and have trouble looking past them. He came up with an idea to help the teachers he advises focus on the positive things their students said about them. Using Wordle, he created a word cloud with all of the responses to the question, “I learn best when my teacher.” and printed it out in color.

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Answering the “What Do You Do?” Question

(This essay was originally published on SHAPE America’s member Exchange [December, 2015] and is reprinted with permission.)

Does this scene sound familiar? You’re in a social setting and someone politely asks, “What do you do?”

Quickly the question morphs into a conversation killer if you answer, “I teach physical education.” A few seconds of uncomfortable silence follow. “What do you coach?” they ask, hoping for respite. “I don’t coach,” you say. Discomfort heightens. Blank stares. What to do?

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Get HyPE: Can Playing Be a Formative Assessment Tool?

The purpose of the Get HyPE column is to discuss topics that will excite and inspire the physical education community. My goal is to encourage you to think about or try something new every month. The name of the column also has a secondary meaning. It includes the name my students call me, “G-H,” and the abbreviation for physical education, “PE.”

Kids Playing

I recently read a position statement published by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) titled “Formative Assessment That Truly Informs Instruction.” The following statements are excerpts from the piece:

  • “…true formative assessment is assessment that is informing.”
  • “Teachers are very aware that…checks for understanding are what allow them to teach better and improve student achievement.”
  • “…authentic formative assessment is connected directly to the teaching and learning occurring at that moment.”
  • “…assessments provide information the teacher can use to better understand her students and to then support them in taking the next steps in their learning.”
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Be a 50 Million Strong by 2029 Champion – Part 3

(Editor’s Note: This is part three of a three-part series in which Angela shares the strategies that she has used to get her students physically active and healthy. Be sure to check the other issues of pelinks4u to learn about additional strategies.)

A Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP) is a multi-component approach used to provide students with opportunities to be physically active, achieve the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity each day, and to encourage lifelong physical activity (CDC, 2015). The five components of a CSPAP include: quality physical education, physical activity before, during, and after school, staff involvement, and family and community engagement.

Although all components of a CSPAP are important, staff involvement and family and community engagement are often the least implemented. In my experience as a physical educator, these two components were the most challenging to implement, but worth the time and effort. The support of family, staff, and community is imperative in promoting physical activity. I challenge you to implement these two components. You will be amazed by the amount of support you receive from parents, community, and staff!

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PE + HE + PA = 50MS

(This essay was originally published on SHAPE America’s member Exchange [October, 2015] and is reprinted with permission.)

Heard about the new math? Well here it is: PE + HE + PA = 50MS, specifically designed for public school health education and physical education teachers. SHAPE America recently announced its intent to get all of America’s students physically active and healthy within the next 14 years. The shorthand for this is “50 Million Strong by 2029” or even shorter “50 Million Strong (50MS).”

50MS modified image1

We launched 50MS nationally in the Miami-Dade County School District last month. Superintendent of the Year Alberto Carvalho endorsed the goal and proudly spoke about the success of his own district’s physical education program – the fourth largest in the nation. You can read more about this event here.  Beyond the attendance of various dignitaries, the event was highlighted by the presence of a small group of smiling preschoolers wearing 50 Million Strong shirts. It’s this group of students who will be graduating high school in 2029, and these are the ones we have to make sure have the skills, knowledge and desire to stay physically active and make healthy lifestyle choices.

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Get HyPE: Designing #PhysEd Rubrics in Four Easy Steps

The purpose of my Get HyPE column is to raise and discuss topics that will excite and inspire the physical education community. My goal is to encourage you to think about or try something new every month. The name of the column also has a secondary meaning. It includes the name my students call me, “G-H,” and the abbreviation for physical education, “PE.”

Spikeball

What’s keeping me going these days? Rubrics. I’m obsessed with them. I can’t stop thinking about them. I can’t stop designing them. They’re pushing my teaching practice, they’re helping me authentically assess my students’ learning, and they help me focus on exactly what I want my students to learn each day. Recently, my friends on Twitter have asked me where I get my rubrics. For the most part, I design them myself using four easy steps.

My teaching environment doesn’t allow me to look too far ahead when it comes to planning. I share my teaching spaces with three other physical educators, and we rotate through the spaces on a seven or ten day cycle. Sometimes my plans work flawlessly and sometimes they change unexpectedly. Take today for example: While my school’s field was being re-seeded I planned to have my 6th grade students play a Spikeball ladder tournament on the grass next to the school. Right when I finished explaining what we were doing I heard, “Sputter, Sputter, SPRAY.” The sprinkler system turned on! Change of plans. Move the Spikeball games to the sidewalk. The balls kept rolling into the street. Change of plans. Move the Spikeball games back to part of the grass that wasn’t soaked. The sprinklers turned on again. Change of plans. But what? With nowhere else to go, I moved my students to the wet grass and completely modified the rules. They were safe, had a great time playing, and at the end of class we had an amazing discussion about how we can control where the ball goes by changing the force and angles of our hands and striking implements.

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Reaching Your Number

(This essay was originally published on SHAPE America’s member Exchange [August, 2015] and is reprinted with permission.)

Last month I suggested the best way for us to achieve SHAPE America’s goal of “50 Million Strong by 2029” was for each of us to ask ourselves, “What’s my number?” Instead of letting the immensity of changing the physical activity and health habits of 50 million students overwhelm us, let’s focus on how you personally can contribute. If we all do our part, we will succeed.

Not long ago, Mark Zuckerberg, the young Facebook creator, set about wiring the world — or more specifically, getting every person on the planet connected to the Internet. A 7.325 billion-person challenge! As you can imagine, he had some immense problems to overcome. But he saw it as doable and convinced others to join the enterprise. If interested, you can learn more at internet.org. It’s an interesting project but what I found especially intriguing is the approach being taken. The problems that need to be solved have been clearly identified and strategies are being developed to resolve them. In other words, the way to solve big challenges is through taking small steps and not giving up.

This is exactly how the health and physical education profession can succeed. It’s not only about getting every school-aged student physically active and healthy, but also about earning public respect for what we contribute to public education. But we need evidence! It is not sufficient to talk about the value of health and physical education. We need to prove it. And this is why it is so important for each of us to seize the opportunity that “50 Million Strong by 2029” is offering.

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