Just a few thoughts on “Did you Know?” presentation

Quick notes from Mon. Jan. 9th

- What does it mean to be literate in the 21st century? – 40 years ago(being able to read), now – its is reading writing, all on paper but moving into more technology aspects, but being able to understand whats safe and other things like that.
- literacy means being able to consume and produce the media forms of the day   – Jason Ohler   (being able to understand and safely using technology)
- great things on Youtube but students are not a loud to use it.
- Twitter #factcheck, text google, text chacha
- library – google – text google – google app (android)

- WolframAlfa
- Its not what you know its who you know, and you can be much smarter and get more done if you are able to connect to these ppl
- So why are we still asking kids to look up facts and write reports?

Professional Development Reflection

Originally I thought that I would be able to make it to the gym at least two to three times a week, this however didn’t work out for me. For about the first month I was able to make it to the gym twice a week and to aquasize class once a week but after that there were just too many assignments that I needed to do that took up all my extra time. After about the first month I was only making it to the gym and aquasize class once a week. Which I feel is still a fairly good accomplishment. As the weeks went on and as I started my pre-internship I got completely sidetracked and had no time to leave the house to workout. When I did have free time I wanted to just sit and relax on the couch.

Then I realized that maybe if I don’t have enough time to leave the house that maybe I could bring the gym to me. I ended up buying myself a sit up bench and every night before I went to bed I would try to do at least 40-50 crunches. Even though this wasn’t much I was still able to do something physical. Eventually I bought the P90X workout series DVD’s and started with those. I have only had them for about a week and I have only done 2 workouts, but I am still trying to get back int the groove. I am hoping that by the end of next week I will be able to have a routine worked out.

This process was great for me, I was able to find different types of activities that worked well for me. I found activities that allowed me to just relax and not worry about anything else. It also gave me time to think, most of the time throughout the day I am jut all over th place, my mind is going crazy. With this process though I have been able to find things like yoga, the olyptical, and aquasize that allow me to slow down and think about one thing at a time. With these activities I am able to think things through and relax.

Originally my end goal was to do a triathlon at the YMCA. However, I was unable to follow through with this. With how busy I was I didn’t have time to do the amount of workouts that I had wanted to, so when it came time to do the triathlon I wasn’t prepared. Instead I decided to use a my cheerleading tryouts as a base point.

I was a cheerleader for a year and then I blew out my knee and wasn’t able to do anymore physical activity. Now that my knee is better I wanted to use my cheer tryouts to see if what I was doing was helping me to get back to where I used to be. My cheerleading tryouts are on April 30th, this is where I hope to be at the same physical health that I was a year ago, hopefully even better.

As for the professional aspect, I feel that I am a lot more knowledgable now that I have taken the time to explore. This process allowed me to explore many different styles and types of workouts. It helped me realize what activities allow me to relax and which ones give me a hard, intense workout. I have also realized that working out is my safe place. It is a place where I am able to forget about everything if I want to and just enter into my own world.

I feel that this experience has helped me immensely on a professional standpoint. I now know that if I am ever stressed or need time for myself that I will need to fit some type of physical activity into my day. Whether it is going for a jog or doing a workout video at home, I need to fit it in to balance out my life.

As a teacher, with all of this new knowledge about how physical activity makes me feel, I now feel that I know enough to bring it into my classroom or an after school program.  I think that all students should be given the opportunity to experience as many different things as possible. If you don’t ever experience it how will you know how it makes you feel or if you enjoy it or not. A lot of people shy away from things like this because they are unknown to them and they might be scared, so by including these kinds of things into our students lives at an early age, when they get older they will have already experienced it and won’t have that initial worry about trying something new. 

I want to be their for my students and give them every experience that I possibly can to improve their physical health. With the way our society is shifting these days, I am almost worried for the health of our future, this is why I want to be able to help out at the younger ages.

Yoga

OMG!  Yoga was not what I thought it was. I thought that it would be a nice relaxing stretching, but this was not the case. After doing plyometrics the other day I really needed a good stretch, so that maybe I wouldn’t be so sore anymore. Instead I ended up working my muscles even more. Even though it may not look like it yoga is a very strenuous workout. I was only able to last for the first 15 minutes out of an hour and a half workout.

I’m sure that there are different yoga workouts out there that are a lot easier and more relaxing but the P90X video was a lot of work. Even though it was a lot of work I really enjoyed it. I was able to get the stretch that I was looking for as well as a bit more strengthening for my arms and legs. I plan on doing as much of this work out everyday right when I wake up and right before I go to bed. Even if I am only able to make it through 15 minutes of it, it will still be beneficial.

I would love to use something like this in my classroom or afterschool program. A lot of students are stressed or are too busy to find time to relax. So whether it is an entire yoga workout that we do or just a sunsaluation I plan to incorporate it into the class to try to help relieve some of the stress.

I know that I might run into some issues where the boys feel that this is boring and something girls do, I know this because my boyfriend feels the same way. After watching the whole video my boyfriend decided that he probably couldn’t do half the stuff that was on it. Like I said even though this type of workout looks very relaxing it is also very strenuous.

Work out videos

In my pre-internship classroom our teacher had these short hip-hop work out videos, she used them for brain breaks. These were excellent videos however, these videos would have worked in better in a younger classroom. Most of th steps in the video were almost to boring for our students, they also felt like they were to cool to do them. Some students enjoyed them, but at the same time I think they would have enjoyed them if they were more age appropriate as well.

I hope to have a bunch of these different types of videos in my classroom to get the children active, without having to go to the gym. I would have a variety of different types of videos, for instance, yoga, hip-hop, plyometrics, palates, etc. I would plan on using videos like this as brain breaks, things to do when there is free time, or if some students have to stay in for recess for some reason, there will still be some activities that they can do in the class to keep them moving.

Another thing that I would have prepared for my students is a takeout log. If students really enjoy these videos I would also have a take out log for them. I think that I would feature a video each week, this will be the video the students can take out. Each student can only take the video out for one evening, so that other students can take it out as well. When students take out a video though they need to sign the date and their names beside the title and they would need to get myself to sign beside it as well.

P90X

Yesterday, for the first time, I tried a P90X workout video. I find it hard to make it to the gym all the time. I’d hate to say it but I haven’t gone to the gym in about a month so I figured I would try something out that could work better with my schedule. With these videos I can do a half hour here or an hour there when ever I have time which I feel is great for my busy schedule.

So, the first video that I tried out was the plyometrics. This is a workout for the lower body that helps with agility and power. About a year ago I tore the cartilage and ACL in my knee, I figured this is a workout that will get me back to where I want to be. At the end of this month I plan on trying out for the University of Regina Cheerleading team, so I am trying to regain my strength and support in my knees.

This workout was great. I was only able to make it through the first half, which I feel is pretty good for someone who had only been going to aquasize classes and casually working out at the gym. It really got me working and I was able to push myself as hard as I wanted to without worrying about anyone else. The other nice thing with doing workout videos at home is that no one else can see or judge me. I feel more comfortable to take a break when I need it and if I’m doing something wrong there is no one here to make fun of me.

I feel that these types of videos are awesome for certain people, I know that there are a lot of people out there that don’t like them. I would love to things like this with my classroom or after school programs. The first time I would try things out with a large group so that the children can see how fun, but hard, these workouts could be. I would never start them off with the P90X series though. There are plenty of workout videos that are out there that are perfect for children. however, if you happen to get those really active, athletic children they may need something like the P90X series to challenge them.