iDANCE Set-Up Instructional Video

Enjoy!

Day 37 (Last Day)

Today was the last day of EDU 255. We met in the classroom today where Professor Yang passed around "The Y Files" notebooks that he created with his science class when he taught in Canada. I was amazed at how much of a bond her created with his students. The students wrote pages and pages without being told to. I can only hope that I can impact my students as much as Professor Yang has impacted his students. I hope to keep in contact with Professor Yang after the semester, he was by far my best Professor during my time here at SUNY Cortland.

Day 36

Last Friday we met in the classroom because everyone is finally done with their Lab D's. We talked a lot about our Online Portfolio's which I have been working on for a while. I think it is important to not only have a written portfolio but an online one because what if you were to lose your written portfolio? It is also a really good thing to have to put on your resume to have future employers have a chance to look at it whenever they want. We also discussed the SOFIT form where we can keep track of what the class is doing for the entire lesson which we are going to need to do in our 256 observations.

Our last class is next Monday and I am going to miss my 255 classmates.

iDance Gets Everyone Moving

On Monday I thought my Lab D and it was amazing! To start the class I got everyone moving by having them all get on dance pads and just perform to the best of their ability. Then I went over the class rules and stressed my safety concerns to the class. I informed them of the simple cues of "Step" and "Stay" which I demonstrated and I also demonstrated the common fault where people move their foot back to the center of the pad after the step.


For my first activity I had everyone get back on a dance pad and perform solo on the pads again but this time I had them focus on the cues that I had given them and everyone did a lot better the second time around. For the second activity everyone stayed on the same pad but faced the other direction and had to look over their shoulders at the screen to see what to do but I could tell that some of the students weren't to confident in this activity so I said that everyone I said "switch" everyone would turn around which they enjoyed that variation to the activity.

In the third activity I had everyone partner up and put 2 pads side by side so that every time I yelled "switch" they would switch pads with a partner, I stressed how the partner on the right would cross in front and the partner on the left would cross behind. To get the class more into the activity I had the class clap along to the beat which everyone seemed to enjoy. Now for the fourth activity I had them form 2 rows of 5 pads and with the same concept of rotation I had them perform a dance and said "switch" a lot more and had them clap along to the beat again as well.

For my final activity I had planned on a quad jump on 1 pad with 12 people but today there was only 10 people in the class so I had to modify my final activity. I had 2 people go to 1 pad and had them put their feet on the pads but instead of standing I had them get into the crab walk position and challenged them to see if they could stay up for the entire song.


In my lesson Eric got sick and was having a seizure (was a fake seizure), it was a real wake up call because I really didn't know what to do. I helped him to the best of my ability but after my lesson we discussed what to do next time. I am happy I got to practice and learn what to do for next time in case I ever have to deal with such a situation. I had so much fun teaching iDance to my peers and I would love to be able to teach it to my physical education classes in the future. I would also like to thank Professor Yang  for an amazing semester, I learned so much and I am sad it is coming to an end.

Lesson Plan

40 Task Progressions

Block Plan

I Already Miss St. Mary's

Today was our last day at St. Mary's for 201. My group of Jordan, Joe, Lesley (our TA) and I were assigned the Pre-K group. The last time we had the Pre-K group was the first lab which was extremely fun so I was looking forward to going back.

Before we went into the Pre-K room everyone met in the gym where we took out the big parachute and decided to get everyone involved and spread out and did a lot of different activities with the parachute, my favorite being throwing the balls in the center of the parachute and all lifting up and then bring the parachute down fast so that we can have the balls hit the ceiling!

Once we got into the Pre-K room I started helping these two girls connect what looked like little plastic pieces of chain. They were making a really long chain and then separated them to make necklaces and bracelets. They finally decided that they wanted a pet so they made me a collar and a leash and walked me around the room, it was interesting to say the least. They then asked me to read them a book which was my first time reading a book sideways but I managed and they enjoyed the story.

Then to end class we brought the Pre-K students to the gym where we set up a game for the kids to find items of certain colors and bring them to cones of the same color. Once they brought the item to the cone, they had to perform 5 jump n jacks and we kept switching up the motor skill to hopping and so on. I had an amazing time at St. Mary's and I plan on volunteering next semester.

Lab 6 Write Up

Day 35

Today in class Dave and Kyle taught the last of our classes Lab D's. First Dave taught the skill of Speed Stacking! I had previously learned how to speed stack in my motor behavior class and it was really fun and addicting so I was excited to give it another try since the first time I did it I wasn't that good at it. Dave took the class slowly through the beginning to make sure the class understood what was expected from us by the end of class and everyone was able to at least perform the 6 stack properly and he challenged some of the class to the 3 6 3 stack which was a little more complicated but it was also a lot of fun.

Next Kyle taught Hantis which he had previously taught in his Lab C where he contacted the inventors of the game and even had them send a video to him. He got the class moving right away and even let us teach our peers with a little piece of paper that he handed out with the cues on it. He had someone in class break their arm and he responded to it very well by having someone call 911, someone getting the nurse and also keeping the class calm.

Day 34

Yesterday was my turn to teach my Lab D but before I taught, it was Stephanie's turn. Stephanie and I both had iDance but her lesson was based around practice and doing the best that you can.  She gave the students the opportunity to try a harder level and a few exercises where people were able to work with partners.

For the behavior problem that Stephanie had to deal with was just two kids in the class were having an argument and got into a fight and Stephanie separated them and diffused the situation really well, so well in fact that most of the class didn't realize that there was even a fight going on including me!

My Lab D write up will be up shortly.

Day 33

Last Friday Kim taught her Lab D which was a Scavenger Hunt. It was a lot of fun and got everyone moving around all over Park Center! To start off class we got into groups and went to 4 different posters that were spread out throughout the gym and did a small little workout routine to get warmed up. Then Kim brought us to the other gym where she had name tags with cigarette ingredients on them and a rope that was made to go around a group of people in a line which was pretty cool because it made us work as one.

We got into two separate groups where we were all tied together and then had to download an app on our smartphones that gave us directions and clues on where to go next to find the next clue. She stressed safety concerns and then let us go. We had to take pictures at every spot, the photos turned out to be extremely funny. All in all Kim did an amazing job and everyone had a blast, I want to try this activity in the future because of my experience in her lab.

Handball Gets Crazy at St. Mary's

In lab today at St. Mary's my group was the cafeteria group again and we interacted with the older kids. We played a modified game of European Handball where if you got it in the end zone you received a point but also if you shot the ball into the basketball hoop your received a point as well. It made the kids more interested in the game because they always ask to play basketball and if we don't play basketball then most of the time they would sit out or play on the other half of the gym.

For the final game the class put cones out all throughout the gymnasium and put little pieces of paper cut out in the shape of eggs under the cones with small little activities for the students to do when they found the eggs like jump and jacks, hops and skips. When the kids found the egg shaped piece of paper, they showed it to one of us and we read it to them and then we would perform the task with them. The kids absolutely loves this activity and were upset at the end when all of the eggs were found. They wanted to keep finding the eggs and performing the tasks. Today was by far the best experience at St. Mary's yet, everything went extremely well and the kids had a blast.

Lab 5 Write Up

Day 32

Today in lab Emily and Lesley taught their Lab D's. They were in the exergame room and introduced some interesting new games that we have never played before. Emily taught us how to use the new punching bag game that we recently got in the exergame room. She even had the creator of the game in our class! Lesley brought us to the next room where she had stations set up that involved games like wii tennis and kinect which were extremely fun to play with.

In Emily's lab she had someone that was in a wheelchair so they couldn't kick or reach the punching bags so instead of kicking and hitting the bag, she gave them a stick to hit the bag with which worked out very well.

Thank You St Mary's!

Exergaming with Pre-K

A game that I would play from our exergame lab with the Pre-K kids at St. Mary's would be to have different numbers hidden under cones, I would also have the numbers in different colors so change up the activity from numbers to colors at the teachers discretion. I would have two teams and have each team have a different color and have them get each number in order and place them all in one place and have them race to finish and then switch up the order and colors and so on.

Day 31

Today in class Devon and Mike presented their Lab D's which involved us getting a little wet in the pool. I hadn't been in the pool since last semester when I took Aquatics. For Devon's teaching he had us doing a lot of stretched and different poses in the pool which was cool and then he actually got into the water with us as well! In Mike's lesson we got to have a little more fun when he introduced the noodles where we were going to play ultimate frisbee in the pool. Both lessons were well planned out and got us moving around in the water.

Day 30

Last Friday instead of going into the pool we met in the classroom because we couldn't get the time slot in the pool till Monday. We met with our TA's and discussed the beginning part of our lessons and what exactly we planned on saying and also practices saying it out loud to see how well it worked. We also discussed more in depth about what activities we will be performing exactly and in what order so make the lesson flow.

Next class we will finally be in the pool for Devon and Mike's Lab D's!

Day 29

In class today Eric and Justin taught Table Tennis. For Eric's lesson we started off with Yoga and he used scaffolding off of Trish's lab when she taught Yoga. Eric then went into the forehand hit which he made interesting by adding in a cue of "greasing" and then went into the movie greece which everyone in the class said they have seen before. Lesley and Stephanie were fighting over a boy in the class and Stephanie called Lesley a really bad name and was sent out of the room for a few minutes which calmed her down a lot since she had failed to listen to Eric the past few times he confronted her about her attitude in the class.

In Justin's lab he had more of a game like setting and we got to use the real ping pong balls which made it more fun that we got into the real stuff. The behavior in this class was that Trish and Emily were attracted to Justin, the teacher, and he had to figure out a way to keep them in line while trying to teach the rest of the class as well. Both of them did a very good job and I am looking forward to being in the pool on Friday for the next round of Lab D's.

Day 28

Today we met in the classroom where Professor Yang taught us how to create videos with pictures and video clips from our teaching labs. He showed us many different programs that we can use and they all look somewhat easy to use. He also changed the date that Stephanie and I are to teach our labs to Monday April 23rd. I am looking forward to Wednesday when I get to use the iDance more and learn more about it and create a video on how to set it up and so on.

Day 27

On Friday Dan taught his Lab D which was Zumba! I have never done Zumba before but after the class I got a good workout in. Before the class I thought that it was just for girls but found out that both girls and guys can participate and have fun while doing it.

I feel Dan did a very good job, Professor Yang surprised him by having Lesley close her eyes and play blind the entire class. A lot of Dan's lesson incorporated visual cues and so on so it was a very difficult task for Dan to adjust the lesson to Lesley's needs but I feel he did an amazing job for such last minute modifications.

Day 26

Today in class Trisha presented her Lab D. For her lab she was assigned Yoga and she had to teach for 40 minutes. She did an amazing job from the start to the finish. She has amazing visual aids at each station, the iPad station was extremely fun to use and video ourselves. The video of her yoga exercise was very good, it got the entire class sweating and was very clear in directions.

Eric and I were told by Professor Yang to act out and say how yoga is boring and it is for girls and so on and she did a very good job by having us do the pose in a more "manly" manor which satisfied Eric and I. At one station their was a basketball that we were playing with in the wrong way and she quickly spotted us and took the basketball away. The last thing we did to act out was at a station that involved large cones we picked them up and started to use them like swords and hit each other which she finally decided to separate us and switched the pairs so that we were no longer working together which was very smart of her because I think we would have kept acting out haha.

European Handball Insanity!

For Lab 4 my group was assigned the cafeteria group which is the older kids which we have not had the chance to work with so I was very excited. Before we got to play our game we went outside with the kids. It was interesting to finally see how they act when they are outside compared to when they are inside the school. They really seem to let loose and go extra crazy when they are outside.



When we finally went back inside I started to my game of European Handball which some of the kids really were having some trouble understand the game but once we had the game going they got so into it and started to understand exactly what they were supposed to be doing and a lot of the kids were helping the other kids that were having trouble. We played European Handball for most of the time because everyone was having a blast including all the of Cortland students and TA's. I would have to say that Lab 4 was my favorite time at St. Mary's so far this year.

Lab Write Up #4

St. Mary's Run For The Star 5K

On Saturday March 31st I volunteered at St. Mary's to help with their 1 mile run and their 5K run. The first race was set to start at 8:30am so me and four of my fellow classmates arrived at 7:45am to help set up and organize the event. For the 1 mile run I was assigned to stand on the corner by main street to direct the kids where to go so that no one ran into the street or anything.

For the 5K I had a much harder task. I was first assigned to help with the water station but when we got the the station I noticed that no one was on the corner of West Main Street and Mildred Ave so I thought it would be extremely helpful if I stood at the corner and not only direct the people on when to turn but also warn on coming cars when to slow down and when they could go. It was a very busy intersection.

The best part of the event was how many people while running past us would say thank you. They were thanking us for giving up our time even while it was such bad wether to help make the run safer. One thing that I would have changed would have been the cars on the road. Although I did do an amazing job directing traffic I feel that it was a huge safety issue with all the little kids that were running in the race and all of the cars that didn't care and speed past everyone.

Day 25

In class today we met in the classroom but we weren't going to stay in there long. Steve Miner had everyone with a smart phone download  QR reader application on our phones so that we could use our phones as part of our scavenger hunt around park center. We got into groups and were sent out with clues on where to find the next clue. Every time we found a clue we had to use the application to scan a bar code that was on the wall and then it would show us the next clue through the application which was pretty cool. It was an extremely fun game and actually got my heart racing as we moved from clue to clue. Also on every clue was a letter and after we found all the clue's we had all the letters we needed to complete the word puzzle which was Red Dragon.