Major Blog Post #3

I have chosen to write my week three blog post on a Thursday because my lifting session with my athletes as well as school for St. Vincent St. Mary HS is cancelled tomorrow, the 23rd, because our boys basketball team has made it to the state playoffs down in Columbus. 

Although this week was a short week and it may seem like there might not be much to post about, it is actually quite the opposite because I had the opportunity to experience a different kind of lifting week.  Monday and Tuesday were both early release days, which meant the athletes had a lot of time between the end of school and my lifting start time.  Since, I work full time, my head coach and I decided to keep lifting as scheduled and everyday it began at 3:00 p.m.  Since the first two days were early release, attendance numbers were down since many athletes, once they left school, were not able to come back for lifting.  This was a challenge that was foreseen and addressed the week before. 

Wednesday, however, was not a challenge that was prepared for.  Wednesday, was a snow day for the school, which meant my athletes would be away from campus until lifting began.  In our football program, we use a piece of technology called Hudl.  In this application, we send, share. watch and breakdown film.  I also use this application to communicate with my eighty some athletes.  When I received the call in the morning that school would be closed, I jumped on Hudl after speaking with my head coach and my school's administration and messaged my athletes that lifting would go on as scheduled.  Wednesday was also a lower attendance day. 
In a snowball like effect, today was also a low attendance day because of the altered week schedule. 

As I stated above, Friday there will be no lifting.  I bring all this up because I have now altered my strength program schedule.  Next week was supposed to be a very low intensity week, somewhat of an off week, because we are at that point where body recovery is a necessity.  I now have decided to make this week our recovery week and next week will resume as a higher intensity week.  My athletes will have a long weekend of three full days of body recovery. 

With lower numbers each day, before our lift began, I made changes to accommodate the attendance.  Monday was still our lower body day, but I incorporated low intensity lifts such as speed squats, band workouts, and core exercises.
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Tuesday and Wednesday, I again made similar changes to lower intensity.
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Today was again a less intense day, which included more body weight and corrective lifts.
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Since my max results from last week showed that some athletes benefited from the heavier, muscle building lifts and some benefited from the lower intensity, speed, and corrective type lifts, our three week preparation for our next max week will incorporate both styles of lifts to accommodate both types of athletes.  I was glad I was able to experience a week like this because it made me think on the fly and problem solve on the spot.  I had to make game time adjustments to have the most beneficial week.  I am also looking forward to the three day weekend because sometimes coach needs an off week too. 

Cool Tool #5 Canva

Canva: A true canvas for education.

                For my last cool tool review, I will be reviewing Canva.  Canva is a free tool available online with only a few “pay to play” features.  Broken down, this tool is a presentation application that contains many avenues for creativity.  Probably the most interesting part of this tool is it contains Google Doc like features that allow the user to have as many editors and contributors as they want which I will explain through my use.  Canva allows users to create a social graphic, logo, poster, flyer, resume, web banner, presentation, invitation, card, photo collage, and a few more design types (see picture 1). 

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For my review, I chose to create a presentation and before you jump on me and say “well, that’s boring” let me explain my choice.  When I chose my list of cool tools to review I had a master plan.  I am a big lecture guy and I enjoy a teacher centered learning experience so many of the tools I chose to review were presentation tools.  I then used a similar lesson through out all the cool tools, so I could then analyze which tool I enjoyed the most and saw most beneficial.  What I also looked at was the different ways to use these tools to provided new and creative way to present a lesson and engage my students.   

Once I chose to create a presentation, Canva offers many different styles of presentations to choose from (see picture 2).  I selected an education presentation to create an American history lesson. 

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                Once the style of presentation is selected, the user is then taken to the editing stage.  For each slide, a background or format may be selected to coincide with the slide’s purpose.  Canva offers a variety of slide layouts which each contain specific elements to present information in the most beneficial way. 

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                As the creation process continues, the user can select illustrations and photos that are provided in the Canva database to add to the presentation.  This is the one feature that contains the “pay to play” aspect.

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                Once the creation is completed, the user can decide to share their work with specific people through email, through social media, or through the link feature.  The link share option is what contains similar features to Google Docs.  I selected to share my short lesson in this blog, with the option for any viewer to be able to edit it.  This feature has endless applications in the classroom as we have seen with Google Docs. 

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                You can check out my creation here: Road to Revolution and you are welcome to try the editing feature right there in my lesson.  Since my cool tool reviews will now be coming to an end, I wanted to share with you what my favorite tool was so far.  My answer: all of them.  Each contained a feature that I could see myself using in my future classrooms.  Emaze, for a new version of PowerPoint.  Haiku Deck, for its innovative way to create presentations from Wiki, which I would use to speed up the creation process and allow students to focus on then learning the information to present.  Storybird, to use as a possible online classroom.  Simplemind, for its simplicity to capture thinking and finally Canva, for its ability to create many materials beyond a simple presentation. 

Week 9 Blended Learning and Productivity

This week I will be discussing blended learning and productivity in the classroom.

                Somewhat reeling back a bit, I wanted to touch base on a previous topic: blended learning.  In my post about blended learning, I definitely was pro about using blended learning in today’s education, but I had a skeptical view as well.  In a video that I watched for this week’s post called, “Ending the Classroom Factory Model”, Michael Horn, an educational professional spoke on his thoughts about blended learning.  He was asked how he felt about students going into a classroom and immediately being put in front of a screen and he said that kids need a blended learning environment and the school provides that safe, custodial, and supportive environment for online learning.  This really opened my mind to blended learning because before I did just think that using blended learning was just setting students in front of a screen.  I wasn’t thinking about the complete environment it provided for the students.  The teacher is there for support as they pace their learning and the students still have the opportunity to learn with their peers.  I’m glad I was able to come across this video.

                Getting to more of this week’s topic, productivity is a key aspect of becoming an effective teacher.  Let’s face it, in this age of tech, the students are not the only ones susceptible to becoming distracted and teachers must manage their time efficiently.  Technology can be looked at as the “kiss of death” because of all the benefits it can provide still comes with plenty of distractions.  There is hope for teachers because there is technology available to assist in productivity.  One tool that can assist in this is called RescueTime.  This application basically blocks users from distractions and records the users’ time spent on different tasks.  For the most part I use applications that assist with organization because I truly believe that organization is the foundation for being productive.  As I continue my career, I plan to explore more technology that can assist me even further.

                Technology can also help teachers solve problems.  Some examples would be constant communication with students even when they are not in the classroom.  Another big example would be developing lessons that can cover a wide variety of learners.  Using technology to develop a broad but specific lesson helps teachers connect with all levels of learners in their class, it gives students the opportunity to have a more individualized lesson, and it gives parents access to their child’s education. 

                One productivity tool that I will use as a staple in my classroom will be Google Docs.  With this tool I can have students collaborate on a project or lesson while facilitating the individual creativity of my students.  Another simple tool I would utilize is Google Calendar.  With this tool I will be able to share my class schedule with parents and administration to ensure participation from parties outside of my classroom.  As I have stated in a previous post, the applications for technology in education seem endless and if it is even possible, the opportunities only seem to be growing.  

Cool Tool #4 Simplemind

Simplemind the actual simple way to capture your thinking.

                The cool tool that I will review this week is called Simplemind.  It is the first time that the title of an application truly held true to the actual use of the tool.  Simplemind is the easiest tool I have ever used to create a mind map.  According to simplemind.com, a mind map is a tool for the brain that captures the thinking that goes on inside your head.  Mind maps are perfect for brainstorming and they provide a platform to collect knowledge, remember, and create ideas.  This tool can be utilized on a website browser or as a mobile application.  I choose to use the tool in the mobile app manner.

                Simplemind is free and very easy to download.  It is offered in the Google app store for androids and the Apple app store for iPhones.  After downloading the app, the user is brought to an example mind map that shows the ins and outs of the tool.  Since I have used mind maps before I started to create my own and used a eighth grade social studies lesson on the American Revolution for the content.

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                After selecting to begin a new mind map the user can select the design of their map.

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                As seen below, the mind map will start with the central idea in a blue box and the user can then begin to add content to expand on information. 

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                As stated before, I created The Road to Revolution mind map which includes events, acts, and people to support thinking for the main idea.

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                After content is added, the user can scroll through their ideas to add or remove information.

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                Since I used this tool for educational purposes, I created an assignment bubble for my students to complete after the lesson.  The mind map can be shared to any number of people and the people it was shared to have the ability to view and edit the map.

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                Unfortunately, to fully access all of the features that Simplemind has to offer, the user must buy the full version of the app.  For this reason, I am unable to share and link the mind map that I created with the tool.

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                I would use this tool to help develop my students’ brainstorming abilities and to actually show how a mind map can explain their thinking using images and text.  I would use this tool in the classroom for a variety of purposes:

1.       Presentation     

2.       Brainstorming after lesson

3.       Organization of thoughts

4.       Problem solving

5.       Retention of information from text sources

6.       Simple notes.

I see no major challenges using this tool because it is as simple to use as its name suggests.  The only concern would be whether the student has access to the technology to use the tool.  Sometimes the simplest of tools can have the greatest effect and I believe Simplemind has that capability. 

Major Project Post #2

I am back with my major blog post number two and I have much to discuss.

For this post I will be discussing my past week of the implementation of my strength program which began Sunday the 11^th to Friday the 16^th.  As I mentioned in my previous major blog post, this past week was my athletes’ max week, which is a week where we retest our four main lifts to quantify strength gains.  First, I would like to start with my attendance.  Since other sports are now coming to a close, my attendance numbers have drastically increased.  I have had to prepare everyday for a bigger and bigger group of athletes.  This is a key element because the number of athletes determines my time I will be able to spend with each athlete during the lift.  As seen in picture one, I organize my attendance numbers using an excel worksheet.  I first broke the sheet down by the month and day that each lift will occur and then I assign a number one for attend or zero for unexcused absence.  In the sample of my entire sheet I provided here, you can see my number values for each day as well as abbreviations for involvement of other sports or excused absences. 

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                Now, getting on to the exciting part.  As I mentioned in my last major blog post, my preparation for this month’s max week was different then my approach in the first month.  For this preparation, I had my athletes utilize corrective/strength band workouts which lessened the intensity and workload of the body before maxing.  In my first approach, I had my athletes perform low volume (number of reps) high intensity (heavy weight) workouts.  I was pleased with my first results, but I continually like to evolve my program and challenge my athletes’ bodies to see what works for each individual.  Some may say that striving for program individualization is impossible for the amount of athletes I train, but I am able to determine the greater increases for each athlete by comparing their gains from the two max session approaches. 

                Monday was our max squat day.  For the sample I provided below, the selected athletes that are highlighted in a yellow box, show the small to no gain from the first approach to max week and the larger gain from the second approach.  This tells me that approach number two was most beneficial for these specific athletes.  The athletes highlighted in a blue box shows my counter evidence.  This tells me that this specific athlete benefited most from the first approach and I now will adjust his workouts accordingly. 

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                Tuesday was our max bench day and will the sample provided below I have made the same highlights to notify gains. Yellow = approach number one had greater affect / Blue = approach number two had greater affect

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                Wednesday was max dead-lift and the sample below again shows high gains in yellow and lower gains in blue.

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                Thursday was max floor press.  See below for the same format of information.

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                Overall, I felt it was a very successful week for me and most of my athletes.  I use the weekend to write up the new workouts for the upcoming week and with my new max numbers I will now be able to make more individualized workout plans to maximize the possible gains.  Next week I will discuss the changes I made for specific athletes and how I implemented these changes during the workouts.  #staytuned

Week 8 Digital Learning Spaces

For this week I will be discussing Digital Learning Spaces and this ties right into many past topics I have discussed.

                Learning spaces are environments, whether physical or digital, where learning happens.  According to Dr. Jeremy Brueck, who spoke in a video given to my grad class, contemporary learning spaces are based in learning ecology composed of physical, digital, and virtual experiences.  Digital learning spaces can encourage student engagement because it provides students with multiple pathways to reach the desired proficiency.  In a video by Holli Tonyan, four forms of learning are discussed as possible pathways to create digital learning spaces.  These four forms are: campfires, watering holes, the cave, and the world.  If educators can effectively develop spaces for each of these forms of learning, I believe they will then be able to reach and encourage more student engagement. 

The campfire space could be a podcast or a video of a teacher lecture that students can pace themselves through.  The watering hole is the student interaction with peers and a form of this could be as simple as an online discussion form.  For the cave, a space for this would be anything that is reflective. This space allows alone time for students to engage in deep thought and reflection.  The final form is the world and this provides students the opportunity to apply their knowledge to actual world situations.  This also engages students in sharing and allows them to go outside of the classroom and see how others are learning about a similar topic. 

                Google Apps for Education will most likely be the future in the development of learning spaces.  GAFE provides a multitude of applications that can be the center piece in each space that an educator will develop.  One easy example of an app is Google Classroom.  This app simply is a classroom that is online; it is the epitome of a digital learning space. 

                One assumption that we should challenge as we design learning spaces for the future is that one specific application or piece of technology has a defined use when it comes to learning.  I say this because educators must delve into the technology and explore all the ways it can apply to learning.  According to Dr. Jeremy Brueck, we must ask ourselves “what do we want to accomplish beyond the device?” 

                We can see examples of the development of learning spaces right here in The University of Akron’s campus.  The main space utilized by the campus is Brightspace.  Brightspace is an online resource that professors can use to share, communicate, encourage discussion, assign assessments, and even hold class.  The discussion form in Brightspace can be the watering hole, a reflective assignment can be the cave, and added class content can be the campfire.  I believe that these learning spaces are very beneficial to my needs as a graduate student.  Many grad students hold full time jobs and the convenience of Brightspace allows us to be connected to our classrooms at all times.  I have also grown fond of learning at my own pace while using online sources as I never had the opportunity to experience this in my undergrad studies. 

Major Project Post #1

My first offseason high school football strength program.

The major project that I have selected to learn more about and execute is going to be developing and implementing a sport specific strength and conditioning program.  Over the course of this project I hope to effectively be able to run a strength program for a high school football team that will increase the physical attributes of my players.  These increases will be quantifiable by records of each specific lift maxes, players gain or loss in weight, and by body mass composition.  I will first learn to identify the weaknesses of my players.  I will categorize these weaknesses and create a weekly strength plan that will be able to address and develop the weaknesses into strengths. 

This is the first week of many that I will be posting about my experience of implementing a strength program for the St. Vincent St. Mary High School football team.  Since I am only a month in, I believe that this will truly be a learning experience even though I will only be posting about it for a short period of time for my technology grad class.  Starting at the beginning, my biggest challenge so far was creating the program.  I sat down with Armani Martin, a well-known performance coach from Miami, Florida.  Before I got the job of strength coach, I took a trip down to Miami to visit my fellow coach and refresh my mind of the workings of a strength program.  I spent a little less than a week there and Coach Martin and I developed a sixteen-week program (see below).

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            I will remain in constant contact with Coach Martin with the use of Google Sheets as seen above in arrow number one.  Arrow number two shows my set up for each of the sixteen weeks (only seven are shown), the exercise database, and each current week.  This past week, which I will be discussing, was week seven.     

            I have created my program to run in four-week cycles, the fourth week being the week that we retest for our maxes.  I test four different lifts to gauge the overall strength of an athlete: bench, squat, deadlift, and floor press.  Week seven was our last prep week before we max again in week eight, which begins on Monday the 12^th.  Next week I will be able to discuss the new maxes and decide what went well during those four weeks and what I must change. 

            For week seven I implemented more of a corrective lift schedule, which means lifts that are lighter in intensity (or weight) and lifts that are usually done with strength bands.  This strength band approach to a max week will be something I’ll definitely look to change or keep after I record the new maxes.  I say this because many professionals believe that heavier lifts, that build muscle are required to have better maxes and since I went lighter and somewhat eased off, I am excited to see the results.  Monday was our lower day and I included two explosive lifts which can be determined by the xxx under the TEM column.  I point this out because explosive lifts take a toll on the body and usually the rule of thumb is one per day.  Tuesday was our upper day which consisted up a moderate bench exercise, one explosive, and strength band corrective lifts. 

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            Wednesday and Thursday were our single arm upper day and single leg lower day, which as I stated before, were ran much more in the corrective lift/strength band fashion. 

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            No unusual challenges this week other then keeping on top of attendance.  I have about forty football players that I look over and about another thirty football players that are involved in other sports so being able to streamline my attendance program is something I will always try and advance.  I am very excited to post next week after we have recorded our second set of maxes.  The main goal of next weeks post will be to compare and contrast the strategy I used to prepare ourselves for the max week compared to the past preparation which I will delve into more next week.  #staytuned

Cool Tool #3 Storybird

Storybird, the new and exciting way to make education come to life.

                For this week of my cool tool reviews, I have chosen Storybird.  This piece of technology is very interesting, but in my opinion, somewhat limited.  Storybird basically allows users to create a picture story about anything they please.  It comes with preexisting illustrations to add on to the story.  Students can use this create a long story with multiple chapters, a shorter story with lots of pictures, or a single page poem.  A complete description of the tool can be viewed here: https://storybird.com/educators/.  The user can create three types of presentations: longform book, picture book, and poem. 

Once the user had selected the type of presentation they would like to use, they can start adding content.

                

When they are finished, they then can share their work with anyone.

               

I said this is somewhat limited because I can see it has being very class specific and a little age specific.  I could definitely see an elementary language arts class using this so students can create a customized story of their own.  They can select from a wide variety of illustrations to help tell their story while they write their own content.  As stated before, these students could use it to create a longform story or even single poem.  As far as other contents being able to use this, I see it as limited.   

                One awesome feature with Storybird, is teachers can create their own classroom and add students and even parents to partake.  Teachers can add assignments for students that will show the due date and submissions. 

                I created a practice assignment for a U.S. history class about George Washington (see below).  I asked students to watch the video that was linked and create a three-page picture book about three facts they learned from the video.  This could be done at home or even in the classroom if everyone had the technology. 

                All in all, I think Storybird is a very interesting tool and it work wonderfully in a language arts type of class.  It is free to use forever, with only a few features that can be accessed from using the websites own type of currency.  Their currency is unlocked for free as the user explores all of the features it offers.  Check out a full Storybird example here. 

Week 7 Digital Citizenship

For this week, I will be discussing Digital Citizenship.

                Digital citizenship is basically how each individual is known, participates, and acts in the online world.  One video made available in my graduate course explains how digital citizenship is the first step for students to become media literate in the new age of technology.  Similar to drivers’ education for new drivers, digital citizenship is the precursor for students to understand how their online presence can affect them in their personal and professional lives. 

                Digital citizenship can have a massive impact on one’s personal life.  For me, digital citizenship includes any and all social media that I choose to participate in.  When the social media boom began, I believe I was well educated before hand which allowed me to pick and choose what social medias I would use.  When Facebook hit the scene, I was not a user until a few years after its release.  This allowed me to see my peers’ reviews and mistakes that they have already learned from.  This topic greatly relates to sharing.  Knowing what is appropriate to share ties right in with your digital citizenship. 

Another video that was made available to me shows the extreme measure of a young adult posting too much information on social media.  In the video it showed strangers asking personal questions simply because they followed her through social media.  I understand that it was showing the extreme point of view, but this simple fact must be presented to young students.  Digital citizenship can also have a major impact on one’s professional life.  In my senior year of college, when everyone was getting ready to graduate and begin the job search, most if not all of my friends changed their Facebook names so potential employers wouldn’t be able to find them on social media.  I have heard of countless stories of people not getting jobs because what they have posted online and even some people getting fired from their job because recent or even past posts. 

Fortunately, I have never been a part of online bullying or even posts that can hurt feeling because I was educated early on to avoid the type of actions that could potentially evolve into having an online presence.  I have however seen cases of this many times on the news and through friends.  As far as what I would do differently, if I do ever come across this type of behavior I would like to take action and not be a bystander. 

All of the negatives with online use could definitely scare away educators from using online sources.  A teacher that might use a classroom twitter could be worried that their students would use that specific account for personal things rather then just for educational purposes.  As I stated before, as long as the education about digital citizenship and sharing happens early in a student’s education, I do not think that future educators will stop the use of online education. 

Cool Tool Review #2 Haiku Deck

Introducing the Haiku Deck. The next gen of presentations.

This week in my series of cool tool reviews, I will be discussing Haiku Deck.  With this program, the creator has the ability to develop a presentation from scratch, upload a preexisting presentation, or even begin creation with the use of Wikipedia.  Haiku Deck contains all the functions must presentation programs have and then takes the functions to a more exciting level.   

               

The user can first begin to create a “deck” from scratch, as seen above, and add images, titles, information, links, and all sorts of beneficial information.  Haiku Deck is a pay to use application so for this blog I was only able to use the basic of formats for my creation.  When I began I decided to use a feature completely new to me and chose to create a project from Wikipedia (see image below).

After selecting this path, a search bar pops up (as seen below) to begin searching the database for any kind of topic the user would like. For my purpose, I chose Abraham Lincoln, to hopefully develop a presentation to use in an 8^th grade social studies course. After choosing the article the program analyzes the article and takes the most beneficial information to add into your presentation.  Before selecting an article, the user can select how long to make the presentation.  The longer it is, the more detailed it will be and the shorter it is, the more basic it will be. 

Once the article is now uploaded, the user can now edit all the information it has pulled from the article to the user’s preference (see below).  Something to keep in mind is to thoroughly review the information since the information is from a source such as Wikipedia which anyone and edit at any time.  Each bullet point will be a slide and the sub points are the information displayed on the slide. 

After the user is satisfied with the information, the program will take you to the image selection page (see below).  In this feature, the program does the image selection and adding for the user, allowing more time for the information to be reviewed and strengthened.  For those who have used presentation tools before, I think many would agree finding copyright free pictures can be a difficult task and this feature relieves all the headache of that process. 

Once all the slides are finished you can preview your deck (see below).

Unfortunately, this is a full pay to use program (see below) so I am unable to link my created deck without paying for the service.  You can view a fully completed project “deck” here.

Haiku Deck is another fantastic presentation tool.  Students and teachers can use this to create more appealing presentations.  The program is very user friendly and all “technology natives” should have no problem using this program to its full potential.  The only downside is to use such a premium product, the user must pay to use it.  I recommend Haiku Deck to all educators willing to make an investment in a fun and advanced presentation tool. 

Week 6 Blended Learning Environments

It’s week six and today I will be discussing blended learning environments.

                Blended learning is a relatively new topic in education and many classrooms around the U.S. are putting its benefits to use.  In my graduate level instructional technology class, I have already been a part of a blended learning environment.  My class is usually in person with direct teacher instruction but for one of our days we had a completely online class.  As well as experiencing an online class, most of our resources are found online through a University of Akron program called, Brightspace.  My class somewhat operates like this:

1.       Direct instruction

2.       Utilizing online resources

3.       Class Discussion

4.       Direct instruction

5.       Conclusion

6.       On your own/continue instruction/reflection

This classroom example is basically blended learning summed up.  In one educational video, it describes blended learning as the integration of brick and mortar learning and personally paced learning while creating an active and collaborative environment.  The only con of blended learning that I have experienced in my graduate class is students that benefit more from direct instruction and complete guidance from a teacher will have a harder transition because blended learning cooperatively shares the responsibly of learning with all rather then it all just being on the teacher.

I believe with today’s student, blended learning is a must.  In my opinion, I believe that we have somewhat coddled today’s student with regards to the learning process and this isn’t necessarily bad as long as there is an answer, which for this example would be a blended learning environment.  Technology has drastically increased the speed at which students send and receive information which I believe has created a new type of student then there was before this technology boom.  As with many topics I have discussed, there is a time a place for all this new technology, but it must not be overused.  I believe blended learned definitely has a place with today’s student because a teacher now has the ability to give the students learning responsibility which allows the teacher to work in smaller groups and focus more on individuals. 

One educator that I learned about in my graduate class is Stacy Hawthorne and she created a video/podcast titled Building Blended Learning Environments.  One great point I took away from this is Ms. Hawthorne states, “blended learning is more than electronic textbooks and productivity tools. It means inventing and adopting new learning environments that work better for teachers and students.”  This will impact my own learning because I will now try and understand what it is about the lesson that is most beneficial when being presented in a blended learning model. 

Another topic in Ms. Hawthorne’s video that I felt I connected with was the “10 Drivers of Blended Learning”.

In the topic she explained that the main goal of blended learning is to make learning more personal and not just in the sense of having lots of content to cover everyone’s interests but rather allowing the students to explore while the teacher is able to guide and focus on smaller groups of students.   

That’s all for this week! #staytuned