GET PHYSICALLY FIT TODAY!

Getting Physcially fit TODAY!

View more presentations from Kristofer Fetter.

Research Articles

In the research articles that I have looked at cover many different area's of how Exercise and BDNF. These 5 articles (article 1, article 2, article 3, article 4, article 5) discuss a wide variety in how they are related from discussing preadolescences to comparing the relationship between mice and men in their physical activity and how it effects their BDNF.

Final Part 2

In this article it compares the effects of treadmill running (TR) with the prolification of the neural stem cells and how they are effected in middle age animals to help develop programs and evidence that effects humans in their middle age. It discovers that with TR the middle aged mice that were experimented that have low NSC have shown an increase in their NSC with TR and their adult hippocampal neurogenesis increases and show improvement in their mental state from the physical activity. With this knowledge I can use this in my teachings in the future where I can teach the students how physical activity is not just a grade that they need to earn but teaches them something much more important in that they can use physical activity in a way that can help their overall health in the future and I would be able to teach them things that they can use outside of school when they are in their middle ages.

Final Part 1 B

Where is the web-site from? Where in the world? Which country? Do you know where it is on a map? Describe it
This website is the CBC news website that stands for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, they are located in Toronto, Canada. Toronto is located just above the border of Canada by the New York State region called the Niagara region.
What do you think about this news piece....interesting...why or why not?
I think that this news piece is very interesting in that it proves that physical activity does increase learning for children in that it improves their behavior by decreasing potetenially bad behavior. Also seeing the difference in the concentration in the students after physical activity compared to before is unbelievable in that all of the students were concentrating and their learning ability increased dramatically.
Why wasn’t the PE teacher involved with City Park Collegiate experiment?
The PE teachers were not involved in this matter because when it comes to PE most students do not get their HR up and there is a lot of standing around or no participation at all. With that they do not include PE teachers at the City Park Collegiate experiment because they are almost forcing the students to do the work during the class but doing it at their own pace where they don’t need to do something that they don’t want to do such as in PE class.
What are the outcomes of the program?
The results of the program were unbelievable in that the overall grades from before the program started to after the program started increased at a dramatic rate where all the scores from their English reading and writing skills improved and their math scores increased. Also they increased in their physical education tests in sit-up and pushup and such. With this program an overall increase of mental and physical ability.
Are these outcomes similar to our New York State PE Standards? Explain your answer by giving details and examples, while comparing and contrasting.
The outcomes of the program are similar in ways to the New York State PE Standards in that the teaching methods in the program are beneficial to the students to increase their physical health but also used to increase their mental health. The facility that the students use are safe for them and it is accessible to them in that they are able to use the equipment and HR monitors easily

Final Part 1 B

The 255 Experience

This semester has been a semester that I have never had before in that it was the most fun that I have had going to class. In my basic teaching course EDU 255 I have learned more that I will be using in my career than any other courses that I have taken in my entire time at college. Being able to face your demons in teaching and being able to overcome them and be the teacher that I have always wanted to be has happened in this course this semester. I have taught many lessons in this class and with each one with the help of my professors and teaching assistants I have gotten better and more confident in my choice to be a Physical Education Teacher. Teaching is not something that anyone can really just run into doing and have an easy time with it, especially at the Physical Education Program at SUNY Cortland. It holds up the hype that it portrays to it's students before they even get into the program. I believe after my experience at SUNY Cortland in my major that I can be one of the greatest Physical Education Teachers to come out of this school.

Step Aerobics - Lab D

While teaching my lesson I felt very confident in my teaching and what I was giving the students to do in that I've seen it done in classes before and I practiced teaching it beforehand. However, I always still feel rushed during my lesson when I am not and that is when I go under the time limit and fall short of the specific time. However, after watching the video of myself and hearing myself talk I do seem very confident and it does not look like I am rushed. One thing that I notice myself doing and I've been working on the whole semester is keeping my back toward the wall and talking and giving feedback to my students. Since I'm able to keep my back to the wall and I can see the class at all times. Another thing that I've been working all the whole semester and I accomplish it in this lesson is to give my students more time to do activities. In that I've given then enough time in the lesson that >50% for activities, which is the goal I've been trying to meet all semester long. Overall, I believe I had a great lesson and that the lesson content was good and it worked the students out and got them to be extremely active.

Lab C, Take Two

On the second time around for my Emperor of the stairs lesson, it was my turn to do the introduction part of the lesson which is the part of the lesson that I haven't really worked on in my training as a professional teacher. In this part I was slightly more nervous then the other parts of teaching that I do, however I think that I did an adequate job in that I tried to look as confident as possible and I tried to get the students into the game and be excited to play. I was not rushed, however I felt I was rushed in that my partner needed time to teach her lesson so i thought I had to hurry up mine so she can teach. Being apart of the whole learning lesson I've learned to slow things down, because rushing through these things can lead to injury especially if the students aren't paying attention.

Lab C, training for the Olympics!

Out of all my lessons that I have taught in my 201 and my 255 classes. This lesson was by far the best that I have taught in my personal view. I was confident in what i was teaching and it really showed in my lesson. However, I seemed a little bit of a Drill Sargent for the class but sometimes physical education needs it for training purposes. All in all i was impressed with myself in that at the time I thought I didn't do as well, but looking back and hearing what I said and taught it was a very successful lesson.

Pickup, Pivot, Pass

Being able to listen to every little thing that I say during my lesson's really gives me insight on what I am doing right and what I am doing wrong. Even though I am at the beginning stages of teaching, it really helps to be able to listen to an MP3 of what I am actually saying. How much feedback I am giving and how I sound as a teacher. I realize that I have a few habits such as saying going a lot and alright. Also I sound nervous, which is normal so right now I am not worried but it is something that I am going to have to work on in my practice to become a better teacher.

Volleyball Bump and Set #2

On the second time around teaching this lesson I tried to be more informative with the students to help them understand how exactly to do the bump and the set properly. However, I may have taken a little too long on the instruction of the lesson and not enough activity time. Also, I tried to give as much feedback to the students as possible. To help the students self-esteem when the are doing good and to improve skills when they are not doing as well. After reviewing my lesson and filling in my Time Coding Form I learned really on what I should work on and will be prepared for future lessons.

How am I doing? I need some Feedback!

In physical education there are many different ways of teaching lessons and different aspects of teaching. One of the major aspects of teaching a lesson is giving feedback to the students. Feedback is a way for a teacher to help their students progress at something or let them know that they are doing a good job. Feedback is a good tool for teachers because it lets the students know that the teacher is paying attention so they will always try and it can help the student become better at the activity if they keep getting feedback.
Even though feedback is a very powerful tool to use, you must give the feedback to the student in a way that they will receive criticism the best. Such as a student will learn more from positive feedback or more from negative feedback. As a teacher you should always use positive feedback in a classroom setting. It could be different when you are coaching a sport. As a teacher and coach you must know how the students will react to different criticism.

First Taught Lesson

My first lesson's outline, taken during 255 on the first day of classes.

What Have We Learned?

· What I have learned for the students at St. Mary’s is that if you as a teacher is having as much fun as possible, they will have as much fun as possible too. You can spin everything into a fun way with the children and they will loosen up to you more and more. Some examples were when I as was with the Pre-K and had my Santa Claus hat on and pretended that the children were reindeers and we went around delivering presents. Making things that are out of the ordinary into a fun game is what they are looking for. No games seemed inappropriate that were taught to the children.
Working with the PRE-K is easier and a better experience in some ways because you have to work harder to do things that the children will understand, and the games can seem farfetched and boring. However, there is more you can do with the PRE-K because they are always ready to try things. The older students do what they like and won’t listen to you because they don’t know you. However, you don’t have to think up things as much and not so much as on the spot, they like common sports.

In the fine motor skills area, the younger children seemed to have more problems with eating as in dropping their food and making as mess, also missing the garbage pail and when they played the simple games they had trouble in such as connect four in being able to put the correct colors in the spot they wanted. We as Physical Educators can work on hand-eye coordination with the students, to understand limitations and how things move to help the students fine motor skills

Getting on the Children's Level

Some of the challenges that I have faced recently has been the cooperation of the children. It all depends on the day that we happen to catch the children on and depending on the game. If the previous labs have had a similar game to the one’s we are playing then they lose interest and make it difficult to keep the kids in line and attentions spans run short. Also, the age differences that are within the groups that we work with, who can make it difficult to keep all the children interested in the game. In the beginning of the time spent at St. Mary’s the nerves and the lack of knowledge with the children also made it difficult for most in both lab groups. However, after going there a few times and learning more about the children it has become easier and more comforting
I think that we should all get more on the children’s level, get to be more like them so that they will get more excited about the games that we are excited about the game. Make them think that since the teacher who is just like them likes the game then it must be fun so they will want to play. However, even though we want to make them play in the games that we are making them seem more fun, we also need to have that teacher-student relationship, where we have the control and they have respect. Don’t be afraid to open up and let them know, and keep control.

Imagination

Something that I've learned over my time spent at St. Mary's school as a student teacher so to say is that you must loosen yourself up. Being a good teacher to young children is getting on the same level as them so to speak. Think things up on the spot and don't be afraid or embarrassed of being a good teacher. I learned this though holiday games, a game where me and the students used our imaginations on the spot to create a game that not only they had fun, but I had fun as well. This game is called Santa's Reindeer's, and the object of the game is for the students, who are the reindeer, and myself, who was Santa, were to leap around like we were flying and arrive at houses and put presents under Christmas trees, put as many as we can as fast as we can. Might not seem as fun to older kids, but as to PRE-K students these types of games is what keeps them interested the entire time.

How About Those Games?

Many of the games that we as a lab group have used all were appropriate for the students in all ways. Some happened to work better then others because of the teaching strategy that was displayed. In the beginning of our labs the games did not take as well because most of us were still getting used to working with the children and getting comfortable. Later on in the labs after everyone got more comfortable the children seemed to get more interested and more kids played the games. As for skill wise, again some were better then others because it was harder to find games that incorporated the throw and the catch for some of the games as did kicking and dribbling. However, all in all the activities/games were all appropriate for the children at St. Mary’s.

Some limitations to the games or activities are such that you must make sure that every student has the opportunity to do each motor skill more then once for the purpose of the child having more fun and for the other college students to assess. Also, to have less of everything scattered, more organization keeps the games moving and doesn’t slow anything, resulting in more reps for the child and the child will want to continue to play.

Obstacles Obstacles Obstacles!!

In my observation during this lab, the obstacle course that the students had to go through using the different motor skills I noticed that Ethan was not really more advanced than Molly who happened to be a year younger then him. Both had trouble with the horizontal jump being as they both took off with different feet and landed with different feet. Both had no arm swing to help their height and or distance. The leap is something that they were able to do, able to get both feet off the ground and take off and land with opposite foot. Ethan had an easier time with the slide, able to shift his body, age might have something to do with this motor skill, and gender does not have an affect on it though.I noticed that when Russell was going through his game on the obstacle course that he used his fellow group member to describe the motions that the children were going to be performing, and giving them an image in their mind that they can have fun relating too. Such as making them imagine that they are in a jungle and that they are going through trees and over water and such. Ending it off with something fun as to jump on the big mat, giving them something to look forward to, making the course seem fun instead of hard work.

Games All Around!

In my observation of the games played at St. Mary’s school, the students were to play a game where they were to take the flags out of the pockets of the other students, and whoever had the most flags at the end wins. During this game I observed Megan, age 6, and Nicolas, age 6. Both of these students were basically the same in most area’s when it comes to running, galloping and hopping. Megan I noticed seemed more mature for her movements though, she had more of a fluid momentum then Nicolas did however they had the same motor skills when it came to playing the games. One big difference that I noticed is that Nicolas had very little to no arm movement in any of the motor skills that the students were asked to do. Megan, however, used her arms more to propel herself in her hops and her gallops.

Some of the teaching methods that I noticed that seemed to be positive was when Melissa was teaching her game of Hungry Hungry Hippo’s. Her technique was to when the students were not paying attention she announced very loudly for everyone to touch their own eye’s when they were looking at her so they would pay attention and be quiet. This seemed like a good way to get the kids to be quiet and to pay attention to the rules that she had for the game that they were playing. The effect of this was very high in that the kids saw it as simple and that they had to pay attention because all the other kids were doing it too.

PE Mini Conference Oct. 10th

As a future Physical Educator, there are many grey area's in the field that I am looking to go into. Most things are learned in the class room by professors of SUNY Cortland, however learning from outsiders, those who have lived through the experiences that you are going through now and can help guide is a major plus. The mini conference that was held on October 10Th was something that helped me see many different area's that someone of my future profession can look further into. I attended two different conferences, the first one was very interesting that was lead by our very own Dr. Steven Yang. Although i was only there for a short period of time, idea's of playing video games have been broadly changed over the years. Proving that there is something that we as Physical Educators and athletic enthusiasts can change a child's life. His presentation on the machine that will incorporate physical activity and video games. Not talking about the Wii, talking about something similar but different. A device from Gamercize called Power Stepper and Gamercize Endurance Cycle, these two devices connect to the gaming console and in order to keep play going you must either step on the Power Stepper of pedal the Endurance Cycle. Two idea's that are going to change the future of video game systems and the health of children.
The other conference that I attended was Sports Stacking, held by an elementary Physical Educator where she had taught us about Speed Stacking. Speed Stacking is stacking specially made cups as fast as possible. Tournaments are held world wide for Speed Stacking where children of all ages can compete. Not only is this something that will keep a child active and motivated, it is something that a Physical Educator can use in their own class. Using these cups you can set up relay races and obstacle courses. Use physical activity and an event that is fun for the student so that the student doesn't feel like physical activity is a chore, it should be seen as fun.