So You Think You Can Teach? Rockstar PE is dedicated to improving PE through powerful, passionate, and effective communications & technology. No one will give you anything, let alone an outstanding PE program. You must to strive for higher and healthier goals for both you and your students. Don't Stop Improving!
We often talk about overcoming obstacles and attaining new heights as if it were a catch phrase from a news broadcast but do we really know what its like to achieve thing most people think is impossible? This ESPN broadcast of the Gallaudet University women's basketball team is proof positive of that success has no bias. A great turnaround record of 14-12 last season was a stepping stone to a 24-3 record this season and earned them a spot in the Div. III tournament this spring. From the coach having to learn sign language to communicate with his players to his players learning how to read their opponents better, this team epitomizes what we want to instill in our students. Trust, Respect, Responsibility, Relationships, & Rapport = SUNY Cortland PE Dept Positive Learning Framework
Points to Ponder (P2P):
As a new teacher or coach, would you take on a position for which you don't have all the necessary skills or knowledge?
Would you be willing to learn new skills, tactics, philosophies, technologies, and even languages to help your students?
What came to mind as you watched the players using American Sign Language with the subtitles?
Do you know Sign Language and did you know that infants can learn to sign before they can speak?
What is the sign for running, stopping, thirsty, hurt, and other signs you will one day use in the gym?
Honda offers a series of videos about high risk efforts, including “The Upside of Failure” featuring Danica Patrick. It’s a great example of how high performers turn failure into success. The main message it that success rarely happens on one's first chance to perform, rather it is the end-product of multiple failures and persistence. Are you going to quit on your students the first time something goes wrong? Let me share a little story from my most recent trip to Korea:
Image via WikipediaThe next morning, I was supposed to demo the Wii when all of a sudden I heard a popping sound. My power supply overheated!! Now what the hell am I going to do in downtown Seoul without a main cog for our presentation. Even if I found a new power supply, could I be assured that the main unit wasn't fried? Would I have to buy a new one here = and if I did would it even work in the US?
I scrambled around and got the concierge to direct me to the largest electronics market in Korea. Let me say I was in techno heaven for a couple of hours. So in my large Korean vocabulary set of 50 baby words I set out to find what I needed. Grabbed a taxi and 15 minutes later I as exploring vast rows of tents, little shops and large gallerias of gadgets, computers, games and cables. Check out the Korean version of an Android iPad-killer...and I thought my Droid was big.
If you've seen my lab with all the cables and parts, you would know how much I love tech gear. The first dozen or shops keep telling me "NO POWER SUPPLY, MUST BUY NEW WII". I just had a feeling that it couldn't be that hard. So I keep looking and hit a small little booth of a shop with a young guy that as soon as I showed him what I needed he went and grabbed the right power supply. Imagine what its like to not speak the language and tell them things you need and want. He runs off to get what I hope is the right thing and tells me as he's leaving "Please, wait." and points to a stool by his booth. Well of course the power supply comes back with is a 220 volt Korea adapter, and that's no good in the US, so I show him the plug and somehow I get across the point that I need the US plug adapter so that it can work at home. Well in a couple of seconds, he runs around the corner to buy the parts from another vendor and comes back with all the parts (in theory) that will make my unit run again. But remember, I'm not even sure my unit isn't fried. So the moment arrives to test it out and I am in pins and needles ----- it works. I pay him 25,000 Korean Won ($20) and my day just got better.
Why did I tell you this? Simply to say that you never let anyone or situation get in the way of what you need and want to accomplish. So you forget a thing or 2 on your C9, you may even have forgotten to get to a challenge or intratask variation....big deal. If you let one little or even big group of problems throw you off track, are you going to GIVE UP ON YOU DREAMS? STUDENTS? Are all of your lessons going to be perfect?
N-O! NO! NON! NIET! EMM-HIGH!
Rockers go on with the show and always give it their ALL for their audience (AKA students).
Dr. Temple Grandin is an expert in animal sciences but it is her insight into her own autism that has really catapulted her profile and career. You can hear Grandin putting her support behind bringing back the trades and the hand-on careers back into schools as they definitely serve those who find it difficult to do 'regular' academic work.
An expert on animal behavior, Temple Grandin has designed humane handling systems for half the cattle-processing facilities in the US, and consults with the meat industry to develop animal welfare guidelines. As PETA wrote when awarding her a 2004 Proggy: “Dr. Grandin's improvements to animal-handling systems found in slaughterhouses have decreased the amount of fear and pain that animals experience in their final hours, and she is widely considered the world's leading expert on the welfare of cattle and pigs.”
Grandin’s books about her interior life as an autistic person have increased the world's understanding of the condition with personal immediacy -- and with import, as rates of autism diagnosis rise. She is revered by animal rights groups and members of autistic community, perhaps because in both regards she is a voice for those who are sometimes challenged to make themselves heard.
Boston, Massachusetts (CNN) -- It's early on a Saturday morning, and Sarah Markowitz limbers up before her dance class begins. Sarah stretches on the bar at the school run by the Boston Ballet as her fellow students start to wander in. They are all excited, because today they get to perform for their parents.
"I like dance because I like Gino," Sarah says, referring to Gianni di Marco, the instructor for this class of more than a dozen very special dancers. Gino, as his students call him, has taught various ballet classes for the school but now focuses mostly on this one, Adaptive Dance. It is a class specifically for kids with Down syndrome. "It's about movement," Di Marco explains. "It's about trying to coordinate the body with the music and have joy."
As a conga drumbeat fills the room, the class begins. Di Marco starts in front of his students. They are all seated, facing the floor-to-ceiling dance studio mirror.
He leads them through a series of motions timed to the rhythm, gradually working to a standing position. They are all smiles, and Di Marco encourages them with "Oh, yeah!" as they shout with enthusiasm, bodies swaying, feet stomping.
"Dance is something that has no limitations," Di Marco says. He leads them all in a circle, a pied piper with his loyal and happy group. They each take turns, one at a time, in a freestyle dance in the center. High-fives, hugs and fist bumps are common as each of the friends completes his or her routine.
The program started in 2002 and was the idea of Michelina "Mickey" Cassella, a physical therapist from Boston Children's Hospital who also works with dancers from the Boston Ballet Company.
"They've had physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy," Cassella says of the kids in the Adaptive Dance class.
"I wanted them to come into this building," she goes on, "and to be able to participate in a class like other children."
Though not a dance instructor, Cassella is always there to help guide the students if one of them becomes distracted or just needs a little encouragement.
"They're moving to music beautifully," Cassella says. "They're developing moves we didn't even know they could do!" She has seen these kids grow into teenagers during their time here and has been amazed by their progress. "It's just been a beautiful thing to watch."
In the studio, Di Marco has brought the parents in to watch their children perform. Anne Markowitz smiles as she watches her daughter, Sarah, lead the class through spontaneous poses, using the opportunity to ham it up a little.
"I think it's fabulous," Anne Markowitz says of the program, and Sarah loves every minute of it.
Down syndrome is nothing new to Markowitz, nor are the many capabilities of her daughter and the rest of the students. "It doesn't matter what your special needs are," she says. "You can do; you can dance; you can express yourself."
Di Marco explains that his students were sometimes hesitant to join in when he first started teaching them. But now he thinks dance has given them all a confidence that goes beyond the dance studio.
"It's not just to learn how to dance," he says, "but also to learn how to be who you are, and I think they're developing that very well, here, in this environment."
The reward goes both ways, however. Di Marco says that seven years ago he was nervous when the classes began. But now, he says, "Here I am having the time of my life teaching these children."
This is the last class of the session, and the students won't be back until March. Di Marco invites the parents to join their children in a dance. They form a circle again, but this time each student shares a dance with their family members instead of solo. The excitement culminates in one large group hug in the center. They are all exhausted and all smiling.
Di Marco, his arms outstretched as if to embrace every one of them, says, "This is life. I love you guys. Thank you for bringing your children to play with me!"
The NCTI 2009 Conference was an incredible collection of policy makers, advisors, DOE staff, Office of Special Education, researchers and vendors all interested in helping to make education equally accessible to students of all abilities. Here is my photo album from the main forums, break out sessions and the Tech Expo that was held on Monday night. We were able to get most of the NCTI staff to try out EyeToy on the upper level and they really enjoyed seeing themselves (as do our students) be the Action Hero. Check out more pictures and impressions from the NCTI 2009.
Presenting at the NCTI 2009 is an honor as it celebrates some of the most innovative technological solutions in education. The 2009 NCTI Technology Innovators Conference, Educational Futures — Powered by Technology, will focus on how learning and assistive technologies can supercharge education for allstudents.The NCTI is funded by the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and housed in Housed at the American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C.
It's only fitting that the most recent episode of the hugley popular new comedy Glee featured the character of Arty Abrams (Kevin McHale) and his quest to being himself. All the other members of the Glee club were told to use a wheelchair for 3 hours of the school day so that they would realize what life is like for Arty every single day. The episode was great and his solo/soliloquy was awesome. Go Arty and Dance wherever you want!
The National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI) advances learning opportunities for individuals with disabilities by fostering technology innovation. Specifically, we help researchers, product developers, manufacturers and publishers to create and commercialize products of value to students with special needs.
To achieve its goals NCTI offers services to:
Analyze needs, issues, trends, and promising technology innovations
Cultivate a collaborative network
Promote reliable research-based solutions
Facilitate successful commercialization approaches for the education market
Funded by the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), NCTI works with a deep and supportive community of government, nonprofit, and private organizations. Our network of individuals and staff is dedicated not only to the development of powerful assistive technologies but to the commercial success that will make them viable on a large scale.
Abigail Branson sees not limits in what she can do. As a teacher you will have to find ways to help your students learn no matter what their level of ability. Listen how positive she is and how compelled and inspired her parents are to help and advocate for others with spina bifida SB. Where and how are you building your students competence (perceived or real), self-confidence, and above all self-concept. Are you providing motivating environments and engaging tasks that are developmentally appropriate for your students or is everyone supposed to do the same thing? Which is the better way to help your students? It takes work. No one said that teaching is easy. You have to have heart, dedication and be willing to put the time in to find ways to reach your students. It's all about them. No go out and find inspiration, be inspired, and most of all be inspirational. Carpe Diem!
Aaron enters the Guiness Book of World Records. Congrats Aaron!
In what is the first cross-blog post between this blog and my Exergame Lab blog, Ubisoft released a free online game called Handigo The Game. Actually there are three mini-games (Sensory handicap, Motor handicap, and Mental handicap) and their objective along with handicap International was to play games that puts you "in a disabled persons's shoes." Of course I must take issue with that phrase as we all know the importance of using first person language, i.e. "person with disability or "person with a handicap."
Shabtai Hirshberg from Hadassah College (Jerusalem) designed this tricycle to encourage physical activity among kids suffering from neurological or muscular disorders. And here is the rest of it.
Adaptive Actions Sports was created by Amy Purdy (and two other co-founders) after having her legs amputated below the knee due to a complications from Bacterial Meningitis. AAS "creates opportunities for individuals with permanent physical disabilities to participate in 'action sports' and or the art and music scene that follows them."
