C4T Post #4

Jenny's Learning Journey

 “ The happiest people don’t have everything, they just make the best of everything.” This is a quote from Jenny's She' blog post, Having a Go at Photography! Jenny She is a primary school teacher from Auckland, New Zealand. Her blog is dedicated to her experiences, reflections, learning, sharing, and many other things that she believes will make a difference in her career as a teacher. She states on her facebook, "I love my job because I believe that I can make a difference". If only all teachers wanted to make a difference! 

In Jenny's post on January 1, 2012 , she post about the use of an iPhone to take pictures. It is a simple post with a powerful message. It is about a young man who does not have the best camera but makes use with what he has. I think that is a big statement, so many times as teachers we get wrapped up in all the bells and whistles of expensive curriculm progams that we do not realize it is not what we have that makes "something" great happen, it is how we use and what we use it for. Just like Jenny's says the happiest people don't have everything, they just make the best of everything. It's important for teachers to remember this statement. As simple as her blog post and as simple as this statement, it is how we chose to teach that is going to make a difference in our schools, classrooms, and with our students. 

Mr. Robbo

On April 23, 2012, I revisited Jenny's site and she did not have new post. There was some confusion on our C4T this time, so Dr. Strange made some changes to our C4T assignments and we ended up with two different documents and on each one I had a different teacher. Since Jenny did not have a new post and the post before that was made on July 24, 2011, I decided to check out "my second" C4T from the modified C4T document. I figure the more exposure I get to teacher blogs, the better. So I visited Mr. Robbo, The PE Geek. Mr. Robbo's actual name is Jarrod Robinson and he is a Physical Education teacher from Victoria, Australia. His lastest post, Top 'Apps' For PE Teachers -Part 13 provided some great fitness apps and tracking. I think these apps could be beneficial to all teachers and parents, as well. It is important for teachers to create lifelong learners and to teach students to practice lifelong fitness. 

So many people talk about how "technology" has turned kids into couch potatoes but I think technology can be used to get kids off the couch. Just look at the Wii and Xbox Kinnect! I'm not sure how many of you reading this has played any of the dancing, kickboxing, or fitness games but I'm here to tell you these games can make you sweat! 
Technology is here to stay whether people like it or not, so we might as well use it in as many ways as we can. So why not go ahead and use it to keep kids active as well. I really enjoyed reading Mr. Robbo's blog and even though I am not a Physical Education major I subscribed to his blog. Educating children is all about getting them up, moving, involved, and keeping them engaged. As a teacher, it is important to educate kids in all areas, not just areas you have a "degree" in. Isn't this why we develop PLNs so we can become lifelong learners and broaden our knowledge of things outside of our "expertise" I think he has provided some excellent apps and resources that can be incorporated into the curriculum to help all teachers meet this goal.

Exercise with Coach Hooper