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  • SPARK by John J. Ratey, MD

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Personal Learning Networks: "The Times They Are A-Changing"

In your PLC PE updates, the following statements were made:

"There was some discussion about professional development for PE.  What kind of professional development can the PE staff take? Conference/Convention/Workshops?"

"Is all professional development being held in house or can they attend and participate in out of district events?"

"Professional development and leadership were the two big questions.  Some things were denied and team  members were not sure why or did not understand if it was cost, the format, the topic, or district policy."

After hearing presentations about "Personal Learning Networks" we'll revisit your questions about professional development.

2 comments:

Jen Kurtz said...

Since our last meeting, I have had two professional development opportunities.

SPARK P.E. - This professional development opportunity is part of a state grant from the CDC and provides education and fitness assessment tools to teachers in the area who are willing to collect data on their students. During my trip to Columbus, I had the opportunity to try many different activities that are designed to be fun and also to incorporate different aspects of physical fitness. These activities range from full class lesson to "mini-lessons" or 5-10 minute activities that can be done during warm-up and cool down. There were also many classroom management tips - such as how to divide or partner students and also reward systems that focus on good behavior and will hopefully help to eliminate the bad behaviors that occur. SPARKS goals are really directed at getting students moving quickly and safely and utilizing every possible minute in the class time allotted. It also focuses on activities that students will enjoy and will encourage them to participate in physical activity for the years to come - both objectives directly aligned with our state standards. I will bring my binder of ideas with me to our next meeting. It really is exciting to talk with other P.E. people who are working on making the time they spend with kids of great quality and beneficial to them.

ONTASC - I also went to a seminar on Dating Violence and Sexual Harassment. While this is not directly related to P.E., I thought it was worth mentioning because some of us teach both and also because I would not recommend taking another class with this organization. If you would like more information, please let me know and we can talk at some point.

See you Wednesday!

Alicia Lopez said...

Jen,

Your update captures multiple aspects of PE instruction and best practices. Look forward to learning more. Thanks