Service Learning Plan Week #3

For a Service Learning Project I would like to have my class students create a school wide Health/Wellness Fair for the student population. In small groups they will select a topic and present the information by using a variety of sources and methods available from the school and the community. This project would allow students the opportunity to provide their peers with pertinent information regarding ones personal wellness.

To make this possible, the groups would take the responsibility to select a health/wellness/fitness topic and research the information.  The groups would consist of 5 members and probably around 25 groups.They are encouraged to use the school resources and all outside community resources they feel necessary. For example a group might select teeth problems-dentistry, they can create a tri-fold with pictures and information. They can also visit local dentists for information and have a guest presenter from someone in the dentistry field to speak with the students. Another example would be a group that wanted to do something with DUI. This group could use the local sheriffs department for information along with bringing in a law enforcement officer to speak during the presentations. Another group may want to demonstrate the importance of physical fitness by bringing in a personal trainer to demonstrate exercising strategies. I believe the possibilities of this event would be endless with the amount of community involvement that would be produced. Students teaching students with the use of community resources available to them.....
EMT's, fast food restaurants, health stores, YMCA......

I believe by covering health/wellness and fitness topics, the information that would be presented will cover the district and state standards for Health and Physical Education. The national standards are also extremely similar to state and district, so basically all would be covered. For instance one standard focuses on lifetime fitness, there are a variety of information avenues a student can take for this standard....

This fair would provide a wide variety of information at one location for the students in the school to view at one time. Teaching elective classes with health, wellness and PE, not all students are able or wanting to take those classes that are offered. There are also limits on the amount of students signed into each class. By allowing this to be school wide, all students will have the opportunity to gain knowledge of the information presented.

The specific activities would be to have the students placed into groups of 5 and select a topic for teacher approval. Then the students will use class time and personal time to create a tri-fold, video, game, fliers or any method of communicating information to their peers. The use of an outside agency would be mandatory for information or to bring into the fair for a guest presentation to go along with the information the students present. I believe 3-4 weeks would be a sufficient amount of class time for preparation along with the hours resourcing an outside community resource. The fair could be during the morning or afternoon hours of school, or all day?

I think to measure the success of the plan would be done in a few ways. the first would be by the quality of the information the groups have acquired and presented at the fair. The second would be by the use of a community organization. And finally I believe the enthusiasm of the students presenting information and the students attending would be a key factor of the overall success. If the information is boring and bland then I do not think many would like it, however if there are good topics and community involvement I think it would be entertaining.....

At the conclusion I would anticipate possibly ordering pizza for the groups. Taking time to clean up-- missing part of the next class-- everyone would love that. Possibly using their effort as a "final exam" grade for the class, something along those lines and they would celebrate by not having to study. I think this would be a positive experience for the students and community.

Online Resource / Online Video - Week #2

For my online resource I selected PE Central. This is a traditonal website that provides a varitety of information for those primarily in the Health and Physical Education departments. This particulare site was shown to me almost ten years ago while taking undergrad classes at NKU. I use this site at different frequncies during the year.
This site has allowed me to make a perminate change to the way I teach by allowing me to stay "up to date" with fellow teachers and the information that they share at the site. A variety of lessons from K-12 are constantly posted and updated. New strategies for teaching large group activities, cooperation and skill and team activities.
The information is shared with its members and there for all to use. It also provides purchasing of equipment for the departments. It is a perfect website for those in this field.
Also the below site is a great way to get vocabulary to students....

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/free-puzzlemaker/

Video:
I normal use the great videos on Health Education from Discovery Education but I wanted to try something new and explore some new avenues. Here is a short video from Teacher Tube that was made dealing with smoking and the chemicals that enter your lungs that develop lung cancer. It is not a professional video but one that does get the point accross.

Week 1 Blog - Pidgeon

I am currently teaching Health and Physical Education at the high school level. My class periods consists of 4 Physical Education classes of grades 10-12. This class is a traditional class performing individual skills and team related activities. I also have one Strength and Conditioning class that also consists of grades 10-12. This class spends much of the time in the weight room and on cardiovascular conditioning. My classes are probably 80% male students. The class size varies from 18-43 students per class. With a large number it limits what we can do.... Small ones are great... Class is conducted in a typical sized high school gymnasium and we also have the use of the school weight room which is small but has around 20 machines along with a variety of dumbbells.

To effectively engage learners with my teaching I believe that I use several different strategies. One of the first goals that I have for the students is that everyone is participating in the activity. No students are sitting out of the activity. Everyone has their own equipment for skill development and then it is used in a game activity. A second way is that all students are encouraged to perform activities at their own pace, everyone is successful. Not everyone is the best at all activities in PE, so it is important they develop and make progress everyday in class. Finally I think our department creates a positive learning environment for the students. We have several areas that we are able to have class at, small gym, large gym, weight room and even outside field areas. These options allow for a wide variety of activities along with ample space for all students in the class.

It is difficult to have students want to read or write in the physical education setting but we do also perform exit slips and several written assignments for the students dealing with the activity that we are currently on. This allows for students who are not the most skilled to express their knowledge of the activity....
Thanks