Technorati p2

I seemed a little negative on my last post. This is because i could not even find any blogs i was searching for. Not the classes, not mine, not anything. Maybe i looked under the wrong rocks but i could not find what i was looking for. Just a side note in response to my assignment....

Technorati

Technorati...from what i seeing is a large search engine for blogs. I can see this being important to businesses, or a classroom if the classroom follows a blog. This could then be a good help to finding the blog at the beginning of class or checking if anyone out there is saying something similar. Other than this i do not see much to it. The statistics are pretty astonishing and make me think about changing my views on blogs and maybe try and use it more in the future. But once again i do not see blogging in class very helpful for me personally, unless i start teaching online courses.

Del.icio.us

After spending the last few hours playing with del.icio.us i find myself liking this a lot. The website is easy to use and easy to find whatever it is you are interested in. All of that said, i do not think i will be using this site within the classroom in the future. It is very easy to get distracted and loose you place trying to chase tags. I also think it might be a little bit distracting for a student in a classroom without a direct set of links to follow. If that would be the case then it would be a waste of time just entering the site. Once again i think this is a great site and i just might start using this instead of my bookmarks page. On my computer i have internet explorer, firefox, and safari all installed. I normally use firefox but have gotten on the computer many times with one of my parents using another browser and have had trouble finding certain sites. For this reason i am going to keep delicious for a few weeks. But i cannot say i will use it in the future or in my present classroom.

RSS Feeds

RSS feeds are an incredible part of web 2.0. I find myself checking my blog every time i get on the computer and then going straight to my bloglines account to check the new feeds. I find myself over whelmed with information. What makes it so amazing is that this is not just pages of random information but useful, importnat, personal information. I enjoy sifting through the articles that almost all of them interest me. The only thing i need to pay attention to is the clock to make sure i dont stay up too late, like now!

Technology in the Classroom

In the past 3 weeks i have explored many new uses of the web. At the end of the day i find myself thinking how these can actually be used in my classroom. I would not like to have my classroom be totally based around the internet as i enjoy the personal aspect of teaching. I enjoy when my students come to me personally for information and i get to see them progress. I do believe that they should have the web to gain additional knowledge and given the opportunity to go above and beyond. With this in mind, i see myself using this new found information as an optional part of the classroom. Possibly in the future i will find more ways to implement technology into the classroom but with most of the class having internet access only at the school, i find it hard to make it mandatory. I would like to give them more information based websites they could look at and use for research and random training questions they might have. This might be found through bloglines and rss feeds. But i personally need to find out a little bit more about these.

Web 2.0

So i checked out the site http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/short and found some really great websites. Obviously given my background being a personal trainer and teaching people how to be personal trainers i checked out the site PEERtrainer under the health category. I love the accountability and motivation behind it. It enables people to help others within their "group" and jot down information from their personal workouts and share with others. Obviously those are great things, but as i look at this site what i find most interesting is the ability to gain knowledge from others experiences and build a personal library of workouts. I believe one of the most important aspects of exercise is the variability of workouts along with proper specificity and progression. Most have the specificity down and progress to some degree, but with this i believe it will be much easier for people to get new ideas without even knowing how to build a program. This broad body of virtually infinite workouts at ones fingertips gives the inexperienced a chance to use great programs without the use of a trainer or coach. Physical performance techniques and information about training has grown exponentially in the past decade, training is nothing like what it used to be in years past. Sites like this are the future of training as we share experiences; both positive and negative and continue to grow and get better.

Previous 3 posts

The previous three posts are for my KIN-710 class Technology in Physical Education with Dr. Scot Sailor at Fresno Pacific University. The title of the post is the name of the article i blogged about.

History to Do: Why iTeach with iPods

I literally said "WOW!" aloud when i finished reading this article. This is an amazing article that touched on a number of great aspects of technology in the classroom. A few standout points that i saw included the use of more than one learning tool; reading, writing, talking, listening. This is a great concept as students do not learn in a uniform matter. I myself learn by doing; writing and talking, and have had many students just like me. On the other hand have had classmates and students the exact opposite. This opportunity to absorb the material in more than one avenue a great concept! Another standout point for me was the responses by the students in the trial class presented. One of the students responded having a demand for higher learning thinking skills. The students clearly spent time out of class listening to the podcasts and spent the little class time they had discussing higher level, interactive concepts that would not have been discussed without the use of the ipods. These two points along with many others sold me on the use of technology and ipods in the classroom. I personally do not have an ipod as i was scared to spend the money for a "phone." I think i am going to buy one after my next paycheck!

Social Networking

"People have always been social creatures." This statement in the opening paragraph of this article clearly states one of the founding characteristics of humanity. The application of this concept to the www is just one of the ways it has evolved through the past decade. The article spent most of its content explaining various networking sites like myspace, facebook, wikipedia, and youtube. These sites allow us as humans to do what we do best; interact, socialize, share information and thoughts, and find friends. Not all people are outwardly ready to make friends, introduce oneself to the girl or guy on the other side of the room, or help a fellow classmate struggling with a math problem. These sites enable and empower users to not only better oneself but better others. Social networking has been something that i personally have tried to improve on in the past few years after i graduated from college. I found myself as a personal trainer in a gym trying to build a client base in a city i havent been in the past four years. Social networking, for me, was not only a way to express thoughts and opinions but also a way to make a living. The Internet is a great way to do that as i can post information about myself and what i do in the hopes of building client base. This is also true in education as teachers can post information about homework assignments and lectures before the next meeting. Social networking is the main reason i use the www and this article explains those reasons perfectly.

Web, Library, and Teen Services 2.0

This article creatively explains the future of libraries as it relates to the technological advancements and their implications on the now "sterile spaces, static collections, and vanilla catalogs. I liked how this article explained libraries as a place to find information and gave it an ill feel with much to improve on. I feel much the same way as i have spent more time standing on my hands in the past few years than in a library. The 2.0 view of libraries create an atmosphere that not only increases the uses of libraries but also has an appeal to almost anyone. I love how the author relates this text to teens and gives many examples of how teens can be drawn to the library instead of just telling their parents they are going to the library and end up in the back seat of a squad car. One of my biggest concerns in the future of education and information is its "draw." As an educator i find myself constantly trying to find ways to get students to enjoy learning. I believe learning and gaining knowledge is one of the most important foundational traits to a successful person (and this goes beyond career and money). Knowledge is power, but it is also confidence, it is fulfilling, it is happiness. The more teens, students, and citizens of the world strive for knowledge the better this world will be, and 2.0 is a great way to get there.

So i wrote the summer workout outline. I was just going to post it on this blog as a link or possibly an attachment, but i guess i am a little computer illiterate. I do not know hot to do this. If anyone knows how please let me know and i will get it up as soon as possible.

BUSY!

BUSY!, originally uploaded by zack8467.

So this is me! I sift through most of this on a daily basis. The computer has the home page of KIN 710 Technology in Physical Education, one of my classes i am enrolled in at Fresno Pacific University. Directly under the computer is the two three ring binders i have for this class as well as the other class i am enrolled in, KIN 745 Assessment in Physical Education. On the left is the Shafter football playbook, a notebook, and a three ring binder for the workout program. On the right is my grade book, books, and three ring binders for the three classes i am currently teaching at Santa Barbara Business College; Kinesiology, Fitness Theory and Practice I, and Assessment and Exercise Prescription I. BUSY!

Summer Football Workouts

Saturday morning all of the coaches for Shafter football from the youngest level to varsity high school met and went over the upcoming season. This was a very productive and informing meeting as we are implementing the wing-t offense that i have little knowledge on. This meeting helped bring together a town instead of 10 different football teams. It was great to see this kind of expertise come together and whats more it was neet to be part of this hopeful beginning of Shafter football as a whole.
This post for me is to ask for any ideas and thoughts on the design of the summer strength and conditioning program which i will be designing in the next two weeks. I have been given 6-7:15am and 5-7pm mondays through thrusdays. I understand this is not ideal but it is what works with the team. I will be implementing agility work mon/wed followed by lower body weights and plyos tue/thr followed by upper body weights. Again if you have any thoughts, suggestions, or ideas please feel free to let me know what you think. In the next few weeks i will be posting my ideas and design as it comes together.

Assessment Assignment

So i just turned in my very first paper in the masters program. Thought i would take a break and leave a blog before i move onto the next part of the assignment. The paper was on my philosophy of assessment in P.E. Definatly thought provoking and challenging but i think i did ok. Excited to see what i got though. Also, I am teaching as a fitness instructor at a career college. The current term will be over this Thursday and i could not be happier. I teach 3 classes this term but next term will only be teaching 2. I will take a pay cut but i am excited to have some more time to spend on my other projects. Aside from school and teaching i also coach football and track at Shafter high school. Tomorrow all of us football coaches will be having a meeting regarding summer practices and conditioning. I am very excited about this because i am the strength and conditioning coach and so much of what we do this summer will be in my hands. I cannot wait to see these guys get to work and bring Shafter football back up to the top!

Nu at FPU

This blog is part of my class at Fresno Pacific University. I am enrolled in the online Kinesiology Masters program and as part of my Technology in Kinesiology class we have been instructed to start a blog. If anyone reads this I hope you can find it thought provoking as well as entertaining. I am very fun loving yet very passionate about what I do so hopefully we can keep this fun and also interesting. I would love to hear what anyone thinks of my new endeavor as well as some of my thoughts as I post throughout the class.