Final SCED 4200 Blog

In this course I feel like I have been able to see more clearly how to incorporate reading into my subjects of P.E. and health. Although health is a little easier to see the connection, I really didn't see the connection as clearly in physical education. I know have so many ideas I want to try in my classes. On the subject of critical literacy I feel it is most important to have students ask "why?" when reading or listening. They should always be looking for the recent information and correct information, especially in the evolving and changing landscape of health and physical education. There are many exercise and diet fads and programs in the world and so many different body types. It will be important to measure these students learning by giving them multiple opportunities to share what they learn through written and oral methods. It will be important for me to adjust and adapt to the various students I will have and give them all an opportunity to learn and provide needed encouragement and support in their efforts. I think it will be fun to see how the various students find different ways to find answers and how there backgrounds lead them to various discoveries. As Jillian and Sara mentioned in class software and programs that monitor movement and compare to a professional or highly skilled individual will be extremly beneficial in motor skill development and I believe will promote faster improvement amongst both lower and higher skilled individuals.

Discipline-Specific Reading

In my experiences I have not had much experience with texts in my discipline outside of instructional charts or textbooks in my grade school years. In physical education classes assessments were mostly skill based and there was little other texts other ten the charts that showed how to perform cues. In the schools I went to there was unfortunately not a great emphasis on health. It occurred for a couple weeks in elementary school and consisted f one semester in three years of middle school, and one more semester in 4 years of high school. There was no additional health courses offered. In all those health classes the only text used was the textbook. In the years since I have started college I have had the opportunity to encounter so many more texts for both contents. I sometimes feel cheated of a better experience and want to make sure my future students don't encounter the same feelings. In my free time I read many sports related children's books, and have always had a fascination with the motivational messages many of them carry. When I was in Little League baseball my team won the city championship one year, and as a gift to us our coaches and parents bought all of us personalized books that had us as a character in the story. Although looking back now it was a super cheesy story, at the time I thought it was such a cool thing. It was a motivational force in my continuing participation in physical education. In the secondary grade many students probably wouldn't be motivated by fictional children's stories, but another source of inspiration in my life may prove to be more useful in improving the education experience of my students. I was kind of a weird child and really enjoyed reading biographies of people. It consisted of historical figures in American history and sports stars mostly. I can recommend certain athletes stories to students that i feel could be inspirational for that student. I can also suggest reading materials on specific sports that a studentys has interest in to help enrich their knowledge of that area.

Affective Dimensions of Reading

I have always considered myself to be a good reader. I learned to read at a fairly young age, and have read at high levels through out my school experience. I have read a variety on texts through the years. I am a fan of many different genres of writing. As a young child my parents were very supportive in helping me learn to read and supplying books for me. My favorite period of reading in my life was from the ages of 4-6. I was given so much freedom in my reading. I could pick up nearly any book I saw in my parents house and try to read it. I remember a time when I had read all the children's books my parents had at the time and decided to try to read my fathers college textbooks. My father was a business and marketing major so many of the concepts were difficult or impossible to understand, and his computer technology text seemed like complete gibberish. The exception was a lone anatomy textbook my father had. I remember looking at the pictures of the skeletal and muscular systems and being fascinated. Although the actually words of the book were still beyond my reading level at that age, by using contextual information I was able to understand a significant part of it. That experience helped to shape me and sent me in the direction that has placed me where I am now. My least favorite memory of reading is from high school. In my sophomore year I had to take a class called contemporary american literature . The choices in books that we were required to read were of no interest to me at that time. I was very frustrated in the selections chosen. To this day I still dislike those books read in that class.

In my future classroom I want to develop a positive environment for reading. Although there is not a lot of written text in PE classes, I can still encourage reading. I can refer students to stories about a sport they enjoy or activity. In health I can suggest other texts related to the subjects covered that may present information in a more entertaining way than most textbooks do. I feel a real struggle for some students when it comes to reading is a fear of reading aloud and having students make fun of them. If I want students to read aloud maybe I can prepare those students be giving them their portion ahead of time so they can feel more confidence and ask me questions if they don't know a word. Reading is so important for enriching the mind and it is such a tragedy some students develop a hatred for reading due to the way it is presented to them.

Connecting School and Home Experiences

When I was young I was fascinated by sports and athletic achievements in sport. I remember watching Micheal Jordan win his last of his second three-peat of NBA Finals in 1998, his mastery of his craft was amazing to watch.  I remember following and occasionally tuning into the Tour de France in the early 2000's watching Lance Armstrong, who at the time was a personal hero, overcome numerous obstacles, including cancer and doping allegations to win seven straight titles. Unfortunately that story doesn't end with the same admiration and applause it started with. Even so, these and other athletic achievements, such as my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers winning two Super Bowls in the past decade, have fueled my passion for learning how the human body functions and how to optimize, within the rules, the ability of the body. The areas of health and physical education gives me the opportunity to continue studying these interests and share my knowledge with students to help them live healthier, more active, hopefully longer lives. 

Though I love sports, i realize it is not the only route to improve physical fitness and health. Even some of the top athletes make poor health choices. Micheal Jordan drinks alcohol, and smokes cigars. Lance Armstrong eventually came out and admitted to blood doping. These, of course, are only two examples. When I think about this I wonder how different the makeup of the sport universe might be if these issues didn't exist. I realize as long sports are played competitively, there will be those that try to bend or break the rules to get an advantage. Others will just make choices that negatively affect their health.  With this knowledge I want to try to educate future students on methods to optimize their health though good choices in food, proper decision making and personal fitness, and find joy in physical activity itself and be happy with themselves. I want to be able to properly communicate the dangerous of  poor choices in order to hopefully improve the health of the population.

Introduction Blog

My name is A.J. Bixler, I am the oldest of 6 children and always had a passion for teaching and helping others. This stems from helping teach my younger siblings growing up and other children around us. One of my greatest passions is sports and physical activity. I have always been a fairly competitive person wanted to do my best and raise the level of those around me to their highest level as well. This is the reason I decided to pursue a dual major in physical education, and health education. I  have always found the dynamic of a team to be an exciting experience. The challenge of taking several individuals, with different skills and strengths, and piecing them together to produce an efficient unit able to work together toward a common goal is fun. In addition to sports and physical activity, I also enjoy watching movies and reading books. I feel growing your mind is just as important to overall health and strengthening the body. If you not willing to put in the effort on all fronts you are letting yourself down. To me physical education and health is about trying to make yourself better one day at a time. It is showing yourself you care about your body and mind and want to extend you life, in the form of healthy choices such as being physically active, proper nutrition, and staying away from harmful substances, in order to continue enjoying living your life. It is a personal choice to do the right things and I just want to help people understand the significance of the choices they are making. 

Growing up in a small town in Wyoming didn't provide much excitement for a young boy. Due to this I have to find my own excitement. My friends and I would ride our bikes all around looking for adventures. when We weren't in school we would spend most of our time until the sun set outside playing games. Even though I was a small child for my age as a pre-pubescent youth I wanted to prove I could hang with the other children and be competitive. I played little league baseball, junior football, and went swimming at the pool. The excitement of sports help pass the time for me in an enjoyable  and healthy setting.

 My current definition of literacy is a proficient understanding and/or ability in a specified area. In terms of health and physical education, i feel this relates in the form of knowing what choices and actions are health and execution of those choices, and competency of skills in various areas that help you to achieve higher goals. I feel even within the fields of health and P.E. you can have various levels of literacy dependent on the setting.