Mission Statement- Fitness Fighters

Physical Education offers experiences that lead to the development of personal goals for achieving lifetime fitness. It has as its aim the building of sound bodies, positive attitudes toward fitness and good standards of social behavior. It creates opportunities to build strong character and leadership as well as fellowship and cooperative teamwork. The program emphasizes the development of various movement skills through a variety of physical activities. Physical Education promotes improving health through lifetime fitness.

Let me know what you think.

Joan

Developing the Physical Education Curriculum eBook

Developing the Physical Education Curriculum eBook

Welcome to Flickr!

Welcome to Flickr!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Joan Finch Professional Portfolio

Located below is the link to my professional portfolio. Enjoy!

Joan Finch

https://sites.google.com/site/joanfinchprofessionalportfolio/

Professional Portfolios, Plaxo, Linkedin

The pros and cons of these three methods is similar to facebook and myspace accounts. The pros are the capability to access contacts, such as friends, family, business associates, easily and all at the same time. Another pro is the accessiblity to information with regards to your contacts and the access to other contacts through the network system that these sites provide. The cons are the same ones I have for facebook and myspace accounts and that is the easy access to personal information that can give identity theft criminals information that could make it easy for them to destroy your life. If you use these sites you must be careful with the information that you provide and the communication that you do with others on these sites. Supplying personal information needs to be carefully selected before you submit. Being cautious needs to be vital if you access these types of sites.

Google Docs

Google Docs are another word document software. I can see a usefulness in this type of software if you do not have microsoft word or another word document software. You may also want to send messages to students or co-workers regarding pertinent information. Similar to an email but with the usefuleness of a word document.

LibraryThing

Six years ago I was an avid reader, then I went back to working full-time and it all came to an end. I find that I do not have enough time to read for pleasure. However, playing around with this site has brought me back to those days of reading for enjoyment. What a great tool to keep you organzied and current with books you might be interested in reading.

Below is my Librarything link:
librarything.com/home/JoanFinch

Image Generators

As a coach and teacher, I found the creativity of these sites amazing. The personalized images that I could send to my athletes prior to an important game or special day will be a great way to inspire them.





The image below is for my son who plays for the developmental LA Galaxy soccer team. He has two games this weekend at the Home Depot Center.

Podcast Discoveries

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/virtualfitness


I found this tool not as useful as youtube or the del.icio.us. I like the video/audio concept that youtube allows and the organizational tools del.icio.us allows. I like the idea of podcasting for my students on my website, such things as homework assignments, information, research techniques, etc. However, I do not know how much I will use podcasting for personal use.

Try Dr. Oz's Healthy Drink

Wakeboarding @ Lake Mojave

FlipShare - Private Video Sharing

Technorati

Technorati is another useful tool in searching for information on the web. However, depending upon the search network used information may be limited. Kinesiology was found on the blog search, but not on the posts or directory tool. I noticed that the del.icio.us tool could also be accessed from this website/search tool. In the past I was only using google to search for information. Now I see there are so many other ways to gain information from all over the global web.

Del.icio.us Blog Post

The potential use for this tool is remarkable. I found this tool much easier to use than the standard google search. The categories were easy to follow and the quick access to various sites for research information was instant. I could definitely use this tool for my classes, especially when they are working on their research projects. As a teacher, this site will help keep all bookmarks previously used organzied into one tool and easily accessed from anywhere.

Usefulness with tools learned so far

I have enjoyed playing with both the google reader and the podcasting. These are tools I can definitely use in both of my classes- health/PE. Podcasting for sending instructions verbally to students so they have a clear understanding of specific instructions- possible upcoming assignments and assessment expectations. The google reader would be useful to allow department members to have access to various sites that could be used for their classes. Great collaborative tool!

Joan

Web 2.0 review

I found the web 2.0 another great tool to find information. Being a health and PE teacher this would be useful in finding new information and accessing educational tools, ie- calorie counters for my classes. I found an interesting website called iMedix, which is a free website that allows participants to share and learn about health information. Again instant connection to topics for my health class.

Joan Finch

RSS feeds

Found the task of creating a RSS feed very interesting. I had no idea what RSS feeds were, but I will definitely use them. Great Shortcut. I like the idea of creating a list of useful websites for my PE dept. so all members of my dept. will have access to topics that the teachers can use for their classes.

Social Networking

Upon reading the article Social Networking, I thought about all the ways we are able to communicate with each other, but somehow we still find ourselves not communicating enough. I work for a high school that places all homework assignments, grades, important updates, etc. on the web and I still have students tell me that they did not know what they were suppose to do for their homework or what their grade is in a specific class. The social networking systems as stated in the article are becoming "an evolution in human social interaction" My concern with that statement is "are we really interacting with each other" All these systems do not show the facial expressions , tone of voice, mannerism, etc. that truly show what another is feeling or portraying. I understand there is a great purpose to all this social networking, but it can have it's negative points, also.

Web, Library and Teen Services 2.0 Article

As a high school teacher I am always on the hunt for new ways to stimulate the learning process of my students. These new technological advances have developed new and exciting ways for our children to learn information. Therefore, I found this article informative and interesting. We all know that today's children enjoy computers and have a knowledge of computers that go beyond their parent's. So if we can use these technological tools to teach and inform why not use them in our classrooms. The Library 2.0 could be used in many acedemic fields in developing new and more innovative learning lessons. Podcasting and gaming can reach beyond the standard essay assignment and make it more interactive with the student and their peers. Teen Services 2.0 provides an opportunity for new software and networking systems to be developed with the understanding of teens as the focus. Listening to the needs of teens and adapting tools to meet their needs have an invaluable purpose.

Technology Related Interests

This week one technology related interest is the use of twitter. Twitter is everywhere. You see it on the news, as a way to communicate with the news reporters. The one thing that interests me the most regarding the use of twitter is the idea that people like to comunicate their every move. Personally, I do not like the idea of people knowing everything I am doing. However, I do see it's usefulness in keeping people connected for quick reponse purposes. For instance, a family member has an important event happening and you want to keep other family members up to date on what is going on. This networking system can make it easy for you to let others know what is going on without making several phone calls or emails.

Jordan's Graduation

My son's graduation from Garces High School on May 18th at the Civic Auditorium in Bakersfield, Callifornia. Pictured from left to right Joan Finch, Justin Finch, Julianne Finch, Jordan Finch(graduate), and Jeff Finch. Mom, Joan, is dressed in the faculty robe and cap. Hopefully next year she will be wearing the master's degree robe.

new blog

Welcome to my new blog!

Joan Finch

Technology in Kinesiology