PE and the SAMR Model - making a start by applying it to students’ reflections

There is lots of great work and advice on the internet about PE and Technology integration and which apps to use. There is also lots of discussions out there about if we should be using tech and not getting carried away with using apps for the sake of it at the expense of other aspects of PE.

It was 6 months ago as a school we received an ipad each in the PE department to use in class and that the school went google apps. Over the last 6 months we have played with lots of different apps and tossed around many of ideas, most of which never make it into the class. As I am becoming more familiar with the technology available I have been thinking about the need for some framework for working out what we do with tech in PE and why we do it.

I recently revisited the SAMR model, but when I googled PE and the SAMR model to find specific examples, there is very little work out there. The SAMR model provides a good basis for working out are we using technology for the sake of it or to enhance teaching and learning.

At the end of our PYP PE units the students participate in a reflection task. Quite often if involved a pencil and piece of paper, the end result then went into their portfolio. At the start of the year as we played around with google apps we got excited when we realised that we could do this reflection with a google form. We got the students to right click on the completed form and print it, so that they could use it in their portfolios. Looking back we did not really enhance their learning in any way, we just replaced the paper and pencil with a screen and keyboard - the end result was the same. This is an example of substitution in the SAMR model.

Moving up a level to Augmentation (basically the same tool but with a functional improvement), we asked the students to complete their reflection via google forms, but we then used the autocrat script to take their response, and that of their pre assessment and a teacher comment on their performance in the unit and automatically merge this information into one document, with a click of a button.

The real aim is to create tasks at the higher levels - Modification and Redefinition.

In our recent Athletics unit for Grade 2 & 3 students, I opened up the task. We used ipads and the book creator app. Each student created a new page in the book for their reflection. They had to choose one event, that they thought they performed well at or improved at and explain what they did to reach that performance level. This could be achieved by typing in some text, or more popular was to record themselves talking. They also had to get a friend to record a video of them performing the event and add it to the page as well. All of a sudden we have a reflection that show lots more about what the student achieved than previously.

Next task - applying this model to how we are using technology and creating tasks that allow students to be working at the higher level of the model.

Novelty iPad Apps to increase motivation

I like running. Also I enjoy throwing things and jumping - all components of our athletic units in elementary. But like the students, I often find it hard to motivate myself to run sometimes especially when the temperatures are in the low 30’s oC, in the middle of a winters day in the tropics.

Fortunately this year, as well as  playing a variety of running games and having different objects to throw, I have also been able to utalise the ipad to increase motivation, as well as develop the teaching and learning, but that is a different blog post!

It is amazing when the ipad chooses a distance to run it is much more acceptable than if I asked. I have used ‘Decide Now’ - a spinning wheel,  to choose the warm up tag games or to choose how far they need to run. It is amazing the excitement it generates as they watch the wheel spin and see what they have to do - even when they know the answer will involve running in the heat! The app allows you to store an unlimited number of wheels, each with up to 10 categories. Similar is ‘Make Dice Lite’, which has also been used. The free version only allows you to store 6 dice, but you can have several dice on the table at a time.

ChatterPix for Kids is another app the kids enjoyed. I photographed a throwing implement, and then recorded the instructions on how to throw it. You then draw a mouth on the app and on playback the object speaks your instructions!! This is one app that I know several students have gone home and used.

As an alternative to seeing how far the students can throw, we have measured how fast the object is going through the air using RadarGun. There is lots of effort going into seeing if they can throw a nerf rocket goes faster than the school bus.

The ability to watch their performance is also a great motivator. This year I borrowed a ipad stand and set up the ipad with BAM video delay. The students could jump into the pit and come out and watch their jump, as the next person was jumping and being recorded. It does not offer the detailed analysis of ubersense, but it does allow all the students in the class to watch themselves and check a particular teaching point all on one ipad. 

    

                       

Little things to help become more organised!

The more I explore apps and Google extensions I realise the many ways there are of making life more efficient.

Traditionally I have been a pen and paper person, making notes on scraps of paper and the desk blotter under my keyboard - then have to remember where it was I put the reminder!

Lately I have being using Wunderlist, a to do list which is synced with all my devices. Now when I am at home and think of an idea it is synced to the computer at school straight off - no more search in pockets for the scrap of paper!

I am also someone who works from several different tabs at the same time, often having to flick between then to search for information to put into another one (most my work is now on Google docs). The answer is a Google chrome extension called Window Tiler 

This extension automatically arranges my different windows into no overlapping tiles, at the press of a button - no more resizing windows!

Thanks to @mrrobbo thepegeek.com and @alicekeeler http://www.alicekeeler.com for the ideas - two people worth following!

Technology in Gymnastics

Our grade 2/3 classes are part of the school's iPad pilot project. This means each class has 6 iPads, which they are able to bring with them to PE class. This post is a reflection on how I used them to enhance our gymnastics lessons.

The gymnastics lessons we offer are very different from the ones I took part in at school, where we all lined up and practiced the same skill at the same time. We offer a more student centered approach where different skills are introduced and the students practice them, but they get a great deal of choice of which skills it is they want to work on each lesson. Students also got to choose the direction the unit takes, as they request which skills they would like to develop in future lessons. This can be challenging for the teacher when there are lots of stations set up. During one lesson, someone came into the class and commented that there were 13 different activities taking place, in fact over the course of the lesson I think there were more, but hey they were impressed with the differentiation!  We are fortunate in that we have teaching assistants with us in every class, who are able to look after activities which might require spotting or helping students who need extra help, but I still feel we could improve the learning if we could offer more feedback to the students - cue drum roll as the iPads enter stage!

First up were QR Codes that linked to videos of different gym skills, such as various jumps and rolls. I made the videos, featured some grade 4/5 students performing the different skills using iMovies in advance of the unit. The students both loved performing for the camera and watching students they know perform the skills that they had to do. Thinking ahead to when we have more iPads in school, this could be an assessment task - produce a set of videos demonstrating you performing the gymnastic skills that you had developed, but that's next year!

Using the QR codes the students were in their group able to choose a skill that they wanted to work on, watch the video demonstration as many times as they wanted, perform the skill and comment on each other's performance, using the video as their reference point.

The next stage, which some of the students went to without being prompted, was to then video their friends using Ubersense, then replay the video in slow motion to help them provide feedback. The feedback was based on prompts given in the videos and teaching points that I had suggested they look for. We also experimented with playing the recording of the students along side the QR Code video in Ubersense, but I decided not to push this too much, as I felt the benefits were not justified considering how long it took to set up. This is something I will return too when the students are more familiar with the iPads.

I also used the iPads to help assess students and collect work for their portfolios using google forms, autocrat script and threering.com. I will write about this in a separate post.

The feedback from the students using these tools was overwhelming positive, with them able to articulate how the iPad had helped them in learning the skills, as they were able to see what they were doing. From a teacher point of view, the students were receiving a great deal more feedback than previously and it was great to watch the students put up an iPad, choose a skill, watch the video, then try to perform it, before then watching themselves performing, with a friend slowing the action down and suggesting what was good and what could be better. There are plenty of studies which illustrate the effectiveness of peer feedback in skill acquisition. It is also is facilitating the development of higher order thinking skills as the students were having to evaluate and provide constructive criticism to their peers.


Of course it was not all plan sailing. We had issues of bandwidth and wifi strength issues, especially if you were in the wrong side of the court and on some days it did just not work at all and we relied on teaching points on last year's paper handouts. It would have ideal to have all the videos downloaded onto the iPads, and I would have done thus if they were PE department iPads  that we got to use and maintain everyday. We were also lucky to get six working iPads each lesson, and we had to manage which students had access to iPads, as the more tech savvy students often dominated.

ipad Orienteering with Klikaklu

Our Grade 2/3 classes (7 to 9 years old) have been looking at coordinates in Maths, so we have integrated with them by running some orienteering activities in PE. I started off in a similar manner to previous years. This has included marking out grids on our tiled areas so students could move around and work out which square they were in. This then progressed to looking at grid references on a simple map of the school.

Using the map, students went out in pairs and placed an orienteering card in one location before coming back and then finding another pairs card. The next stage has traditionally involved me going out and setting up a load of different course with control points for the students to follow. This year I have used the iphone app Klikaklu on class ipads to run these lessons.  

 Using Klikaklu the students choose a course to complete and scan the QR code on the poster to receive the clues. All of the clues were a grid reference on the school map. Off they go to the first location. When they are there they press reveal and they get a picture of an object in that location, which they have to go and photograph. If it is correct, then then get given the next clue.

The actual activity of taking a grid reference and working out where it is on a map and going to that location to find an object, are the same as in previous years. The benefits of using Klikaklu I found were from the management of the lesson side, as it once it was going there was less 'course administration' to do, allowing more time to help students master grid references.

It didn’t take me long to set up 7 different courses, with a variety of levels of difficultly. The students picked a course, scanned the poster and off they went. Once set up, the courses are were taken to be emptied during one of my classes!  This means no more setting out orienteering cards and collecting them in again, or having to go off to find cards which have been moved! As the app involves matching photos, there is no checking to ensure the students have been to the correct place and got the correct letter or punch stamp – if they don’t get the right location they don’t get the next clue!

I also upgraded my app, so that I could use Staggered Hunts. This means that several groups could all choose the same hunt at the same time, but they would each be given the clues in a different order, thus avoiding groups just following each other. Another option I will use in the future is the Scavenger Hunt, when the students are given all of the clues and then they have to work out the quickest way to get to all of the locations – a bit more like ‘real’ orienteering!

We had a few minor teething problems, with students holding the ipad at the right angle to match more complex images, but once they worked out the override button they were fine. 

I will leave the final word to one of our 8 year old boys who finds PE a bit of a challenge. He ran past me several times in the lesson shouting out that this is brilliant. At the end of the lesson he came up and gave me a big hug and thanked me for “the best lesson ever!” – Thank you Klikaklu

The power of demonstrations

Never underestimate the power of demonstrations as I found out in Gymnastics. I have something wrong with my wrist, which means it hurts to take my weight on my hand when my palm is flat on the mat, so sometimes I end up making my hand into a fist instead. I explain to students that thier hands need to be flat and not a fist, but.......... I have noticed a load of students also trying to do rolls and vaults with one hand in a fist as well!

ConnectPE workshop

This weekend I was fortunate enough to participate in a ConnectedPE workshop, lead by 'The PE Geek' Jarod Robinson. If you haven't already come across his website and apps and you are teaching PE it is time to have a look!

The 2 day workshop focused on mobile devices in PE and looking at some web2.0 tools and google apps. Some of the apps, such as QR codes and video playback I have been experimenting with already, but it was great to 'step back' and have look at the them again and think how they can be best utalised.

The first day back at school since the workshop, has seen me using google canned responses for email, especially useful as we had a swim meet today and lots of parents emailing in as their children were sick; wunderlist for creating todo lists; and finally I gave my ipad to a student who could participate in gym and asked them to record performances for student portfolios using 3rings. Three great ideas all from The PE Geek.