Virtus Training

The Virtus workshop that Sister Harriet lead us through during class was very helpful in preparing us to deal with children and potential child abuse situations. It not only pointed out many different warning signs of abuse but also what steps to take if this tragic event is suspected. A big lesson that I learned in this area was the fact that the police are not the first people you should call, but a good action to take would be to call the hotline immediately. As disturbing as I found it that there was people in the video that were previous child abusers, I think it was very helpful for us to be able to see this so that in the future we can know what to look for. These simple things that the video and Sister Harriet taught us seem fairly obvious, but when you think about how much you could help a child by reading the potential warning signs of abuse, they must be taken seriously. Examples of this would be how if someone would looked into the situation at Penn State with Jerry Sandusky, and how much time he must have been spending with children, the whole child sexual abuse scandal may have been able to be avoided. This taught me that it is better to look into something suspicious and be wrong, than to let something go that could end up effecting a child's life forever.

Lab 1

Going to St. Mary's for the first time I was not quite sure what to expect, but I was excited to find out. I have always loved working with kids and was anxious to see what we would be dealing with throughout the semester. I found this experience to be very fun, and loved how outgoing the kids were. I do realize that there will also be challenges that come along with this, and that not all kids will be cooperative or want to participate all the time. But, I think the biggest thing I took from this experience was that one needs to keep their patience in order to be successful in this profession. If I can try my hardest to do this I think I will be successful and helpful as a future educator, and working with the children at St. Mary's will be a great start on that road. I am excited to see what the rest of these labs will be like, and to finish my blogs and write-ups about them so I will be able to look back in the future and remember how it all began.

Physical Activity Impact on Affective Growth

Physical activity has a large impact on most children in every area of development. One specific area that is impacted by physical activity is affective growth. Affective growth is how students learn to interact and react with other students and peers. The way that physical activity is intertwined with this is because lots of physical activity involves students working together to accomplish a common goal, which will therefor make them feel more comfortable being on a team with one another. This in turn will make them more comfortable with these people in the classroom and in life in general.

"Learn Through the Physical"

Chapter one of our text for this class was somewhat basic, but very interesting at the same time. One thing that I learned from this chapter was the concept of learning through the physical. This was discussed in the section about concept learning. This section of the book talked about how many basic educational concepts can be taught on a playing field or court. Physical education and play can also be used to re-enforce educational concepts and make it easier for some students to learn depending on what style of learning they prefer. The reason that many students can pick up on learning through the physical faster than learning in a regular classroom setting is because learning while "playing" and doing physical activities is fun! This makes it much easier for these students to keep their concentration on the lesson being taught.

Entering PED 201 was very exciting for me, but at the same time sort of intimidating. I was excited to finally be getting into my Phys Ed classes that gave me real life experience in this field, but was not sure what to expect on the first day of class. However, I was relieved once I got there and we just went over the syllabus and discussed what we would be doing in class and in lab. The overall environment of the classroom made me look forward to the rest of the semester and excited about what we would be doing. All of the technology we will be using in the class will be somewhat of an adjustment for me because I have never taken a class that used the computer this much but I think it will be an interesting change.

Hey everyone! My names Payge Lehman and i'm currently a Sophomore here at SUNY Cortland studying Physical Education. I'm excited to be starting my core classes and to finally be exposed to public schools and get the chance to work with children. I've never used a blog account before so this will take some time to get used to but I think I will learn to find it very useful and hopefully even enjoy it. Over my break between semesters I was enrolled in an educational psychology class and I think that this class was very helpful for me and will make me more successful in my field because I got a better idea of how to deal with children with different abilities and disabilities. Hopefully I will be able to use these skills in the lab section of this class this semester and I am excited to find out!