Why I run...

This is just a quick one today. It was an icy cold morning, but I decided I had to run anyway. And so glad I did...

How does running help me as a teacher? It puts me in the right frame of mind as I enter the day.
Sorry for the quality of the photos. They were taken with my iPhone.

Blogger Behind This Blog #7

A few weeks back we travelled up to Sydney for the City to Surf. For many years I've been meaning to get around to running this race, but for whatever reason, haven't pulled it off. This is a fourteen kilometre road race, beginning in Sydney City and ending at Bondi Beach.

This year I had a training program that I found online and I stuck pretty closely to it. It was a fairly hard training program - with a long run on Sunday, 30 minute run on Monday, intervals on Tuesday and medium run on Wednesday before I finally got to a rest day on Thursday. I found it tough, but always seemed to find the energy when I needed it, and didn't get sick at all, even when running about 50km in a week. (I used to get tired, sick, or sore when I went over 30km in a week). I tried to include some hills or mountain running in the program in preparation for the dreaded "heartbreak hill".

We stayed at a hotel in Sydney and hooked up with some friends who were also running the race. We went out for dinner together to load up on carbs and then hung out for a while at the hotel before crashing for the night.

On race day we met up for a hotel breakfast - something to sustain us but not overfill us - and headed down to the starting line at Hyde Park. There were people EVERYWHERE! With a record 75,000 competitors it was the world's biggest running event. Once in position we did a lot of waiting before we actually got to move anywhere, and even once we started to move, it was quite slow. As it was my first year running, I was in the 'blue' group which is made up of the masses - the slow people and the first timers.

For the first five kilometres I focused on running and weaving. I found that I couldn't go more than about ten strides before having to weave around walkers. I tried to use the footpaths as much as possible, but didn't want to be seen to be cheating either! Please understand - I'm not blaming the walkers, just expressing my frustration as a runner.


The weaving continued for most of the race and I don't feel I ever actually found my pace group. Usually in a race I find a point in time when I'm not overtaking people any more - when I'm with people of a like pace. I was feeling unusually strong throughout the race and was running well. I didn't stop for hydration as it was an opportunity to make greater headway through the crowds. I was listening to my run playlist on my iPod, which always helps to put more speed and power in my pace.

Heartbreak Hill didn't end up being so heartbreaking after all. I ran the whole thing and found it quite a non-event given my prior preparation. There was a great atmosphere with people along the sidelines cheering and runners in crazy costumes. The weather was perfect for running and I found the kilometres were flying by.

As I came to the last stretch along Bondi Beach I felt a tingle go through my body. I was almost there, and all these people were cheering us along. Crossing the finish line was a real let down. I felt almost disappointed. One moment I was running this race, enjoying the music and mood, and caught up in the weaving. The next moment it was all over. We walked through a couple of gates, picked up our medallions and then the weaving through crowds continued as we tried to get to the water stands to rehydrate.

I met up with the others from my group at our meeting point. It took awhile for everyone to find it and none of us were really sure what time we had run due to differences between race start time and our actual time. I had started my stopwatch at the beginning of the race, but was slow to press it at the finish line. I had run it in a good time - good enough to get me into a better starting position for next year. You can see photos of me running and a video of me finishing here.

We decided to cab it back to the hotel as the lines for the free buses were ridiculously long. We showered and ended the experience with a great steak lunch down at Darling Harbour.

Can't wait to do it all again next year, but training for the Canberra Times Fun Run in the meantime.

Opportunity to Explore

I have a love-hate relationship with new experiences. Sometimes I find them very scary, other times I find them exhilarating.

Last night I sat down at my computer to work out a run that would fit my training requirements for today. It needed to be an 80 minute run - which I estimated to be about 13 kilometers at Penny-pace. I pulled up Map My Run and started marking out a route that one of my friends told me is very pretty, and sure enough, it was a perfect distance. Using Map My Run, I flicked over to the satellite image, as part of the run was through bushland. I tried to lock the images into my mind.

Today I headed off on the run with my iPhone in my pocket. (I love my iPhone). I listened to sermons from the Journey Podcast while I ran and took it at a fairly easy pace. I was doing pretty well until I headed into the bushland and then, of course, I couldn't be certain if I was on the right dirt track headed in the right direction. I pulled out my trusty iPhone and brought up the Maps Application, got it to find my current location, and then brought up the satellite image. Within seconds I could see where I was and find the way to where I wanted to be. I used this a couple of times along the journey to make sure I was still on track.

It felt great to be able to head off and explore a place new to me with the security of the GPS in my phone. I was able to explore without the anxiety of getting lost. And my friend was right - it was a really pretty run.

In terms of teaching, this made me realise how important it is that we provide students with opportunities to explore new things, to feel that exhilaration. And, to do this, we need to make sure we provide them with the tools to guide and encourage them along the way. We need to give them opportunities to problem solve without the anxiety.

What do you think? What have you found helpful in exploring new things and heading out on an adventure?

Friday Fun - 27/3/09

Fun this week:

Maths
After all the difficulties with teaching subtraction with trading last week, I couldn't simply move on and ignore it. It was eating away at me. I had to conquer it. So this week, rather than moving on to multiplication and division, I spent some more time on subtraction. I found some great videos on subtraction with regrouping and played these for the class.


We then used the rhyme "If there's more on the floor, then go next door" to help us solve a range of two digit subtraction questions. This also helped with explaining the more difficult subtractions from 2000 etc. The rhyme can be applied by the first neighbour saying "I'm sorry, I don't have any numbers to spare. Let's try next door" and so on. I think my students really enjoyed the idea of the numbers being characters and fitting into a story!

My new challenge is to help my students to look at the question first before flying into the written solution. Too many were using the written method to find the answer to 50 - 49 which I know they can do mentally!

We also touched a little on multiplication and division (as I didn't want to overlook it completely) by reviewing some one-digit multiplication and creating the "families" for those facts. For example, 5x7=35; 7x5=35; 35 divided by 7=5; 35 divided by 5=7. Again, my students loved this idea of the numbers being in families. I'll have to remember this as I teach them other concepts - they like to bring the numbers to life!

Spiders in Spider Webs
This relates to our Rowan of Rin unit, but we did it in our homeclasses, so I've decided to include it in Friday Fun. We listened again to the passage in chapter 6 of Rowan of Rin where the characters face thick spiderwebs covered in big, black spiders. We used white oil pastels on black paper to create a web background. We then created our own spiders from shiny black paper and stuck them on the background so that they stood on the page with bent legs. We made the web sparkle in some places using some silver glitter paint. They look really fantastic displayed in our classroom.
Jonno and I were chatting about how great they were and that chatting lead to more ideas and so we decided it would be good to teach the kids how to write a description about spiders and spider webs and then attach their writing under their artwork on the display. We brainstormed some good adjectives and then students created sentences using these words. I suggested that they try some alliteration and rhyme but use no more than three adjectives per sentence. The writing that resulted was really fantastic. One of my students then suggested that we type up these descriptions in our lab lesson rather than handwriting the final copy. Brilliant idea - and a brilliant opportunity to teach some simple word processing tips - changing the page orientation, selecting all text, changing font etc. This lesson was also great for teaching the correct use of commas.

Communication - Assessment Task
As part of our Integrated Inquiry this term, we want our students to learn how to communicate effectively with others through a variety of forms. In groups, students selected a type of communication: phone calls, email, letters, postcards, cards, face-to-face, blogs, SuperClubsPlus webpages. In these groups they needed to consider the purpose for this communication (including advantages and disadvantages), the conventions and tips to effective communication with this form. They then needed to decide on the best way to present this information clearly to their peers - all while cooperating with others in their group.
Students had most of Friday to work on this, but still need a little more time to fine tune their presentations. They have been working very well together and have been learning a lot both about and through communication.

Description
Both literacy classes did some descriptive writing this week using some ideas we obtained through PD last week. I found this picture of a soldier with a kitten. Students began with the sentence "[Name] is a soldier." They then wrote a description of his clothes, his face and the kitten in his arms. After this, students wrote a flashback to tell the story of how the kitten came to be in the soldier's possession. Linking the flashback to the description was pretty tricky for most students and didn't come naturally. This is something for us to work on in future lessons.

Earth Hour
On Friday our school turned off all electrical power between 11am and 12pm in recognition of Earth Hour. We tried to continue with lessons as much as possible. In Year 4 students wrote in their reflective journals and moved to spaces in the room with greater natural light.

Walk-through of Cross Country
Our Cross Country carnival is two weeks away so on Wednesday we walked the course that students will run - just to make sure they know where they will be going. The next day some of the students were complaining about how their muscles were sore from walking the track. Looks like we have some training to do before the big day!

Rowan of Rin
For information about what we learnt in our unit of work on Rowan of Rin by Emily Rodda, click here.

The Year To Come - 2009

I am excited at the prospect of a new year and have already been busy thinking, dreaming and planning what 2009 will hold.

At school I will be teaching year 4 with a male teacher who I've worked well with in the past. Our Integrated Inquiry units will include the topics:

Personal Relationships - including a novel study of "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda, nature conservation at a local ridge, and hopefully the development of a class blog. Through this unit students will learn about building and maintaining positive relationships; and roles and responsibilities within a community.

Australian History - including a focus on Aboriginal history prior to British colonisation and then the different challenges faced by settlers up until the time of federation. Through this unit I would like to see students developing timelines with Dipity and trying out video casts to explain Australian history.

Textiles and Design - looking at fabrics and their uses, exploring different techniques with textiles, and creating their own designs to suit a particular purpose. I would like to see children working in team project groups to liaise with others, determine needs and wants, and produce products to meet communicated needs eg. costumes for school dance performance, craft items for school fete and commemorative t-shirt for year co-hort.

The Solar System - including an understanding of apparent size/distance, gravitational pull, current information from space exploration and the causes of changes to the surface of the Earth or atmosphere. There are numerous interesting and useful websites to support this unit of work.

At school I will also be working on our Student Enrichment Policy - trying to link up, document and promote all the great things the school does to enrich student learning and growth. I am excited by this prospect because I really do feel the school does this so well.
I've also expressed an interest in helping the school find and purchase a class set of laptop computers. Given that we now have wireless internet access, I can't wait to get the students started on laptops!

In my 'computer world', I hope to connect more with my personal learning network - testing out my webcam and exploring "Flash Meetings". I want to do some more podcasting, for Link 4 Learning, but also consider its future direction. I've recently taken on a Blog Carnival, so hopefully will be able to maintain this throughout the year (the first edition will be out on Jan 7). I'm keen to get my Delicious accounts working for me even more than they are currently. And, I'm sure I'll be surprised by a number of other opportunities that will pop up.

On the home front, there will probably be renovations, and hopefully a 30th Birthday overseas trip for my husband. He wants to see the Northern Lights and also drive on the German Autobahn. With all of this, it will come down to how much we can save up and what we decide to prioritize! Speaking of prioritizing, I'd like to get back into my running - probably early morning, or home from work in the afternoons.

All in all, it's looking like a great year.

Fitness Update

As I watched my kiddies doing their run today, I realised that it is time for an update on here. They have come SO far with the whole daily fitness thing, and as we draw toward the end of the year, I wonder what will happen for them next year.

Today we did a pretty standard "count your laps between the goalposts" kind of deal. I ran (jogged) with them (despite not having the right shoes for it AND being in a tight skirt!) I think I counted 16 laps for myself. As I ran, I realised how independent my students have become. Everyone kept moving for the whole time - there was no grumbling, and students were self-directed in terms of when they ran and when they walked for a break. At the end of our 10 minutes, everyone came over to the "stretching bars" (part of the playground equipment where we do our stretches) and did the stretches, changing legs on my count. Sometimes these days, I even let the kids do the counting for themselves. Everyone is now used to the routine and has developed their fitness as a result. I notice that my students are more likely to run for other purposes throughout the day as well.

As my class is the only Junior School class that gets out there first thing in the mornings, I wonder what will happen for them as they head into year 2. At our school they will be moving on as a group, despite the fact that we have three classes in the age cohort. I wonder whether through sheer "power of numbers and influence" they will be able to encourage their new teacher to take them out for a run each morning. I wonder whether they will choose to do it for themselves if not given the opportunity in class time. I wonder whether it will have any impact in the long term!

If nothing else, I know that it has improved their fitness for THIS year, and improved my start to each day!

The Fitness Challenge - Beating Obesity

Today I would like to look at how regular physical activity and 'health breaks' can be used in the classroom to promote a healthy lifestyle.

One of the challenges of teaching is balancing all that needs to be done in order to create well-rounded students. We're in the business of educating students for life beyond the classroom. Part of this involves teaching them how to make lifechoices that will help them maintain health and fitness. I know from my experience teaching, that this is an area often pushed to the side in order to ensure that the kids can read and write properly, or complete the Maths program.

In recent years, I have seen the 'fruit break/health break' idea being used more regularly in schools. As schools commit to a 2-hour literacy block in the morning, they are finding that students (particularly the younger ones) are getting hungry, and losing focus before they make it to the first scheduled meal break. Many schools have found that by taking a break mid-way through this morning session (for a piece of fresh fruit or vegetable, and a drink of water) students are exposed to healthy eating and are able to continue for the rest of the session. I have been aware of this being done in a couple of different ways:

20 minute Health-Break/Fit Hit

The first 10 minutes of this break is devoted to the eating of fruit/vegetable. On completion the scraps are collected into a compost bin or worm farm container. The second 10 minutes are used for physical activity of some description - a run, kid-aerobics, skipping, or another game.

Shared fruit Health-Break

Students bring in a piece of fruit on a given day. These fruits are cut up and shared amongst the class while students continue with work at their desks. (This strategy has been particularly successful with students in grades 4-6.)

Fruit Break with Stories or Show and Tell

Students bring their own fruit snack and eat it while the teacher reads a story, or while their classmates share their Show and Tell.

Fruit Break and Independent Reading

Students bring their own fruit snack and eat it. They then read a book independently or with a partner until the end of the fruit break period.

Another important aspect for the health of our students is regular exercise. The easiest way I've found to manage this, is through daily exercise as soon as the children arrive at school. I've tried walking and running for this, but I've also seen teachers set up a number of aerobic activities for the classes to rotate through. Not only does it teach students the value of daily exercise, but it also clears their minds and somehow helps to settle them for the rest of the day. I often find myself tearing my hair out more on the days where I had to skip the run for one reason or another!

Daily Walk

In the first term of the school year, I use this time as a walking time. We walk around the school yard, returning to class at the end. Each student takes a turn at the front of the line, chatting to me, and then goes to the back of the line to talk with their friends. I find this helps me to get to know the children in my class, and helps them to realise that walking is a social thing - a way to chat with others. I have a fairly simple script to get the kids talking. I start with "Hi ___. What would you like to tell me today?" and finish off with "Thanks for chatting with me. Have a great day." Of course, there will be variations on this, but this helped to get me started.

Daily Run

As I am a bit of a runner myself (though I've never come first in a race in my life!) I thought it would be beneficial to get my class running. It's another easy physical activity that has great health benefits and doesn't require any equipment. Every day I take my class for a run of one kind or another. My goal is to keep them moving for 10 minutes. Sometimes we have short fast races, other days we go for longer laps. Some days students run with a partner and decide the destinations together, other days they tag team with one student playing on the playground while the other runs between two sets of goal posts. Sometimes we set up cones and sprint to one, skip to another, walk to the third, and jog to the fourth - students choose which cone they will move towards and then return to the starting point.

When I remember, I attach a watch with GPS, to one of the kids so we can get an idea of how far we have travelled. You might prefer to use pedometers as these are more easily attainable.

For Older Kids

When I've taught older kids (grade 3) I spent the first term teaching my class a number of different games. Once they were familiar with the games and understood some of the elements that make an effective fitness session, I chose weekly leaders who were responsible for running the activity for the class. The kids loved the responsibility and gained leadership skills which could help them attempt sports leadership in later years. A couple of times I even found them starting up these games in their lunch or recess time.

Whatever you decide to do, remember that your goal is to get kids motivated and moving toward a healthy future. Think through your own areas of interest and strength and use these. The more interested and motivated you are, the more likely you are to keep it going regularly. Kids are motivated by your enthusiasm.