SAVE YOUR BRAIN!

How come if you tear your ACL you have to sit out for 6-9 months before it will be back to 80% strength, but if you get a concussion your allowed to reenter the season? Don't you know that there is no way for a brain to repair itself once suffered trauma such as a concussion. Well its common that most adults and even athletes do not know the severity of concussions. Thanks to Save Your Brain, a campaign started by a group of inspiring graduates who want to make aware the seriousness of concussions. Through a serious of humors informative videos they believe that they can get out a meaningful message to young athletes that constantly deal with the threat of being a victim of a concussion. They are really trying to get out there the message that concussions are dangerous even more dangerous than a broken arm or bruised ribs, where theses body parts will heal themselves with time, the brain cannot however with even the slightest bruise memories and knowledge will be lost and not be able to gain back. Visit there website: www.saveyourbraincampagin.com and see what their about. Wristbands much like the breast cancer awareness “I heart boobies” wristband, they have come up with a similar idea to get their cause out there. So save your brain, its you’re the only one you’ve got, so take care of it.

ReReReReplay

The question becomes should we or should we not review the play? Some will state the obvious con of it will only prolong a game or it will change the way the game is played, but reality is there are more pros than cons. The NFL has created a great system to structure the events of instant replays, only being allowed a few chances and being charged a timeout when a call is not overruled. Being allowed to review a play would significantly change the way we look at sports, but in a positive fair way. We relay on the on the human eye to watch events that occur faster than we can turn our heads so wouldn’t it make sense to use the amazing advancing technology that can do the job for us. I do argue that we should keep umpires and referees because reviewing every play would be ridicules and take the fun of chance out of the game. We can however use the technology when the opportunity presents itself, but the question then becomes when is the right opportunity to make that call to review a play. Taking a leaf out of the NFL’s book as a coach/manager you need to know the game and be confident in your ability to see the event occur and know the wrong call was made, instead of just wanting the call to be changed. Being charged a time out is a great way of regulating between good and bad decisions on when to call a instant replay. Whether a hitter is safe or out, a homerun foul or fair, or a touchdown is good can all be rectified by instant replay.

Not seeing doesn't mean it's not there!

link-between-physical-mental-health-adhd/

Yes we want you to be physically active! Yes we want you to be physically educated! Yes we want you to be fit! And yes we want you to look good doing it, but if we look at reality, the people who start to exercise do it because they want to look better. This is not a bad thing, kudos to you for wanting to improve the way you look, but once again if we look at reality most people want results NOW, and the human body just does not work that fast. So the question becomes, why am I doing this I am seeing no results. When the reality is all results are internal, and they are actually quite beneficial. In recent studies just 30 minutes a day several times a week can relieve general anxiety and stress, as well as reduce the effect of depression. “Aerobic exercise increases levels of the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine.” (Ref.) These transmitters allow the body to have emotional stability, mental awareness, as well as calmness and the ability to focus. Stated earlier regular exercise can be used by any age to reduce stress. Life happens and when it does we end up with a chest full of stress, or a headache trying to cope with decisions. When people exercise it stimulates brain activity allowing decisions to be made easier, and stress leaves the body through physical exertion. Another way to look at it is, if we have a student who has a hyperactive disorder and has been sitting in a class all day long being reprimanded for not being able to sit still or focus, stress and anxiety are going to set in with that student making it at this point impossible for them to focus on any kind of learning. If we give this hyperactive student a physically active outlet, our student will be able to literally work off the stress, in a safe constructive way. Thus allowing them to reenter the classroom fresh ready to learn. Studies have also showed that a positive correlation relationship between physical activity and academic performance. This relationship needs to be taken more seriously when discussing the academic performance of any student who has questionable learning disabilities, or any academic issues. So going back to the beginning, even though we do not see external results, we can feel the internal results and that is a great start to life-long physical fitness.


Ref:
http://www.sports-media.org/sportapolisnewsletter19.htm
http://www.tenerife-training.net/Tenerife-News-Cycling-Blog/2008/05/the-voice/the-

Can it be controlled?

Being a constant learner with ADHD myself I understand the difficulties young students go through who have learning disabilities, sometimes who don't understand are the parents of these students. I don't mean that parents do not know there children, but they do not observe what goes on in a classroom or in a setting where their child is forced to focus, behave, resist urges (which they can not control), and learn. To succeed at all of these factors at the same time is a lot more difficult for any student who has a learning disability. Now with the right guidance and study habits anyone with a learning disability can overcome it with time if they work at it, but for others it is just not possible without the help of medication. Being a student who went through a lot of struggles and fights with my parents about taking my medicine, i know am a full believer that it is important to be taken if one wants to succeed in an educational setting. I focus, I am not as easily distracted by what is going outside of the classroom, I am learning what is being taught. Students know when they are doing better because of the dramatic changes that can occur if the right medication is being taken. Back to the beginning, parents do not enforce nor do they sometimes agree with having their children on medication because they are not "themselves" which may very well be the case, but that is most likely due to the fact that their prescription was diagnosed and needs to be adjusted. Students can achieve great things with help and as an educator and someone who has a learning disability and takes medication to help out i feel every student with a disability should have the opportunity to learn just like anyone else and I do believe this can help.

I'm Bored!

“I’m bored! We already did this. We always do the same things!” these are the words out my student’s mouth today during my observation. Normal drills will not cut it anymore students are tired for the same old stand in line and throw its ball at the target method of practice. Students crave stimulation, inside and outside the classroom that includes the gymnasium where students are most actively engaged, where there imaginations can really run wild if allowed. Students also crave structure, so how so how do we combine structure with creative stimulation, thinking outside the box. Now that it’s a clear sign of springtime, why not take students on a nature walk get them outside, show them how nature influences physical activity. Now that its sunny you will find more people outside socializing and engaging in physical activity, the good weather picks spirits up so we should be sharing that with our students. And if what they say is true “we always do the same things!” we can be sure that they will be practicing volleyball serves at some point in there P.E. future, so I think its ok if we take a day out to stimulate the children’s mind in a different way. Unless we change the way we are teaching students they are going to lose the a positive affective attitude towards Physical Education, and with the already low respect that the physical education world gets we can not afford to throw our students interest out the door just because the old way is the easy way. Get out there and use your imagination for once, and create a fun different lesson you might find out you like it.

How to fight that illness on all fronts

Its unavoidable new diseases and illness are striking our society, as well we are seeing an increase in the severity of the injuries our young students, as a student this is time off to play video games, to an educator this is a great chance for a student to fall behind in work and have to repeat grades. This is obviously the last option we want for our students, and as a physical educator myself I stress healthy living habits as well as active life-styles. It is proven that staying in shape as well as participating in regular physically activity will keep an immune system strong. As well as participating in these activities safety is a huge concern because accidents can happen at anytime, that’s why they are called accidents. Addressing the concern of missed time in school after the fact, as a physical educator I advise resting such injury and once ready a slow but steady rehabilitation. Now just because your physically injured does not mean that physical education cannot occur. By watching videos, reading articles, and observing a student can still benefit and gain knowledge. This will strengthen the student’s cognitive domain in being able to process physical activity in a different way allowing them to understand and apply this knowledge to help themselves and others. This can be assessed by a verbal assessment done by an educator, or a written paper. Spirits are normally low when returning to physical activity after a long absence, giving a student a chance to keep up with the skills and activities is a great way to ease them back into the swing of things when it comes to class time. Things happen all the time that are out of our control it is our responsibility to cope with the situation and preserver through quick thinking so an educator does not succumb and lose the flow of a class. Always be prepared for the unexpected.

Our time to shine!

Much like the girls at Gallaudet University every community has its challenges to face. This challenge in particular had to do with a communication barrier, nearly everyone who attends Gallaudet University is deaf or hearing impaired. This like many communities relay on communicating through American Sign Language. This is a language that uses hand movements, body language, and facial expressions to convey their thoughts or feelings to one another. During my years in high school we are required to take a foreign language, i choose to learn American Sign Language, I took 5 years of it and still use it to this day, it is a very useful language especially in a situation like the coach at GU had to face. Coming into a loosing program the coach had to learn a whole new style of coaching to prepare himself for what he was about to endure, with great success he lead his team to a division III tournament. I can relate to this article because of my involvement with the deaf community and have some insight on how hard it can be to communicate regularly, let alone communicate while in a high activity game. This program had improved dramatically and all to do with the cooperation and commitment the coach had put in for his team. With this i hope all up in coming educators can realize that what we need in our communities is dedication and commitment, when we see a problem we fix it with ever resource we have available to us, and not for our own sake but for the benefit of others. This coach was not paid extra for learning Sign Language, he was not reimbursed for the time he spent with his team, he knew that when it came to a good program cooperation and communication is key, he ran with that into a winning season. I hope all of us as educators can learn from this experience and put more effort into their passion of teaching.