Ben's Game

Ben's Game Snap Shots

Here are some snapshots of me playing Ben's game. In some of the pictures you can see the monster trying to protect the shield. I thought it was really cool how they included red blood cells, and how Ben was on a skateboard.

Winning a Battle

“ I wish to create a cancer-fighting video game.” Ben , age 9
The objective of Ben's game is to destroy all mutated cells and to collect the seven shields that provide protection from common side effects of chemotherapy. Each shield is also guarded by a monster who generated mutated cells.
• Colds - Iceman Monster
• Barf – Robarf Monster
• Chicken Pox –Big Chicken Monster
• Fever - Firemonster
• Bleeding – Vamp Monster
• Hair Loss – Qball Monster
• Rash – Tornado Monster
Three health levels serve as ammunition in the game:
• Health you get from the hospital
• Ammo you get from the pharmacy
• Attitude you get from home

When first playing this game I was really confused and had no idea how to get started. I kept on escaping the game and going back and reading the directions. After I got a basic understanding on how to play the game, and all I wanted to do was kill the monsters and get the shields. I made my cousin come play the game, and she kept screaming in anger that she couldn't kill the monsters. We both found it astonishing, how such a young kid like Ben could create a game about cancer and the effects it has on your body into one animated game. Ben was able to create a video game to help other kids endure their cancer treatments.By creating this computer game, it helped Ben think about something positive to help others kids as well as himself battle their illnesses. Ben's game has helped thousands of children across the world, and has been translated into nine different languages. When doing some research on Ben's game I came across a really intriguing article about the effects of video games on children in the Washington Post.

Brain Gain

The web site is from Canada, which is located in North America. If I was asked to locate Canada on a map I could be able to locate it because it is located right above the United States. The video and articles are about Brain Gain, a research done by teacher Allison Cameron with her 8th grade class at City Park Collegiate in Saskatoon. I found this new piece to be very interesting because it talked about how exercise can affect the brain. In health class I was also taught that exercise when your tired can always boost your energy, and make you less fatigue, but I was never informed that it can also improve your thinking skills. In today’s society most kids are moving less and less, and are standing still in of Physical Education classes. The City Park Collegiate School is mostly a school with students who have behavioral issues and have never succeed in the classroom. Teacher Allison Cameron wanted to find a way to help her students succeed and she did it by moving exercise equipment into the classroom. By having her students perform 20 minutes of exercise once a week in the classroom she noticed that her students began to concentrate more, work harder, and there were no behavioral issues. Research has proven that exercise challenges different parts of the brain and increases concentration and mental ability. The class was first tested in February, and later at the end of school in June. Results show that due to the 20 minutes of exercise students test grades tremendously increased in math, reading and writing, comprehension, and word sitting. Physical Education teachers at this school were not involved during this experiment, and it was done in the classroom to improve the grades of students who were unable to succeed in the classroom. I think that the outcomes are similar to our New York State PE Standard 3, which is, participates regularly in physical activity. They want every student to stay active, but they do not look at the skill level of their students like we do in Physical Education. As a future teacher this article taught me that physical education is not only beneficial for ones health, but also my students academic achievements.

Part C:
In New York State I strongly believe that Physical Education teachers are still teaching some bad P.E and need to re-evaulate their programs and move towards good P.E. Currently, all Physical Educators are trying to create “ Physically Educated People” and by learing the New York State standards it will help guide them and organize the process of creating more physically educated people. My goal as a teacher is to make sure all my students come to class and enjoy taking part in physical activity, and they carry out that physical activity for a lifetime. Also as of right now Physical Education is not on the school report card, and by moving forward towards good P.E we need to make improvements, and make more people aware of the importance of Physical Education on their children. I think it is a really good idea to create regents exams in New York State for Physical Education to test students on their knowledge on physical fitness. 

Sites:
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/special_feature/brain_gains/
http://www.cbc.ca/video/popup.html?http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/news/features/leishman-brain090422.wmv
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/special_feature/brain_gains/city_park_school_results.html
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/special_feature/brain_gains/recess_on_behaviour.html
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/special_feature/brain_gains/deskercise.html  


Lab D:
Lesson Plan
Progression Sheet

Giving Back

This semester I became an active member of APEM and volunteered over 10 hours. My volunteer hours included taking part in two Teen Night’s at the YMCA, and the Girl’s Day in Program, and being an active member of APEM and supporting events such as hoops for hearts. This semester I have truly grown as an individual and really enjoyed being an active member of APEM. The times spent at the YMCA I was able to play with children around the Cortland area, and I learned what activities kids their age like to take part in. The kid’s really enjoyed playing Dance, Dance Revolution and half of them have never played it before. At first they were a little hesitant to try, but when they saw how much fun it was they jumped right onto the pad

Lab D- Bowling Lesson

When preparing for my lab D I was really excited to be able to teach bowling because I love to bowl and something I have been doing for a long time. Planning for Lab D took more time and preparation, and I soon realized it was difficult to come up with twenty different progressions, but as my research on bowling continued I soon learned that there are tons more progressions. For this lesson is also required that I completed my first lesson plan on my own. Starting off on a bad foot the day I needed to teach I went into the bathroom and got myself together. Overall, I feel that I have improved greatly and have taken all the tools I have learned throughout the semester and put them all into this lesson. When going over my transcript I still caught myself saying “ All right” way to many times and something I still need to work on. I also think from the first lab to the last lab you can really notice my change in tone and that I sound more confident in what I am saying. Also another area I have improved on is giving feedback. In my Lab C I only gave feedback to nine kids in the class. In Lab D I gave feedback to the entire class, and more then once. One change I could have made to my lesson was the waiting around. I had to many students sitting around, which can often times lead to behavioral issues. To fix this problem I can get more lanes and have two students to each lane to decrease the waiting time. At the conference in Tampa I learned that students stop listening after 90 seconds of instructions and as a student I can relate to that. During my lesson I tried to speak as less as possible and got the students into activity right away. As a student I hated sitting around and waiting, I always wanted to get right into the activity, and as a future teacher I try to keep that thought in my. I believe I have greatly improved my teaching skills this semester, and will carry on all the information for the rest of my teaching career.

Bowling Lesson