Genius Hour Weeks 7 & 8

Good morning everyone!

As the end of my semester is quickly approaching, I get more and more excited about going out on my final teaching block! With this in mind it is sad to say this will be my last Genius hour Progress post for a while. I wanted to share with all of you that, I am playing in the summer on two different teams! I am also playing in a tournament with some people I met while training, and if all goes well I might join their tournament team as well.

That being said I am very much excited that I have improved so much, that people are wanting me on their teams. Over the past 8 weeks, I have put in a fair amount of time and money to achieve this goal, so it is nice to know hard work is paying off. For those who are not sure of what my goals were for this project I made a quick little slideshow on Haiku Decks to show my goals, methods and outcome. However I don't have an account to download and share with you on this blog. However, I did make it public, so if you would like to check it out just click HERE.

In the video (below), in week 7 I find myself  very frustrated. Re-watching the video let me see where I was going wrong, however, I did consider the fact that I was not too impressed with the pitcher that night. From the video I noticed that I was so frustrated, that I was just swinging the bat, and ignoring most of what I have been working on. My hands are correct, and my contact was not terrible. However, my stance, and step were really off.

In week 8 there is a huge shift in how I am approaching the ball. I appear to have more drive and desire to hit the ball (this could be due to better pitching). I can really see a huge improvement from week 7 into week 8. Additionally, I had one of my friends watch me and give some advice. He suggested that I watch my step. In many cases I am stepping towards the plate, and still pulling the ball, meaning my timing is off. He said that anytime I step towards the plate I should be placing the ball in right field, or pushing the ball. His advice to me was to only step in on outside pitches, and instead step straight towards the pitcher. This will help me place the ball better, and have better timing with my hitting.

Song: Country Girl (shake it) by Luke Bryan





Thanks to everyone who supported me through this journey by either holding my phone and recording for me, giving me tips and advice, and even to the pitchers and staff at extra innings baseball in Hamilton. I couldn't have improved without all their help and support.

The third teacher - creating an untraditional learning environment

Happy hump day everyone!

I was reading an article that I thought would be interesting to discuss and share with you!

Tracy Evans (2016) wrote and article called Design Thinking and Deskless Classrooms. Tracy talks about how she took a risk when it came to designing her classroom, that had huge benefits. She was standing in her bare class the night before the first day, worrying about creating a welcoming space for her students. Then she had an idea!! She thought this was not only a place where she was doing work, it is where her students come to do work. This made her think that the classroom should be designed by everyone using that space, in order to benefit the needs of all learners.

What I found most interesting was the amount of opportunities this project allowed for making links to curriculum expectations. In math you can make connections to area and perimeter, or creating scales. Additionally, the possibility of looking at the financial literacy elements, such as, how to design under a given budget.  In geography you can make links to map making (by creating a map of your classroom). Art- having students create their own designs for bulletin boards or wall decorations and considering elements of design. Social studies, and creating your own community, and leading into discussions of culture and defining environments. I can see how this might be scary, letting students decide, and not having that structure. however, I personally love this idea, since it gives students agency, and it allows for students to build a relationship with their peers and with the teacher in the first couple weeks.

Personally, I cannot imagine a classroom with no desks. However, I could imagine a space different learning environments, one being a small group of tables. Students may not choose to work at the desks, however, I personally learn best at a desk - but that could just be my conditioning of learning.

Evans (2016) discusses in her article that this project does not really have an end. Students are changing, and therefore their learning environment should be able to adapt to those changing needs as well, and this allows for that flexibility. I think as educators it is important to consider the students needs first, and your needs second. This is a great learning opportunity for all parties, and in my opinion allows for great curricular opportunities, as well as relationship building, leadership opportunities, and the development of the ideal third teacher, or learning environment.

Overall this article gets me excited for having my own class one day, and have opportunities like Evans (2016) presents. I would love to hear feedback on your opinions of deskless classrooms, and if you have every experienced an environment like presented. Please feel free to leave a comment :)

Genius Hour Weeks 5 and 6

Good evening friends,

Sorry it's been a while, been a little busy the past 2 weeks. Therefor I decided to combine my last 2 weeks progress into one post.

In the fifth week of training I was able to work with another trainer, who focused me more onto contact, and when and where I should be hitting the ball. When I first started playing softball 3 years ago everyone told me I'm too early in my swing. This meaning that I was swinging before the ball was in the hittable area. Which is the complete opposite of what I am being told now, is that I am swinging too late. During week 5's training session I learned that I should be hitting ball out front, that way my arms are fully extended.

In the sixth week I didn't have a trainer, so instead I decided working on attacking the ball. As you can see in the video below I am trying to hit the ball with more power or umph. After this week I found my elbow was fairly sore, which I found out is a good thing. I might try to add one small work exercise to my workout to help build muscle in my elbow. This activity you hold an arm by your side, elbow at 90 degrees, palm up. You take you other hand and press down for 5 seconds and repeat 10 times, each arm. For the rest of my workout I have increase to the following

Core: 25 sit-ups, 25 reverse crunches, 40 bicycle crunches, 40 Russian twists, and 50 second plank.

Arms:20 push-ups, 25 dips, 40 arm curls, 60 seconds punching, 20 wrist curls

I think the workouts have been helping with power so far. I am also pretty impressed with the progress I have made in the last 6 weeks.

Song: The only way I know by Jason Aldean with Luke Bryan and Eric Church

Genius Hour Week #4

Wow another week has gone by already!


This past week I did a fair amount of softball practice, compared to the past couple weeks. On Wednesday I went to Extra Innings in Hamilton for batting practice with an instructor who plays ladies A softball. She is a fantastic softball player. She gave me two very important tips that I need to add to my list.


As you can see in the video below I am reaching for the ball. Her advice to me was to stay back. At first I thought she meant stay back in the box, and I was unsure of how to do this, when I am suppose to transfer my weight forward. After a couple of attempts, I started to understand what she meant. I needed to, in a sense have better posture while batting. Keeping my back straight, and back, this would prevent me from reaching for the ball.


The second tip she provided me with was to practice shifting my weight forward and back 2 times, and on the third swing. This will help me time my step better, and maximize the amount of power in my swing.


Additionally, this weekend I was able to play in an indoor baseball tournament to check my progress. What I did find out, was that I am not actually ready for a game situation. At the present moment I have so much strategy development to do, that my brain is forgetting the most important part, which my friends refer to as "see ball, hit ball". What this means is, watching the ball come in, and watching the ball leave your bat. This is to increase your contact with the ball, and we know that better contact means a better hit.


My focus for this week at batting practice is going to be to continue working on keeping myself back and not reaching for the ball and contact. When it comes to my practice swings on my free time, I will focus on the transferring of weight as shown by the trainer in the video. For my workout I am going to try and start to increase the amount of reps or time for each activity, as well continue my balance training through yoga.


Here is the video from last week, and I hope you check in next week to follow up with my progress.

Song: 5-1-5-0 Dierks Bentley

Genius Hour Week #3

This weeks focus was on technique of my swing. I found out that it is very difficult to try and focus on all these changes that I have to make in order to better my swing. When it came to transferring my weight, I'd like to think I have made some improvements. However, I found that my balance is off now from shifting my weight, therefore I have another thing to work on. To improve my balance I am going to modify my workout by adding some yoga poses. Secondly, I learned that changing your grip is not an easy thing! I was informed that I had to change my grip to align my knuckles and hold my bat similar to a punch (Figure 1). However, I found that the web in my hand between my thumb and index  finger was getting sore. Additionally, I found when I lost focus on my thumb would sneak back up on the bat (Figure 2). This is another thing I need to work on, and change the muscle memory in my grip. 

Figure 1

Figure 2

I took a video of myself practicing (below). I want to note that my contact is not that great, because I was mostly focusing on my stance, grip and following through.

Song: Yee Haw Jake Owen

For this upcoming week, I want to focus on my core strength, and grip for my individual training. I have also scheduled a batting practice session Wednesday night with a female A softball player. If time permits I also want to get out and play in a softball tournament to see how my new learning so far has transferred into game situations. Check back next week to see the results.

Educational Technology

Good Morning!

This week for my teaching with technology, I was asked to share a technological tool. We have explore with so many great tools, it is hard to just pick one! However, one of the tools I can see myself using in my future classroom is popplet. This website works as an online concept map, that allows both students and teachers to organize ideas. I made the following concept map on popplet.

This popplet shows an idea for a project based lesson plan based on Tammy's (2015) idea where students are to create a museum of local ecosystems. In the classroom I can see myself using this tool to help students brainstorm ideas for an inquiry project, or have students make a popplet for a concept review.

At the beginning of this course I was concerned about using technology in the classroom, because technology and I usually don't get along. So far, I have realised that technology is not as scary as I once thought it was. As technology has advanced it has become more and more user friendly. I guess this is so people like me are able to use their product problem free. I am eager to move into the second half of this course, and learn more about teaching with technology!

Genius Hour Week #2

This week for my Genius hour I continued my workout for strengthening arms and core. Additionally, I received tips from one of my friends, Margaret, who plays baseball at a competitive level. So the question is what have I learned this week?

My theory that building arm and core muscles will improve my swings was a good initial thought. According to Callaway (2013), "A regular routine of sit-ups, push-ups, hanging leg raises and forearm planks will help you develop strong core muscles, which are crucial to transferring power into your swing" (p.2). I now understand that strengthening my arms and core will enable me to hit the ball with more power. As for my progress in my workouts, I have almost doubled where I was last week in the number of reps; as of this moment my arm and core workout has increased to the following:

Core: 20 sit-ups, 20 reverse crunches, 40 bicycle crunches, 40 Russian twists, and 40 second plank.

Arms: 15 push-ups, 20 dips, 40 arm curls, 45 seconds punching. I have also added the addition of 10 wrist curls.

I have added wrist curls into my workout, because according to Margaret, you roll your wrists to enable yourself to follow through with your swing. In order to feel more comfortable doing so, I was encouraged to build wrist strength.

When it comes to my technique I received a numerous amount of tips to help me improve.

Grip: When it comes to my grip Margaret told me to hold the bat by making a fist near the base of the bat with my left hand. My right hand should only be considered a push on the bat. Her advice was to practice holding the bat with my left hand, and in my swing push the bat out with my right hand. Once I get use to following through, she said a way to work on rolling my wrists to get that extra push of power, is to align my knuckles when gripping the bat. Additionally, I was told that I should not have too tight of a grip on the bat, because your grip is too tight it prevents you from rolling your wrists, and takes the whip out of the bat.

Arms: When standing in the batter’s box, Margaret told me not to lift the bat too much off my shoulders, because this will just tire out my arms while waiting for the pitch. She said to rest my bat on my shoulder, while I set myself in the box and when I’m ready to lift my bat slightly off my shoulders, and only move when I start my swing. This will save energy in my arms, and therefore provide more strength in my swing.

Legs: When standing in the batter’s box there are many different things to consider. First of all, you need to stand at an appropriate distance from the plate, according to the individual batter's stride. By this mean, I have to stand somewhere that I can open enough to hit inside pitches without getting jammed, and the same time, I need to be able to step towards the plate to hit outside pitches. Additionally, I need to work on transferring my weight, from my back leg to my front leg. By bending my back leg by 45 degrees, this will force my weight forward, and therefore add more power into my swing.

Contact: Contact is about timing. Margaret watched my video from last week’s post, and told me that I am swinging late, which is why I foul a lot of my balls back towards the catcher. When making contact on an inside pitch, I have step open and hit the ball early in order to extend my arms fully, and have full power, this will result in me pulling the ball. For pitches down the middle, I have to step towards the pitcher, and attack the ball in front on the plate. Finally, for outside pitches, I have to step towards the plate extend my arms, which can allow me to push the ball opposite field.  

This is a lot to consider when moving into my next step of taking dry swings (swings without a pitch). Over the next week I will work on all these different tips by doing 30-40 dry swings a night to build my muscle memory of these changes.  I hope that by next weekend I will be able to get outside and do some practice swings, or find a place to practice inside, and record my progress.

Reference

Callaway, C. (2013). How to Hit a Softball With Power. Livestrong.com. Retrieved from: http://www.livestrong.com/article/496255-how-to-hit-a-softball-with-power/