As you can probably guess, when I made the jump from “teacher” to “writer,” my life changed a lot. My writing time multiplied. My paycheck shrunk. Happiness increased. Stress levels plummeted. But one change that I didn’t really think about or prepare for?

The shiny new sedentary lifestyle.

Teaching is far from a sedentary activity. You’re on your feet from the minute your kiddos walk in the door until the minute they leave. You’re constantly walking between the white board, students’ desks, and the computer. You lead your class to lunch, specials, and assemblies. You stand outside to supervise recess. Sometimes you run out of your classroom to ask a co-worker a question, make an emergency copy, or (heaven forbid) use the restroom, and pray that you can run back before the phone rings, anyone vomits or bleeds, one kid punches another, or any other catastrophe breaks out. If your classroom isn’t on the ground floor, you can add stairs to your growing number of steps per day. Yes, teachers do get a lunch break and sometimes a planning period, but the lack of these sitting opportunities could be the topic of an entirely different blog on a different day!

Sometimes I would put on a teacher outfit in the morning and want to wear a really cute pair of heels to complement it. That always seemed like a good idea at the time, but I was usually barefoot shortly after the morning Pledge of Allegiance. At first my students were confused about why I would walk around without shoes. Eventually they caught on and would say, “Oh, you wore high heels today?” So, yeah. Teaching is not sedentary by any means.

Writing is just the opposite. I spend most of my days working at my laptop computer. I don’t have a desk, so I usually set up camp on my living room couch. Sometimes I’ll change things up and work at the kitchen table or at the library. (Yes, on extremely rare occasions I do work from my bed. What? It’s comfortable!)

When I’m especially engrossed in what I’m working on, hours will pass without moving, except perhaps to get a drink of water or go to the bathroom. (It’s so nice to be able to use the restroom whenever I want! It’s a former-teacher thing. See above.) I spend most of my day seated, and I can definitely tell a difference. My feet don’t hurt, but my back sometimes does. I’m not completely exhausted at the end of the day, but I also burn way less calories than I should.

This needs to change. I was going through one of my favorite websites today (www.dailyspark.com) and this picture caught my eye:

I thought to myself, why couldn’t I use a balance ball as a chair? I began reading the article and found that the author had some of the same complaints that I have. Strangely enough, she doesn’t actually mention using a ball for a chair, but she did offer helpful tips for those with a sedentary job:

• Stand up to stretch or walk every 30-60 minutes throughout the day. I’d probably have to set a timer or else I’d work right through the stretch break, but this could help.
• Work while standing. Use a high table or counter surface. I think our kitchen counter could work nicely!
• Plan some exercise both before and after work. I usually work out once a day, but it’s probably a good idea to get some activity twice a day to make up for the drastic amount of sitting I do. And since I set my own hours, it should be easy to incorporate.
• Stretch. A lot of good stretches can be found in the article .

The article and advice was good, but I was still interested in using a balance ball as a chair. The personal trainers at my gym use them at their computers, so it has to be a good idea, right? I did a little research and found that there are many reasons to replace a chair with a balance ball:

• Better posture and spine alignment.
• Improved balance.
• Improved circulation.
• A piece of exercise equipment is at your fingertips.
• Activated core muscles.
• More energy.
• Why wouldn’t you want to bounce around all day long…fun!!!

When I was teacher assisting during college, we had a 1st grader who had severe ADHD. Part of his IEP included sitting on a balance ball so that he could exert some extra energy. Cool, right? (If I remember correctly, the ball eventually became a distraction to the other students and was replaced with a squishy seat, but it was good while it lasted!)

Supposedly you can find a balance ball for $15 at Target, so I might check into one. I’ll let you know how it goes, as well as the other tips listed above.

In the meantime, advice for teachers: Enjoy some chocolate or a drink. Chances are good that you burned it off today, and chances are even better that you deserve it! =)

Sources:
http://www.dailyspark.com/blog.asp?post=the_deskdefying_workout_plan
http://www.gearfire.net/10-reasons-to-use-an-exercise-ball-as-your-chair/
http://walking.about.com/cs/fitnesswalking/a/ballchair.htm

Source: http://oneyeartowrite.blogspot.com/2010/08/sedentary-lifestyle.html

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In each school for young children, we see more alphabet carpets Preschool is a floor removed. This is a must have for them. They use this as another alphabet carpets diversity, students teach their preschool children. Children like much.

Preschool ABC carpets have different shapes and designs printed on them. This can be oval with flowers for a letter or a rectangle of paper would have on them. Many designs to choose from thisYour way preschoolers do not get bored during the study.

This preschool alphabet carpets can easily capture the attention a boy like frame of a finger. We all know that kids love the colors, love to see colored objects and when you finally see him with a special attention for minutes or even an hour. Therefore, education in pre-kindergarten teachers must apply their teaching skills to use imaginative ways,children. You buy the diversity of other products, children, if such a thing? Then, children get bored easily and the next thing you know, you'll see them asleep in class.

In its early years, children do not yet know the nature of the school. They count as one of their playground or in their home with many children inside. So with this thought, are not learning seriously. So why not the playground, home to a place? Within the class,Preschool ABC is putting rugs accomplish anything. Playground, for us with the alphabet carpets that can play creatively and with imagination and fiction games preschoolers. House, why lie when playing with others, can roll safely onto the carpet, or what they want without taking any germs. You can also sleep on it when you are tired or even a seat, you have a break and eat their snacks like what you are doing in theirHouse.

In order to develop faster for our children without them stress or anything That They do no harm in the future, we will do everything and give Them All which stimulates Help Them Improve Their skills is to be easily developed and productive When grow. Our house is the first place that our children learn and develop, and second place is the school where our children get enrolled.

So before we put our children in a kindergarten, we should give them abrief consideration of what is, in the classroom. Get a carpet alphabet and let them talk and learn. This alphabet preschool rugs are not only for classrooms but also for our home where our children learn more. Learning is not to stop when the clock is ticking and the bell rang for them to school, and that will continue when they go home.

Source: http://alphabet-preschool.blogspot.com/2010/08/alphabet-rugs-teaching-and-comfort-your.html

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Today I received an email confirming what I had long known. I will in fact be the Teaching Assistant for my advisor and his course History of Sports in America. My advisor told me that he was hoping that I'd be assigned to him, but did not lobby for my service. It turns out he did not have to.
This appointment is very exciting to me. I have been working for the past month or so on writing test questions, outlines, and developing a curriculum handbook to accompany the second edition of his textbook. My project is meant to be a right-out-of-the-box simple guide that will allow any one with limited experience to purchase his text and have a course ready to go with almost zero effort. So as you can imagine, I am already quite prepared and excited to help teach the course and perhaps even implements my ideas this fall. Not to mention I took his course last fall and helped proctor the tests for the undergraduates.
After hearing the good news, we corresponded via email tonight and plan to meet to discuss my role and what we'll do tomorrow afternoon. He told me to come prepared with some suggestions. At present we have an enrolment of 58 students, but there is strong possibility that more may add (we are allowed a maximum of 100). There are also two graduate students (although I doubt I have to do anything for them). Last year we had a big issue with attendance and many students received poor grades which indicates a lack of reading. Below are some of my ideas and thoughts on how to change and possibly improve the course.

• Implement weekly quizzes that I would grade and write since (I've already written a ton of questions for this handbook).


• Develop media/picture slide-shows to accompany the lectures (my advisor is old school and simply lectures for an hour from his mind, with no A/V, no notes, etc).


• Take attendance via a sign in sheet or something.


• Provide research assistance via office hours and email to students.


• Create discussion questions where we can have "break out" discussions of some sort.


• Implement a "Media Review" assignment where students review either a book, film, or website -- according to a format I create -- so I can create a comprehensive "Sports History Source Book" website down the road. (This is definitely my pet project that I will do someday).


• Develop a class website on Blackboard with resources and they syllabi, discussion questions, and assignment info sheets (again to embrace the technology trend).

So there are most of my ideas which come from my experience writing curriculum, in education classes as an undergrad, and from just taking a lot of classes over my last 6 years in college! Feel free to add ideas or thoughts on what you would do.

Source: http://admcgregor.blogspot.com/2010/08/sports-history-in-america-teaching.html

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