Blogging Sites-sswackha

Since I am a physical education major I decided to find forums that dealt with my field. The first place I went to was the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) site. To get to the forums you have to click on Publications and Resources at the top and from there click on Communities and Forums on the left of the page. Then you have a choice of five places to communicate with other Physical Education professionals. I chose NASPE Talk, there I could post something or respond to someones else post. http://www.sportimeresources.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=2 gives you ten forum categories: preschool-college, dance, NASPE announcements and archives, and general discussion. This is a useful tool because PE professionals from all over the Nation can communicate and help each other out with any questions/problems that they might encounter while teaching along with keeping informed about any professional development conferences, which EMU students are supposed to go to four professional conferences before we can student teach. The second blog site I looked at was The Body Smart Blog which is sponsored by the American Association for Physical Activity and Recreation (AAPAR), American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD), and the NASPE. This blog site states, "The Body Smart Blog is written by a chorus of professionals working in education, child development, health, and related fields. Published weekly, Body Smart is a great way to stay in touch with current topics in the field of early childhood and to find fresh ideas and inspiration for incorporating play, movement, and healthy choices into the lives of the children in your world" (http://www.aahperd.org/headstartbodystart/connect/blog.cfm). The third site I visited was the Jump Rope for Heart Blog page, which is sponsored by the American Heart Association and AAHPERD. This is fund raising program and encourages/promotes children being more physically active. Stories about schools who have participated in JRFH and HPH, how to gain excitement/enthusiasm for the program, and ideas are what most of the posts are about. The community that reads these blogs are physical education and health professionals, as well as PE and health students. These blogs are great tools to find out what is happening in the world of PE and health, and ways to improve and expand that community.