Hunt Reflection

My last teaching experience for Basics in Effective Teaching course has come to a close. The experience, however challenging it was for me, revealed my potential. It was a great learning opportunity. As I reflect back, there were both positive and negative outcomes. I know that I have come a long way from that four-minute skill-teaching lab at the beginning of the semester and yet I there are still mountains in the distance. I can see that I have developed a certain confidence talking in front of a group that I never had. However, I still need to be careful with my words, as at times I'm less than precise with my words.

This last lab gave me a change to be creative and original. I believe that some of the components really enhanced the experience for my classmates. I presented them with a Challenge By Choice in which they would link up with classmates during the scavenger hunt. This forced every last person to work together and cooperation with each other. I would do something similar to this again, however I might use a Hula Hoop instead and have only two or three people in a group. Either way, the concept lends itself to a true cooperative learning experience. Additionally, I started the class with two different lead in activities.  I felt that both activities were necessary to begin to establish the working climate between students. They quickly played a game of Blog Tag and then I had groups work their way through three stations to introduce the topic of the scavenger hunt (the harmful effects of cigarette smoking). The class did the final station together. FYI, I had planned to do all the station in groups but I rotated the groups incorrectly. Nonetheless, I was glad that I goofed up because I think that the last station activities created a fun and spontaneous atmosphere.

were a few near fatal flaws in my teaching. First, I failed to provide students will emergency contact information. Since one group was on their one during half the class, I should have given contact numbers if there were any problems. Second, I planned to do the first pinpoint location on the Mobile Adventure Apps together. This would have allowed me to make sure that each group took a different route. In addition, at that time I knew that had to give them cues on how best to work the app. I should have address how to determine their next destination. This mistake did cause some hiccups. Also, I never told the students who were the acting touring guides to read the question aloud as they reached each location. Futhermore, I should have better explained what they were looking for and what they were to do at each location (take an index card and leave the item in the container). All of those glitches could have been avoid had I remember to complete the first location together.

Another significant problem of my lesson was that I gave them too many tasks to complete while the hunt was in progress. I asked them upload pictures to Twitter, complete a worksheet, and create a jingle. Looking back I probably should have left the assignment to the end of class as a take home assignment. They had too many things in their hands.

On the other hand, many qualities about my lesson were strong. My lesson was structured to educate the participants, learning through the physical, as my professor says. It was not just a simple scavenger hunt but rather a means to have student begin to understand their own health as it relates to personal decisions and smoking cigarettes. It is this concept that inspired me. If you don’t already know, I currently work in the healthcare field. The reason for my transition into Physical Education is largely due all that I have witness in my career. Physical Education can’t just be about promoting athletes and good PACER scores, but must be about teaching children the ways in which to develop and maintain their own personal health. This is vital; so that future generations will not continue to experience the same health aliments that are facing our nation now.

Lesson Plan
Activity Progression
Block Plan
Scope and Sequence
Assignment to Assess Leaning
Behavior Management
C-12 Form
Transcription
Time Coding

Final MD Lab

Our final Motor Develop Lab was last Tuesday. It was less formal than our pervious labs as we are winding down. We did not prepare activities however; we were put on the spot to come with some. In the face of this, I was surprisingly not nervous. Moreover, I was excited for the spontaneity. In addition each group had to teach a dance. Well, we taught the Chicken Dance and I use the word taught loosely (since most of the children already knew the dance).  We also played a few group activities with the Parachute. Overall, the last day was a fun and relaxing farewell to the Dryden students.  

Throughout the experience, I feel that I have grown. Given the opportunity to work hands on

with children K-5th grade,  I now have a better understanding of different activities and task that are developmental appropriate for children at these varying levels. In addition, I gain some useful information about how to work (talk, manage, busy) younger-aged children.  Although there is still much to learn, I am grateful for what I have acquired and excited for further opportunities for professional growth. Thank you Dryden Elementary School and students for all the great times we shared. 

ExerGamaing Teaching Lab

During Wednesday’s class, I had the pleasure of sitting in on another two lessons. Both Emily and Leslie did an awesome job and there lessons were fun and engaging. In addition, it was apparent that both of them spent a lot of time preparing and becoming familiar with the ExerGaming equipment. The health issue that Emily had to cover was Diabetes. She did an excellent job integrating some of the key concepts of diabetes in a more hands on approach. One activity that she planned was particularly important to the teaching of the health issue. Basically, she created an activity that allowed students to learn cognitively through the systematic incorporation of the group members. When she yelled Insulin Shock  the whole group worked together to fight against the the (increasing blood sugar levels). Her lesson was great and she did a really good job managing the class and the activities. Leslie’s lesson involved many different ExerGaming technologies.  She had four video gaming stations setup. We rotated through the different stations. It was really a lot of fun and I wish we could have spent more time in there. We played a little Wii tennis, some bicycle power race car game for children, a vitual bomb game  for the PlayStation Eye Toy and a another bicycle powered basketball game. She put a lot of time in to get it all prepared for the class and it definitely showed and paid off. Thanks you both Emily and Leslie for your contributions and the learning experience. 

Pool Time

Yesterday both Mike and Devon taught their Lab D lessons in the pool. I had the pleasure of recording. This was a first and I’m not certain that I did a great job. Hopefully they'll both still be able to benefit from them their videosJ  Either way, there were some strengths and some things could probably could have used some refinement.  Devon had a great idea with the water aerobics routine. It was a simple and fun way to play in the pool while still providing a cardio workout.  During Devon’s teaching lesson, there were some behavior problems with the “students”. His behavior management approach was too steep out the gate with those students and he had nowhere else to go. He probably should have taken a less serve approach to begin with. Mike used some device to create a relay swimming event. That looked interesting and I image that the rest of my class enjoyed it. Mike keep kneel down beside the pool. This teaching style seems appropriate and and I think it help establish him as a authority figure as opposed to getting in to the pool right away. Devon on the other hand got in the pool. Since Devon was doing an aerobics routine I understand why he did. There were some really great moments. These guys did a fantastic job. 

MD-Lab 5

Tuesday March 27^th we went back to the local Elementary school to teach volleying skills. This visit was a lot of fun. I feel like I’m really getting to know some of the children at the school. In addition, I finally am beginning to get a handle on what and how an instructor can do to engage and help students grow on. It’s a PE teacher’s responsibility to help students achieve things that they never thought possible. During this lab my group was lucky enough to experience some great moments.  Let’s start at the beginning. Volley is a fundamental skill that doesn’t get as much attention as let’s say catching. Thus, students really benefited from our activities. We were able to teach them the correct way to volley the ball. It was really awesome to watch as they got it.  There was one child in particular that largely benefited from a few  mini-challenges. You could just see the sense of confidence building, as he was success at the little challenges we gave him. It was really great. This lab gave me some much need motivation.  This is the best kind of receiving and I would like to thank the students of Dryden Elementary for the welcoming us into your school.

MD-Lab 4

On Tuesday the March 20 I went to Dryden Elementary School for another hands-on experience working with the children there. It was a good learning experience. There were a few things in particular that were significant. During this lab we had to create our own assessment model.  My group assessed the underhand ball roll. So, we ran a bowling activity. It seemed like a great idea but there were some execution flaws.  At first, everything was ok. We only had two children and we could easily accommodate. However, as more children joined in it became difficult to keep everyone on task since many on them were just waiting around for their turn. It became apparently that although the activity enabled us to do the assigned assessment it did not allow us to engage all the children at the same time. We then moved on to a cup catching activity. There were also some difficulties running this task. Some children really enjoyed this activity; however, the task was too demanding for the younger aged children.  It was during this activity that these two boys decided to try me. I had yet to experience this.  I didn’t even know how to react. Even looking back, I am still not sure what the best approach would have been.  The only reaction that I could muster up was to say to them, “That’s not nice.”  Besides that incident was great to be able to apply some of things that I am learning from 255 Basic Instructional class.  I found that give very clear, specific instruction help students stay on target. Also giving congruent feedback, even if that meant telling thank you for following instructions “stabilized” the environment. Giving the children guidelines and reinforcing them help my group and I earned the respect from the children. In addition, giving feed that was congruent with the cues focused the children and motivated them to accomplish more. It was a rewarding experience.

Table Tennis

During Wednesday's class both Eric and Justin taught. As the teaching experiences are progressing our professor is prompting different environment challenges that one would experience in the classroom. This approach allows us as teacher candidates to explore different behavioral management approaches and tactics. I really enjoyed Eric’s use of Yoga as his instants activity and the scaffolding was appropriately incorporated. His progression of task and variations were well thought out. Justin had an interesting instant activity. He posted approximately six different pictures of unhealthy foods which we had to Zumba dance towards. After we made it to each station we gave us a brief lesson on high fructose corn sugars. It was a simple, yet every effective approach to teach about the side effects and health concerns regarding HFCS. I will remember this activity as it’s likely that I’ll find a use for it myself one day. 

Overview of Lab D Packet

This Monday we reviewed some of the things we need to complete for this class and our final teaching Lab. For this lab we need to create a resource packet that consists of a few different things. First we need a lesson plan and task progression. The task progression needs to show some 40 different tasks that are appropriate for levels K-12. Additionally we need to create a scope and sequence plan.   I’m having a hard time with this as my final lab activity is a scavenger hunt which seems more like a single event and not a unit type activity. Also we need to complete a plan for Managing off task-behavior which I think I have under control.  As PE is evolving the new PE requires classroom assessments and assigned homework for students to engage in their own learning of life-time fitness. 

Zumba

On Friday the 6^th Dan did his teaching lab on Zumba. He did a great job. Something that Dan brings to the table that is uniquely his is his feverous energy.  Even before his lesson started he had the class moving and dancing around.  We learned a few Zumba moves as a class and then we did a Zumba routine video that he created. It was neat since I’ve never done any Zumba. Then he threw us for a loop. We had to work in small groups to create our own little Zumba routine with the moves that we learned. I think that this was a good idea however it might have actually worked better as an end of the unit project. There wasn’t enough time to really be creative. However, as each group presented their routine all the other groups were following along. One of the downfalls in Dan teaching I didn’t really feel like I got a good workout and from what I understand that’s what Zumba is good for. But overall Dan put a lot of work and effort in and it showed off, however some minor refinement might have been beneficial.  

Yoga

Wednesday April 4^th, marked the start of Lab D. Trisha got the ball rolling and might I added did a phenomenal job. I was utterly impressed with her yoga lesson.  She started with a quick game of tag, however she modified it some. The two “It” was carrying a weighted backpack on their chest.  This was done in part to represent the difficulties that unhealthy body weight can cause while simultaneously increasing the task difficultly.  Then the class split up into pairs. Partners rotating through 6 stations that she created. At each station we did a different Yoga position. She did a great job with the visual aids. She had two pictures on each poster board. One picture showed the correct form and the other showed the muscle groups that are used for that particular position. Furthermore the poster had intra-task variations. These encourage me to try for the harder position (Acted as a motivator).  Once we completed all the stations we took part in a yoga routine she prepared. Trisha made this awesome yoga video routine. By the end of the class I really felt like I got something out of her lesson. Furthermore I have been doing yoga every morning since. This is what we should all be inspiring to achieve and accomplish in PE. Thanks for all your hard work Trisha. 

Scavenger Hunt

On Monday the 2^nd we had a Scavenger Hunt. I bet you’re all thinking that sounds like fun. Well you’re right, it was fun. Steve, one of the TA for the class organized and ran the event. It amazing how every basic this idea is, and yet we don’t really see a lot of this in the public school systems.  Although we weren’t running around, it was still an aerobic workout as we prowled the hallways in search of clues. Additionally this sort of activity incorporates the cognitive domain of learning, more so than your average PE class. And as a PE major this is exactly what I want to achieve with my future classes one day. Thanks Steve.

Exer-Gaming

Well, I know that it’s been a while since I have been able to Blog, but I have lots of great things to share. Two Fridays ago, my class met in the Exer-Gaming Lab.  I’m not much of a video gamer, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  We spent most of the class playing DDR (Dance Dance Revolution). It was a neat experience. The system is designed to let each individual student challenge themselves at their own level. Like I said, I’m not really a gamer but I was still able to have fun and get in some play or was it exercise. I even went so far as to hang around for after class to get in some more moves!