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.