I had a great time playing invasion games this week. Prairie Dog PickOff was surprisingly difficult to play: one must be able to multitask by having an acute awareness of both the opponent’s object and the defended object, not to mention the physical prowess involved in throwing and blocking. It was very useful to practice in smaller groups ahead of time; excellent job finding a way to simplify the game to teach specific skills, Group Teach 4! I feel like the approach this group took towards the invasion game was in line with the TGfU curriculum model. Instead of reducing the game into boring skill and drill time, an altered version of the game was used for practise in order to develop game appreciation. Also, in between rounds, the leaders decided to motivate people who were spending the whole round defending by introducing a new rule. This had the effect of ensuring that all students developed tactical awareness of offensive and defensive technique, another important aspect of TGfU.

Before this lesson and Chapter 3 reading, I had no idea how many curriculum models existed for PHE. It is both inspiring and intimidating to realize how many ways this subject can be taught. I am inspired because I see the strengths and weaknesses of the various models, but I am intimidated by the selection and application process because I would be concerned that I might create a hodge-podge curriculum that makes sense on the individual activity level, but lacks clarity and cohesion overall.