All posts by tobi watt

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Tobi’s Movement Journal – November 18th

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Hello,

It was nice to be back and see everyone in action!

It was good to experience and observe how our physiological responses are affected when we exercise. In this case, we looked at heart-rate. I liked how the group choose different levels of activity to alter our heart-rate. What I would have liked to see was maybe making the aerobic exercise more intense so that we could see our heart-rate jump a bit higher than it did. After comparing with other students, although our heart-rate changed from activity to activity, the heart-rates were not altered very much. I also would have liked to experience a more meditating and relaxing yoga session as I found one of the poses quite stimulating to my muscles, which actually made my heart-rate feel as if it were going up.

I think using heart-rate in exercise is very valuable and I have been in cycling classes before where they use heart-rate training in their classes. They use technology (ipads/tv screens) and HR monitors so that you can see your HR change as your effort level intensifies or decreases.  I think it would be cool to bring in heart rate monitors for students so that they can visually see their HR change during an activity instead of just an end result.

 

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Wednesday 14th Reflection – Outdoor Education

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Hola!

I really enjoyed our class last week, as I’m sure most of us did! I think we could all collectively agree that we enjoy being outside, whether it’s just for a walk or rigorous exercise or sitting quietly and reading. One thing that always stands out for me when I was in school (both elementary and secondary) was when we got to go outside. Sometimes we even got to go outside for our silent reading block, which was awesome.

I really liked how the group teach mixed it up a bit and implemented a scavenger hunt (my favorite)! I appreciated that they incorporated a range of values/aspects into the scavenger hunt. For instance, they covered nutrition, teamwork, motivation and even looking after the environment (picking up a piece of garbage) within the hunt. On top of that, I loved that we continued walking to the beautiful forest AND even did our teaching summaries out in the sun at WesBrook Village. Thank you Steve!

It’s important to find times throughout the day where you can bring your students outside. Over the last 2 visits at practicum I have noticed two different occasions where teachers implement this. One teacher told the class that they were going to head outside and they voted on whether they wanted to either sit in the forest to be silent and reflect or head out to a viewpoint where they could see the ocean. AMAZING! The other example was a teacher taking her class out for 5 minutes to grab some fresh air and run a couple of laps around the field. I loved this because it allowed the kids to get up and move and get some fresh air. I think its healthy for children to  clear their head a bit, especially if they have been sitting working hard at something for a long period of time. It’s a nice way to break up the day.

Being active and being outside is a huge priority of mine and as a future educator I will most definitely get my students outside at any opportunity I can.

See you Wednesday!

Tobi Watt

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September 30th – Tobi’s Group Teach Reflection

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It was so nice to finally get outside this week! I had a lot of fun teaching our lesson in PE. I felt like the prep-work and the lesson-planning, and knowing what equipment you needed etc. was a lot of work, but once you finally got in there and started teaching it all came together smoothly and before you knew it was all over! If I were to do the same lesson plan over again I would have wanted to practice a bit before-hand on striking technique and tips on how to get power on the ball. There was also a few rules that could have been put into place beforehand that weren’t (i.e. can you “tap” the ball behind you – probably not!)

I loved watching everyone play Chuck the Chicken! I thought that was hilarious. It really showed how teamwork is a huge aspect of that game. I have to say how supportive everyone is… I always see and hear our fellow classmates sending out positive vibes and feedback and high fives and I absolutely LOVE it!!

Overall I thought it was great! I cant wait to learn more new games and ideas for our PE classes 🙂

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September 23rd – Tobi’s Movement Journal

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Hello all 🙂

I really enjoyed last class and learning more about what it means to be physically literate. I think we have been hearing more and more about what it means to be “literate” and it can be applied in so many different subject areas.

I learned that it doesn’t only relate to the personally physically, but also mentally. I think to be physically literate you also need to know and understand how to keep your body healthy. This could include making sure you are warming up and cooling down, or knowing when to stop if your body has endured to much, or having good nutrition habits.

I think every child should be given the opportunity to learn the Fundamental Movement Skills that we learned. We have all been in that PE class where not every individual is coordinated or athletic. I think being physically literate will give students the confidence they need when growing up.

I think as educators, we need to make everyone in our PE class feel included, comfortable and welcome. If we notice that a student is having a hard time with a drill or a task, ensure that we are giving positive feedback or allow students to work in pairs or in groups. 🙂

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Reflection – Week 1 – September 9th

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Growing up I loved PE! I loved being active and I always noticed the difference in my energy post-PE class. In high school we had conditioning 11 and 12 and for PE we would work out in the school gym with programs by Level 10 Fitness which to me has high standards for program design. We learned not only about proper technique (i.e. how to do a dead lift) but also about hypertrophy training. It definitely gave me a boost of confidence when I went into my KIN degree.

But focusing a bit more on PE teaching and the future… I think there is no question that students should be physically active at least 5 days out of the week. I think it’s important for students to learn about why they are doing physical activity or why they are doing a certain activity and how being active is important both physically and psychologically. I think it’s important that we teach children some biological aspects with physical activity and bring in a small bit of biology to our class. Proper understanding of good nutrition is also very important and should be addressed to your students.

Having taught fitness for over 3 years I have acquired some teaching techniques which has definitely gained me some confidence in overcoming any fears of teaching activities to a group. I think it’s great that we all share our individual stories, as it will confirm that other people have similar thoughts and feelings and it will bring great ideas on how we can effectively teach PE.

PE is meant to get kids moving!! Not enough kids are getting up and getting their heart rates up. Other than the exercise aspect, it brings students together, decreases their stress levels and educates them about living healthy lifestyles.

Let’s change the way some teachers feel about teaching PE. Let’s knock away the fear of it and have FUN! 🙂