‘As simple as it sounds, we all must try to be the best person we can: by making the best choices, by making the most of the talents we’ve been given’ – Mary Lou Retton, American gymnast & 1984 gold medalist
Journal entry #7
This week the focus was on gymnastics. I honestly cannot remember doing gymnastics classes when I was in elementary, middle or high school. However, I feel like I must have! I went to a few different schools, in both Germany and Toronto so I imagine the curriculum was different from what others in my group who are from BC experienced. The only form of gymnastics I can remember doing was when we lived in Germany and my mom accidentally signed me up for ‘horse gymnastics’. Much to her chagrin we spent the hour learning how to do handstands and summersault off the backs of ponies.
Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the class that the students had prepared. It was designed to be inclusive, so there were no activities that involved inversions (i.e. tumbling, handstands…). Instead we focused on balancing, jumping and movement. I particularly enjoyed the movement station where we had to make a short routine involving rolling and moving. We practiced bear and crab walks, log rolls and meatball rolls. It was fun to try out some movements that I haven’t done in a long.
This week in my practicum I got to experience a PE class, something I was very excited about! We played a modified version of handball which the students really loved. PE class was only 30 minutes but the students expended a lot of energy and stress. The gym that my school has is extremely small, even smaller than a standard sized elementary school gym. It seems especially small because the students in my class are in grades 4, 5 and 6, so they are a little bigger than grade 1s. To make more use of the small space, the students took turns playing the game. I even got a chance to play! Its a tough situation to be in a teach – a small gym and a rainy day. These are things I will have to this about carefully when planning my practicum lessons.
