The two groups that presented on Friday both did a really good job and kept the whole class very energized! First off, the Gymnastics group that presented first had great structure and organization in the facilitation of their activities. I also really liked that from the beginning, the emphasis on safety was placed. In this way, the group was able to address one of the guiding questions about safe and inclusive environments. By separating into groups, there was also a team atmosphere that was really encouraging, as everyone had really great positive attitudes. The group was also able to address gymnastics with limited resources, simulating a PE environment that we as TCs may encounter at some point in our practicums or future teaching endeavors.

The second group-teach was on Dance, which was the perfect way to close out the PE lesson. It was a very high-energy lesson and teamwork (with some healthy competition, ie. Dance battles) was encouraged, much like the previous group-teach. Personally based on my experiences in the past, dance units were never my forte. I never enjoyed it and never fully participated/expressed myself. In all honesty, yesterday’s group-taught lesson may have been the first time I fully engaged with a dance lesson (big props to the group for encouraging the high energy!). I learned that through dance, students are able to express themselves and understand their own bodily movement. At the same time, this practices spatial awareness.

Great job to both groups!

Textbook: Chapter 15

• This chapter shares ideas about, and proposes options on, how technology may be appropriately integrated into the school physical education program.
• PE is often not a teacher’s first thought when it comes to bringing technology into the classroom.

• Digital literacy: the skills and knowledge to use a variety of digital media software applications and hardware devices such as a computer, mobile phone and internet technology

• It is important that students are taught to think critically about online content and evaluate their own behaviour against a set of shared social values.
• Chapter 15 provides a number of useful apps that you may use to bring technology into your PE class. (See the handout provided for more detail).
• You may also want to consider using different devices in your class. Some might include:
  • Pedometers, accelerometers, heart rate monitors (help with things that are often hard to measure)
  • Geocaching: world wide game of hide and seek treasure hunt style. Great for outdoors in PE. Search for cache with GPS and find what people have left behind.

Article 1 & 2: Laying a foundation:Basic Building Blocks, and Teaching elements of Choreography

• These articles focus on what goes into a good dance lesson and some important skills for dancing.
  • A good warm up
    • Move each joint, aerobic movement that brings blood to a flow and stretching large muscle groups.
  • Main activity
    • Introduce a movement skill (ex.lunge), introduce a movement element (expression)
    • Create a movement pattern or sequence using skill
    • explore use of movement skills and elements
  • Cool down
    • Calm time to get breathing under control
    • Students and teachers can reflect on the lesson of the day.
• When teaching choreography in dance it is important to have students understand that dance is a way to express yourself.
  • Work on originality in your dance(ex. strike a pose and then change one aspect to be different)
  • Transitions are important. Understanding how to get from one movement to the next
  • Dances tell a story, there is a beginning middle and end and it is in the way you express yourself with your movements and facial expressions that give life to your story.

Article 3 Hip-Hop Sport Education

• Middle school teacher used a sports education model to teach a Dance unit.
  • This meant that: Longer unit, students were members of a dance team, formal competition, kept records, festivity involved.
  • Class was split into 3 dance teams who each came up with a name, poster and logo
  • Positions given out were: coach, captain, publicist, judge and dance council
  • Teacher gives initial instruction on basic skills and then turns it over to students to create a routine.
  • Teacher offers help throughout, offers guiding questions such as “what possible formation could you start in? do you want to me close or far apart?” and as a last resort the teacher would demonstrate different moves
  • Finally there was a competition.
  • Teacher comments that students were so excited that they ended up petitioning to have a dance team at their school

Article 4 Self-assessment in creative dance

• There are 3 areas to consider when assessing creative dance
  • Activating prior knowledge
    • Must link current knowledge to new tasks
    • Use ideas and interpretations students already have in their head
    • Suggested that you might read familiar poems or picture books to provoke students creative thinking
  • Facilitating active creation
    • Must guide students and help them elaborate on their original ideas
    • Offer open ended tasks and encourage a variety of creative movements
  • Facilitating self-regulated refining
    • Must engage students in problem-solving and critical thinking
    • Teachers may provide cues that help make students movements clearer
    • Students are also encouraged to self-evaluate to gain a better understanding of where they are at.

Discussion Questions:

1. Have you seen teachers during your practicum use technology in the classroom? Was the technology used in PE?

2. Have you considered how you would like to incorporate technology in your physical education program? Ideas for your two week?

3. What do you think of using a sports education model to teach dance?