Ally’s Movement Journal – Sept. 30

Firstly, thanks Tobi, Emily, and Gemma for an awesome lesson! You were all fantastic in front of the group and I really appreciated getting outside into the sunshine and playing such hilarious & fun games!

When they introduced Chuck the Chicken I was SO excited! It’s one of the games we play at work (with kids/teens who are on the autism spectrum) and it’s one of our favourites, even though it never *quite* works the way it’s supposed to – getting such a diverse group of kids to play a cooperative game is quite a challenge!

One of the most important things I learned in my PE classes in undergrad was that the games we play in PE, especially with the younger kids or to accommodate a diverse group, don’t have to look like the ‘real’ game forms. It’s OK to modify and adapt games to make them fit the needs of your students – not making the kids fit into the game. This is something I’ve come to understand well through working with kids with disabilities: trying to play a ‘real’ game of soccer or basketball almost never works, and it’s really so much better to modify it. It’ll make you happy, because it will work, and it will make the kids happy, because they’ll actually be able to be successful! And the new versions often turn out to be super fun, like 3-ball kick baseball! I don’t think any of us would have rather played kickball on Wednesday because we were having so much fun with the modified, more inclusive game!

 

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