Week 5 Movement Journal by Emily

I thought Vivian, Zoe and Jenny did a fantastic job with Invasion Games last week! I particularly enjoyed getting to see Vivian’s talents when she was teaching us the dance routine and stretching exercises during the beginning and end of the presentation. I also enjoyed our reading discussions and thought the different models were explained to us very clearly and the discussion questions that were given to us were quite thoughtful. During my elementary and high school experience, I felt like the Sports Education model was the most common. There didn’t seem to be any emphasis on social and personal responsibility or physical fitness outside of school.

However, while I appreciate the groups effort to create a sense of bonding and teamwork during their games, I do have a small concern with the last invasion game that was played. I didn’t really like the idea that if one child was tagged or dropped the ball, the entire team was out and had to start all over again. I think this could potentially be a bit shaming for children who are not very athletic. I also think there might be a slight struggle for very athletic children as well. Even if a child is quite socially intelligent, it may be difficult to be so close to gaining points and having that be prevented by only one or two children. A possible solution may be to have the team go back to the halfway point of the gym instead of the very beginning or having the team do some sort of additional task before being allowed to cross the final line. Overall though, I thought the presentation was quite fun and interesting and I feel like the games shown gave us some great ideas for the future.

One thought on “Week 5 Movement Journal by Emily”

  1. Emily, I really appreciate your thoughtful post!
    I agree, the group did a fantastic job and I loved how Vivian incorporated DAIGG (Dance, Alternative Environment Activities, Individual Physical Activities, Gymnastics and Games) by using dance as a warm-up activity. That is interesting that you had the Sports Education Model implemented into your gym classes. I feel that I had the Multi-Activity Model in elementary and the Sports Education Model in high school. I also do not remember an emphasis on social or personal responsibility because most of my gym classes focused on just participating and understanding different sports.
    I had not considered this concern for the last invasion game but after thinking about it, yes, it was a form of shaming by singling a child out. Especially for a child who is less athletic, this could even lead to teasing if the team became frustrated with their teammate. I think it is really hard to create an invasion game without some kind of penalty, but I agree there could be a different consequence for being caught or dropping the ball. Maybe only half the team has to get across and the one that dropped the ball or was tagged could join the tagging team so that they are not “out” or punished, but instead given a new responsibility (sort of like the game octopus). Overall, the games were awesome and I appreciate how much time and thought everyone has put into their group-teach. I also liked how they built upon each game in difficulty level so that everyone could gradually improve their skills and feel comfortable with each new game.

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