PE was exciting today. I even have the minimally skinned knees to prove it. I am looking forward to using the same game in my own PE class one day.
I hope to make all games inclusive for the learners in my classes. In order to facilitate this there are a few things we as teachers must do. We must create a safe environment where students can safely take risks. Game instructions must be clear to all. Explaining verbally, modeling the game and giving game time to explore can help to achieve clarity. Today our teachers allowed us to try the game in small groups before playing competitively and it really helped ensure we were comfortable with the concept of the game. Games must be able to be modified to meet the needs of all students. Games must not eliminate students who are less skilled. Nobody can gain all the skills they need while sitting on the sidelines. I am not sure if students will ever think that the teams we create are “fair.” Nevertheless we must attempt to make teams or groups as equal as possible. I am sure there are plenty of things that are needed for an inclusive atmosphere that I am not aware of yet. I look forward to exploring more and hearing from the rest of the class.
Hi Carrie,
I also really enjoyed the game today. I’m most definitely going to be introducing this into my classes. I wish that I knew about this game when I was working at a daycare over the summer. Each week we got to have two days in the gym and I always felt so under equipped to come up with interesting games for the children to play. We wound up playing a lot of soccer, but not all of the children enjoyed soccer very much so those children would play with “whipping rods” (those ribbons on a stick used for movement/gymnastics). I have been learning so much though this course, understanding how to modify games so that everyone can play (as opposed to creating separate games as I did this summer). I really value the lessons about inclusive physical education that are being taught in this course. Another aspect of inclusive game play that this course has made me reflect upon is that having children act as team captains is problematic. Again, this summer my supervisors introduced this method of creating teams to me and so I continued this approach throughout the summer. I can now reflect on many improvements that I would make if I went back to the daycare. When thinking about becoming a teacher I never really game physical education too much thought. Therefore, I am so thankful that this is a requirement for us. I’m also looking forward to out further explorations in this class.