I was surprised how nervous I was to actually teach this PE class!
I knew exactly what we were going to do, I was confident in my team and in our organization of the class and choice of the lesson but when it was time to actually start teaching I was very intimidated by the space of the gym and the acoustics.
I wanted to use the whistle as a class management technique to save my voice and discourage yelling during gym class. This would be the signal to stop, listen and be. gin activities as directed by us, your teachers today. I wonder if anyone noticed because I even outlined in my lesson when to blow each whistle!
I was nervous about not being heard and because of that really didn’t want to speak at all. I was happy with our demonstration of this brand new game and very very impressed with everyone’s participation and how quickly everyone grasped the concept. I was so nervous about teaching a brand new game that I was very clear on instructions – even outlining someways to be succesful at strategy – Steve said maybe this should have been left up to the students to discover (as that is what TGFU is all about) so next time I will leave more space for student exploration in my PE lessons. It is very rewarding as a learning to discover and own knowledge for yourself, but I also really wanted this to be successful. I also felt like the group was very cohesive and happy when Everyone Wins. This is a great way to make everyone feel included, regardless of athletic ability.
Invasion games are complex games and I thought Prairie Dog Pickoff was a great way to introduce invasion games – we used the website PhysicalEducator.com It has plenty of resources and modifications for this game. Check it out for more fun PE games.
We also wanted our lesson to have an overall SPACE theme. I liked our warm up activity because it fit the theme and allowed the class to explore the full size of the gym (and think about how much space they had when finding places to put their hoops). It’s also a good way to be silly and warm up at the same time. That was also the approach to the cool down activity. Some students will be unable to focus and I thought using the hula hoops was a fun way to stretch out and calm down while still having fun. I thought breathing inside the hoop was also a great way to visual overall calmness in the body.
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR BEING GREAT SPORTS AND FOR EVERYONE WINNING!
Sam,
Your team teach group was GREAT!! I absolutely loved the “prairie dog pick-off” game. I wanted to play for the duration of the whole class. You all gave us great direction, and made sure we were always having fun. Most importantly, you perfectly exemplified the TGfU curriculum model, and furthered my understanding of how I can employ this model in my own class. I can’t wait to play this game with my practicum class! They are going to love it!!!
Again great job!
🙂
This invasion game was new and exciting. I observed that everyone was having a great time learning, strategizing and excelling to the next level of the game. It was very well taught and from warm ups to cool downs were very creative. Thanks for the new lesson that I will be sure to use in my practicum. Now to find this lesson plan.
Your lesson was great for many reasons, first it was slightly competitive which I like, secondly it made us move but for myself the most important factor was that it encouraged me to develop strategy and movement based upon that fact. This I feel is important for children to secure for their future endeavours as a physically literate individual. The ability to see, think and feel how they wish to tackle a certain situation using their body and mind in a holistic way. Great job and great game I will use this in my practicum.