Monthly Archives: October 2015

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Little Elephant Plays Netball – Week 5? October 7, 2015

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Once upon a time there was a little elephant.  Little elephant had a trunk that was a little too long, and so little elephant was teased often.  Little elephant was called pinocchio, long nose, and weirdo.  Little elephant wished on every star and blade of grass that he would wake up one day with a normal sized trunk and so all of the other little elephants would be his friend.  Little elephant’s long trunk often made him unbalanced, and so he often fell over, because none of the adult elephants ever took the time to teach him how to walk with a slightly longer trunk.  One day ‘Old Gray’ walked up to little elephant and told him about all of the wonderful things that his longer trunk can do, such as throwing objects.  Little elephant created games where he learned to shift his weight while he threw, and really project objects using his trunk. He started small, sticks and stones, and ended up tall, with fallen trees and boulders.  Every game he played helped increase his trunk strength, his aim, this distance and so his confidence.

Little elephant grew, and as he grew, his trunk grew with him.  Fortunately the other elephants realized little elephants potential, and started to appreciate his talents.  The other elephants wished that they had such a mentor that helped them realize what they could do.  One day, a hunter was creeping towards the elephants, wanting ‘Old Baboo’s’ tusks.  Little elephant was by the watering hole, and so was too far away to help the other elephants attack.  However, there was a giant rock by Little Elephant, and he picked it up. Because he had practised and played so diligently as a little elephant, he aimed and threw.  He killed the hunter!!! Little elephant became a hero, and all of the other elephants decided to never tease the ‘different’ elephants again.  They also learned that starting with easy games helped realize each elephant’s potential for strength and fitness later on in life, to help kill greedy horrible tusk hunters.  And elephants were never poached again.

The end.

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Movement Journal Week 5

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This week I enjoyed learning more about Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU). I like the idea of breaking down fundamental skills and categorizing them into types of sports. Until recently I would have thought of Capture the Flag when someone was talking about invasion games. It has been interesting to learn about the break down of sports into fundamental movement categories. I have always played a lot of invasion games such as soccer, basketball, field hockey and ultimate and never thought to break down the skills this way. I like the idea of slowly building up to the skill to perform a sport, the way we did in PE this week with both the team teach and after with Steve. However, I think it could be challenging as a PE teacher, because many kids just want to play the sport right away without any breakdown of skill. It would be helpful to get some resources on how to break down different types of sports into games that slowly build up the skills required for the sport. I think the discovery approach is useful because it allows students to understand why they are learning what they are learning and to be in control of their own learning. What we learn stays with us longer if we were in charge of our learning. One condition for including all learners in game playing, would be breaking down skills enough that everyone is able to perform them at first. Everyone should at least be able to accomplish the first level of the skill. Like in the game with Steve, we were all able to perform the first task of getting through the people on the line but still gaining the basic fundamental principles of dodging opponents.

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Week 5 Invasion Games

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I learned a lot this week about Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU). When I was younger, I remember playing games in physical education and how fun they were but I never realized how the skills we learned could be so transferable to other activities until I got older. I believe in PE we need to expose children to many different skills but also let them know that everything they are learning has a purpose. If a child believes that what they’re learning in PE has a purpose that can be applied to many activities then they may be more willing to participate.

This week for our group discussion we were talking about what is important and I realized that for me it was multi activities. If you expose a child to many different ways to use a skill then the child has more chance of succeeding in one of them. This week’s group nicely broke down how we gradually build on a skill then make it harder to challenge ourselves. At first, when we were playing the main game and our group had to get to the other side I was wondering why the cones on the far side were not closer. The other team’s arms were not long enough to reach us so we just had to walk across. I learned as the game gradually got harder that there was a purpose to the distance. In the last part, the other team could take one step and that allowed them to protect their area, which I found made it impossible to get across. It made me realize the steps we take to teach a game. You want to allow a group to get confident in the game then let them build strategies. You do not want to discourage anyone by making a game too hard where they feel they will not succeed.

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Session 5 Movement Journal Post (Oct. 9) – Terence Wong

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This week, the focus was on TGFU for social awareness in a PE class. The activity that was taught by the group was very well done, which I believe was the result of a step-by-step/progression style of the activities. The group was able to divide their game into three different styles or levels, which allowed everyone to participate fully and understand the game more thoroughly.

A discovery approach is useful in gameplay because it allows students to understand the games and realize strategies or purpose behind activities. This allows the teacher to take a step back and facilitate, rather than providing all solutions to the students. In this way, students are also presented with the opportunity to take the lead on their own learning. To ask questions, learn strategies, and o progress together as a class. TGFU is a method in which could also carry over to other literacies outside of the PE class.

Educators can provoke further questioning among learners by encouraging a safe and open environment. This environment would allow students to generate discussion without judgments. An educator with this style of teaching would also be able to facilitate discussion, not by providing all the answers and information, but by posing questions towards the students, while allowing reflection time to share their thoughts and understandings as a class.

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Movement Journal #3 – Fiona Szeto

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This week’s PE class was so active and fun, I honestly have not moved around this much in class since high school! It was pretty much non-stop from the instant activity to the group teach to Steve’s mini-activities. The instant activity and this week’s group teach was amazing by the way, definitely worked up a sweat early on! All of the activities involved a ton of movement and got our blood pumping and warmed us up quickly, especially in the chilly gymnasium :). I also appreciated Steve’s demonstration games on the importance of TGFU. It was really useful to see it in action and to actually participate in the activities.  It’s amazing how much we can accomplish with minimal equipment!

When I was at my first practicum visit at Southridge, I was impressed to hear from some students that their DPA was actually implemented every day during school hours. I was able to witness this firsthand in a first class grade when the teacher noticed the students were getting antsy from having sat on the carpet for quite some time. She told everyone to stand up, head outside and run some small laps around the courtyard just outside their classroom. Students came back out of breath but energized, and were able to contribute even more to the activity the class was completing beforehand! I guess something to keep in mind is to always keep our eyes and ears alert to make sure the class is still paying attention instead of focussing on getting the lesson done. From all the different group teach presentations we have done, a valuable lesson I have learned from them all is definitely to be adaptable!

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October 7th – Movement Journal #3 (Invasion Games group teach)

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Group teach, done!

I have to be honest and admit that I have never heard of netball until Ally and Jessica suggested we to do it for our group teach. Jessica did mention that netball was not very popular in Canada, but that she had played it back in England. It was not surprising then that most of our classmates have never played it either except for a handful of people.

I was initially overwhelmed while we were doing research so I could understand the rules because I did not feel confident teaching something on which I have almost zero knowledge! However, we soon identified that our classmates (or students) might feel the same problem, and so we decided to modify it appropriately to suit our needs, which is simply to explore concepts of invasion games.

On the day of our group teach, I personally tried to avoid mentioning basketball as I did not want our students’ prior knowledge of basketball to be their basis for netball. It soon became apparent that that is exactly what our students did to try and grasp the rules of netball (i.e. “So it’s like basketball?”), which was my initial reaction too when it was suggested within our group. In the end, Jessica had to state: “Take whatever you know about basketball and disregard it. The only commonality between netball and basketball is you score points by shooting a ball into a basket.”

This kind of almost automatic response from our students made me think of how I would probably introduce netball at a much younger age, so there is minimal preconceptions of other invasion games, particularly basketball that might confuse them.

We made sure that our activities leading up to the game were essential, but moving forward, I might try the TGfU whole-part-whole approach and just let them play an initial game of netball before doing the drills. I was impressed with our students as they really tried to do the proper footwork (land and pivot) and respect boundaries (no contact) during the main game. Overall, I do think our group did well, especially since we introduced a completely new game!

Thank you, IB PYP athletes!

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Tiffany’s Movement Journal_ Week 5 (Oct 7)

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The concept of TGfU was surprising to me – not because it was counter-intuitive, but because I felt that it was common sense!  Play is something that comes naturally to children – it allows them to explore, to test their abilities, and to use their imagination.  Children learn naturally through the process of play.

When Steve gave us the example of TGfU at the end of class, our group noticed something when we were playing the very first simple game (passing the ball to get it to the other side).  We got bored fairly quickly, and started to wonder if we would be progressing to the next game anytime soon.  By the time we got to the third game (trying to knock down the pin), it was complex enough to keep us excited and engaged.  This made me think of what the situation would be like if it were applied to elementary aged children.  From what I have observed in children, when they get bored they will invent new activities to entertain themselves.  They practice problem solving skills without any prompts from their teachers!

TGfU ties in neatly with some of the IB principles.  By starting with simple games and slowly progressing to increasingly complex games, students learn through scaffolding and critical thinking.  Through each step of progression, students build on pre-existing knowledge and think critically about how to make the current game more fun and exciting. By adopting the concept of TGfU in teaching PE, we can encourage and motivate students to take initiative and ask critical questions to build on their own learning.

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Shirin Movement Journal October 6

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Going into the first day of practicum on Thursday, I was excited and curious to observe how physical activity was being incorporated into the students’ activities through the day at Queen Mary, as well as to have the opportunity to assist in a PE class. Although I wasn’t able to observe an actual block of PE, I did have the chance to witness the Grade 2 students partake in physical activity in two other contexts, both of which were quite interesting to note.

The first example of physical activity I observed was the school’s “Kilometre Club” – a short period at the beginning of each day during which some teachers bring their classes outside to run laps. I was actually quite surprised to see this in schools today, as I recall doing something similar when I was in Kindergarten (though it wasn’t called Kilometre Club at that time)! The children would circle the playground, and receive a small line on their hand for each lap they ran; at the end of the time period, the teacher would tally the lines and mark it on her attendance sheet. I have observed this running practice in other schools I have volunteered at as well, and generally the children seem to be interested in running laps. Of course, this doesn’t mean that all of them are engaged – some are more interested in socializing, but they socialize with their friends as they walk around the field. For these children, the amount of laps they run is less important than having a chance to build relationships with their classmates, which I think is okay. However, this club is also used as part of the IB transdisciplinary theme the class is focusing on: How we organize ourselves. Their unit discusses physical and social/emotional health, with a focus on goal setting; thus the children set personal goals for the teacher with reference to their exercise and how many laps they are attempting to do for a specific time frame. It was interesting for me to see how the IB themes are used to incorporate a variety of subjects within a single theme, including physical activity.

The second instance of physical activity I observed was in the middle of the day, after the students had returned from the library. As they were restless from sitting and listening for a long period of time, the teacher had scheduled a 15 minute period where the students could be active and engaged, providing them with a necessary break from siting in the classroom.   The teacher used to overhead projector to put on a website called “GoNoodle” which provides amazing guided dance routines for young children, and many other activities to get children active. Students and teachers alike were participating in the dances and the children were very excited to do this activity. I thought this was a great way to add in a short period of physical activity in the middle of the day to help students use some energy and re-focus their attention after having some time to just move around. It was obvious that GoNoodle is a classroom favorite, as the children knew the lyrics to all the songs and were all extremely excited to participate, even the quieter children. I would definitely use this resource in the future, and if anyone is interested (it’s free!), I have included the link below.

https://www.gonoodle.com/

 

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Movement Journal Oct 7th- Emily

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I thought Wednesday’s discussion and group teach were both very well done, I enjoyed both the instant activity and learning net ball for the second portion of the class. What I thought was great about our warm up was how it was very simple, but also fun and quick. I thought it was a really good game for any P.E. class warm up. After our discussion on curriculum models Jessica, Ally and Kaira taught us how to play Netball for their team-teach. I personally was unfamiliar with the rules of the game, and kept trying to relate the mechanics to basketball, which our teachers reminded us, was a sport that had little in common with Netball. Jessica, Ally and Kaira did a really great job of explaining the skills and getting us to just start playing. This is an important lesson I learned from them. In some cases just starting to play a game allows students to get the idea of it better than an explanation can.

Another point I wanted to bring up in my reflection was the experience of P.E. I had in my practicum classroom on Thursday. The class I was shadowing had their Daily Physical Activity block at the end of the day before dismissal. In this block they played two games that were a variation of tag, both very active and inclusive of the whole group. I was really impressed with how quickly the games were explained and how involved the entire group was. I think my biggest take away from that block was learning from the teachers when to stop one game and start another. Different games can run for different lengths of time and you really have to be paying attention to the class to see if they’re enjoying what they are doing still or are ready to play something else. Looking forward to outdoor ed this week! 🙂

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Week 5 Invasion games!

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Invasion games

I really enjoyed this week’s invasion games. It was very well done. By gradually increasing the technical skill, the students were able to become familiar with each motion. It was interesting to watch the groups interpretation of “Teaching Games for Understanding” I felt that it was very well done.

The dancing was great fun at the beginning, it was a very good warm up activity. If the group had had more time for a warm-up activity I would suggest running through the moves once without music and then once with so we could follow along a bit better.

The stretching at the end was flawless. I found it to be a unique way to cool everyone down, I loved the creativity.  I would love to try that in one of my classes.

Great discussion questions too. I found myself questioning my style of teaching for the rest of the day. I think if I had to choose one: Teaching my students to be life long learners of physical education is the most important. This is best describe through The Fitness for Life Model. Maintaining that life style after school, both through diet and activity is crucial in living a long and happy life.

I would say on the whole, stellar work this week. Thanks Invasion Games Week Group!