Learning from teachers how to teach learners is quite a meta task.  Today in P.E. class we learned both in active and passive ways.  We got up on our feet to embody the task progression model, and then we also reviewed it on a handout while seated around the projector.  It’s it truly remarkable how much better I understood and will remeber the task progression model from actively doing it, rather than listening and reading about it.

One of this week’s guided questions is, “What is the value of embodied learning?  Why is an active curriculum useful or neccessary?”  Today was an example to me of the effectiveness of embodied learning.  We learn from doing, and often doing requires moving.  I think there’s more to it than that as well.  When sitting all day, I become sleepy, and start to shut down, and don’t feel so good.  Physical activity wakes me up, gets the blood flowing to my brain, and allows me to take in more oxygen.  I am more focused, and have more fun.  It is neccessary that students get to experience the power of activity, and see how it effects every other part of their life.  I can do better in my other classes when I have moved before hand.  Moreover, I think every subject could benefit from incorporating daily physical activity, even if that means using active desks, like treadmill and standing desks.  Here’s an article that outlines some of the scientifically proven benefits of these devices: http://www.fastcodesign.com/3045217/evidence/everything-science-knows-right-now-about-standing-desks

Just want to start off by saying that the group today did a fantastic job! It was the perfect way for me to wake up from an otherwise drowsy day, and I had a ton of fun. Thank you guys!

When the conversation of fitness testing came up today, I tensed out of reflex , which probably gives you a pretty good idea of how I feel about fitness tests. I found myself sympathizing with what Daniella said today about her own experience in high school, because I feel like that was how my own classes were as well. I feel like in my school, fitness tests had nothing to do with personal improvement and growth, but it was always just for the grade. I remember constantly reminding myself how many push-ups I needed to achieve an A, reaching that number, and then immediately giving up. I confess that neither I nor my friends ever bothered to push ourselves beyond that point, because as we saw it, what was the point? We may have gotten an A in the tests, but I’m pretty sure we would have failed had self-motivation and effort been among the grading requirements.

Which, of course, leads me to think that there could have been better ways of incorporating fitness testing to actually make it more meaningful beyond the “I need to get a good grade” mentality that I and so many of my classmates possessed. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this class, it’s the need to encourage students to think of physical activity and fitness as a short-term goal, but one that should be carried with us throughout our whole lives. In light of that, I personally feel like the way this particular test was done (in my high school at least!) felt more like a…throwaway “these students have to be graded somehow” activity than anything else. Maybe it’s just me? I’d love to hear how fitness tests were done in other schools!

Today, I really enjoyed the team teach group’s activities. It was well structured and I had a lot of fun today. The warm up activity was a lot of fun because it got us moving and outside, but the teachers encouraged us to make it unique to us by dancing however we wanted. This allowed kids (or us) to express our/them selves in whichever way it’s deemed fit. Also, the way it led to the main activity was great as it was a smooth transition and easy instructions. The only thing that was not clear was the dimensions of the playing area I noticed groups were told different areas/boundaries which made it a bit confusing when we were told to switch partners. Besides that, it was enjoyable when they increased the difficulty to encourage us to challenge ourselves, but didn’t force us to do it. It was a very free and open-ended activity where they teachers did not make the students participate in any given way; there was freedom for the students to choose their difficulty level and own version of warm up while still being included. Overall, it was an excellent game today, with lots of encouragement that was not “basic” (you guys know what I mean) and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves by the laughter and giggles that I heard.

YAY GROUP! 😀

I had so much fun playing vollycrosse. Using a lacrosse stick isn’t something I have done for over ten years. It felt good to build up the skills in my physical literacy tool belt before I begin to teach others. This summer I had some training on physical literacy, but one very important point was left out. They forgot to mention that physically literacy is something you are constantly developing. To me this is one of the most important things about physical literacy. I don’t feel as if my physical literacy is something that is strong. It is great to know that this year (and until I die) I will continue to develop my physical literacy. I am looking forward to creating an environment where I will attempt to meet all the students needs. There are a few things I think are important to be able to do this. First is that the environment has to be safe and feel safe. It needs to be somewhere that each student knows that taking risks and making mistakes is okay. It is also important that we are assessing students on their literacy journey every moment we can and making adaptations to activities when needed. It may be an arduous task to make sure all students’ needs are met, but it will be worth it. I am looking forward to learning more ways that I can create an environment where all students feel they are heard and are challenged in an appropriate way.

First off, I really enjoyed the group teach this week, so thank you to the group for such a great job on your lesson. I think the most valuable idea that I took out of the week was around physical literacy and what this means for me and in regards to the setting of a school. Personally I have never considered myself as physically literate, because I often connected it to being good at P.E. and I would not necessarily consider this subject to be my forte.

However, I came to the realization that my physical literacy is specific to me and therefore integrated within my strengths in certain activities and the weaknesses I have in others. It is a personal journey we all take and through it we grow towards our own potential rather than the potential of those around us. From this realization I came to notice that, as we went through this lesson and our team grew in our “volley-cross” skills, I found myself cheering on my teammates and opponents because I no longer felt the need to compete against them. My physical literacy became about what I was doing and how I could grow.

I think that, in becoming future teacher, this is such an important mind frame to promote for our students. No two students are the same, and therefore they are all on their own journeys in their physical literacy. I think that if we put forth this mindset in our classrooms, the environment becomes more about working together to help everyone grow on their own journeys and, in doing so, it removes the stigma of what it means to get a certain letter grade, one that’s rewarded based on the present mentality associated with the need to beat others.

Teaching PE is very different from any other kind of teaching that I have done, hands down! The day before and the morning of, there were a bit of nerves (as per usual), but this time I drew on my past experience of teaching during a practicum and I went into what I like to call: Teacher Mode. My voice was loud, I was prepared to give instructions (or at least I thought I was anyway), and my group and I had worked a lot about how we were going to teach.

Thinking back onto how the lesson went, I think that we could have done a better job with the flow of the lesson. Going outside just for the warm-up was for timing reasons, and I think we could have saved ourselves a lot of problems if we had picked another activity for the warmup. However, I did like the warmup that we chose because it was meant to introduce the idea of being mindful of the space around us and the people around us, which lead into being careful during volley-crosse.

I really liked the idea of changing up the difficulty of a game, but using the same rules. I never experienced that during my years taking PE and it is definitely something that I will keep in mind for my practicum!

One final thought that I had on teaching was the behaviour of the class. Since we are all adults in the class, we are all inclined to just listen and do what is asked of us, however I am sure in a real class situation, the lesson could have been infinitely more difficult.