Today’s P.E. class offered us with an alternate approach (outdoor education) to teach/learn P.E. rather than the traditional style inside of a gym that is enclosed by four walls. I enjoyed going outside and getting fresh air because this helps with our cognitive development, which is very crucial for younger students. I believe students should be exposed to the outdoor environment, so they understand the appropriateness of it and behave in a good manner. A valuable lesson that I learnt today is regarding safety while being outdoors, especially with a large group of children. I liked how as a class we established boundaries and discussed what a lost child should do. These types of lessons are not taught explicitly in our textbooks, but we as teachers should be made aware and be prepared for anything.

The game that we played today, predator and prey, is not only fun but also a great tool for teaching students subjects like science and understanding Darwin’s Theory – survival of the fittest. Participating in this game engages students in making quick critical-thinking decisions of how to beat their opponent. Students have to strategize and adapt to their environment. Every student has a unique skill that he or she can use this to their advantage; likewise every animal has tricks to survive and avoid their predators.

Great job to the group who lead our class and made outdoor education exciting!

Last week, our class visited Pacific Spirit park as one of our outdoor activities during our lesson. After participating in an amazing outdoor activity with the class, Steve directed us for a wonderful walk in order to facilitate our learning further. We had discussions and classroom discourse while enjoying the beauty of the nature around us. This experience was refreshing and inspiring for me, as it gave me the opportunity to reconnect with nature. For me, in particular, this was tremendous as I am aware that I do not give myself nearly enough opportunities to utilize the power of nature to my advantage. I’ve always seemed to forget about it and push it aside. I’ve never been an outdoorsy person who would prioritize hiking and exploring the wilderness over indoor activities. Why is this the case? I feel that as a generation (and for the future generations as well), we need to teach our children and younger students to reconnect with nature and all that it has to offer.

The video which I am going to leave you with is a good indication of the generational differences between grandparents, parents, and their children regarding the activities they enjoyed while they were younger. Are we enjoying nature more due to the restrictions placed on liabilities? Or is technology taking over our free time as the more prominent way to relax? Either way, one thing is for sure. Compared to the children today, I definitely spent majority of my time outside getting messy. Today, many parents become insane at the thought of their child coming home with a scraped elbow or knee.

How 3 Generations Of Kids Define “Fun” May Leave You Concerned For The Future

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is5W6GxAI3c&feature=youtu.be

This week we focused on bringing physical education to an alternative environment. Prior to the group teach I could not envision any outdoor activities that moved away from competitive sports so I was excited to see what they had planned for us! The predator game was also a great way to complement what we engaged in last week with the space invaders activity. It was not a matter of winning or losing, but rather having that teaming up element  to eliminate that competitive and humiliation aspect of games.  As always, I was blown away and inspired by the many different possibilities outdoor education had to offer. I thought this was such an excellent group  teach because being outdoors made me feel both at peace and energised at the same time.  For the last year I have been more interested in mindfulness and Lisa’s cool down activity was such a unique way to incorporate this approach into physical education. It was so surprising at how quickly I was able to calm down and ground myself after being overly excited during the predator game. As a hyper-active individual, I myself struggle with this and it always worried me to think of strategies to facilitate calming activities to bring down the energy of a collective group of children. Especially when thoroughly planning for an alternate education lesson, mindfulness can help contain the energy of the group to ensure the safety of all children. Just as the group explained, these kinds of activities revolve around trust, awareness and safety.

Today’s class was excellent! It was so refreshing to get outdoors into the woods and play a game that got us aware of our bodies and our actions. Doing such a movement based activity and the trust falls really got us working together as a team/cohort. It illustrated the importance of getting our students outdoors and experiencing physical education in an environment that is not contained by 4 walls. This allows students to learn outdoors and can be used cross-curricular (ecology, arts, etc) in order to explicate the importance of being outside. I remember being a student in elementary school and as soon as I stepped inside the school, I conditioned myself to be a focused student who didn’t run wild or play, even in P.E. It wasn’t until recess or lunch when we went outside that I let loose and truly had a good time. It was outside that I learned my mistakes and explored creatively and imaginatively and I believe that getting students outside is very important to foster growth, safety, awareness, and creativity. Not only does it do this, but as with our class, it builds community between the students and between the students and the teacher, and connects them with nature and the land they inhabit.

Team Teach Group 5 – Chapter 4 and 5 Summary

Lisa Jensen, Cristina Moretti, Christine Park and Audrey Sargent

Discussion Questions:

1. Which considerations must a physical health educator take into account while planning a lesson or unit, and why? Are there any considerations that you would add to the ones discussed in the textbook?
2. How might physical health educators communicate with and give feedback to students effectively?
3. Why is it important to reflect on different teaching styles and take risks in your teaching methods?

Ch 4: Planning for Instruction

• The “instructional process” according to Randall and Robinson has three components: planning, teaching, and assessment (p. 47).

• Planning has to start from the intended learning outcomes, that is “what students are expected “to know, value, and be able to do” (p. 49). While the learning outcomes derive from the curriculum, it is up to the educator to choose which activities will help their students reach those goals. To ensure that outcomes are met, both a long-term plan, spanning the entire year, and more specific unit and lesson plans need to be articulated.
• These are some aspects/elements that need to be taken into account when planning:
  • Documents and guidelines such as the curriculum and policies
  • The attributes and culture of the school and of its surrounding community
  • The needs, interests, and age of students; teachers must also consider carefully if what they teach benefits all students or whether it disadvantages some of them
  • The knowledge, values, and approach of the teacher
  • When, where, how long, and with which resources the educator will teach P.E.
  • The “hidden curriculum” (p. 53), the messages and values that are indirectly transmitted to the students during the lessons
• While outcomes constitute the general goals, objectives (that Randall and Robinson divide into “motor, cognitive, and affective”, p. 56) are smaller in scope and refer to shorter periods of time. They are the starting points for units and lessons plans.

Ch 5: Teaching

– Communication is a crucial aspect of teaching. To be effective, educators should communicate clearly, demonstrate movements and techniques, use cues throughout the lesson, and check that students have an understanding of the activities and are engaged. Actively observing students is also important for an effective communication.

– When teaching, educators should offer positive, specific feedback as soon as possible after the activity. Rather than always telling what they saw, they can ask student what they think they can do to improve.

– It is important for teachers to reflect on their teaching style and on the relationship this establishes with the student. Teaching styles can be more teacher centered, or give more freedom and responsibility to the students. The “Gradual Release of Responsibility” model, for example, encourages intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivation and gives students the opportunity to direct some of their learning.

– Educators need to set up routines and rules to make the PE class more predictable and effective.

– When organizing students, teachers should be aware of a variety of group formations and how these will help students learn (ie. formations for instruction, game play)

– Minimizing transition time is important to maximizing learning/play time. Transitions should be well thought out and students should know what to do during a transition.

The invasion games and curriculum models lesson was very impactful last week. The group teach activities really inspired the kind of games I would want my own students to take part in. I most enjoyed the “prairie dog pick-off” game; what was most mind boggling was the notion that once you lose, you join the winning team, he who is your opponent becomes your team mate. We played this game only a few times, but I am confident that we could have easily continued to play this game for hours on end. This game was a prime example of the TGFU curriculum model. The carousel activity was great in that it was a effective way to look at all curriculum models and make educated decisions about which models best suit each individual’s teaching pedagogies. It was interesting to hear the opinions of my classmates, many of which influenced my own view on the curriculum models. Personally, I believe that an effective way to teach physical education is to mix and match the curriculum models. For example, if I was employing the “Sport Education Model” I would want to infuse that model with important “Fitness for Life” and “TPSR” components, such as to respect one another in and outside of the gym while understanding and valuing sport, with a conscious ownership of one’s lifelong physical health. I am a firm believer in the “TGfU” model in that the “skill and drill” is eliminated, games are not withheld until the end of class; children are able to begin exercising their physical skills immediately in a fun, non-competitive manner, while scaffolding the fundamentals of the sport or activity. The team teach group did an incredible job of demonstrating the TGfU model, and the benefits this model can provide for young students, and for their life long journey with physical health. Discovering personal strategies is of utmost importance, not only in P.E. but in life, and this curriculum mode exemplifies both. TGfU is a great approach to bringing a class closer together, to create a real sense of community in the classroom, with mutual respect for one another and a positive outlook on physical health, and learning.