Maria’s Movement Journal: November 18

Movement Journal # 9: November 18

This week in Physical Education, my group and I presented our reading summary and instant activity. For our instant activity, we decided to have our peers participate in a game of chain tag. My group and I wanted to introduce a game that our peers could use during their practicums. My Grade 1 and Grade 2 students play various tag games during Physical Education. Therefore, I decided to teach my students chain tag during the PE lesson I taught in my practicum. I thought this tag time was effective in that it required students to work together and play cooperatively with one another. My students seemed very receptive to the new game and were enthusiastic throughout the entire activity. The great thing about tag times is that they can essentially be used in any grade level, and they often require students to be constantly moving. When I consider which games to include in a PE lesson, I am always thinking about which games require full student participation and activeness. I believe that these are two important things to consider when devising a lesson, in order to meet the curriculum standards and to achieve physical literacy.

The reading summary this week focussed on Chapter 7, Diversities in Physical Education, and Chapter 8, which addressed the areas of Adapted and Inclusive Physical Education. My small group and I had an in-depth discussion about the contexts of diversity (i.e. race, sexual orientation, religion, gender, and so on) and possible approaches for alleviating the problems these different diversities pose. For example, when discussing body image, my group suggested that the physical educator should invite people from the community with eating and weight challenges to speak to the students about ways to overcome unhealthy body images. In Chapter 8, my group discussed how there is no formal Canadian or provincial law to ensure physical education for people with disabilities. Instead, we must trust that the physical educators will do their best to include people with disabilities in Physical Education. We then read a case study of an educator refusing to include a student with Asperger’s syndrome in his class because of the student’s perceived bad attitude. We analyzed the case study and stated recommendations as to what the educator should have done, and what we would do in such a situation. Overall, it was great to have my peers thinking and discussing important concepts and scenarios because these are issues we will have to face as future educators!

 

One thought on “Maria’s Movement Journal: November 18”

  1. Great post Maria!

    I really enjoyed your chain tag instant activity. I thought it was very inclusive and got everyone moving, which is always important. We also do a lot of tag warm-ups at my practicum school with the Kindergarten students. They love to play tag and we have all sorts of adaptations to ensure that all students participate at all times. It typically involves some sort of saving activity, so when someone is tagged they can be rescued by performing a certain activity with a partner. Also, we always include some music. The students seem to love songs at this age and it helps to set the pace for the class. We use music as cues to begin or end an activity or to indicate the speed at which it is to be played.

    I also thought it was great how you addressed the concepts of race, sexual orientation, religion and gender in your reading summary presentation. We have been talking a lot about this in other classes and I think it is often overlooked in P.E. It is inevitable that we as educators are going to encounter all sorts of students with a variety of backgrounds and diversities. Being conscience of these unique talents and abilities is imperative when designing a lesson as we don’t want to have anyone left out. I was interested to learn that there is no formal Canadian or provincial law to ensure physical education for people with disabilities. So, educators must take it upon themselves to ensure inclusion in physical activity. As physical literacy is essential to general wellness I aim to include all children in activities. While the ways in which to do this aren’t always apparent, I hope that with thought and consideration we can think outside the box to provide a fun, inclusive and interactive learning environment for all.

    Thank you for addressing this important issue Maria!

Leave a Reply