This was a great lesson and great modelling of enthusiasm and excellent teaching strategies in the gym.
Daniella was so funny and so into her warm-up and Sasha was so much fun when explaining the game and Para using her excellent music skills was so wonderful. This is the first chance we have had this year to hear Para sing! It is so much fun to see everyone being their authentic selves. Students respond to this really well so I guess if you are ever feeling frustrated just get back to the basics and get back to what you love. Teach from your heart and your enthusiasm for the subject will shine through. Try and develop enthusiasm for all of your subjects, MATH can be fun and Science can be fun and everything is fun!
Healthy choices are great, I loved acting out the sugar rush and veggie balance. It was an active way to help us feel the effects of sugar and learning through full body movement. I want to use this in all of my classes and your lesson reflected a cross-curricular approach, as well as the new curriculum of teaching health in PE.
I agree, Sam, the use of humour and props in the health literacy team teach really brought vibrance and interest to the health literacy activities. I like the food group cards as well, as they turn out to be a wonderful cross-curricular resource – I will keep them in mind when I am teaching nutrition. I have taught a grade 4 nutrition class in the past doing a jeopardy version of “Hunger Games”, which is a fun group exercise for testing what students have learned from the teacher’s lectures. I was also so happy to see Para incorporating music into PHE! I would have liked to use my alto recorder for outdoor ed, but it was threatening to rain.
I really enjoyed the individual group teach focused mainly on yoga as well. I particularly liked the relation of poses to animal roles, which I believe would engage younger students in the activity more. I remember participating in a yoga class geared for grade 9 students which did not work well because the majority of the time was spent on meditation and breathing exercise. Such a format may work for an adult audience, but these teenagers became bored very quickly, and so there was much giggling and lack of focus. This experience can translate to elementary educators who wish to use yoga in their PHE classes as well: yoga may be a mindful practice, but do not focus on this aspect to the point that student engagement is lost. The group kept a relaxed yet rigorous pace, limiting breathing and meditation to a few minutes in the beginning, middle and end of the presentation, which I feel would be an appropriate yoga class format for elementary students as well.
Congratulations to these groups for teaching under a huge time constraint, this session tested your time management and you delivered very well nonetheless.
Sam, I agree, the health and nutrition group was so creative and fun while exposing us to important knowledge. I loved Daniella’s warm up and I thought it was fun and really effective in getting an important message across to the primary grades specially. The element of acting and dramatization will further facilitate their understanding. I really loved their use of visuals and props, which I believe got us very engaged. The cool down was amazing, and actually quite calming and relaxing. Since I am not musically talented, I could even make use of technology and CD’s if I wanted to implement a warm up in a song form. I am really happy that health and nutrition is taught in PE, because after all, our physical, emotional, and mental health is all interconnected. Nutrition and hydration choices support different activities and one’s overall health. I think sleep is another important topic that should also be discussed as part of health education as it is a practice that promotes health and well-being.