The two groups for gymnastics and dance did a great job this week! I really think that everyone did a very job in taking under consideration skill level and safety. For example, each activity was constructed in a way that would ensure student success and prevent frustrations.
Dance: The dance moves were nicely scaffolded so that we could slowly learn the moves over the course of the morning.
Gymnastics: the setup was done in such a way to ensure maximum safety around each station. Further, we were able to practice a variety of skills that were not normally associated with gymnastics. for instance, jumping with 1 foot into each of the hoola hoops in a particular order.
I also found it useful to use the app called “team shake” to allow all names to be randomized to allow for easy selection of teams. I don’t normally associate PE with technology, so it was a learning opportunity to hear some of the opportunities of how I as a teacher could incorporate it in this subject.
I also think I will use the egg-chicken-dinosaur game in my classroom in the future because this game fosters a sense of community and it is a lot of fun!
I also really enjoyed this week’s lessons and was super impressed by both groups. As you said, the use of the app was really cool and something that I may try to incorporate into my classroom. An app like Team Shake is a great way to make teams without making anyone feel bad for being picked last. Because it’s totally random, no one will feel judged. I think that although most of us would agree that technology in the classroom can be helpful, I would never have thought to include it in PE. It’s just not something that would have occurred to me! Now that the group showed us some examples and way to incorporate it, I think I will definitely try to bring technology into my future PE lessons.
I think the gymnastics group did a great job and I really enjoyed the different stations. Like we discussed in class, this would not be realistic for one teacher in a classroom of 30 students, but it would work great if there were a couple of support teachers who could help.
I was also very impressed by the dance group’s lesson. Although I usually don’t like to dance, especially in front of people, they almost tricked us into learning the moves without dancing! So then when it was time to put the dance all together, I felt comfortable with all of the moves. This made me feel way more comfortable and ready to dance battle!!