I was so tired after today’s lesson! The warm up activity was very fun and would be easy to teach to a grade 5/6 class. This group had us jog around in one area to wait for the instructions to follow. For example, they would yell out “8 feet” and we had to get into a group of 8 people (including ourselves) and put eight of our feet in the middle. If we were unable to find a group to meet the instructions, we had to go off to the side and do five jumping jacks before going back into the game. The instant activity was a good game to teach the fundamentals of track and field such as opposite arms and legs while running. They split us up into two groups of rabbits and roosters and had us line up within our groups facing the opposing team. It was slightly confusing for me to remember when it was my turn to chase and when I should run, but it was fun nonetheless. I loved the main activity Jen, Megan, Michelle, and Devon did! We were put into groups of about four and each group was spread out around the track. Some of the teams had a baton. The person with the baton was at the front of the line and they had to run to the first person of the group in front of them and pass the baton then join the back of the line of the new group. The group without the baton had to practise opposite arms and legs while continuing to walk around the track while waiting for the baton to come around again. The activity that this group came up with can have everyone in the class participating and one person was not put on the spot. There was still a little bit of competition among us, but it was all friendly as we ran to each group to pass the baton. The cool down activity was entertaining with all the different moves to calm our bodies down while still moving and stretching.

Good job Jen, Megan, Michelle, and Devon!

I absolutely loved this week’s group’s instant activity! It was entertaining, active, and inclusive. We were able to go around the gym and act silly while having fun – something grade 2 students would love especially considering how much I enjoyed it as well! Pamela, Sonya, and Emily had a good idea of breaking down the skills needed to play baseball as a grade 2 class. I also liked playing their next activity because there was a little bit of friendly competition on finishing the fastest. It gave students the opportunity to throw and catch a ball while working as a team and moving on to the next hula hoop and finish as quickly as possible, skills that are evident in a baseball/softball game.

I also enjoyed the discussion as they thought of interesting questions that made me think back to assessment while I was in school and considering the appropriateness of it. I don’t remember receiving a letter grade in my elementary school’s PE class, but I do remember receiving them in high school. It never made sense to me and I thought it was unfair, which is what developed my satisfactory opinions of PE after that. I loved PE in elementary school and always tried very hard. When I got to high school, I continued to try hard, but was never at the top of my class, thus, only received a B on my report cards. And honestly, I realised that even if I only put 70% of my effort into PE, I would still receive the same grade and so I slightly gave up in the course unless we were doing an activity I enjoyed. My discussion group had good ideas and we all agreed that assessment should be on a student’s improvement and effort in PE and not his or her’s athletic ability.

After reading last class’ articles, I was reminded that the true purpose of physical education was to lead an active lifestyle, a point that I had forgotten while in high school. PE class should be an inclusive and safe environment where the students are actively participating in physical activity. I also never thought about the origins of PE and was interested to learn that it originated as military drills and then progressed to what we are doing in PE nowadays!

It was shocking to me to read about the list of shame activities as I enjoyed many of those games growing up and never found it to be shameful. However, reading through the reasoning why each activity was part of the Hall of Shame, I could see how they could be detrimental to many students, especially considering how many people have had a negative PE experience. This made me become more aware of teaching styles particularly in PE class as many of the games I know and love now must be modified in order to be respectful of every student, making the class an inclusionary, safe, yet fun learning environment.