I was surprised to read that teachers can get sued in the context of teaching physical education. I agree that the voluntary assumption of risk clause would be difficult to figure out with children. At some level children may have a sense that an activity might be dangerous but may not be able to form a decision about weather to participate in it or not. However, I question, the idea of the responsibility to be put on children to exempt themselves from an activity if they feel there is too much risk. I foresee children as hesitating to step out of the activity for fear of being marked as “not participating” such as gymnastics.
I think it is noteworthy to reiterate that educators should not be afraid to teach Physical education because of a remote change of being sued. I believe that educators should focus on prevention whenever possible and foresee risk while not getting overwhelmed with the potential of accidents or injury.
I really enjoyed the variety and choice of activities with this weeks group teach hosted by Liz, Cheryl, Mary and Rob. I think that the directions with each game were very straight forward to follow and allowed us to have so much fun. I think the mediation station particularly reminded me of the importance of mindfulness which can be incorporated across curriculum. I was impressed with the variety of activities offered from art with the positivity stars, bowling, meditation, to dancing. I feel like this type of approach to physical education would allow for excited students and would love physical activity and be more likely to incorporate it in their daily life.
I see that it is of crucial importance that we as educators can provide variety of activities that are engaging, and relatable to children. The benefits of physical activity are so multifaceted which include improving self-confidence, learning new skills and improve concentration in the classroom.
I think that we are making strides in improving the requirements for physical activity within schools especially with the mandated 30 minutes of daily PE above and beyond recess and lunch. I believe I would incorporate lessons taught throughout the year about the importance of eating well and its positive effect on our minds and body. I think it is more valuable to have physical health emphasized throughout the year than having it just be part of one unit.
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 think that our coordination at the 4 different stations worked well. We were able to execute smooth transitions between the instant activity and stretching activity for the warm up. I think we were successful in having a range of skills featured over all of the stations. For example, my station (air) allowed students to practice hand eye coordination as well as imitating how I put plane together step by step. Also involving upside down tree provided a link to the nature which increased a sense of awe around nature. The minefield activity allowed students to create a sense of trust in others and emphasized a reliance on auditory sense as a guide to completion. The echo circle station with creation of art using nature allowed students to think of being artistic outside the usual context of classroom: using pencil crayons and paper. Finally, the balloon relay game allowed students to move bodies in a limited fashion to reach the final goal. I contributed by brainstorming about the different versions of stations. I also wrote up the prescribed learning outcomes and ensured we met each of the objectives of the assignment. I was also checking for flow of the lesson in terms of spacing between the stations. I tried to also think of any safety protocols: 4 cones for the perimeter of the minefield. As well as, standing in a line and throwing the planes for the airplane station.
- I noticed that planning helps to setup the context and content. However, as a teacher we have to be flexible in changing order of what is taught or the locations of stations as needed to meet the needs of learners. We ended up switching the positions of the stations so that some of them were within eye distance. Also, we just switched instant activity with warm up because it made more sense to have students do an activity first and then the stretching should have followed.
- I noticed that students were happy and enthusiastic about doing each station. Cognitively, they seemed to be interested and curious to complete each station. The response physical was that by the 4th rotations students looked like they needed a rest or a quick break.
- I think perhaps replacing one of our “cite possible-instant activity” questions: hugging 5 different trees because there is a safety concern as we did not check the surroundings of every tree for hazards like small fences around them or inclines where students could twist their ankles.
Through the literature about physical literacy, I have learned to change my perceptions of simply seeing this course as a way to do plain exercise. I have realized that a physical literacy is taken from a standpoint of mind and body being the same. Such an analysis I feel is important because often the mind is ignored and the focus is just on meeting fundamental movement skills. Therefore, I feel that as I teacher I should incorporate social emotional learning within the curriculum in a way a child will understand. The goal of using social emotional learning in PE is to see the child as a whole, rather than someone who needs to meet skills in a check box fashion.
I also feel that learners would benefit tremendously from alternative activities outside the classroom as suggested in our reading. However, I question how many lessons would be optimal in case the change of venue becomes too distracting for the children. I think that I would allow time for a reflection about physical education experiences after the students returned to the classroom as a transition activity. I wonder what the best approach would be to encourage a child who refuses to take part in basketball lesson because he/she fears she will get hit by the ball?
As I started to think about becoming an educator, from my readings I realized how much of an effect experiential knowledge can influence the way I will teach. I didn’t think about the fact that my values and identities can affect the way I teach. For this reason I feel it is important for me to analyze and reflect on my value system and check myself to ensure that I provide the best possible experience for my class.
I came across the notion of being able to be ready to explain to learners why it is we do PE. This made me question how I could phrase an answer in a way a child would understand. My answer would need to be motivational and touch on fact that one needs to learn certain skills by the end of a particular grade.
I felt reassured when I reflected that being a teacher candidate I will not know everything about teaching because being part of a teacher involves the being a lifelong learner (my passion). At the same time, I must ask myself what content do I find meaningful and inspiring for my students? I am very excited about being able to explore the possibilities of incorporating PE with other subjects and find the best possible match ups between the contents.
UBC Health Outdoor and Physical Education
