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Week 8, Movement Journal

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This week was dual and individual activities in P.E. taught by Devon, Michelle, Megan and Jen. When everyone was out at the track, and the group told us we were going to be sprinting, the whole class groaned simultaneously. Everyone seemed to have a negative view on running and sprinting before entering the class, and by the end of the class I know I had changed my views. I felt that through this lesson, I felt more able and comfortable with teaching sprinting and running. Their instant activity was engaging and not only was a warm up physically but also brain activation, connecting the brain and the body. I have played this before with other animals, and can be changed to animals or topics which the class could be studying to make it more cross-curricular. Another great thing about this lesson was that it was very inclusive. All students were included at all times. When we were doing the activity on the track, we were either working on marching in proper form in a walking speed, or we were sprinting towards the next group working on your form at a quicker pace. This was also set up in a way that the whole class was working together rather than on teams. There were no winners or losers. Although there were no winners and losers, we were able to work on our own to improve on our own sprinting abilities.

Great lesson group!

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Week 8 – Track and Field Group Teach Reflection

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Teaching Physical Education is something that I was a little worried about going into this program. Because I did not particularly enjoy PE growing up, I was concerned that my experience would transfer into my PE teaching practice. However, Steve has done an excellent job in teaching us how to make PE fun and inclusive for everyone. In addition, I could not imagine a better environment to learn how to teach PE, than being in our CITE cohort! As a result of this, I found myself really looking forward to teaching sprinting at the track.

Our warm up activity, Rabbits and Roosters, was a little tricky as a lot of people were a bit confused on how it worked. This is something that I was not anticipating, but is completely realistic in a classroom setting. After a few tries, everyone was getting the hang of it, and seemed to be having fun. If I could do this again, I think I would get a few students to help us model it, so that students could first see how it should look like. But I think Megan did a super excellent job at demonstrating each round, and what the students should be focusing on as they play the game.

Our cumulative activity also seemed to be a great hit! I was a little apprehensive about how people were going to receive this activity, mostly because of how big the track is, especially for sprinting. But it turned out to be great, and everyone was using the sprinting techniques that Rabbits and Roosters focused on. The baton relay race also had just the right amount of competitiveness to it, that everyone seemed to enjoy the race, and everyone felt included.

This lesson could also be adapted to include any students with disabilities. For instance, if there was a child in a wheel chair, the child could get help from another student while racing around the track passing the baton.

Overall, I felt that our group worked really well together, and we all had an opportunity to share our ideas and contribute equally to the group teach. Thanks everyone for making it such a fun lesson to teach!

 

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Maria’s Movement Journal: November 18

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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!

 

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Week 7 Gymnastics Teach Journal

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This week Klara, Elissa, Jessica and I taught our P.E. lesson on Gymnastics. We aimed our lesson towards a Grade 5 class with all different athletic abilities. I felt as though the class went a lot more smoothly than I was expecting. We decided to start off with some warm-up instant activities that were associated with Halloween and gymnastics since it was the day before Halloween. It as a way to have the class be more involved. During the whole class, the students were given a Halloween character, and were supposed to act like that character throughout the class. When it came to teaching the gymnastics movements and activities, we decided to teach in a circuit rotation format, breaking each station down with different challenges and ways of making the stations either easier or more difficult depending on the students abilities. I was in charge of the jumping stations, and there were also a balance, rolling and bear walk stations. At my station, I started everyone together breaking down the steps of how to jump with single legs as well as two foot jumps and how to land. I talked about the importance of using your arms to help create more upward movement, as well as ‘loading/activating’ your leg muscles, and how to land best without harming your knees and the rest of the body through ‘soft landing’ and lowering your center of gravity. We practiced our jumping, and then worked on jumping forwards and backwards and side-to-side. After I felt the majority of the students were fully able to jump with proper form, I allowed the students to go to the small stations within the jumping station. We had hula-hoops to practice two feet and single foot jumps. Then there were vaults at different heights where the students were able to jump off of and focus on their landings. I emphasized that they did not have to do anything they did not feel comfortable with, so some of the students did not jump off of the highest vault.
One of the questions we focused on this week was how are teachers suppose to teach activities was limited equipment? When teaching this week, we used very limited equipment as well, using only mats, benches, cones, hula-hoops, and then the vaults which we didn’t have to use. These are all pieces of equipment that is most likely found in most Elementary and High school gyms. Although the students may think that these activities are not equivalent to attending a gymnastics facility, these are a lot of the same movements being done in the school gym.
The main topic in the readings for the week talked a lot about the connection between law and teaching, including TORTS law. Being a P.E. teacher, there is a great deal more injures that occur compared to all other classroom settings. Therefore as a P.E. teacher, as well as all other teachers, we have to be more aware of the surroundings and possible situations which could occur, and how to avoid any negative situations. Torts law is not very well defined in a few words, but it is pretty much any situation that could have been avoided while a teacher is responsible, that teacher can been seen as guilty. We must treat all students as if they are our own children.

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Week 11 – Movement Journal

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Track and field was an interesting lesson this week. Personally I struggled with the first game we played. I found I did not have enough momentum to push off and get away from the team that was chasing us. I wonder if this game would have been better if the spaces between the two teams was a little further apart.

The racing around the activities was an interesting activity! The group did a great job of explaining it, though I wonder if this would be an easy enough activity to explain if there was only one teacher instead of four. I know that after we split up into our groups, our group needed a second explanation of what exactly we were doing. With strong leaders in the classroom, I believe this would still be possible.

Regarding the topic of diversity and inclusion, I feel that this lesson could be easily adapted for students with a variety of different learning needs. If a child was in a wheelchair they would still be able to participate in the baton race activity, except they would race to the other team in their wheelchair instead of using their legs. If a student struggled with a language barrier, it may be possible to pair them with a student who speaks the same first language as this student so that they can participate in the class activity as well. For me, the most important thing is that all students are included in the physical education classroom whether they suffer from a learning or physical disability, or even a language barrier.

Thanks for keeping us all active! I feel like we all got a workout on Friday morning.

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Movement Journal – Week 8

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I am so surprised by how much I enjoyed PE class this week! When I heard it was taking place at the track, I started to dread it! I ran track and cross country in high school and I have very bad memories from the experience. Since I am extremely competitive, running in any form stresses me out greatly. This week’s group did an awesome job making the activities competitive enough to be fun, but in a way that there was no individual pressure to perform. Because there weren’t any one-on-one races, it was impossible to measure your speed against someone else’s. This is a great activity to do in an elementary PE class, because it provides motivation to run fast without putting the pressure of one-on-one competition onto the students.

I also found the discussion part of the class very interesting. Being inclusive is hard in any classroom, but it is often even more difficult in a PE class. We talked about how often times there is no black-and-white right answer when it comes to inclusivity. To include one student sometimes inconveniences and limits the quality of the lesson for all other students; but of course that doesn’t mean that it’s okay to exclude a child with a physical or mental disability. As teachers, our job is to design lesson plans that can include everyone without limiting anyone. I was thankful to hear some strategies on how to accomplish this. Hopefully we can all be fully inclusive in our practicum classrooms this year and in the future.

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Movement Journal

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Last week was an intense class. We started with the physical literacy of the proper running technique. The instant activity we played was really fun, I actually wish we played it longer, and I think I might try it in my P.E. class at my practicum school upon return. Next we did a relay race, I’m not a big runner, I actually hate it, but it was enjoyable. I can’t see myself doing this is practicum, mainly due to the lack of space and facility at my school. Regardless, this activity was exhausting, I was so sore all weekend. So, it works, in regard to the 60% activity rule of thumb. Unfortunately, we only have a few weeks of this left. I’ve learned a lot and could have used another semester of P.E. pedagogy, it remains the most challenging, yet fun class for me to teach. I look forward to the oncoming weeks and hope to soak up as much as the knowledge lobbed my was as possible.

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Week 8

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Attending the track meet always brought me joy as I got to compete against other schools in relay races and long jump. After finding out that the group was taking us out to the track, I have to admit that I was kind of nervous. I have not taken part in any track and field activities since elementary school. The group did a great job making sure that everyone was able to do the activities they created. We started off with a fun activity, Rooster and Rabbit. It seemed like such a simple game to understand and do, but it was difficult for me, and many other of my peers, to register which way to go. I see track and field as strictly running, but this group demonstrated activities that we can do that did not solely include running. This group also showed how to incorporate track and field into the school curriculum at a younger grade. I think this group did a great job last week, however, I think they could have done a better job with the stretching. I know it is a minor part of their whole lesson, but since we are doing track and field, I think it would have been more appropriate to take our time stretching.

In our small groups, we talked about the varied diversity that our classrooms have. It was interesting to hear from others about the students that have diverse needs in their classroom. We discussed how important the role of inclusion takes in the classroom and gymnasium and how to create a safe environment for all. As for me teaching grades 2/3, I think that it is important create lessons so it is possible for all to take part in. Overall, this group did a great job! They demonstrated that running can be fun and it is easy to incorporate in physical education.

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MOVEMENT JOURNAL WEEK 8- Lexi Picken

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Reflecting back on my elementary school experience, I can always remember thoroughly enjoying track and field season. I was always involved in various relay races, high jump, long jump, as well as softball throw. With that being said, I really enjoyed Devon, Michelle, Megan, and Jen’s team-teach. Learning about the different movements and techniques to running was very beneficial. I will utilize the skills I learned on Friday, to help me teach track and field skills during my long practicum. I also enjoyed the groups instant activity referred to as “Rabbits and Roosters”. The game is inclusive, yet at the same time, allows students to work on individual skills. I thought this was great!

The chapter for this week looked at diversity in a classroom setting. As a future educator this is something to be expected. However, dealing with diversity is another question. In terms of physical education, I think that there can be many ways to keep it inclusive for every student. This could range from participating in the activity, all the way to keeping score. Diversity on a gender scale is a little more confusing for me, and is something I need more resources to understand.

Overall, this week was a fun experience. It was also nice to enjoy a sunny day outdoors!

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November 18th – Individual and Dual Sports

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Today, we taught our Individual and Dual Sports class. I really enjoyed this class and concept as too often it’s difficult to gather a group of people together to partake in a sport. My favorite sport is kayak polo; however the number one rule to paddling is that you should never paddle alone.

In saying this, I had no idea how many individual sports were out there! Bowling, Archery, Kayaking, Rowing, Boccee, Bodybuilding, Boomerang, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Croquet, Darts, Diving, Dance, Fencing, Figure skating, Golf, Gymnastics, Knife Throwing, Pilates, MMA, Sailing, Skiing, Shooting, Snowboarding, Squash, Skateboarding, Swimming, Yoga… and the list goes on and on…

It’s good to be reminded that there are still a variety of activities that we can take part in to maintain our physical literacy and set personal goals for development without having to find several people to be involved at the same time.

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