Lab A-2

   Teaching the lesson for the second time, felt better because I actually had time to think about what I wanted to say, and how I wanted to say it. Even though you'll never say everything exactly the way you planned, having a lesson planned out with ideas and things you want to talk about, makes the lesson structured and run more smoothly. Although there are things I need to work on, overall I think I did pretty well.

After hearing that Prof. Yang had forgot the equipment, I freaked out a little bit because I was worried about how I was going to teach a basketball lesson without the basketballs. I didn't know how well using imaginary basketballs would work. Another problem I had was that Shane had gone right before me, and had my hook. Which also made me panic because this meant I had four minutes to think of a whole new hook. This was challenging for me because I spent too much time freaking out instead of just relaxing and thinking. Although I was hoping that I could have stuck with my original hook, I realized this was good for me. A big part of teaching is thinking on your feet, being able to change or re-vamp the lesson to work with students who are struggling or excelling. Having circumstances that force me to think on my feet will help me become a better teacher!

In the beginning of the lesson, I asked the students to turn and face the hoop so that they weren't distracted by the other group in the gym. I also tried to broadcast my voice more then the first time. Although overall my voice was loud enough, there were moments that I couldn't hear myself because either the clapping from the other side of the gym, or my voice had softened. I need to make sure my voice stays loud at all times, even over my nervous clapping. With time, and lessons I'm sure my nervous clap will disappear because teaching will become more natural and comfortable. The more I feel comfortable, the more the students I'm teaching will be able to follow more smoothly. If I'm clapping all the time, or pacing because I'm nervous the students will notice it. They'll take advantage of my nervousness, and my lack of confidence.

Dodgeball In the Physical Education Classroom?

Image via WikipediaIn class we were asked to step towards the front of the classroom if we thought Dodgeball should be apart of the classroom, and towards the back of the classroom if we thought it shouldn't be allowed. I stepped in the middle, because although I believe that there are some aspects of Dodgeball that are beneficial for students and there motor skills, such as teamwork, throwing, catching and dodging.  I have a stronger opinion that Dodgeball should not acceptable for the Physical Education classroom. Games such as these singles the non-athletic students out, and they end up sitting out. These games not only single students out, but can put them down and make them feel bad about themselves because they aren't as athletic as the rest of the class. There are other games that can be played that keep everyone active and having fun, without singling out the weakest ones in the class, who need the active lifestyle the most.

The NASPE (National Association of Sports and Physical Education) also does not believe that students(K-12) should be playing Dodgeball in the classroom. The Physical Education programs need to give students the knowledge, skills and confidence to stay active their whole life, and games such as Dodgeball don't do this. They also want Physical Educators to give there students positive experiences
that make them want to exercise outside of the classroom.

Lab 1

St. Marys observing  Lab

Assignment 1: Summarizing Ch. 1-3

As college students, we want to be a physically educated person. In Chapter one the book defines a physically educated person as someone who consists of many things; lives a physically active lifestyle, uses concepts and principles to help the learning and development of motor skills, and uses their knowledge and involvement in physical activity too show enjoyment, challenge, self-expression/ and social interaction (5). There are National Standards for Physical Education and these standards include Content Standards, Performance Standards, and Performance Benchmarks. Figure 1.1(5) shows how each of these all relate to each other. Content Standard is what the student is expected as a physically educated person, Performance Standard is what this student should achieve as a physically educated person, and Performance Benchmark is a certain behavior that shows the progress that student is making towards the goals expected (5). Having National Standards for Physical Education is important because you need guidelines that enforce Physical Educators across the nation to teach our youth about how to become and stay physically active throughout their lives.

Chapter two talks about the factors of health that affect our children and their motor development. Factors that affect Childhood include things such as nutrition, physically activity, illness, and lifestyle (33).  Nutrition is especially important in your life because even if you stay physically active, your food choices can distinguish how healthy you really are. All of these factors affect one another, and depend on one another. Furthermore, chapter two discusses the development of a child's motor development. The book defines development in a child "as an upward process leading toward increased capabilities"(38). Table 2.1- Sequence of emergence of selected locomotor, manipulative, and stability abilities"(38) describes and lists movement patterns and different abliities of the movements listed. The table also lists the ages that these movements should happen.

 

Chapter three talks about fundamental movement skills, and the three categories that consist of these skills. The three movement skills are stability, locomotor, and manipulative. Stability movement skills form the basis of locomotor and manipulative skills because every movement has to involve some element of stability (53). Stability movement skills “are skills in which the body remains in place but moves around its horizontal or vertical axis” (53). Some examples of stability movements are balancing, twisting and stretching. Locomotor movement skills are movements in which the body moves horizontally or vertically from one place to the next (56). Some of these examples are walking,  running and climbing. Lastly, manipulative movement skills are either gross motor manipulative or fine motor manipulation; movements that consist of force-to-force objects to object-handling activities that consist of precision accuracy, and accuracy movements to motor control, respectively (57). Some of these examples are throwing/catching and kicking. 

All of these factors mentioned above are important to our profession and most importantly the health of our students. Through fundamental skill development and assessment you have the capability of creating a healthy and physically active foundation for a child that remains throughout their entire life.

Checking Your Understanding

1. What is meant by the idea that teaching is a goal-orientated activity? This means,  in education your goal is to educate the students on how to have a better lifestyle. You're teaching them what they have to do to become healthy and stay active. It's important that as we grow, we learn and understand how important staying active is for us. Our goal is to stay active for our whole life. The book talks about defensible and not defensible programs for the Elementary level and the Secondary level. In both the elementary and secondary levels, the goals are the same. These goals are to teach the students certain skills and to make them practice them so that they can become better at the skills. In the "not defensible" programs, both the elementary and secondary programs "don't care" about teaching the students and the progression of the students skills. The non-defensible way is teaching them every skill in 5 minutes and letting them play the sport the next two weeks not caring about the progression of the students, just letting them play in tournaments and games.


5.Why is the movement task-student response unit of analysis so important in physical education? According to the book, "movement tasks are motor activities assigned to the student that are related to the content of the lesson". You need movement tasks to help progress the students abilities and learning of the activities being taught in the current lesson. This is important because physical education is all about moving and staying active. If a student isn't moving in your activity, they also don't care. Our job is to teach them that they should care, and how to keep there bodies healthy. We want them to care about their bodies and staying healthy. The student response is important in physical education because this is where as a teacher, you correct and help the student become better at there individual performance.

7.What is the relationship between teaching functions and teaching skills? List two teaching functions teachers must perform, and describe two alternative behaviors teachers can choose to perform these functions. Teaching function is the focus on the purpose of teaching, and teaching skills is how you do it, your skills in general on being/becoming a great teacher. Two teaching functions are identifying outcomes and planning. Two alternative behaviors are content and management. Content behavior involves the task, and different ways to handle it and accomplish it. Management behaviors deal with the structure and organization of the class, and how to handle it.

Surprise Teaching Video 255

http://youtu.be/mNVCcRfb5FM

I thought I was speaking loud enough and clear, but in the video you barely could hear my instructions. I thought I had every ones attention but when I looked at the video I found that people were easily distracted by the other group. I need to put my group of learners with there backs towards the distractions, that way it's easier to focus on what I'm saying and teaching and not what is happening behind them. I should explain the importance of shooting the lap up vs the jump shot. Instead I just showed them how to do it when I should have taught them that a lay up is important because it gets you closer to the hoop, therefore hopefully making the shot easier to go into the basket. The Camera was at a good angle to see who I needed to help correct, because from where I stood I could only notice some mistakes instead of all the mistakes that I found from watching the video. I need to make sure they're all doing what I asked, and I need to correct them so they do it right. My steps were starting at the block, then taking three steps, then a full running lay up. I didn't do a great job at making sure the steps were actually done. In the end when I gathered them all up, I should have summarized what we learned. I good thing I did was ask if anyone had any questions for me. Another thing I thought I did was help people who needed help. It didn't really show up on the tape because I was hidden, but when people weren't doing it right, and needed help I explained it better. I reminded them that there arm in a 90 degrees goes up when your leg in a 90 degrees moves. That everything is connected.

I think George was the only one who faced us away from the distractions, which was good. He sat us all down facing the bleachers so we had nothing to look at but him. This made us focus on him and not become distracted by the other group.