Reflection on the Semester

Overall, this semester has been a great learning experience for me and I've grown a lot as a possible teacher candidate. At the beginning of the semester, I was very "raw" in my teaching ability, meaning that I had very basic skills. Throughout the semester I learned of different teaching techniques and strategies to have successful lesson plans such as progressions, play-teach-play, and how to write a lesson plan. Also this class has taught me the importance of using technology in the classroom. I never really thought of using technology as a way to teach physical education but my experience with Lab D and using Dance Dance Revolution really opened my eyes to the possibilities when using technology. Feedback is something that I really worked hard on throughout the semester, I find it very important for student success if they are given a lot of feedback throughout the lesson. Now looking back, I think that I have improved in many different aspects of teaching and this is just the start, to be successful as an educator you have to constantly be a student and keep learning how you can improve and be willing to put in the time and effort to make these improvements.

Lab D: Dance Dance Revolution

Practice Video

In-Class Video

I had a lot of fun doing this lab. At first it was a challenge trying to come up with ideas for activities because I always thought of Dance Dance Revolution as just a game but then once I got going with it I realized how awesome of an educational tool this is for a physical education classroom. Not only is it a great cardiovascular workout but it also requires balance and reaction time which is what I focused my lesson plan around. I thought it was easier teaching for a longer period of time because I wasn't constantly checking the time and rushing my activities. It really allowed for the students to get a lot of time on the mats to be moving around and that's what Phys Ed is all about. I really thought this was my best teaching experience throughout this semester. I thought that I did a good job with progressions by doing partners/crab walk position/easy/hard songs. Next time I think I could do a better job with teaching by invitation and I think I could've done a better job with incorporating the educational lesson (nutritional fiber). For this lab I went with the practice teaching style which allowed for more activity time for the students and less instruction from me, this is a great method to use because students just want to play. At the same time at the end of each activity I would ask a question or two about the importance of what we focused on or what the cues we were paying attention to while doing the activity.

Transcript

Time Coding

Feedback Analysis

Content Development

Lab C: Tchoukball

Transcript
Time-Coding

I really thought this was my best teaching experience yet. I think that I started out my lesson plan in a good way by doing the "play teach play" method with my instant activity. I also thought my posture and voice were much more confident than in prior lesson plans. In future teaching experience I need to do a better job constantly circulating around the class and making sure I do not have my back to the students at any point because there were a few times where I caught myself doing that during the lab.

Lab B: Double Under Front Cross

I thought I really improved in this lab from lab A2 as far as my voice and body language goes. I feel that I both looked and sounded more confident in my lesson plan. The one thing I wish I did was use a second racquetball room for my lesson. That way I could've had the whole class moving at the same time instead of in two different waves while the other wave stood and watch. If I had more time I really would've liked to have a longer demonstration. I thought my hook was decent but I still have to work on it. I like what I have done to improve to this point and I think these improvements will carry over to the next lab. 

Transcript

Lab A2: Layups

My lesson was the same as my first lesson (layups). For this lesson we were given a 4 minute time slot just like in the first except we had no equipment to work with. In my opinion the absence of equipment was the biggest challenge to get used to during the lesson. I had to modify both my demonstration and lesson activities because of this. This is what teaching is all about though, because you aren't always going to have the best facilities or proper equipment but you have to just make adjustments without hesitation.

I really liked a few things about my lesson. I think I did a much better job speaking loudly enough for the class to hear me and the visual aid was an appropriate addition from my first lesson. That being said, there is still a lot of improvements I need to make. My biggest criticism is my body language during the lesson. I noticed I tend to sway a lot when I talk and I occassionally tap my feet or swing my arms which I feel can really be a distraction to the students. I should be more confident in my movements and controlled so I'm not all over the place. Also during the layup line drill there was a period of time for maybe 20 seconds where I didn't say anything and I just stood there. I need to frequently be giving positive feedback and maybe even stop the drill for a moment to pinpoint one of the students. That way they get involved and it can really help improve their self esteem if they get the spotlight for a second and some praise from the teacher. Last thing, I just need to have fun with what I'm doing. I can't be so worried about messing up I just need to go out and have a good time and do what I love and the students will feed off of that positive energy.

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Task Presentation (Ch. 4)

Q: What are some things teachers can do to improve communication with learners in task presentation?

A:
- Orient the Learner
- Sequence the presentation in logical order
- Give Examples and Nonexamples
- Personalize the presentation
- Repeat things that are difficult to understand
- Draw on tje Personal Experience of Students
- Check for Understanding
- Present Materials Dynamically

Q: What are some guidelines to demonstrate effectively?

A:
- Demonstrations should be accurate
- Use students to demonstrate when appropriate
- Demonstrate the organizational format
- Use demonstrations and examples in creative and cognitive problem-solving tasks
- Emphasize important information about a task
- Provide information on why a skill is performed a certain way
- Check student understanding after a demonstration

Q: What are characteristics of good learning cues?

A: Good cues are brief and critical to the skill being performed. They are also appropriate to the learner's skill level and age.

Understanding the Teaching-Learning Process (Ch. 2)

Q: What are the requirements for learning a motor skill? What do each of these requirements mean for the teacher of motor skills?

A: The requirements for learning a motor skill include prerequisites, clear idea of the task, implication for the teacher, motivational/attentional disposition to the skill, practice, and feedback.
         -Prerequisites: Do a task analysis to determine the prerequisites of the skill.
         -Clear Idea of the Task: Make sure directions are stated clearly
         -Implication for the Teacher: Make sure students have an accurate motor program from your communication.
         -Motivational/Attentional Disposition to the Skill: Eliminate repetitive drills, design tasks that capture the students attention, and require the students to process what they are doing.
         -Practice: Practice is necessary for students to use information on how to do the skill and to develop consistency of performance.
         -Feedback: Teachers can help students utilize feedback on knowledge of results and performance inherent in a skill and can use teacher feedback to maintain students focus and motivation to continue practice.

Q: What is the difference between the way closed skills, open skills, discrete skills, and serial skills should be taught?

A: Skills that are self-paced and closed require the development of consistency in stable movement conditions. Skills that are externally paced and open require that the individual be able to perform in complex external environments. The teacher will not want to practice closed skills in variable elements and vice versa. Teaching serial skills will want to be taught in groups of skills as opposed to one at a time as if it were a discrete skill.

Teaching Criterion

In teaching physical education there are four different criterion to keep in mind. These criterion include
1.) The learning experience must have the potential to improve the motor performance/activity skills of students.
2.) The learning experience must provide maximal activity or practice time for all students at an appropriate level of ability.
3.) The learning experience must be appropriate for the experiential level of all students.
4.) The learning experience should have the potential to integrate psychomotor, affective, and cognitive educational goals whenever possible.

Criteron #1
     This first criterion means that activities during class must be both challenging but at the same time at a level where a reasonable goal can be met. It is a healthy balance of these two characteristics that provide for an effective learning experience that is beneficial to the student.

Criterion #2
    This statement is saying that activities should be higher in movement and include all participants. A great way to acheive this is by organizing non-elimination activities. This way nobody is left out on the side if they were to get "out" during a game. I think activities like these are essential in a physical education classroom because as an educator you want to get the most out of your students in the little time you have. So now instead of having students standing on the sidelines, they are constantly moving and participating.

Criterion #3
    This criterion is similar to the phrase "no child left behind". If there is a skill being taught you want to make sure it is simple enough that every student can participate it while still being somewhat of a challenge. You never want to do an activity/skill in which students are being left behind because they are not capable of doing the skill. This kind of neglect can really have a harmful effect on a child's self esteem which is very important as an educator to make sure your students have a high self esteem and feel good about themselves.

Criterion #4
    Being able to organize activities that work on all three of these aspects is crucial. It is extremely important to focus on more than just the physical skills involved with your activities. Getting the brain active is a very important part of these activities. Therefore coming up with games that involve listening to directions, spacial awareness, and communication is essential. These are skills that are developing just as much as the physical development going on in a child's body.

Questions:
1. Teaching is a goal oriented activity. This means that there is a purpose to our lesson plans and it is to develop lifetime movement in students and achieve a certain level of competency in movement skills.

5. The movement tasks are motor activities assigned to the student that are related to the content of the lesson. A teacher may tell the students that they are going to practice doing volleyball sets to themselves until they can do 5 without the ball hitting the ground. While this activity is taking place it is the teachers responsibility to observe the students and give feedback. The way the student responds to the feedback is called the student response. It is important for these both to be included in running an activity because it helps a teacher provide feedback to a student to improve the individualized skills.

7. Two teaching functions include planning and monitoring the learning environment. This means that one should have planned a series of activities that are appropriate learning experiences that lead towards meeting an identified goal and giving feedback on student performance through accurrate assessment.

Summer Break

Over summer break I worked at a youth summer camp. This camp was for children ages 6-13 and focused on keeping the children physically active over their summer vacation. As a counselor I was responsible for creating games and activities for the campers throughout the day as well as supervise and participate in them. To make things run smoothly I used some skills that I learned in 201 about classroom management and activities. I used organizational skills such as counting to 3 to get the campers attention etc. I also used a lot of the games that I learned and incorporated them into the camp, the kids really seemed to enjoy the games so we continued to use them throughout summer.