Field Experience 17&18

REFLECTION ON LESSON

Friday April 20th, destination: Elementary School 9:10am. In this reflection, I will be reflecting on the lesson that I taught. The lesson that I taught on Floor Hockey was a little out of sync/order. The elementary school was on break for 2 weeks and the week before their break, the other student teacher had planned floor hockey for when the students came back. It was very tough to do a pre-assessment before the break due to the fact that I do not see the same class every Friday at 9:10am. The 4th and 5th grade classes we teach in the morning on Fridays are always different due to the block scheduling of the classes. So for the lesson I taught, I decided to do a real quick pre-assessment on the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the skill theme: striking with long handed implements. The pre-assessment went very smooth and all students cooperated well and then after I marked down all my data, I moved right into the daily lesson of working on the slap shot and dribbling. I first introduced how to hold/grip the hockey stick (as for this class, it was their first lesson on floor hockey). Then I taught the students the cues necessary for the "slap shot." After explaining the cues to the students, I had them find their own space and shout out the cues while performing each step of the slap shot without equipment. Then I had students get a hockey stick and practice the cues of the slap shot in their own personal space. *I stressed safety* DO NOT BRING STICK ABOVE WAIST. Then we moved right into another "shooting on net drill." One idea that I could improve on with this activity would be to split the class up into 3 groups instead of just the two that I had set up so each student could get more practice time on the hockey slap shot. After this exercise, we then taught the students how to "dribble" the puck in hockey. We first explained the side to side motion of the hockey dribble and then showed them how they should not just push the puck forward. We then had the students practice the dribble in their own personal space, and then had them move around the gymnasium. The progressions we used in this lesson I thought worked great in the sense of the students being able to learn the skill effectively. After we had the students dribble around the gym for a few minutes, we broke the class up into 3 groups and had the students dribble in and out of 4 cones and then take a "slap shot' on the net. We had the students practice this routine for about 3 minutes and then myself and Miss K started post-assessing the students on the slap shot. The post assessment was closer to a game like situation in the fact that the students first had to dribble the puck through cones then immediately shoot on net. (resembled a game like situation). The results I started to see in the students slap shot was quite amazing. The students "actually" performed better on the slap shot at the end of the lesson compared to the pre-assessment. I thought this was great. My teaching was effective! It was a great feeling watching the students that struggled in the beginning of class, have a much more efficient slap shot by the end of class. Both the results in the qualitative and quantitative aspects improved! Overall I thought the lesson went well. I personally think team teaching is a little difficult because its hard to exactly predict what each teacher is going to instruct/say throughout the lesson. If both teachers have experience together teaching, the lesson would most likely be smoother. It was just great seeing the students actually progress and become better because of my teaching. 

Field Experience 16

COMMUNICATION WITH OTHERS

Friday April 20th, destination: Elementary School 8:05am. In this reflection, I will be concentrating on how myself and my host teacher communicated with each other. At Belle-Sherman the past few weeks there has been another student teacher teaching full lessons for Mr. Miller. Myself and the other student teacher both communicated with each other to ensure we were both on the same track for teaching the students. This week, the 4th and 5th graders started to learn about Floor Hockey. I had two lessons ready to teach on April 20th but I received a call the night before from the other student teacher saying that she was going to be observed for the first class by her teacher from her college. With her communicating with me, I was now only going to be able to teach one lesson instead of two. It kind of switched my teaching plans around but im glad the other student teacher was able to communicate with me. 

Field Experience 15

COMMUNICATION WITH OTHERS

Friday March 2nd, destination: Elementary School 9:10am. In this reflection, I will be concentrating on my host teachers communication with others around the district. In this class, I sat down with my host teacher and asked him many questions about how he knows so much about all of his students. He told me that one of his students parents are having a rough time, and that each teacher is allowed to give this student some slack if he is behaving differently than normal. I asked him, how do you know this information? He said, the classroom teachers communicate with him about certain issues that each student is having/had. The parents usually contact the classroom teacher and then the classroom teacher relays the message to the P.E. teacher. Now thats great communication throughout the district. My host teacher also said that he talks to parents now and then if there is a big issue with a student/students. Also, the district is having a parent fun night coming up where the parents come in and the students teach their parents what they are learning in P.E. What a great idea! This allows the parents to become involved physically and also give the students a better learning experience because they have to teach their parents! Smart idea. 

Field Experience 14

REFLECTION ON LESSON

Friday March 30th, destination: Elementary School 8:05am. In this reflection, I will be reflecting on the lesson that I taught. The students were still working on their Handball unit so I decided to develop a full lesson plan based off of Handball. Once the students came into the gymnasium, I had them all do a quick warm up of varying plyo-metric stretches. This warm up got all of the students heart rate up while working on their flexibility (cherry pickers) and agility (high knees). Then I moved right into reviewing the cues of the handball throw/pass real quick and then partnered each student up by dividing them myself (much quicker). after a quick warm up of throwing to a partner, we moved right into a three step approach and then throw into the goal. The students worked on their arm power in this activity. Then after about 5 minutes I decided to bring goalies into the net. I went over a few cues to help the students with goaltending and then went right into the same three step drill with a goalie. The students loved being goalies. Then lastly, I had the class play a mini game of handball for the last 15 minutes of class. I decided to incorporate a mini game to see how much the students would apply the throwing/goalie skills I taught them that day. The mini game actually turned out quite well. The students were making great saves and also good passes. Overall I thought the lesson went smooth. We moved from one activity right into another without any problems. One thing I could have of worked on was to have maybe 2 mini games going at once, because I had enough students on the sideline to make up another game. 

Field Experience 13

CURRICULUM AND NYS STANDARDS
Friday March 23rd, destination: Elementary School 11:00am. In this reflection, I will be concentrating on the Curriculum and NYS Standards observed in this lesson. As for the K-5 curriculum at the school im observing, the students are experiencing a developmentally designed program of fitness and skill develop ment. I have seen educational games, and also a wide variety of motor skills and fitness concepts being taught! The more the students are exposed to at a young age, the more mentally and physical prepared they will be for higher physical education. 


NYS Physical Education Learning Standards
Standard 1 - Personal Health and Fitness
Students will have the necessary knowledge and skills to establish and maintain physical fitness, participate in physical activity, and maintain personal health.

• In the lesson that I observed, the class did gain knowledge and skills to maintain physical fitness, participate in physical activity and maintain personal health. The students gained knowledge on various tumbling techniques in gymnastics. These concepts from gymnastics can be applied to everyday living. Gymnastics mainly focuses on becoming more flexible, and being more flexible in life makes many everyday activities easier for you to accomplish. Also, being flexible reduces the chance of injury. 

Standard 2 - A Safe and Healthy Environment
Students will acquire the knowledge and ability necessary to create and maintain a safe and healthy environment.

• Throughout the lesson, students were able to respect fellow classmates personal space. When the task was at hand to work together to complete the 6 person human pyramid, each student worked together by respecting each others personal space and not complaining that they had to interact with other students. 

Standard 3 - Resource Management
Students will understand and be able to manage their personal and community resources.

• In the lesson, I did not mention any ideas on where you can sign-up/partake in gymnastic activities around in their community. So unfortunately the students lacked this information according to the NYS standards. 

Field Experience 12

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Friday March 23rd, destination: Elementary School 10:05am. In this reflection, I will be concentrating on the management strategies that I put into place while I was teaching. To start off the morning, the classroom teacher always brings the students to the gym and they line up at the door. Then as my host teacher usually does, I sent them to sit down quietly on the alphabet on the gym floor. One student per letter (protocol). Thats the first management strategy I had in place for the class. Then I started off the class with their usual warm up related to the unit they are learning. The unit was gymnastics and I had the students practice the different types of tumbling. Then I moved right into the days lesson which was practicing tumbling for 2, 4 and 6 people. I divided the class up by students physical size, so if students had to hold another student they were able to without getting hurt. After each group showed me their group of 2 tumbling pose, I had them work together with another group of 2 to tumble for 4. After each group completed tumbling for 4 we moved to tumbling for 6 and I divided the class into 2 groups since their were 12 students. Then the students worked together to complete a pose that was illustrated on a poster that the host teacher had. Each group was able to work together to do the pose of 3 students on the bottom 2 in the middle and 1 student on top. It was great seeing the students work together to complete the task. This style of teaching can be related to guided discovery. After the students completed this task, I asked the class as a whole to set up their own obstacle course. It took about 5-8 minutes for the students to work together to complete their own course. Then I had the students go through the course one at a time (safety reasons) and while going through the course, they had to do at least three front rolls. The students loved this idea. After each student went through once, I decided to make it a little more "fun/exciting" by timing each student to see who can complete the course the fastest while incorporating the 3 front rolls. Students kept trying to beat their previous time. It was a great lesson taught. All students followed directions due to good management strategies set in place. 

Field Experience 11

KNOWLEDGE OF STUDENTS

Friday March 23rd, destination: Elementary School 9:10am. In this reflection, I will be concentrating on the knowledge of the students. The class that I observed were 4th graders. I taught this lesson with little knowledge on gymnastics. I actually found out that the students taught me a lot about gymnastics through watching my students. I started off the lesson by going over all the tumbles in gymnastics and I asked the students if I missed any tumbles and sure enough, the class corrected me by saying that I missed going over the star jump and also the egg roll. This showed me that my students were able to retain all the different types of tumbles they have learned in gymnastics. Also, one girl in the class was able to do a back hand spring! This was not on the tumbling list that they had learned but she knew how to do one, and quite well at that! I was really impressed on how much the students knew about gymnastics. I never had gymnastics throughout my K-12 schooling, so it was really nice to have experienced it from the teachers perspective. 

FIELD EXPERIENCE 10

REFLECTION ON LESSON

Friday March 23rd, destination: Elementary School 8:05am. In this reflection, I will be concentrating on the lesson that was taught. The lesson that was being taught this day was gymnastics. I actually taught the majority of this lesson, so in this reflection, I am going to focus on reflecting on my teaching. Being a reflective teacher is a great way to professionally develop into a great P.E. teacher. 
            The students have had gymnastics for about 4 classes. So I decided to start the lesson off by going over all the tumbles in gymnastics. I thought this was a great review of the skills for the students and also a great warm up. After we went over all the skills, I divided the class up into groups and told the students to create their own gymnastics routine. The students loved this idea/concept. The groups ended up having 4 or 5 students in them. After about 20-25 minutes of having the students come up with a routine, I asked each group to present their routine infront of the entire class. The group that was presenting did their 1-2 minute routine and then was judged by the other students observing. The observers judged by showing a number 1-10 on there fingers and also plenty of applause. I personally thought that this lesson went great on my part. All students were engaged willing to come up with a "sweet" gymnastics routine. I can relate my style of teaching from class today in the fact that the style I was teaching was cooperative learning. Students had to design a routine with complex sequences involved. 

Field Experience 9

CLASSROOM OBSERVATION
As I said in my last post, my host phys ed. teacher picked out a great classroom teacher for me to observe. Here are a few points about his teaching inside the classroom.
1. How is the classroom arranged?
The classroom was arranged with 4 big tables, with 4 students seated at them each. This set up was exactly how my 4th grade classroom was back in the day.
2. How does the classroom differ from the gymnasium as an educational setting?
As we all know, the gymnasium differs a lot compared to the classroom setting. One of the main obvious differences between the two is that, inside the classroom, students are sitting, while in the gymnasium, students are mainly moving around. Also, the classroom setting is much more quiet compared to a gym full of students learning a new physical skill. The classroom was obviously much more smaller than the gym at the school also.
3. How would you describe the classroom atmosphere?

The classroom atmosphere was actually quiet inviting. I forgot how eye catching the classroom can be with posters all around the room, stating certain topics, also there was one of the "old school" projectors in the classroom that was being used. In the lesson that I observed, all the lights were off due to the use of the projector. This here greatly effected the students in which all their focus was on the topic being projected on the screen.
4. What was the topic and structure of the portion of the lesson you observed?
The topic that I observed was adding and subtracting fractions. Examples: (6/6) - (4/6) = (2/6). The teacher first started out with adding/subtracting fractions with a common denominator. (easier) and then progressed into different denominators.
5. How would you describe the language and literacy levels of the students?
For the 4th grade students, I thought that their language and literacy levels were more advanced than when I was in 4th grade. I didn't start learning about fractions until 6th grade I believe. Some of the terms that were being used were; mean, median, mode, max, min, range, meter, centimeter, decimeter.
6. How did the teacher engage the students in the lesson segment you observed?
I thought this teacher was great with getting the students involved in the lesson. During the lesson I observed, the teacher put on a "magic show" about fractions. About how certain parts of a whole disappear. He also had students come up to the projector and make certain parts of the whole shape disappear. While this was going on, he played "magic show" music. He even had me engaged in his lesson! He used different shapes to show that they can be broken into smaller pieces that make up the whole shape. It was a great lesson to have observed.
7. How would you describe the social behaviors of the students in this age group?
The social behaviors of the students were your typical 4th graders. Many of the students were willing to answers the teachers questions by raising their hand. All students were respectful and I could observe that there was learning taking place throughout the lesson because students began grasping the concept of adding and subtracting fractions.
8. What did you learn from this observation that will help you teach this age group more effectively?
The classroom teacher that I observed was no doubt a great teacher. Some ideas that I can take from this observation and then add to my own teaching would have to be the concept of having a dynamic voice while teaching. This in return engages your students more in the current lesson being taught. Also, having a lot of student involvement is also great for learning. This usually happens for the majority of physical education students. Especially when students are practicing a certain skill as a whole.
9. What other insights did you gain from this observation?
One other insight I gained from this observation is that, I thought that the teachers idea of having a reward system for answering hard questions is a good idea for students to grasp the content being learned more effectively. When the teacher said that there would be a reward for the student to answer the question correctly, all of the students hands went flying into the air willing to answer the question.

Field Experience 8

COMMUNICATION WITH OTHERS
Friday March 2nd, destination: Elementary School 8:05am. In this reflection, I will be concentrating on my host teachers communication with others around the district. The first thing I noticed when I walked into the gym before the class was that there were 3 workers/janitors working hinges on the door that leads to the outside. Now my guess is that my host teacher must have noticed something wrong with the door and then communicated with the janitors in order to get the problems fixed. I dont know all the details on the door situation but thats what I observed. Also, I noticed that my host teacher knows most of the teachers in the district quiet well. He told me a great teacher to observe their classroom teaching, and sure enough it was an awesome experience observing this classroom teacher which I will talk about in my next field experience post! 

Lab 25 - Experiencing the Health and Skill Related Components of Physical Fitness

Health Related Components of Fitness in pictures ... 

Cardiovascular Fitness:

Flexibility:

Strength:

Muscular Endurance:

Explosive Power:

Agility: 

Reaction Time:

Balance:

Coordination:

Lab 16 - The 4 Stages of Game Play

1. Utilized the four stages of game play to carefully determine what stage represents their level of play. Provide a brief written description of their skill level and stage of play. Write three to five recommendations for steps that could be taken to improve their level of play. 

2. Explain how you would use the four stages of game play by RInk (1985) as a rubric with students in your own physical education classes.
If I had to make a rubric for my students in my physical education class based on Rink's Four Stages of Gameplay, my rubric for Stage 1 would look something like this ...

The same type of idea/concept above will go for the other three Stages of Gameplay.

Lab 11 - Parachute Fitness

1. Find information on the history of the parachute and how the parachute works. 

If we want to follow the history of a parachute, we have to return about 1000 years in the past. The first nation which was using something similar to a parachute were the Chinese. The first known picture of a parachute was found in the block of Leonardo da Vinci in 1514. From this picture results the fact, that a man could jump with this parachute from a tower or a building which was on fire. But as far as we know, nothing more than a sketch was done. Nearly hundred years later a mathematician Fausto Veranzino published the idea of a parachute which he called “fall´s breaker”. He realised his ideas and jumped several times from a tower in Venice, this happened in 1595. But more often a French physicist, the contemporary of Montgolfieres brothers, Louis Sebastien Lenormand is connected with the history of a parachute. He constructed his own parachute, and also invented the name “Parachute."The word "parachute" comes from the French prefix paracete, originally from the Greek, meaning to protect against, and chute, the French word for "fall", and it was originally coined, as a hybrid word which meant literally "that which protects against a fall", by the French aeronaut François Blanchard (1753–1809) in 1785.


2. Create a parachute routine composed of various parachute activities learned in class. 

• Information about Parachute
• Igloo
• Jaws
• Pop Popcorn
• The Blackhole 
• Anaconda Roll Up

3. Practice the yoga routine for a week and keep a journal of how you feel. 
Journal will be updated next week.

4. Use pictures to diagram each pose in the Salute to the Sun yoga routine. 

Lab 15 - Improving Teaching Skills

1. Reflect upon your lab teaching experience. Describe your teaching strengths and weaknesses for teaching in this lab. 
Todays teaching was a great experience in which I was able to receive feedback from my peers about my teaching. Some of the strengths in my short lesson that I taught were; I had great eye attractive and simple props for my students to pass around and look at. This really helped them to become involved and actually physically see where and what the heart and lungs look like. Another strength that I personally thought I had in my lesson was the inclusion of not just physical activity but actual information and cognitive learning. The main weakness that I personally believe that I had in my lesson was the idea that I was not talking on an elementary level to my students. I was more straight forward with my teaching instead of being more "babyish" like, slowly presenting my lesson. I will definitely have to work on that. One other weakness that I noticed after my teaching was that I did not plan correctly on the time of my lesson. I probably could of added one more activity into my teaching. Otherwise I thought it was a great learning experience.

2. Identify one of your most effective teachers. What teaching behaviors did you admire most in the way he/she taught?
What is an effective teacher I ask myself. The answer is quite simple, an effective teaching is someone who never stops developing and refining their teaching skills. One of the most effective teachers I known in my life would have to be a teacher that I observed at a High School back home. She was able to tweak each lesson based on the students abilities in the class. She also has been teaching for 20+ years and she still tells me that she switches up her lessons plans based on the incoming students for the new year. Yet again, this teacher I observed helped write the P.E. Profile. So it was great seeing an effective teacher in action.

3. What goals will you set for yourself as you prepare to teach in the Education 300 Field Experience?
A few goals that I will set for myself as I prepare to teach in the Education 300 Field Experience would be:

• teach using elementary level language and tone to my students
• develop stories in my anticipatory set related to the lesson that grabs the students attention 
• research and see what is currently trending in young students lives and incorporate those ideas into my lessons.  

Field Experience 7

STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
Friday February 17th, destination: Elementary School 10:10am. In this reflection, I will be concentrating on students with special needs. While observing this class, I noticed that there was another teacher that accompanied this group of kids. I decided to ask my host teacher why there was another teacher sitting in on this certain class. My host teacher said that she was there because there was a student in this class who needed special attention. The student that needed special needs was not so much a student who was poor at physical activity but more of a student who had emotional problems. This student always had to have the last word in when the class was noisy. Most of the class he was off task. He was always the last one to follow directions. The way in which the teacher coped with this student was to have that extra teacher in the gymnasium in order to make sure he stayed on task. This student was the only student that I have observed so far that has special needs. 

Field Experience 6

CURRICULUM AND NYS STANDARDS
Friday February 17th, destination: Elementary School 9:10am. In this reflection, I will be concentrating on the Curriculum and NYS Standards observed in this lesson. As for the K-5 curriculum at the school im observing, the students are experiencing a developmentally designed program of fitness and skill develop ment. I have seen educational games, and also a wide variety of motor skills and fitness concepts being taught! The more the students are exposed to at a young age, the more mentally and physical prepared they will be for higher physical education. 


NYS Physical Education Learning Standards
Standard 1 - Personal Health and Fitness
Students will have the necessary knowledge and skills to establish and maintain physical fitness, participate in physical activity, and maintain personal health.

• In the lesson that I observed, the class did gain knowledge and skills to maintain physical fitness, participate in physical activity and maintain personal health. The students gained knowledge on how to play a full 6 vs 6 game of volleyball up to 25 points. Winner must win by 2 pts. Also, by students learning to play a full game of volleyball, students can now play there own pick up game of volleyball outside of school. By students learning to play volleyball, they can now maintain personal health through playing the sport.

Standard 2 - A Safe and Healthy Environment
Students will acquire the knowledge and ability necessary to create and maintain a safe and healthy environment.

• Throughout the lesson, students were able to maintain their own personal space while playing a full game of 6 vs 6 volleyball. Every student played by the rules and no one got hurt while playing. 

Standard 3 - Resource Management
Students will understand and be able to manage their personal and community resources.

• In the lesson, the teacher actually did ask the students what type of surfaces you can play volleyball on. So in return, students can now play volleyball at the beach in the sand, or at the park near them. No exact locations on where to play were mentioned. 

Field Experience 5

ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING
Friday February 17th, destination: Elementary School 8:05am. In this reflection, I will be concentrating on the assessment of student learning. Assessment involves collecting and using information about student learning. Research has demonstrated that students learn best when the educational process is purposeful, integrated, and collaborative. In all cases, physical education teachers have learning goals for the students. These goals are put into place so that students know what they are trying to achieve in the certain topic being taught. In the class I observed, I was not able to actually see a written assessment, but I was able to see that students gained knowledge throughout the unit. I could tell that the students gained knowledge throughout the unit because, in the class I observed they were now applying all the skills they learned in volleyball to a full 6 vs 6 game. All students knew when to correctly use the set when the ball was going to fly above their head. Also, the students knew to use the bump when the ball was coming towards them below the waist. Another visual assessment that I noticed when observing was that the students correctly knew how to rotate positions. This was a new idea for them that day and by the end of the lesson, students were able to rotate correctly on their own. Overall, their was definitely learning occurring in the classroom and it was great to see it take place! 

Lab 10 - Exercising Imagination

1. Identify a fitness theme and design appropriate fitness stations to enhance various health and skill related components of fitness. 
Fitness Theme: Superman Cardiovascular Endurance. 
 Station 1: Saving Lives

• students will run back and forth between two lines about 10 feet apart as many times as they can.
• each time they go back and forth, they save one persons life.

Station 2: Jumping Tall Buildings

• students will continuously jump rope
• for every 10 rotations of the rope, student will have jumped a building

Station 3: Flying High

• students will pretend they have a cape and can fly and will zigzag in between cones set up. 
• see how many laps around the "city" the students can do. 

Station 4: Lifting Rubble 

• each student will have a basketball and they will continuously lift the "rubble" (basketball) from their feet to over their head and back down to their feet. 

2. Identify people that are famous for use of imagination and creativity such as Einstein, Picaso and Bach. 

• Leonardo Da Vinci
• Frank Sinatra 
• Elvis Presley
• The Beatles
• Claude Monet

3. Design a rubric for assessing the acting-out of inanimate objects by students in small groups as described in the activity close of this lab. 

The rubric will be based on a scale from 1-4
Acting-out of inanimate objects by students in small groups.
1 - The student doesn't demonstrate understanding of the concept of inanimate objects or the movement of acting them out.
2 - The student sometimes demonstrates clear and effective understanding. At times joins in with the small group in acting out the object.
3 - The student usually demonstrates understanding and participates often.
4 - The student consistently demonstrates understanding and always participates in the small group.

Lab 8 - Communication and Cooperation Using Hula Hoops

1. Explain three important benefits of hoop play.
Hula Hoops serve as a very useful vehicle for enhancing hand-eye and foot-eye coordination as well as body awareness. In this lesson Hula Hoops also serve to promote patience, exercise communication skills, practice telling time and develop better understanding of ecology. In lab 8 we used the activities of Hoop Race and Hot feet inorder to develop the students physical fitness. Hoop Race helps develop students speed while the activity of Hot Feet helps students work on agility and quickness.

2. Give an example of how hoops can be used to reinforce a cognitive concept linked with classroom learning.
There are many ways in which hoola hoops can be used to reinforce a cognitive concept linked with classroom learning. One idea we learned in lab was to use the colors of the hoola hoops for students to run to when she called out a certain color. This here reinforces the students learning of colors which in return will help them in the classroom. Another idea we learned in lab was to use the hoola hoop as a clock. The teacher told us students to stand on a certain "o'clock" on our hoola hoops. We also learned clockwise and counterclockwise. All this information that can be presented in physical education can most definitely help reinforce classroom learning!

3. Describe how hoops can be utilized to promote growth in the affective domain.
After participating in this lab, I realized that hoola hoops can be a great way to promote growth in the affective domain. In the activity Inside Instant Color, the teacher calls a color that the students must enter the hoop of that color and work cooperatively to accomodate other students inside the hoop. The work cooperatively part is where the affective domain comes into action. Students must "make room" inside the hoop to allow remaining students to enter inside that certain color. This teaches them good attitudes and morals and also respect to others. Great activity!

4. Utilize the internet to gather information about ponds and related ecology to use in your field experience teaching or future teaching.

In a future teaching lesson, I could teach my students about how an ecosystem works, how all living things have complex relationships with other species and with their environment, and more specifically the ecosystem of ponds.

On PE Central, I found an activity that could lead into a lesson about ecology. You could go into and talk about how the plants in the ecosystem provide a resting spot for frogs. And also how frogs can hop around the pond "ontop" of the water.

Field Experience 4

SKILL THEMES AND STUDENT ABILITIES

Friday February 10th, destination: Elementary School 9:10am. In this reflection, I will be concentrating on the skill themes learned and the students abilities. There are 3 categories of skill themes, manipulative, non manipulative, and locomotor. In the lesson I observed, the students were learning the volleyball bump and serve. The skill themes that were associated with this lesson were:
Manipulative: Catching
                      Collecting
                      Volleying
Non Manipulative: Transferring Weight 
                               Jumping and Landing
                               Stretching
Locomotor: Walking
                    Running
                    Chasing 
                    Sliding
Ability is the skills and qualities which make it possible for you to achieve a task. These are stable and enduring characteristics which are genetic and can be either completely perceptual, completely motor or a combination (known as psychomotor). The students abilities in the 4th grade class that I observed were mainly coordination, balance, and flexibility. At their age level, I thought many of the students were on track developmentally with their abilities. Each student had good coordination inorder to serve the volleyball over the net. 

Field Experience 3

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES


Friday February 10th, destination: Elementary School 8:05am. In this reflection, I will be concentrating on the host teachers management strategies. To start off the morning, the classroom teacher brings the students to the gym and they line up at the door. Then my host teachers tells them to come into the gym and quietly line up on the alphabet labeled on the gym floor (protocol). Thats the first management strategy in place inorder for the class to become accustom too. Then the class starts off with some type of warm up activity to get the students heart rate up and ready for the days lesson. After the warm up, the class moves right into the main lesson of the day. I really wasn't able to see what happens when a student misbehaves yet because all my students have been so well behaved. So the management strategy for that instance is still unknown. The rules in the classroom are pretty standard rules. Pay attention to the teacher when he/she is talking, Stay on task, and Follow directions. All of the students I have dealt with so far are just awesome and they all follow the rules. At the end of the days PE lesson, the classroom teacher comes to the gym door and then the students line up quietly outside the gym and then the classroom teacher takes the students back to class. All the students are well aware of what is expected throughout the entire class time in PE. With great management strategies in place, the smoother your PE class will run!

Lab 7 - Jumping Rope For A Healthy Heart

1. Can a child in a wheel chair enter the front door and the back door? What modifications would you make? 
There is no doubt that a child in a wheel chair could participate in this activity. One modification that could be made in order for this child to participate would be to have the teacher, or even another student, push the child through at the right moment. Another idea would maybe be to have another rope attached to something like the bleachers and then that child can pull him/herself through right when the rope comes down past their nose or front of their face to work on their upper body strength!

2. How would you apply goal setting to this lesson?
In todays lesson, their were many ways in which we could have incorporated goal setting. The first activity that could have incorporated goal setting would have been, Basic Two Foot Jump. You could have asked your students to set a goal for a certain number of jumps to complete consecutively. Same idea with these other exercises we did today in lab; Jump the Shot, Jump the Brook, Vertical Jump, and Enter the Front/Back Door Rapid Fire. If everyone sets a goal for themselves to reach, the more they will get out of the lesson by trying harder to reach their goal!

3. Design a long rope jumping routine for a pair of students jumping at the same time.
One routine that I would design for my class that could be implemented into long jump roping would consists many different locomotor patterns. First, the two students that are jumping would begin hopping on two feet until they got into sync with the rope speed. Then my routine for my students would look something like this ... JUMP-JUMP-HOP(R)-HOP(L)-JUMP(half turn)-JUMP(half turn) ... then repeat from the beginning and see how many cycles they can go through!

4. Create a checklist of critical elements to look for and use in teaching basic, two foot rope jumping. 

5. Describe how you would go about organizing a rope jumping club for your elementary school. 
The first thing I would make clear is to set a goal for the club. What do we want to achieve as a whole group for this club. The goal I would propose to my jump roping club is to become more physically fit through jumping rope. First have all participants do a pre assessment on their health then do a post assessment on the last meeting of the club to see if everyone became more physically fit. I would schedule certain days on which the rope jumping club would meet. The way that I would get my students involved in this club would be to put up flyers around the school for sign ups and attention grabbing information. Such as:

• Join Homer's Elementary new Rope Jumping Club! 
• Become more physically fit while having fun at the same time!
• Each week a new theme will be incorporated. 
• Firsts weeks theme will be, Jumping for Jolly Ranchers! 
• Join your favorite P.E. teacher, Mr. Marciniak to jump the day away!

Also, I would let my students know in all of my classes about the new Rope Jumping Club. Try and "sell" the club to my students. 

6. Stimulus Variation - is a various method and technique in order to attract students attention and interests towards teaching and learning process. Students usually get bored easily if the teacher always uses the same method. Example: When a teacher changes his/her teaching style from talks to using models/posters, visual objects the students become more engaged in the learning experience. 

Field Experience 2

KNOWLEDGE OF STUDENTS 

Friday February 3rd, destination: Elementary School 9:10am. In this reflection, I will be concentrating on the knowledge of the students. The class that I observed were 4th graders. The overall knowledge of all the students I thought was quite impressive. All students understood the teachers cues for the volleyball bump and set. For example, one cue was rainbow toss, and that cue was used when the partner tossed the volleyball to their partner in a rainbow like arc for their partner to either set or bump it back. The students loved that cue. Also, from the looks of it, many students were able to count quite well. For the warm up the students had to do a certain number of push ups or jumping jacks and they were all able to stop right at the last one. It was mainly tough to get a real good feel on the knowledge of the students but overall this class went very smoothly with few to none interruptions. All students followed the teachers directions for the entire class. That makes the job for the teacher much easier to teach class!

Field Experience 1

REFLECTION ON LESSON

Friday February 3rd, destination: Elementary School 8:05am. In this reflection, I will be concentrating on the lesson that was taught. The lesson that was being taught this day was Volleyball. The main focus on the days lesson was about bumping and setting. The lesson first started off with a quick fitness activity that incorporated the idea of the game show "Deal or No Deal." The students would pick an exercise, and inside the envelope was a number in which the students had to perform for the exercise. A great fitness activity. Ill be using that one for my future teaching! After the fitness activity, the teacher directed the students to certain areas of the gym to prepare for the days main lesson focus. First the teacher started off with the progressions of bumping the volleyball, starting from sitting down, then on one knee, then lastly standing up. Then she did the same for setting, she had the students set while sitting down, on one knee, and then finally standing up. It seemed as if the students were really grasping the idea of bumping and setting in Volleyball. During the lesson, the teacher was giving great positive feedback to her students. Then, in the last 5 minutes of class, the teacher divided up the class into two groups and played a quick game of just setting and bumping the volleyball back and forth. Then for the closure of the lesson, the teacher checked for understanding by asking the students the cues they learned today for the bump and the set. Overall, I personally think she taught a great lesson according to the standards of physical education. She incorporated the psychomotor, cognitive, and affective domains into her lesson.

Lab 5 - A Spectrum of Ball Handling Skills

1. Use the internet to search for information about turtles and how they live.

Some interesting facts about turtles and tortoises:

Turtles have been on the earth for more than 200 million years. They evolved before mammals, birds, crocodiles, snakes and even lizards. Several species of turtles can live to be over a hundred years of age including the American Box Turtle.Turtles live on every continent except Antarctica. Turtles will live in almost any climate warm enough to allow them to complete their breeding cycle. Turtles range in size from the 4-inch Bog Turtle to the 1500 pound Leathery Turtle. North America contains a large variety of turtle species but Europe contains only two species of turtles and three species of tortoises. The top domed part of a turtle's shell is called the carapace and the bottom underlying part is called the plastron. The shell of a turtle is made up of 60 different bones all connected together. The bony portion of the shell is covered with plates (scutes) that are derivatives of skin and offer additional strength and protection. Most land tortoises have high domed carapaces that offer protection from the snapping jaws of terrestrial predators. Aquatic turtles tend to have flatter more aerodynamically shaped shells. An exception to the dome-shaped tortoise shell is the pancake tortoise of East Africa that will wedge itself between narrow rocks when threatened and then inflates itself with air making extraction nearly impossible. Turtles have good eyesight and an excellent sense of smell. Hearing and sense of touch are both good and even the shell contains nerve endings. Turtles are one of the oldest and most primitive groups of reptiles and have outlived many other species. One can only wonder if their unique shell is responsible for their success.
Cited: (http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=17+1797&aid=1492)


2. Identify the fitness components being addressed in squad square fitness. Where are these components located on the New York State Conceptual Framework for K-12 Physical Education?
Some of the fitness components that were addressed in the squad square fitness are, Cardiovascular Endurance(all stations), Muscle Strength and Endurance (Moving Push-Ups), Agility (Ski Jumps), Speed (Step Ups), and Balance (Step Ups & Ski Jumps). These components can be located in the Personal Fitness/Wellness block under the Elementary Skill Level. Also, the squad square activities can be located under the Motor/Movement Skill Development block. This is shown because students are working on jumping, push ups, step ups, and crunches. I achieved a good deal of physical activity after participating in this quick "warm up" activity! I will definitely use the squad square for my future teaching!

3. Prescribe a series of ball handling skills for a second grade boy or girl that is afraid of catching a ball. What kinds of objects might you prescribe for throwing and catching?
The skills that I would incorporate in my PE class for a boy or girl that is afraid of catching a ball would be to:

• first, have him/her sit down with a partner and roll a yarn ball back and forth, getting used to the "feel" of a ball coming at the student
• second, I would have the student toss a yard ball up into the air and then try to catch it. 
• third, actually have another student toss the yarn ball towards the afraid student. 

If a student is afraid of catching some type of object in PE class because it may hurt them, then I would switch to a more softer type of ball. For example, a yarn ball is very soft and also a foam ball. 

4. What are some of the guidelines you would follow in pairing students for throwing and catching?
When pairing students for throwing and catching, its always good to pair a student who is good at throwing with a student that is struggling. This way, the student that is a good thrower/catcher can help the student that is struggling. I've always been told that it is not good to pair the strong movers with other strong movers. Let the strong movers help the students that are struggling! This idea helps students to "teach" other students! WOW

5. How would you help a special needs student learn to catch that displays delayed motor control and lack of fine motor control dexterity?
First off, I would definitely keep the same cues as I would use for any other student in the class. Second, in order to help this special needs student to catch better I would start him off with catching a ballon. A balloon floats slowly to the ground which would allow the student to react in enough time to catch the balloon. A teacher that I observed at an elementary school a few years ago used this idea with one of her students!

Lab 4 - Improving Manipulation with Bean Bag Challenges

1. Explain how a unit based on lessons of this nature would serve as a foundation for acquiring specialized throwing and catching skills. 
While participating in all of todays bean bag activities such as Balance on Body Parts, Yogi Sit and Stand, Beanbag Shake Off, Toss-Move and Catch, World Record Clap Game, and Full Turn and Catch I noticed that all these activities work on object manipulation, tossing and catching. Also, body awareness and hand-eye coordination can be enhanced based on a lesson like todays. While working with younger students, light soft objects and also bean bags will insure manipulation success at a young and reduce the fear associated with tossing and catching heavier objects that might give your students a bad "first" experience.

2. Identify a theme that could be applied to health hopping appropriate for young children. 
In todays lesson, we used The Lion King as todays theme for health hopping. Another theme that could be used would be, pretty much anything that goes along what students are into currently at their young age. The theme I would choose for my classroom would be the cartoon series, "Popeye." Popeye is a great character who is in shape and shows that as long as you eat your spinach you will be strong like Popeye!

3. Design a checklist of critical elements to look for when observing a child performing a locomotor movement. 

I decided to do an object control checklist. I thought it went along with the lesson more. 

4. Bean Bag Activities by: Christina Chapan(http://worknotes.com/il/chicago/fit4funkidsfitness/h5.stm)

• Teach colors, sizes, numbers, and direction using different beanbags.
• Speed, rhythm, and direction can be taught as you use different songs or music while moving the beanbag from one partner to another.
• Try throwing the beanbag to different surfaces, such as a shelf, or into a hula hoop, basketball or container.  See how it feels to throw beanbags into various types of containers.

The game of Bean Bag Toss is a great activity for students to work on their perception of throwing at a target!

Lab 3 - Locomotor Skills Applied in Low Organized Games

1. Select one of the locomotor skills and create your own set of teaching cues. 
                    Slide
- choose a foot to lead with (right)
- slide left foot towards your right foot
- left foot chases and catches your lead foot
- continue the chase over and over

2. Identify the specific pathways used in each of the low organized games presented in the lesson focus. 
The specific pathways that we used today in each of the low organized games were:
- straight
- curved
- zig zag
- circular
Giving students certain pathways to follow during the lessons, teaches the students to respect one another by saying excuse me if they are both on the same pathway and also to incorporate some dodging skills.

3. Select a topic for a class talk and outline the questions and key points that would help you guide a class talk. 
Topic: Healthy Choices for Breakfast
a) Alright class, I have a quick question. Can someone tell me what the most important meal of the day is? Student says ... (breakfast).
b) (great job!) What are some foods we all had for breakfast this morning? Student says ... (pancakes).
c) Now class, are pancakes a breakfast food we should have everyday or just once a week? Students says ... (once a week)
d) (awesome answer) Can someone tell me a healthy food choice for breakfast? Student says (oatmeal)
e) (great choice!) Starting your day off with a healthy breakfast prepares you for a healthy life and a great day at school!

4. Make a checklist of performance points to look for in one of the locomotor movements. 

5. Low Organized Game (1)

I actually taught this lesson at an Elementary School school a few years ago and my students loved it!