Week 10 Reflection

Last week I decided to work on another way to incorporate student’s ability to transition quickly when doing activities. I had a difficult time finding something that would work quickly. I did find though that students at Mill Street at trained that when they hear the whistle to come in the middle. I find that putting my hand up and with a silent countdown works the best after having the students come in the middle to listen to directions rather than me “shhh” the students, which I always disliked when I was in school. I was trying to attempt to find music and have students play when the music is playing and listening when it stopped however, I find it very difficult to find music that is appropriate for the students at all age levels as well as them not being to childish for the older students. I have been talking with my cooperating teacher to find out is the KidzBop series is appropriate for them to listen to.

                This week as I begin parachute games with the primary students and capture the flag, I hope to help students develop strategies to help their teams achieve a successful completion of the game. In doing so, I will be asking groups of students how they hope to get the flags. Since we are utilizing pedometers within this series, I will be asking students how they hope to achieve more steps in a25 minute class along with being able to incorporate more steps on a daily basis. My goals are to bring attention to students on how many steps they take within day and how they can achieve more within that week alone. 

       

           This past week my students participated in a team-building circuit. This circuit was the first time I ever did and to me I found it to be quite successful. For the first time, I had students begin a teambuilding exercise right away by having them line up by their month of their birthday in order without talking. At first, I did not think that the students would be confused on how they should accomplish this, but I had a lot of students come up to me asking for help right away. It was here that I realized how dependent students are on just asking for the answers versus working with each other to figure out the task. I had some students who did a great job and figured out how they can tell others their birthday without being told any answers. I think encouraging students to think outside the box is extremely necessary and with these team-building exercises, I found that a lot of them were trying to take over, but did not want to listen. Students worked throughout the week on items like critical thinking, problem solving, and questioning. I asked my students this past week to work on a five finger contract. This contract was to use the hands that we have to help others, because together we can make a difference. Students remembered this information when asked the alternative day they had PE. I think for the most part, teambuilding should be taught more during the school year because students at this age consistently want to do better than others, putting others down, and are egoistic. I feel that it is a part of their age, but I also feel that they need to learn why it is essential to work within groups they may not normally do.  Students were challenged throughout the week and I feel that they were gaining a lot of information not only on themselves, but also with how hard it can be to be a leader within a group.

                Besides this week, I feel that I question my students properly, ask to participate on their performance skills, encourage critical thinking, and help scaffold information from the lesson itself. On a daily basis my students are thinking about game strategy or strategies that help make their skill better. I usually begin each day with a brief reminder on how to participate as a group or what we learned from the day prior and utilize that information and I teach a new skill. I feel that PE is a great place to scaffold information as students are progressing in their skills. What I love about it is that students may advance quickly if they can or can continually work on a skill when doing a variety of activities. Students I feel, as excited about doing their best in PE as they want to prove to their peers that they can be a good teammate.

                This past week, I developed a team-building circuit as I described above. I began the week with a five finger contract in which each finger meant something positive. However I did have to change it to a star because students were to busy with their middle finger so I made the adjustments to help students remember to be a star. I found that this engaged students quickly and gave reason why team-building is necessary not only in PE, but also in the outside and within their classrooms. I drew out each station in which the students. The students for the first day I did take approximately ten minutes to take the students around to each station to describe and to demonstrate what the rules were for each station. This I felt was a clearer and accurate presentation of the concepts I wanted to the students to understand. I also gave students a hard copy to the leaders of the group for a written description to help aid them in their understanding of the task they were going to understand.

                At times I only had about 4 groups of about 5 or 6 students in which I found much easier to work together as a group and monitor all of the stations. I had the students spread out at alternative stations so that they had enough room to participate in the activities. While I was teaching, I individually monitored each group and asked if they enjoyed the activities. Students were able to tell me if they understood and I was able to monitor their progress based on their behavior. Students who were off task I found that they didn’t understand the activity. Therefore, I went around and assessed how they were going to accomplish the task. After participating in the second day of team-building I took about two minutes to sit the students down and ask how they liked participating in these activities. For the most part, students were happy with doing activities like these, but they also providing me with some great input which was that they didn’t like the “pick up the garbage” because when they had to put the jerseys into the bag it was the same texture as the jerseys so they were not sure if that was the bag or not. I found this to be a great point. The students also didn’t like the “blind shapes” because the jump rope was flimsy and they were became easily frustrated with this, so the student suggested either straws or some type of toothpick. I loved having two minutes of feedback especially when I told them this was the first time I did this and I find it important to get kids feedback as they are the ones participating in the activities.

                This week, I had to adapt my teambuilding activities for students with disabilities. I had one student who was extremely afraid of trusting others and being blindfolded. I told her aide that if she could keep her eyes closed while a teacher and student guided her through the course that would be successful. In fact, she also was able to choose a student in her group that she trusted. I felt that by doing this she was able to trust other students more and learn that they are also here to help her. On the second day, she worked closely with another student and when I talked to the group they were extremely supportive while working with her to make her feel apart of the group and helped her do some of the activities. In addition to this on the second day, she was able to be blindfolded and was able to trust some peers. I found this to be a great success!

         The anticipatory set always makes the primary students much more engaged in the activities. I often time like to make them laugh to engage them in their activities. This past week when I had them playing a team game called happy clams, I hooked them with asking who knows what a clam looks like and then I told them how we are going to act like clams. They thought it was funny and were completely engaged in the activity. I find that quotes work well with the students too to help incorporate how they can work as a team. This past week I used a star to represent the points to which their characteristics should be when they are working as a team. Students were very responsive and they were able to carry over the information to their following PE period.

Write one word that best describes your teaching experience this week. Empowering