Week 8 Reflection - Elementary has begun!

One goal that I had this week was to begin to co-teach and maybe take over a class. However, on day one I was able to teach at least 4 classes and since then I have been teaching all the classes for the day. I was surprised how different elementary PE was from high school, but not necessarily in a negative way. I was happy that I was able to get involved right away with the students, but find that it is going to be harder to obtain my authority only because it is already 8 weeks into the class, where I’d be able to obtain that authority more easily at the beginning of the year. However, I’m confident that they will learn quicker the more I see them. My second goal was to have cues to help my students learn. However, my teaching style for my teaching for the student to learn is on target I feel with some alterations that can be used from class to class. However, my cues for having the students stop their activity and begin an activity is something that I need to work on. When teaching the students my cues work for what I want them to practice, but when they need to stop is more difficult. At this age, they are so eager to begin the activity and play that when they have to stop they don’t want to and I’ll need to give them a cue to learn. This is one of my questions you will see below.

1. One of my goal this week is to obtain a signal so that students know to stop the activity they are participating and listen for further directions. I feel that I will have better opportunities for more students to be engaged in physical fitness for a longer duration of a time.
2. It is call out students who are properly participating in class appropriately and call them out so that others can look at how appropriate behavior should be seen within the gym.

Reflection/Analysis:  (Complete at the end of the week)

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

2.      Summarize your experiences this past week based on the following:

a.      Knowledge: What are your strengths and weaknesses in the rules of English grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and syntax? What do you know about using diverse instructional strategies and assessments that include an appropriate balance of lecture, discussion, activity, and written and oral work?

                                                        i.      I think it is appropriate to say that within PE we often do not have students being taught about the English language, however, there is a point that I feel is necessary to properly model the English language so that students can utilize the correct language. Within the elementary school now, I have already corrected students when talking to utilize the correct word or pronounce the word as well. I think it is essential to teach these young individuals the correct way to speak not only to adults, but also to their classmates. Where PE exceeds others areas is in its instructional assessments and balance of lecture, discussion, activity, written and oral work. Students at this age need to have extreme structure and need an order of activity that they need to follow. Students, after their warm-up, sit down on the red line and/or black line and then listen to a little lecture of the material we are learning for that day. They are engaged in the conversation, learn that activities and understand their role for those specific activities. Students do participate in some oral work when they are answering questions in front of their peers. For the most part, I feel that students should be exposed to lecture, to a demonstration, to then individually practicing on their own and then expanding the students into some mini-games where they can apply their skills. This form of instructional strategy allows me to watch students at an individual level where I can assess them.  These students are exposed then to a variety of methods where teaching is achieved.

b.      Performance: Describe how well you express ideas orally with explanations, examples, and support in a clear, succinct style. Give an example of how you listened well.

                                                        i.      Typically how I present the information is minimal, quick, succinct, with a demonstration. For example, I will ask students how to do an activity, I will listen to what they say and emphasize the points in which they were correct. When teaching the students a skill I will break it down first in which all students are watching me. For example, if I am teaching them a pull back in soccer, I will stay first you start in a trap position, this is a trap position. Next, you pull back with your toes towards your back, like this, and then you turn your body around and change direction. This is called a what? Students will then say a pull back. I then reiterate the skill by having the students stay it, followed by them trying it by them while I give the cues. I then progress into them practicing when then I’ll whistle for them to trap, pull back, and change direction. Giving the students this model help put the information in long-term memory and helps the students motor development as they practice the skill. By breaking these skills down, students are aware of how to participate as well as progress into skills that maybe more challenging.  

c.       Performance: Give an example of how you assisted students whose communication skills may be impeded by learning, language, and/or cultural differences, especially those whose first language is not English.

                                                        i.      I feel that in PE students whose English is not their first language are able to participate better than if they are in the classroom. When teaching to an ESL learner I give cues which are minimal words that I try to use that are direct in what they are practicing. Students are also given a visual demonstration with the cues and then followed by them practicing. For the most part, I help group students together with someone who does understand English and for students to cooperatively work today to achieve the skill. In fact, I have a class currently who is their first ESL class in which all students in this class speak Spanish in the morning and English in the afternoon. Some students never knew any Spanish and their parents have placed them in this class so they learn the Spanish language. I feel that for this class, I will need to be precise, use less PE jargon, and break down the skills so that all students can understand the skill. I feel that by doing so, the students are able to be assessed and if learning is being achieved they can progress in the skill and if not I can gather the students; teach them again followed by learning more. I think this is something that I will need to learn more about and how to make sure all students can understand what I am talking about.

Communication with your College Supervisor:

1. Describe anything in particular you want your supervisor to know or to help you with.
1. Do you have any suggestions as a good signal to give elementary students to stop in their activity to listen to further instruction?
2. How important do you think it is for teachers to be good models in effective reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills during their direct and indirect instructional activities?

a.     Obviously I find that participating in good language skills is vital. We are the models for which these students learn from. I find that students respect me more when I am able to demonstrate my personal skills and they know when teachers know what they are talking about as well as how to teach them. Whether I am talking to one student or talking to an entire group, telling each of them the cues they need to hear before they participate in an activity is vital. If even one student hears something different the activity can completely bomb or that they just don’t participate in the activity at all. I have to be extremely precise on the words that I use so that the activity can go smoothly and for students to remain safe in PE