Monday, November 28, 2011

Cortland Lanes!

For my Lab D I was assigned to teach bowling with a wellness focus on relationships and breakups and a teaching style of guided discovery. I think I did very well covering these aspects of teaching during my lesson. I used guided discovery in my instant activity and tied it in with relationships. Then when I brought the students back in to do a demonstration I tied in breakups. I also thought I made good use of technology in my lesson. If students got a strike or spare I let them go play wii bowling. If no one was using wii bowling I selected two students who were following directions and behaving the entire class to go use it so someone was always on it. I hadn't used intertask variation in my lesson's up to this point so this was something that I really wanted to make sure I did. To do this I told the lane that was the most skilled at bowling that they could do any approach they wanted which worked out well because most of the students in the lane were very good bowlers.

Lab D Packet, Scope & Sequence, Block Plan

 One of the main activities of my lesson was the one knee drill. I thought this was a very good drill because it helped those who weren't very skilled in bowling to practice their release and really make sure they were bringing the ball back straight and releasing straight. It also was useful for the better bowlers because it is still good practice or warm up before bowling. I was really happy with my lesson for lab D. In just one semester I felt that I really improved my teaching. I came from being nervous on the first day with the surprise teaching to being fully confident and more excited than nervous on the last day. Throughout my times teaching this semester the main thing I realized is that I need to have fun while I'm teaching because if I don't, neither will the students. And having fun and being active is one of the main goals of PE.

There are some things that I can still work on, and I'm sure there always will be. For one, more enthusiasm. I thought I improved this a lot with this lab but it definitely still needs work. It is just one of those things that is hard to change because it's how I act and talk. Also, throughout the lesson two of the students were having a "breakup." Because they are my friends I didn't really think anything of it when I saw it, I thought they were just joking and fooling around like they always do. Now that I went back and watched the video I realize it was pretty excessive and I must of just not heard most of the arguing over the bowling. If i did hear them I think I would of split them up and put them in different groups. I also could have spoken a little louder but I don't know if it would have helped because the bowlers were so loud. These are all somethings I need to work on in order to benefit my students in the future. Remembering back to one of the one of the first days of class when Ben said that one day this semester everything will just start to click, I now really feel that way. Everything on the C-9 form just comes to me as I'm teaching and its almost hard to leave things out where as in the first few labs I had to really think about how and when I was going to use each teaching strategy.


Monday, November 7, 2011

Bocce Ball Lesson



During this teaching lab I didn't really see the improvement I was looking for. Overall I thought I taught well but I need to be more enthusiastic when i teach. I need to stop worrying about everything, even though its a huge part of my grade, and just have fun while I teach.  I thought my Prezi went well and was very organized. However, with only 10 minutes to teach I should have made it a lot shorter. I didn't realize how much time it would take to present it. I handled the misbehavior well by just saying one thing to him and immediately using him in my demonstration so he started behaving. I really wish I started the main activity with the polly spots sooner because they only had about a minute to play and I think it would have been very fun. I just didn't keep track of time well enough. Too much time was spent on my presentation and the lead up activity which was really simple and only should have been done for about two minutes. If I limited the time of the first activity and have the polly spot activity go for 4 to 5 minutes I think this would have been a great lesson like I planned. I also feel that if I did this I would have enjoyed the lesson more, had more fun, which would cause me to be more enthusiastic. From what I've seen so far with my lessons I have learned that if I'm not smiling and having fun during the lesson then the students probably aren't either. This is not what I want to have happen in my teaching and I'm sure it won't happen again. I think it was just a mis management of time which will improve with practice. It really surprised me that I did this because I was really prepared, I just didn't follow my own time management that I had made. In lab D I hope to improve on the time spent on each activity and having fun while I teach because I have realized that this makes the students have fun too, which is a major goal I have while teaching.







Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Jump, Jump Jump!

Overall this lab was a success. I did a great job hitting all of the techniques that should be used during a lesson. I thought my hook was pretty creative and got the students involved when I was demonstrating which is very important if you want students to enjoy the lesson. I used teaching by invitation by giving them different levels of the skill at which they can choose to participate. I even implemented pinpointing which was beyond what was expected in our lab. I also did some things poorly. One thing I really want to work on is just being enthusiastic and having fun from the very beginning of the lesson. I tend to get so wrapped up in teaching the lesson and remembering everything I went over that I sometimes come off as too serious. Its not until later in the lesson when everyone is having fun that I lighten up and get a smile on my face. I really think that when I have fun the students do too. So it's really important that I work on this to create a better environment for my students. Even thought I had a visual, which was great, I think I got too complicated with the cues at first. Although the students did a great job on a pretty hard skill, if I just worried about their toes at first and then came back to tell them about their knees, I think more students would have performed the skill better.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Task Presentation

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

Some things that can be done to improve communication are orient the learner, use a logical sequence, use examples and nonexamples, personalize the presentation, repeat things difficult to understand, draw on the learners personal experience, check for understanding, and present the material dynamically.

What are guidelines for using demonstration effectively?

Some guidelines for a good demonstration are giving accurate information, having the demonstration done by a student if possible, use the same format the students will use, emphasize important information, let the students know why the skill is performed in a certain way, check for understanding, and repeat the demonstration more than once.

What are the characteristics of good learning cues? Design a set of learning cues you would use with young beginning learners and then for older advanced learners for a closed skill, open skill, and movement concept.

A good learning cue reminds the students of what they need to do in order to execute a skill properly.

Factors that influence learning

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

In order for a student to learn a motor skill they must have prerequisites which means they have already mastered some easier form of the skill. They must also be developmentally ready to learn the given skill. The students must also have a clear idea of the task. Teachers need to make sure they give the students the right motor programs so they have the complete information on what they are trying to do. The students must then have motivational and attentional disposition to the skill. This means that teachers should eliminate repetitive drills and design their lessons to capture the students attention. If all these areas are met the next thing a student needs is practice. This is necessary for students to use information on how to do the skill and to develop consistency in their performance.  A teacher can then give feedback to give the student knowledge of their results and performance which can be used to help the student improve and keep them motivated to the skill.

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

The difference in the way these different types of skills should be taught has to do with the complexity of the skills. Closed skills can be taught first and in drill like situations because the environment in which the student will have to do them won't change. The same goes for discrete skills because they have a definite beginning, middle, and end, and are only performed once. The student can really work on the quality and technique of the skill this way. As for open skills, students should learn these in game like situations because the environment is a contributing factor with the skills. Serial skills should also be taught like this also because they are discrete skills done one after another.