Field Experience Day 18 - April 23th 2012

Our Poster Displaying the Cues

Today we were able to teach our lesson to the class. It was centered around the skill theme, rolling. More specifically, the forward roll. Our lesson was able to hit all of the 3 domains. We were able to create an obstacle course that kept the students busy and active while having a forward roll station to assess the children. This method allowed us to see the children multiple times to assess them and allowed them to not get bored by rolling over and over. Instead, they were able to move on to different stations and practice other skills. We tried to tie in a theme with it so we chose "Tarzan." This theme is something that the children know and something that can definitely be related to rolling (gorilla roll). Also, during the activity, we were able to play music that made it a lot of fun ("Jungle Boogie").



Assessments of Student Learning:

I believe that this lesson was very successful. Our psychomotor objective was general enough that it was able to incorporate all skill levels but specific enough to gauge improvement. The objective asked for improvement based on a rubric we made to assess them before this lesson. Using a holistic rubric as an pre-assessment allowed us to see the level in which most of the children started at and then we planned our lesson from there. Based on our post-assessment, these cues, paired with our guidance, allowed the students to be more successful in the forward roll.

Our affective objective was also successful. We were able to witness numerous students speak kindly to one another and be respectful when sharing the equipment that was used. At the end of the lesson we were able to verbally quiz them on the cues for the forward roll that we had explained. The children had to be prompted for one of the cues but were able to name “Tuck Chin” and “Body in a Ball” the first time it was asked.

Our assessment was a holistic rubric that we were able to create using ideas from the Generic Levels of Skill Proficiency (GLSP) model. This assessment allowed us to observe the children as they were going through the obstacle course. As they came to the forward roll station (the wedge mat) we had table on a clipboard in which to record their score based on the rubric. 

Tarzan

One of our issues was that there was some back up on some of the stations, which caused the children to have to slow down. We would like to improve upon this if we were to do a stations type lesson again. It may be beneficial to add more stations so that the students are more spread out, or we could remove the stations that constantly get backed up (e.g. the higher balance beam). Adding more stations could be more beneficial because then the students could have move activity time doing a larger variety or tasks.This would increase time on task and activity time.

Field Experience Day 17 - April 20th 2012

 Skill Themes: Catching and Collecting

During this lesson the we were able to see the other classroom of students who we do not normally see. They were also introduced to the lesson with lacrosse ground balls. Similarly with the other class, there were a few students (all boys) who have had experience with lacrosse before. Our job, as practitioners is to teach the basics of the skills, the most we can really aim to achieve in any skill is getting to the Utilization level of the generic levels of skill proficiency (GLSP). These are the levels of the GLSP in more detail.  It is extremely difficult to get to the proficiency level of a skill without outside practice. Because of this, those boys who raised their hands saying that they were playing lacrosse outside of class will have a better chance of becoming proficient. Needless to say, we must start somewhere so this lesson gives the children the basics of "collecting" or picking up ground balls.

Softball Ground Ball

This skill theme can then be used in transfer in multiple other skills including baseball and softball. It is probably more likely that these students will have been introduced to picking up softballs and baseballs before lacrosse balls, in which case there should already be a little bit of transfer which can make it easier for the students to learn it.

These students were introduced to cues that encouraged them to "get low" put their "knuckles to the floor" and "scoop like shoveling snow." Getting low is a common theme in collecting things off of the ground. This is a "Manipulative" skill theme. Because it is manipulative, it requires equipment and more finesse as opposed to power. This is another reason why it is very important to give students practice for them to excel. I believe the the host teacher had a great way to practice. As stated in the previous blog for the lesson right before. The game where the students had to go and pick up all the balls was a great idea because it got every one involved and gave all of the students many opportunities to practice the skill of picking up a ground ball.

Lacrosse Ground Ball

Field Experience Day 16 - April 20th 2012

Lacrosse

In this lesson, the students were introduced to lacrosse and the ground ball pick up. Some of the students had previous knowledge of the skills that were being taught because they played outside of school. We began by identifying parts of the lacrosse stick (head, neck etc.) and how to hold it properly. Also, general safety and procedures were addressed before any equipment was handed out. Next, we allowed the students to obtain one lacrosse stick and one lacrosse ball. We described the way to pick up a ground ball, with cues to help them (get low, knuckles to the floor, scoop it up like shoveling snow). Ground ball Tutorial The children were allowed to practice on their own. After they were able to get the basic movement pattern down, we were able to run a simple game that let them practice their new skill while employing a bit of competition.

Ground ball

NYS Standards and Curriculum:
This lesson does cover quite a few of the NYS standards. Standard 2 was definitely emphasized with the "personal responsibility." A lot of these students have never used lacrosse sticks before and so it was very important to make sure they used them responsibly. We made sure the students understood that they must respect the equipment as well as their fellow classmates.They were educated in personal safety and how to handle the equipment with care. There was very heavy emphasis on being aware of your surroundings and playing fairly in the last game we played. It involved getting ground balls and placing them back in their respective bins. They had to be honest and courteous to their teammates and classmates.

Standard 1A was also addressed by introducing the students to this skill (picking up a ground ball) it will get them started on being competent in the game of lacrosse.

Field Experience Day 15- April, 17th 2012

Students with Special Needs:

In an earlier post, I mentioned a boy who came into the gymnasium before out Pre k class. Just in observing him , it seemed as though his physical education was just him, playing by himself for a half hour or so. When we questioned our host teacher, we were informed that he is the only special needs student in the school and that that is his physical education. This is definitely unacceptable for this student. None of the NYS standards are met, purely because he is given no instruction, but instead, he plays on his own.

IDEA

It must be difficult for a smaller school with only one physical education teacher to justify dedicating a large portion of time to one, individual student, but it should be done. Maybe the school could include the student in the other physical education classes of students his own age (LRE) in integrated settings. At first I thought that the school may not have to comply with these policies but after looking at  the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), I found that it mandates these things for public as well as private schools.Info About IDEA

Field Experience Day 14 - April 6th 2012

Reflection Of Lesson:

Leaves can be fun, but they are not really appropriate for school days

We remained outside today with the other pre-k class. I have never been involved in this class before so I had a bit more difficulty learning about the students. It was interesting to see the similarities between the students though. Even though this is a whole other group of students, they all seem to want to do dangerous things and get as dirty as possible.

Being a helper in this class, it would be most beneficial to speak with the teacher before hand to ask about the procedures. These would include rules of the equipment, where they can and cannot go and specific procedures for entering and exiting the fenced in area. There was a group of children playing in leaves in one of the corner, they were throwing them all over themselves. I saw it from across the space and as soon as I spotted it, so did the host teacher and immediately put a stop to it. There were also children playing in the dirt. I do believe that it is good for children to play outside and get dirty, etc. but not in the middle of a school day. I'm sure their parents would be very displeased.

I was also playing with a group of 4 girls and it was so sad to see 3 of them turn to the 4th and tell her that they did not want to play with her anymore. These are pre-k students and they are already leaving people out. I have not seen such bluntness in a while though. I suppose it is the honesty of being a child. I did not say anything to the girls but now I wish I had said something about including classmates. I found this article about how bullying can being in young children, so we, as teachers, need to be on the lookout.  Instead I spoke to the girls about how it is not good to pretend you are hurt if you are not (they were all holding their ankles and saying "ow ow ow") because it can cause people to be worried and then very angry if there is no emergency. I hope that they thought about it for at least a little while after that.

Field Experience Day 13 - April 6th 2012

Reflection of the Lesson:

Safety is Important

Today was a Friday and it was beautiful outside so our host teacher took the kids outside to play on the playground. There was no lesson taught but being around and playing with the children was able to show me a lot.

First, it is very important to go over the rules of the play ground before going onto it. Some of the equipment can be dangerous for kindergarteners and so it is always good to make sure they are aware. One thing that the children were doing was jumping off one of the apparatus to the ground. It was quite high up and some of the students needed to be told twice. It would be beneficial to have a consequence for disobeying the rule. This would be beneficial because of maintaining authority and for safety reasons.

Playground Apparatus

Another thing that crossed my mind when I was out on the playground was what the emergency procedure should be if someone was to get hurt on the playground. The playground is only about 50 yards from the school but it may be just far enough to make it difficult to contact someone. We were out there with the host teacher but if you were by yourself, how would you contact help. These were kindergarteners. If it was me, I think I would send one of them (the one I trusted the most I suppose) to run in the school and tell an adult. It is clear that you cannot leave all the students by themselves to get help, but you cannot take them all with you either (especially if time is of the essence). Here is an Example of "Playground Guidelines" that a school created that covers everything from surveillance to maintenance.

Field Experience Day 12 - April 3rd, 2012

Assessments of Students Learning

Indiana Jones

Today in class, there was an Indiana Jones Obstacle set up for the students. It was similar to the kidnastic routine that was last time except this time there was Indiana theme music playing in the back ground. Also, the host teacher added a "snake pit" made of jump ropes and some "hot lava" using the cones. Some of the children knew who Indiana Jones was so it was extra fun for them.

Today was the day of our pre-assessment of the students doing the forward roll. We decided to make it one of the stations in the obstacle course so we were able to observe and assess the students as they made their way around the course. This allowed us to see it multiple times. This assessment strategy is suggested by NASPE in assessing elementary students. We assessed them based on a holistic rubric that we created for the forward roll: We were able to see each each of the students around four times and it was an excellent way to keep them moving while still assessing their current level of proficiency. We will take this pre-assessment and plan a lesson to teach so that the students can learn and improve to a higher level of proficiency.

Holistic Rubric Pre Assessment- Forward Roll

1-  Student  is unable to perform the forward roll. The student is unable to use the cues.

Cones

2- Student is able to perform the forward roll with maximum concentration. Rigid.

3- Student is able to perform the forward roll correctly with minimal   concentration. Lacks fluidity.

4- Student is able to complete a forward roll using all three cues correctly. The motion is effortless and fluid.