I said P.E is in the house

This was my last lesson of the year and I was teaching Dance Dance Revoloution. The lesson was supposed to be fifteen minutes in length and incorporate technology in some way; DDR (being a video game) automatically took care of that requirement. We also had to hand in an official lesson plan form for the first time this year. This was easier said than done, but Freddy (our teaching assistant) told us not to worry, the first time is always hard and that it was a matter of time till the lesson planning form becomes second nature.

We all taught a different mode of DDR. Matt started off with training mode, Nick followed with game mode, and I ended the unit with workout mode. Workout mode is the same as game mode, the only difference is that in the end of the dance, the results post the estimated amount of calories the player burned, the miles he/she "ran", how many time he/she jumped roped, and etc. This mode is very beneficial to the person that wants to keep track of his/her health.

My instant activity to my lesson started off with the song "jump on it" by the sugar hill gang. I wanted to take the same approach I seen on the Queen video. Queen at the Live Aid Concert, made the crowd follow his every move just by doing it, and not necesarrily teaching it. Honestly, the instant activity did not go as I had pictured it. A lot of students were discouraged/ embarassed and did not want to put any effort into dancing. Nevertheless some students got the concept of my Instant Activity and enjoyed it. I also learned that its smart to start off at a lower volume to start the song as some students are very sensative to loud music.

After the Instant Activity, I transitioned to my introduction of the lesson I noticed that the equipment was not ready so I had to prolong the introduction, as I look back I should have explained workout mode in more detail. I also could have had two people come up in front of the class. Sometimes people are less embarrassed doing these types of activities if there is one more person up there with them.

While I was getting the game set-up I learned how crucial preparation is when incorporating technology into a P.E class. Preparation is crucial because of the many technological problems that can occur during the lesson. While Tom was demonstrating he pressed the wrong button numerous times, so maybe if I would have taken over and had the game set-up before Tom came, the lesson would have came out smoother. During the set-up I lost the attention of the students. In order to prevent this I should have done something between the lessons, maybe check for understanding, or develop a mini-activity between the lesson. Also I noticed that the difficulty level was a little too much for the class itself. This had most of the class confused but nevertheless they tried. Making the activity too challenging can lose the students interest of the activity.

Here comes the twists! Seriously, there is no lesson without the infamous Yang twist. Dr. Yang placed two students in wheelchairs during my lesson. In order to get these students participating, instead of their legs they place their arms in the directions of the arrows. I believe that I handled the curve ball fairly well.

The video I have posted cuts off too early, but for the conclusion I talked about how important it is to incorporate technology into classrooms, and how we need to help advocate the use of games, such as DDR, in P.E classrooms. I see technology as another venue many young children can use as a means to stay fit and healthy. Especially those children who find video games very entertaining.

As I look at the lessons I have taught throughout the semester I definitly witnessed the improvement and progress. I know the lesson was far from perfect, but I noticed my mistakes once I did them. I believe that is the first step to improvement; acknowledging your mistake once they happen.

Time Coding Form

Feedback Analysis Form

This week in the wonderful world of Physical Education we took a trip to the other side of the world, CHINA!!! Dr. Yang assigned us each a partner and gave us an activity that we must present and teach to the class. My partner and I had a game called catching pearls. The concept of the game was a tad bit confusing, so we modified the game to accommodate the equipment we had available and our understanding of the actual game. Improvising is very important when it comes to teaching, especially in schools that are not well funded. There are going to be times where the school you teach in might not have the resources available to play the exact game. So what do you do not teach it? No, I believe if you stretch it a little bit you can always make something happen. In our case we needed fishnets and clam shaped rackets. Both of these resources were not available to our use, so we made the game resemble a little bit like the actual game without the actual equipment. A crucial element we did not go over while teaching this game is to explain that this is not the actual game. It is vital for your students to know the right way of playing this game, especially because the game itself is not American.


I have to admit that we were very unprepared as far as how Dr. Yang wanted us to teach. See my partner and I thought that we were going to be together the whole time. So when we planned the lesson we pictured both of us talking, this was not the case. Dr. Yang wanted us to teach individually, 7 minutes each. So in desperation my partner told me to go first. She wanted me to do the instant activity and the cues (click here for the verbal transcript). I stretched for about as long as I could, and it only took about 5 minutes. My confusion and lack of preparation led to my poor performance in this Lab. This is why it is essential to know what is the assignment at hand, and how to do it properly. Trying to change things last minute does not work all the time, especially when you are teaching an activity that you are not experienced with.


There are two parts to this lab, since we know what is expected I believe that we will do much better. This time I will take ten minutes while she only takes five. My partner is also going to start off the lesson and I am going to wrap it up. I am going to leave you guys with a quote that would've greatly helped this experience.


"Preparation is Key"

- Not Me

No Feedback Form Provided Since I Didnt Specify Any Student.

It’s Friday the 13th, MUHAHAHAHA!!!! It was just another day in the life of a bright and upcoming P.E teacher. On Friday I had to teach a section in the sport of Ultimate Frisbee. My section included adding a defender to the tosser and also making sure the students knew that in the game of Ultimate Frisbee you can only take three steps. Dr. Yang (our professor) had us wired to a MP3 voice recorder, so we heard ourselves teach. Dr. Yang also had us type out a verbal transcript (click to view verbal transcript) of the lesson.

Dr. Yang has us type out all of this because when you write what you say you tend to see more errors. One thing I noticed about the lesson I taught was that I repeated a lot of commands. At first I thought to myself, "Why am I repeating myself so much?" As I gave it more thought I noticed that I repeating myself was more of a good thing. This is because, as a student, I noticed that sometimes I catch myself saying "What did this teacher just say?" So when I’m repeating myself, on top of being a loud speaker, I reinforce what I say by repeating it.

As far as feedback goes, I greatly improved from the last lesson I taught; but there is definitely more room for improvement. One of the aspects of feedback that I improved in was giving a lot of personal feedback. I gave personal feedback to 7 students out of 16, this means that with two more names I would have made it over 50 percent, which is the recommended number (but of course you want to exceed the bare minimum). I also gave a lot of indirect feedback; this could have been better. I caught myself plainly saying good job a lot. Now I’m not saying that a plain old good job is bad; it is just that when you pinpoint the actual skill that the student is performing well, the feedback becomes that much more effective. For example, Tommy is throwing the baseball fast and accurate to the catcher; instead of saying "good job Tommy," you could say "great throw and accuracy Tommy." Now the student knows what he is doing well.

Another aspect of teaching P.E that I improved in was the using students for demonstration. In all two of my activities I used students to demonstrate the task that was coming up. What I failed to do is to use students of both genders. Using students of both genders is good because sometimes Girls tend to say "well he could do that because he is a boy"; or even boys sometimes would say "well that’s a girly activity." So when you put students of both gender to demonstrate it takes away that thought that might be in the students head.

I believe that as far as checking for understanding goes I did a pretty good job. At the end of the class I made sure they knew the three critical cues for the day and the way that I checked for the understanding was also effective. As far as the introduction to the lesson goes, it is always good to loosen up your students. So when I said "When I say "P" you say "E"" this was one of the many ways you can get your class loose and excited for the day’s lesson. I also incorporated that saying two more times throughout the class. This is good because now when students see you they will want to get "jiggy with it"; so the saying also works as a hook to keep students eager to come back to your class.

SO WHEN I SAY "P" YOU SAY "E"

ME: "P"

CLASS: "E"

ME:"P"

CLASS: "E"

EVERYBODY: GET JIGGY WITH IT, GET JIGGY WITH IT!!!

Using your time efficiently in your Physical Education class is important. When I was in high school I remembered that we had 45 Minutes of P.E everyday. 45 Minutes seems O.K until it takes the students 10-15 minutes to get dressed and make their way from the locker room to the gym. Now you have 30 minutes to teach a class that was supposed to be 45 minutes long. We all know 30 minutes a day is not enough time to efficiently teach any class; more so a P.E class. So it is important that you use your time extremely efficiently.

This is why good P.E teachers use the Time Coding Form. The time coding form is a document which helps you record the amount of time you use managing the class, playing the actual activity, instructing the students, and the amount of time you waste waiting.

On February 9th, 2009 I taught a short 3 minute lesson on the Barry Sanders Touchdown Dance. Throughout the day we were learning how to throw, catch, and even kick a football; why not spice it up with a little end zone celebration. I had the students get partners; I had quarterbacks line up on one side and Wide receivers on the other. The quarterback was going to throw the ball to the wide receiver and the wide receiver would pretend to score a touchdown and do the Barry Sanders dance. The students of EDU 255 really enjoyed it, and I believe children of all ages will too.

I used the time coding form for the Barry Sanders lesson I taught. I noticed that I spent a lot of time managing the class maybe more than I wanted to. What I could've done is to have them line up while I got the footballs. That would have cut my managing time in half at least. This would have also increased the time the students spent doing the actual activity. As you notice on the form I fell short to the recommended 50% of activity time. To take things on the bright side there was absolutely no waiting time which is always good.

Feedback is one of the most essential components in teaching effectively. Feedback lets a student know whether he/she is doing good or not. Feedback can be very useful in your class, but it also can be very harmful. If you do not properly give negative feedback the student might feel discouraged, and refrain from ever trying to do the task at hand. If you do not give proper positive feedback the student might feel as though your words are meaningless (student would not even take feedback into consideration).

For example, Pedro is a good runner but needs help loosening his hands. A poor example of feedback in this case will be “Pedro!!! Can you ever get something right, your hands are too tight! Loosen them up!!” Yelling at a student will ineffectively tell your student what he is doing wrong; thus this type of feedback is negative. A proper example of feedback in this case is “Wow Pedro you are fast, now try to keep your hands a little looser. Let’s pretend we are holding an egg in our hand and we do not want to crush it, O.K Pedro let’s do it.” Pointing out the positive than bringing out the negative always gets through the student more than if you simply reprimand him/her. When I finished correcting Pedro, I told him “O.K Pedro let’s do it.” This shows that the student and I are in this together, which will get the student more motivated to perform the task at hand.

During my lesson I did not give feedback at all, but after learning about feedback I realized the importance of it and would not plan a lesson without it.

My first day of EDU 255: Basic Instincts of Effective P.E came as a total shocker as Dr. Yang immediately told me to teach a 5 minute lesson. Was I prepared? No, Was my activity good?, No as I look back on it do I see the mistakes and know how to correct them? yes. Knowing your weaknesses and working on them is one of the most important life lessons. It applies in P.E too.


When I started off the class I noticed that I didnt even introduce myself, this was very rude on my part. On top of the lack of the formal introduction, the activity was Suicides. The class barely knew me and they hated me already. The directions were very poorly explained, And I didn't even make it clear that the signal to start was go. During the activity I did not provide any sort of feedback. Plus the students were so bored that this P.E class was sounding like a history class.

When I switched the suicides from running to side shuffles, again, I explained the directions very poorly. I also saw that I had my hands in my pocket when I was explaining the activity. During the activity I did not give any feedback again. I also caught myself turning my back to the students (This was a good example of lack of professionalism). The best part of my lesson was probably the cool down after the side shuffles. To put the icing on the cake I said a meaningless, "Good Job" and "Thank You." The class was not very happy, I wasnt very happy this is not the way P.E should be. P.E should be fun, not like bootcamp (If you title your lesson boot camp make it a fun bootcamp). The lesson was an overall flop, but the most important part of the lesson is that I learned from my mistakes. Next time a situation like this happens I hope that teaching effectively is just going to be natural.

Here is the Link to the Verbal Transcription of the Lesson:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgpj7t5x_0ggwbwhdn

When I walked into Dr. Yang's class on Friday January 23rd, 2008 I was hit with the unexpected. Dr. Yang instructed me to teach the class anything for five minutes. Having no equipment or preparation prior to class caused me to teach the first thing that came to mind. At my classmates expense, the first thing that came to mind was suicides; so suicides it was. As I look back at the video Dr. Yang took of my little drill session during class I could not help but to notice that I did not encourage the class to hustle. I also believe I did not properly instruct the class, as I saw some students go over the half court line. Most importantly I believe that this activity was far from fun. Fun is essential to a successful P.E course, and this is precisely what I left out. I could have made suicides a little more enjoyable if I would have substituted running for something "funkier"; something like skipping with a partner, hopping on one foot, or even make it competitive by creating teams and turning the activity into a relay race. There are many other mistakes I might have not noticed. But one thing is for sure, these mistakes will become more obvious as I learn from them and as I learn from them I will correct them in an effort to become a better and more passionate Physical Educator.