Monday, October 27, 2008

Hurling Day 2

I introduced the jab lift and the roll lift to my class today. I think I demonstrated pretty clearly how I expected them to perform the task. I am still a little nervous when I talk in front of the class. I think it it sometimes harder to public speak in front of my classmates. I tried to give positive feedback to my students. I tried to be more specific with my feedback, and compliment my students on individual cues within the task. I brought the class together and asked them if they remembered the cues for the lifts. I could have expanded and asked more specific questions about the lifts, and what situations would be best to use the different lifts. Next time, I will hand out a written assessment for them to fill out about the activity I present. I could definately improve on making my voice louder for the next class. I should reiterate to students that they should challenge themselves during the activities, by lifting with nondominant hand, and catching the ball with the nondominant hand. For next class I should focus on a good hook for grabbing my students attention and getting them excited to participate in the activity I have planned. I need to remember to face and address all the students in my class when explaining part of my activity, and not have my back to my students. Overall, I think my students had a lot fun with the activity I taught today.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

John Edwards

John Edwards is a motivational speaker who spoke about the importance of communication. He attended SUNY Cortland, and graduated in 1986 with a degree in communications. Effective communication is a lifelong skill that can help you succeed in many different areas. A lot of challenges can result from poor communication. Mr. Edwards spoke about how people can be categorized into different personality types. People with certain personality types get along certain people of the same category or that are similar. Some people a certain type of personality clash or have a tougher time getting along with people of the opposite personality. He spoke about how communicating with others builds relations with those people. Therefore we develop relationships from conversations. He talked about verbal and nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication would include body language we can read from other people that shows emotions. He emphasized how the style of communication is changing in the United States. People rely on technology as their form of daily communication. People communicate through e-mails, text messages, instant messages, and social networks sites such as facebook and myspace. It is important to network with other professionals in my field, to learn new teaching strategies or ideas from them. It is very important to communicate with others, and bounce ideas off each other in the workplace. It is important to ask questions. By asking questions we become experts in the art of critical thinking. People want to feel like they are valued. They like to know that they have an impact and purpose. So it is important to provide positive and specific feedback to these individuals.
All leaders share a unique quality in that they are all effective communicators.
It is very important to be an effective communicator as a PE teacher. Checking for understanding during an activity is key element in a lesson. Communicating to my class clearly ad authoritatively will produce better results, because my students will know what is expected of them. Giving positive and corrective feedback to my class will help them improve their skills and self confidence. Effectively communicating thoughts and ideas to my coworkers is an important skill. Having a good rapport with my fellow coworkers and my boss will help me succeed in my career.
Communication leads to increased learning and accelerated growth. Communication also produces integrity, and results. Mr. Edwards used the acronym SPMT in regards to communication. The S stood for Study. It is important to study, research, learn, and enhance my knowledge. The P stood for Practice. I can only become a more effective communicator if I practice and learn from my mistakes. M stood for Master. I should try to master being a great communicator. It is very important as a teaching to have very effective communication skills with my classes and faculty members. I really enjoyed Mr. Edwards motivational speech. I thought presented his ideas clearly and had fun with the audience. He brought up many valuable points that made me think how communication is very essential to my life.

PE mini conference

I attended the Fall Physical Education Mini Conference on October 10th at SUNY Cortland. I thought the keynote speach by John Passarini was excellent. John is a very special individual. Throughout his career, he had a tremendous impact on many students lives. Mr. Passarini's speech was very humbling. He taught me to not take things in life for granted. I especially liked his attitude on how every individual is differently abled, not disabled in any way. He appreciates individuals unique characteristics and capabilities. I really enjoyed watching his short video clips.
I really enjoyed D.J. Bevivino's presentation on Sepak Takraw. This would be a great activity to intergrate into a Physical Education cirriculum because there are not many games that incorporate foot eye coordination. This sport can have many different modifications, so it could be played at all age and skill levels. Sepak Takraw is a team sport which is very fun to play.
I also attended Dr. Yang's presentation on high tech and low tech PE. I learned about a toy called Animal scramble. This toy is very simple to use. It is voice activated electronic that tells you which animal to press. This activity would be really exciting to present to a younger elementary physical education class. Students perform different locomotor activities, while they listen to instructions from the Animal scramble game.
Also, during this session, another activity was taking place. A power stepper and stationary bike pedals were hooked up to video game system. This is a great tool to integrating video games with a twist into a PE cirriculum. Students must continue pedaling or stepping for the game to continue. If either player decides to stop, the game freezes. A students heartrate will also increase as they play a game they enjoy. I think this idea is great, and would go over very well with a Junior High or High School class. I really liked how some students wore heart monitors during the activities. The heart rates were tracked on a program and shown on a projector. During a PE class, students could monitor and assess their own heart rate to see if they are in their target heart rate zone, while they are participating in a PE class.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Hurling Day 1

Casey and I, introduced the sport of hurling to our class today. This fastpaced sport originated in Ireland. It is considered to be an invasion sport because your team is trying to score on your opponents goal, as they try to defend their goal and vice versa. During my seven minutes of instruction, I taught them how to dribble/stickhandle with hurley and sliotar. I challenged them by having them dribble while walking, jogging, and running. Next, I taught the class how to pass and receive the ball. I gave positive and corrective feedback to students in my class. I think Casey and I were good on time management. We had the equipment ready to go. We also used a poster as a visual aid for the students to see the real equipment, since we had to modify the game to teach it to our class. For my next lesson, I need to come up with cues that are easy for them to remember. I need to make my drills for teaching more game like and exciting. Students are very competitive and they will try harder and enjoy an activity if it is more game like.

Frisbee Lesson

The verbal transcript was a great tool to aid me for teaching. From hearing myself on the MP3, I learned that I need to use more precise language when teaching. I still need to have a louder teaching voice when instructing a lesson. I only gave feedback to seven people during my activity. I gave mostly general feedback for students in my class doing something good or correct. My feedback should be more specific, based on behavior and skill. For my next lab, I will try to say something positive to everyone in the class. I need to be a little more excited and enthusiastic to teach my next lab. My language for teaching needs to be more clear and easy to understand. Because for one of my activities two people did not understand exactly what was expected of them. I think my introduction to the lesson was good, but I still need to improve on my closure. My activity time for the class improved from my last lab.
It was definately more challenging teaching by myself this for this activity. I felt a lot more comfortable when I had a partner to bounce ideas off of for teaching cues or strategies.
I think I am improving and becoming more confident each time I teach a lesson.

Punting a Football

Mike and I taught the class how to punt a football. We broke the football punt into different components and taught each of them seperately. First we taught them how to hold the football and what the proper stance looks like. Next, we taught the class the proper steps. Finally we taught the class how to follow through after the ball comes in contact with the top of the foot. The football punt could be split into the preperation, execution and follow-through phase.
I learned a great deal from watching myself teach on DVD. I learned I need to project my voice louder. I need to spend less time instructing, and have my class have more activity time. I need to improve on my closure and have my students excited for their next class.