Saturday, December 6, 2008

Why should we keep PE!

Lab 6




One thing that I have learned about young children is that just bringing in little props can get them so excited about the game that their going to play. I also learned that with kids you have to have a firm voice to execute what you want them to do. One example of an activity that I thought was appropriate was our popcorn popper game. It was a good way to get the kids throwing higher and using their skills.
I think that my teaching style has emerged upon my experience and interaction with St. Mary’s because it has gotten me aware of what I need to work on. For example I need to project my voice more so that the kids listen more. I also have gotten idea of what it’s like to work with kids more and see how we put games together and then execute them. I think that this experience has helped me become more comfortable in front of the kids teaching the games that were going to play.

Lab 3

One teaching strategy I used was following the leader to get the pre-k students all together in a line to get them ready for the next activity. It worked well because it was a ways to keep them organized and by doing different skills it kept them interested. Also before doing an activity it’s important to get all the students attention before you start explaining the rules or else they wont know how to play the game. So just by saying “raise your hand if your listening” they will all start to raise their hand then to make sure they are following switch it up by saying touch your nose.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Lab Five!!




I think that in the last four labs the games that we played were appropriate for the St. Mary’s students. The last two games that we played I feel was the best out of all of them. We played the popcorn game which worked out well when we used a high wall so that the students were able to throw high and use the mechanics to a throw. I feel that in that game it kept the students attention and they were really excited to keep playing. Also in the last game we played we had them dribbling and when the music stopped they had to put the ball back into the hoola hoop. I felt that the music really kept them on task because it was something different which gets the students excited. Some of the limitations to games when using them in the process of assessing motor skills are that it sometimes can take out the competition. Students love games that are competitive but in those types of games it can be hard to observe because they might not being doing the motor skills right because they want to win. Therefore it’s hard to observe them because they are able to do the skill but you’re just not seeing it. Another limitation is some games that don’t have everyone doing the motor skills can’t be used. For example if your playing European handball and your observing bouncing a ball not everyone will be dribbling a ball.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Lab 4


I think some difficulties are finding games that will entertain the kids but are still good for observing. For example with catching and throwing it was challenging to find a way that they wouldn’t just be throwing it to win the game but to really be showing the steps in a throw including the step with the opposite foot and hip rotation. I also think it’s difficult to get the older kids to play games because they seem to just want to do what they want to do. I also think another difficult challenge is that some of the kids know that if they don’t want to do something they don’t have to. Therefore it’s harder to get them to really focus on what you want them to do. I think that when observing the catching and throwing it was hard to see the kids step as they were throwing.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

John Edward's Speech

10/22/08
Today we saw a presentation by John Edwards who is a communications grad student. His speech was interesting because he brought up the topic that communication has changed so much. One of his examples was that people used to socialize on their front porch and talked to their neighbors. But this gradually changed to people socializing on their decks in the backyard. Also today people text and use computers for communicating which isn't as direct as talking to someone in person. He said that one of the most common things that people say is missing in a work environment is communication. This is related to teaching because sometimes students don't ask enough questions and therefore do the assignment wrong which is an example of bad communication. He also mentioned that when you start communicating with someone it forms relationships. But each person has different kind of personality which can make communicating difficult when crossing with personalities. He said that for good communication you must study, practice, master communication, and teach. I thought his speech was interesting and true how communication has changed so much and how we need to work on asking more questions for better understanding. Sometimes people forget how much they need communication throughout there day.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Mini Conference


The presentation that I attended at the Mini Conference was about Polar and their influence in electronics in physical education. He presented ideas that you could use in physical education to better the program. One thing he presented was an electronic grade book. Within this little electronic thing you could record attendance, participation, and what they did that day in class. This way when time for a report card or parent conferences you have the dates and things that the students did. He also suggested that we should start looking at heart rate in the physical education setting. He suggested getting watches so that you could see the students heart rate and use that to see how hard they are working in class. The presentation was interesting to see the different things that you could use to make physical education that much better.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Second Post


In the beginning we observed kidegarden and first grade students hopping, running, amd galloping. When we observed I found that I never really saw either of the students switch from left to right foot. Also one girl wasnt swinging her leg enough to produce force. At the end we played a game of blob tag that most students seemed excited to play. I noticed that the students had a strategy to playing. They wouldnt start to move unless someone who was tagged came near them. Then most kids would scatter off because they didnt want to become part of the chain.

One effective teaching strategy that I saw was trying to get the students attention. Most of us say raise your hand if your listening. Then when everyone raises their hand and is quiet you are able to explain the game. One strategy I think we need to work on when were trying to observe the students is finding games that enable to see the skill well. When the games are competative its hard for the kids to do the skill efficient because they are so eager to win and even though they are supposed to hop if their trying to get away they will run instead.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

My First Blog






We looked at differences in ages and gender when looking at how they interacted and did motor skills. When looking at students jump rope I found that older kids were able to jump in while the rope was already swinging, touch the ground, and jump for long periods at a time. Some of the younger kids needed help rythmically knowing when to jump and we gave them several trys before they were able to get the pattern of jumping rope. We also looked at the age differences because some of the older kids we found it was harder to keep their attention because they were uninterested. Their were gender differences too. I think that sometimes it was harder to get some of the girls ibvolved in the activities because they were with their friends on the side. Also when looking at them in the cafeteria based on their gender they would build differnet types of things.