A couple weekends I helped out at the Christmas Bazaar for St. Mary's school. Although this was not a physical education experience, it was a great thing for us to do since we gave back to the community, and it was not complicated work. I was in charge of the beanbag toss, and I had to take tickets from kids that wanted to play and hand them three beanbags. It was an great experience because it got your face out into the community, and it was shocking how many parents actually stopped and talk to you and what you were studying and how you liked it. The time went by a lot faster then I thought it was going too and meeting the kids was great. They get so excited to play these games and to have you there helping run the place really helps out everybody.
Lab D has come and gone. It's hard to believe how fast this semester has gone by. From when we walked in and were ambushed with teaching on the first day, to now when we all know each other and teaching the class is a lot less nerve racking then it was in the beginning. It seems so surreal that all of us have come such a long way from that first awkward four minute to lesson, to be able to teach, at least in my case, for half an hour without being nervous or without over thinking the process. As I watch my lab d video, I find it easier to reflect on not only the video but the semester as a whole.
The one thing I was nervous about when heading into Lab D was how long I would be teaching for. I had never even taught close to 30 minutes by myself but yet here I was about to voluntarily do it for the first time. I was most nervous about being able to keep everyone moving for long periods of time, but after reviewing my video and doing my time coding sheet, I was actually pleasantly surprised at myself since most of my lesson was the students doing some sort of activity. I didn't even have any wait time since when I went to go get equipment, instead of letting them hang on to the wall, I made them tread water until I got back. I also liked that through out the lesson, I felt relaxed and was having fun, and by watching my video, I think that you can tell. I was connecting with the students on a more personal level instead of having the typical teacher-student wall up.
One thing I wish I more was incorporate more of my lesson of biofeedback, breath control, and heart rate. I wanted to do it in a way that was not overly obvious, so that it flowed with my lesson more but looking at my video I believe that I did not touch on it as thoroughly as I should have.Also, looking back I wish I had demonstrated what I wanted the students to do so that they understood it more thoroughly. I learned that is hard to convey what you want them to do from the side of the pool. For them to have a full and complete understanding, you have to actually get in the pool with them and swim. For example, I should could have shown them the kicks from different angles. I could have sat on the ladder and showed them with me sitting forward on it, with me holding on the handles and kicking my legs behind me. I also could have had them get out of the pool and stand on the side while I get in the pool and show them exactly how I want them to perform the skill. Knowing this knowledge now, when I eventually do have to teach a swim class, I will not be the teacher that sits on the side and just talks at her class. I will get in the pool and swim with them, since teachers are able to have fun too, right? Another thing that I know I need to work on is my check for understands. I always do them at the end when it is just a closing statement, not really a CFU. I need to work them more into my lesson, whether or be verbally or written, to make sure my students a 100% know what exactly it is that I want from the,
So we're not dwelling on the negative, another part of my lesson that I really liked is my opening. Looking back on other lessons, my weak part was always my introduction, even though that should be the easiest. I think it is because I get nervous and I over think it, but this time I did not let myself start over thinking what I was going to say and I definitely think it showed. I also liked that I was strong when I read my rules. In a pool setting especially, you have to get real detailed with yours rules because not only can something extremely bad happen such as someone starts to drown, but students can, and will, find new ways to misbehave in a pool setting, so I had to be firm on what I wanted from them so the students would not injure themselves, or someone else.
Over all, this semester has made me learn a lot about myself as a teacher candidate. It's easy to say oh yeah I want to be a physical education teacher and I am going to do this, but to actually do it is a complete different story. One of my professors definitely hit home when he said that in our profession, you are constantly going to be working with people, and things are going to go wrong. It is how you handle things that go wrong that makes you a great teacher, not how you handle things when everything is perfect. I feel that this semester showed us that, because all of us, including myself, went from not knowing how to handle student's misbehaving, to be able to correct the behavior and move on and taking this class helped out a lot. When it is all said and done, I think I took a huge step in towards being a successful p.e. teacher and to affecting lives around me.
We can't always choose when bad things are going to happen. Bad things happen to good people, always, and we have just to have to get through it. That's what this lab taught me in a big way, and I am actually impressed that even though with everything going on, I was able to do this well. However, you may or may not agree with me...
Now, let me start off by saying that I look SO NERVOUS and I have no idea why. I practice on my roommates the day before, and I wasn't nervous at all until I started actually teaching...weird.
As I'm watching this, I noticed that right in the beginning I start rushing through everything, and I didn't give much of an introduction. I even forgot to say my name which should be completely obvious. Again, probably the nerves because I settled down after that fiasco. I also noticed that my voice kept going in and of out. One second I was loud the next sound I was quiet, and I am not usually that quiet (minus the first time teaching). I also wish that I had set up the scooters before the activity started, so I didn't waste time having to have the students go get their own equipment.
I liked that the students seemed to be having fun the most. As I was preparing my packet for this I was hard press to find activities that led up to this game therefore I directed more into making sure the kids were having fun. Just to have the kids slap a ball back and forth would have been boring but adding the scooters up the difficulty and also made it more fun.
Over all, not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I felt that I was really rushed and didn't have a lot of time for anything and forgot a lot of things, but in the end the only thing I messed up on was the introduction and that is something that I know from previous labs I really have to work on. It's far from perfect, but then again, I don't think any teacher is ever perfect.
Jump roping. Sounds simple right? Well, kind of. There are actually a lot of different skills and tricks that come along with jump roping, and being able to do them, let alone teach them, is a lot harder then it looks.
With that being said, it has been about two weeks since we, well, were pushed into teaching if you will. It's cool to actually see how everyone has improved with each time they teach, since everyone, myself especially, has become more comfortable and more confident in their abilities. My skills that I was assigned to teach was the single side swing, and the double side swing and it went something like this...
Since we are taught to do always the positive first when teaching, I will talk about the positive in my video first also. I was actually surprised about how loud I was talking since right before I went I literally sounded like a frog and didn't really have a voice. Also, I think that my strong suite is my demonstration since I had a really firm grasp on the skill and could show the proper way to do it, and also the incorrect way of performing the skill.
As for the beginning of my lesson, I definitely need to work on having a signal for attention, it is probably time to invest in a whistle. Also, I need to make my hook more obvious. I thought I had the hook with the skiing, but now that I watch the video it wasn't really a hook but more of a comparison. As for safety statement, this unit would have been perfect for a safety statement (come on, little kids and ropes, right) and I completely skipped over it. I feel that now that I see myself skipping certain things, the next time I teach I can practice them at home and make sure I include them a 100% of the time.
So here we go again, same skill, different group, different day, a little bit more experienced. However, this time, there is no equipment.
So, still not perfect but definitely a lot better then the first time around. In this video, you can actually hear my voice, yay! Also, I instead of just jumping right into doing relay races, I had the class line up and do the activity all together before racing against each other. I also like how I demonstrated how to move your body through the hula-hoop.
One thing I need to work on is involving myself in the lesson more. A good teacher never stands around just instructing students what to do, but actually get's involved with them. This is something that I have not been comfortable enough to do, but will work on in the future. Also, my closing needs work. I feel that it's just open-ended to be like ok, that's it, go to your next class.
I think that the no equipment thing will actually help student learners as weird as that sounds. A lot of time, especially using my experience as a softball coach, once you add in equipment, form, footwork, everything, goes out the window. Sometimes I feel that it is better to work on skills without equipment for a good two to three weeks then slowly introduce the equipment. This is true for both coaching and teaching.
It's syllabus week right? You go through the motions, go to class in a sleepy stupor, still in summer mood. You don't really expect to do anything, correct? Wrong. Welcome to EDU 255, and what a welcome it was. Walk into class and BOOM Professor Yang welcomes everyone and says today you will be teaching a skill for 4 minutes. Um, what? Oh, and you can only use what is provided, soccer balls, basketball, nurf-footballs, volleyballs, and hula hoops. I think nervous was an understatement here since I knew a whopping total of 2 people in the entire class.
Since my last name is towards the very end of the alphabet, I got the luxury of watching other people go before me and get a feel for what they did. I admit, I was a bit nervous since what I was teaching wasn't a skill like everyone else, but was a game that I had learned in Adventure Activities. I watched, and participated in, different volleyball skills, basketball skills, soccer skills, and skills you didn't even need equipment to do.
And then, it was my turn. I got up in front of my group and introduced the game, hula-hoop relays. The object is to hold hands, and pass the hula-hoop from end to the other, without letting go of the person next to you. Easier said then done, especially for the tall students in the class. I split the group into two teams, demonstrated what I wanted them to do and then let them go. I made it harder at the end by putting them in a circle and having them do it that way. I thought it went pretty well, but as always, nothing is perfect.
Seeing as I had never actually taught anyone before, minus softball but then I actually know what I'm doing, mistakes were obviously going to happen. No one is good at anything the first time they try it, the only way to get better is to practice and practice and practice. When I watched the video, I was kind of uncomfortable looking, I did not look confident at all in what I was doing. Also, although I thought I was talking loud, clearly that is not the case since I can't hear myself at all. I know that is something I always going to have to work on since I am usually soft spoken. I talk a lot, but I talk very quietly. I was surprised to see myself laughing and smiling though in some spots. Looking back, I only remember being extremely nervous and shaking.
I think to improve on this lesson, I need to have the class come together first before separating them. I need to have them do the passing of the hula-hoop down the line together as a class a couple times before having them race against each other. Also, this game would be more fun and difficult with more people because then you can have larger groups, and more groups racing against each other.
