Field Experience 4/27/2012

Last day!

Today was our last day of field experience, and again the girls were playing indoor soccer. Our teacher went over our evaluations and then talked with us individually about what she would like us to improve on.

My teacher said that I was a very strong teacher. She said although we had limited teaching ability I was still able to develop a relationship with the students and was able to take command of a classroom. She said that my objectives in my lesson planning have improved tremendously and that I take criticism and turn around and improve upon right then. She said my classroom management still needed some work, which I completely agree with but she said that will come with practice.

On our last day she let us completely take over. We separated the girls into 3 teams and each picked a team to coach. The class went really well we were both very vocally and we had the girls attention. We did have one special needs student in our class that needed a little bit more encouragement but after a while she felt more comfortable with the game and got really into it.

Over-all this experience has been...interesting. With vacations, a late start, and state testing it was very hard to do everything we wanted to. Our master teacher felt horrible that we were not able to teach and that we were only able to turn in two lesson plans. She said that other semesters that get in four lesson plans and there is no problem with them teaching, doing their assessments, anything. I feel that maybe 355 students should not be placed with 6th graders in the Spring because of all their state testing. Other then that I had a great experience and my master teacher honestly taught me so much that I will always remember and I will use when I have a classroom of my own.

Field Experience 4/24/2012

Today we were back at our home school and our master teacher was back. The girls again were playing indoor soccer and our teacher told us that we were to ref the game. She had us take turns in being the ref and gave us constructive criticism after each turn.

When my turn came I was kind of quiet. I thought I was doing an okay job I was mostly just letting the girls play and calling our reminders here and there. The girls understood the rules and the game so I feel like i did not have to do much. However, after both our turns are teacher took back over and showed us what we should be doing. She run up and down the gym with the girls and was always talking saying good job good pass good kick, good save. She was also more persistent with the girls who were not trying as much as the other girls by constantly running next to them or saying like remember this is a running game if they stopped moving.

When my turn came again, I stepped it up a lot more. I was more vocal and spent a lot of time running with the girls. My teacher said that she likes how I take criticism and then instantly get better. She said the thing that I have to work on the most was my voice, which she said would develop over the years. She said that eventually I won't have to yell to be heard but I my voice will deepen a little bit and I can just project more. My teacher also liked that I worked well with students one on one. Instead of just yelling out directions, I would go up to individual students and show them exactly what I wanted them to do.

Field Experience 4/20/12

Our third teaching round of the day. This time we were back at Cortland Christian Academy and we were teaching and post-assessing the 2nd and 3rd graders in balancing.

Today walking in went a lot more smoother then last time. We were definitely more prepared to teach and as soon as they kids saw us walking in with hula-hoops, jump ropes, and a poster they got really excited. It really solidifies the fact that I want to work with elementary students.

Our lesson went really really well. We played a game called dragons and princesses for our instant activity and the kids loved it. They got really into the game and they got to work on balancing. It is so much easier to teach students how to do a skill when you can incorporate it into a game instead of just saying "here, lets practice balancing!". The kids don't get bored, and they most likely do not even realize that they are being taught something.

When we got to our main lesson, it was kind of hard to get them to settle down. I kept having to say hands on your head to get them to quiet down. Looking back on it I would have sat down and told them once that I cannot teach them about the game if they keep talking over me. Especially when I brought out my poster, which had the balancing cues on it. My main cue was to refer to balancing as the Flamingo, and the kids really loved it, but they got a little too excited. Classroom management is something that comes with practice and this was just another learning experience. I also did not realize the time constraint that we were under. We originally planned on having the kids play an instant activity, the main game, and then a small tag game where when they were tagged they had to freeze and assume the "Flamingo!" and we would post-assess them that way. Since we did not have time, we post-assessed them in the main game.

Assessing went so much better then it did when we pre-assessed. The students were playing and have a great time and did not even realize they were being assessed, which is want NASPE wants us to do. Over-all teaching this class was probably the highlight of my EDU 355 experience. I loved working with the younger kids and it just made me want to teach elementary students even more.

Field Experience 4/20/12

Our second class of the day was back to our normal class. Our master teacher was out this week on her vacation so we had sub that actually is going to Cortland right now. She let us take over the class from the beginning. We went over the rules, which lane could and could not go into. We also set up rotations for goalie so there was no arguing when the time came to switch. Since this was a bigger class we split the girls up into 3 teams and had them play four minute games so that way they all played the same number of games.

The only thing I would really do differently looking back is say something more to one of the students who was not participating as well as the others. Not necessarily negative things but maybe cheer her on more and when she did something correct be overly encouraging to get her going before taking her aside and asking what is wrong.

Field Experience 4/20/12

Today we did double at Homer. The first class we were with the guys host teacher and the kids were playing indoor soccer still. The class we were observing was not our usual class and it was extremely small and it was only a class of girls.

However, I felt that the game was better played with a group of smaller girls. They all got to play the entire time and did not have to keep switching back and forth which is our ultimate aim as physical education teachers. However, the teaching style was completely different. Instead of going through the rules and how to actually play offense and defense before the game, the teacher let the game start and then kept throwing out directions while they were playing. While this is a good idea since it keeps reminding them of they are suppose to be doing, I feel that the rules should have been reviewed before the girls started playing.

It was good to see the students really getting into it though and they did keep moving. There were no students that we had to talk to to keep moving or to play they all were participating and having a great time.

Field Experience 4/17/2012

Today we were teaching at the Cortland Christian Academy doing our per-assessing of our skill theme balancing.  Instead of our usual 6th grade class we were teaching 2nd and 3rd graders. It was a little weird going to a different school. At Homer we are really comfortable there, we know exactly where to go how to get there we talk to the secretary in the office all the time. Going to a different school is definitely confusing. We got lost getting there and then we didn't know how to actually get into the school.

I have heard of schools that use regular classroom teachers to teach physical education, but hearing about it and seeing it are two completely different things. I feel that the 355 students who got to go to this school got a really great experience. Although it was probably a lot of work being expected to teach every single time they went, they really got a huge experience teaching and I have to admit I am a little jealous.

I feel that our pre-assessing went okay. We definitely could have done a lot better. We should have communicated better with the two girls that were teaching that day instead of just assuming that they were doing stations. As a teacher I feel that you need to plan for everything, including taking charge even if you may not be in charge of that lesson. I also feel that we should have planned how we were doing our assessing better. NASPE says that when assessing elementary students to use stations and to make it so that students do not realize they are being assessed. We did the complete opposite. We pulled the students out of their soccer game one by one and assessed them that way, and when that was not working we had the students do it all together which was actually extremely hard.

All in all, not our finest moment. Then again if every teacher was perfect we wouldn't have to go through all this experience. Lesson learned for the next assessment!

Field Experience 4/3/2012

Today's lesson we were suppose to do our skill theme with our class. We had picked jump roping and we were going to teach them how to cross the rope while jumping and assess them on how many times out of ten they could successfully cross the rope.

From the beginning there seemed to be a conflict with trying to fit our lesson in. With all the vacations going on and testing, we were crammed for time so we were doing the per-assessment, teaching, and post-assessment all in the same day. However, I was under the impression that although we would not be teaching and/or assessing the whole class, we would at least have a small group of girls that we would be teaching while the rest of the class played indoor soccer. This was not the case. We were per-assessing, teaching, and  post-assessing all in a matter of five minutes.

When I heard that this is what we were going to be doing. I was a little shocked since we are suppose to be actually teaching not just observing and I felt that is all we had been doing. This also showed me how much communication is important because if we had known the time constraints and the that we were not going to have the whole class to teach a skill we could have picked a more simple skill or maybe tried to figure a better plan to fit in where we could actually teach.

The rest of the class the students were playing indoor soccer. I like how our master teacher actually went through and explained the rules and how to play. She also worked in a ton of check for understandings to make sure the students 100% knew what they were doing. It was not just a simply roll out the ball and play indoor soccer, it was a legit game of soccer.