Lessons Learned and Personal Application

Well…I put all of these theories, lessons, ideas, etc to the test. As mentioned in my previous post, I was really struggling with figuring out how to teach vocabulary, digital literacy, and critical literacy in a PE classroom. We are constantly taught that as PE teachers the main goal is to get kids moving and to keep them moving, so as you can imagine I was a little bit defeated when trying to think of how to incorporate this class into a PE class. But…I decided to try all of it out in my clinical class for my self-selected project.

For my self-selected project, I choose to do two vocabulary lessons with the last one increasing motivation as well as teaching key vocabulary words.

1^st lesson—Dribbling

Before class, I wrote the three key cues for dribbling: eyes up, stay low, change pace and then I wrote all of the drills that we would be doing: rht/lft handed babies, medium, and large; rht/lft handed yoyo; rht/lft handed wrist breakers; crossovers babies, medium, and large; figure eights; and dynamic drill. Then I took the class through their usual warm-up. Then I had the students get on the base line. I went through all of the cues and drill vocabulary words and demonstrated while doing so. Then I divided the class into halves because we didn't have enough basketballs for all of the students. I had one half of the class go to the other side of the gym and do wall sits, while I took the other half through the dribbling drills. I kept saying the key cues and vocabulary words over and over and over. Then I switched halves. The lesson went really well and I felt the students learned the words and technique for dribbling. However, classroom management was a little rough. Because of where I positioned the half doing wall sits, I couldn't see them the entire time, so some students were not doing wall sits. I definitely could have rethought this idea. I should have placed students in partnerships so that partners could remind them of the key cues and vocabulary words associated with dribbling.

2^nd Lesson-Shooting form

Before class, I wrote the acronym B.E.E.F on the board. B-bend knees and balance, E-elbow up, in, and parallel to floor, E-eyes on target, & F-follow through. I took the students through a similar warm-up and then got them on the baseline. I went through the drills and vocabulary words while I demonstrated. Then I divided the students up into their 6 packs, and put on pack at each basket. I also assigned each student a letter of the acronym. The students were instructed to stand on the baseline of each basket if they weren't going through the drill. The students on the baseline were instructed to remind their classmate, who was going, of their assigned letter of the acronym. This worked extremely well because every student had a job and it helped them to learn the vocabulary because of repetition. After 20 minutes we came back as a class and reviewed the material, Then I let them shoot around for 7 minutes to work on their technique. I found that this drill also increased motivation to shoot and play basketball, because students who had been struggling making a basket were able to because they now had the tools necessary to help them get better and make a basket. This was such a fun lesson and I really enjoyed watching the students improve.

Upon reflection of these two lessons I was extremely excited! I realized that I can use vocabulary lessons, critical literacy, digital literacy, articles, etc in a physical education. My clinical teacher does “Fit Friday” where she incorporates different news or fitness articles and shares them with the class and they learn about living healthy lifestyles. They go through several activities that they can do with friends or their families. One Tuesday, the class discussed nutrition for about 10 minutes and then completed the activity for the day. I realized that the writing or reading doesn’t have to take up the entire class, but can be just a small part of the class every day or a couple days a week. I am really excited to further the things I have learned in this class in my student teaching experience and in my own classroom one day. Literacy can be in EVERY classroom!

Application

Throughout the semester, I have been doing observations at Willow Valley Middle School. Over the course of this semester I have been really struggling with how to adapt what I have been learning in this class to a Physical Education class. I found that I was able to adapt everything we have been learning to English easily, but I struggled with PE because the goal in a PE class is to KEEP the KIDS MOVING! So I set out to observe my clinical teacher with a rejuvenated purpose. I wanted to see if she was able to use the things we have been learning this semester, in her own classroom. My discoveries were motivating.

I found that my teacher used different strategies that incorporated digital literacy, articles, vocabulary, etc everyday in her classroom!! ON Tuesdays, she discusses nutrition. Her students still do the designated PE movement requirements, i.e., they do their warm-up, core work, the activity for the day. But they also get taught about weight training, nutrition, yoga, etc. For the last few minutes of class, the teacher would discuss a healthy eating habit and send them home with a worksheet, vocabulary sheet, article, etc. Then on “Fit Friday” the students would bring back what was given out on Tuesday and they had to discuss what they learned and how it applied to them. The teacher set this process up fantastically. She made sure to put up the vocabulary words on the white board in the gym and to remind them of the work they needed to be doing throughout the week. 

Last week, the teacher got the entire students’ families involved. As a class, they discussed healthy treats, and on sent home a sheet that the students had to discuss with their family and decide what healthy treat they were going to try out that week. IF the family wanted to share that treat with the class, they could bring that to “Fit Friday”. Several students showed up with healthy treats. It was so neat! The students were able to share their experiences and if they brought a treat they shared it with the class. This only lasted about 12 minutes. Then for the rest of the class, they did activities that they can incorporate at home. It was really cool!

So I guess the moral of all of this is that all of these strategies we have been learning about CAN be incorporated into a PE classroom. This new found motivation is what inspired me to pick my self-selected project of teaching two vocabulary lessons to my clinical PE class. Stay tuned for my next post to learn how that went… J