Lab D Reflection

Surfs up everybody, are you ready to ride the wave?  This was my last and final lesson to teach during my 255 experience and I was assigned to the pool.  This was by the far the hardest lesson for me to plan but I ended up coming with my own game called Flutter Kick Football.  It is a game basically designed around the flutter kick stroke.  I believe I put all my efforts into this lab and it showed throughout my lesson.  This lab  I hit everything i needed to hit including my safety statement signal for attention and feedback.  the only thing I forgot to do was to introduce myself! Hey but after awhile of teaching the same class I guess you don't have to introduce yourself every time.

Some things I believe I need to work on would be my feedback.  although you can see by looking at my FEEDBACK ANALYSIS FORM I gave a good amount of feedback but there is always room for improvement in this area.  Also during my lesson I noticed that I turned my back to the class to grab a poster board filled with all the cues the students needed to know for the day.  This was a mistake because as I learned you never turn your back on the class no matter what.  I thought abut that a lot after the lesson and it makes sense.  Kids are kids and if you leave them unoccupied for even a minute things could get out of hand.  These are thing I will work hard to improve on in my quest to becoming a physical educator.

Some things I believe that went well for me during my lesson was always keeping the class active.  If you look at my TIME CODING SHEET, you will notice that the class was never sitting still and was always active.  Also if you look at my CONENT DEVELOPMENT FORM you will see tat in my lesson I stuck to a lot of cues and would really like to incorporate more challenges in my lessons.  I believe that students need to be challenged in order for them to learn.  This will also stimulate their thinking in the other classes.

Check out my lesson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEZfOu7F4TY&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH1JKMxAEcw&feature=related

Healthy Gaming

I have recently played two games on the internet that are great for kids.  It teaches them about good nutrition and what is bad for you.  These are the types of games that we need to introduce to our youth because with the drastic obesity rate in the United States if we don't make a change it could get worse.

 The first game that I played was Lunch Crunch 2 (http://www.playnormous.com/games/lunch-crunch-2 ). If I had to rate this game out of 10 i would give it an 8.  The concept to the game was great.  You have t take the unhealthy foods off the trays and replace them with healthy foods before time runs out.  This is great for ids because maybe it will stimulate some sort of response in the lunch room at school.  Maybe instead of grabbing for the chips they grab an apple instead.  i didn't give the game a full ten because I don't know how exciting the game really is and it kind of gets repetitive.  All together I think it was a great game but maybe needs some more excitement in it.  the message it send s though is awesome for kids and could lead to healthier lifestyles.

The second game that I played was Pyramid Pile Up Plus (http://www.playnormous.com/games/pyramid-pileup-plus).  this also was a great game for kids and really sends a great message.  This game you need to put the foods in the right categories and it even gives you nutrition labels to show what is good and what isn't.  Then you need to place the foods into the correct categories.  If i had to rank this game out of ten I would give it a 10/10.  I ranked this game so high because I enjoyed playing it and it gave you different levels to the game.  After the first level which was easy it gradually gets harder and harder giving a real challenge to the game, and without a challenge games get boring.  This was the better of the two games because it keeps you on your toes and sends a great message.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ4KdApQSoE
LESSON PLAN
TASK PROGRESSION-
ACTIVITY SHEET- https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1ognwPNP--tLs_qMjEb_HTCOPISxABqo3E1AnjPu71b0

Daily Burn Questions

1.  The daily burn was like nothing I have ever seen before.  It was one of the most interesting sites that I have seen in a long time.  I immediately told all of my house mates about it because they are all into going to the gym every single day.  The thing about the site that I liked the most was how it showed you  what you caloric intake was and how much carbohydrates and protein you are taking in on a daily basis.  It also tells you how much you need to intake on a daily basis to reach your goals.

I have never used this type of website before but I plan on signing up for the pro package and using it on a daily basis.  If you are into exercising and being conscious of what you eat this site will help you organize your whole program and bring you to your ideal goals.

2. I would use this website to accomplish our Recommended Regent’s Level for LS #1B by making each of my students sign up for the site and let it help them plan a workout routine for themselves.  This would give the students freedom into making their own exercise programs based on their individual goals.  The sky is the limit with this site and it will help you get to where you want to be.  Some modifications that I would use to to establish a group or individual’s goals would be for the students to track their progress during a four week cycle and every week they should be moving closer and closer to their goals and if not they are not following their plans.

3.  Some electronic tools that I would use would be straight off of the website.  Each time you answer in the reps and weight used during your workouts I the assessor should see improvement as the time goes on.  If the students are doing their programs then by the beginning to the end their should be significant growth and numbers should sky rocket.  This would work in a High School setting because for homework students would have to print out their numbers and scores and could be tested in class.

Answer to Question to the video: http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/indepthanalysis/story/2009/10/06/national-braingains.html


1. The website is from Toronto ON, Canada.  The school is located in South Saskertoon, Canada and then their is another school mentioned called Naperville Central located near Chicago, USA.


2.  I thought this piece was very interesting due to all of the statistics that were given on the improvements the school had accomplished from adding exercise to their curriculum.  The part that I found most interesting was the fact that ninety percent of the student in school had ADHD and after exercise was added, students were gradually coming off their medication and were functioning on their own.  In fact the teacher says that the students attentions spans increased by three hours.  Also I liked how the school acted as an aid to the children and would provide them with free clothes and food.  This was very interesting to me because I am a firm believer in exercise stimulates your mind and makes you a better student.  Statistics show that students on an athletic team have higher gpa's than the rest of the student body.  This is definitely something the rest of the country and world need to be involved in because being active can only help.


3.  I believe we don't hear anything about the PE teacher being involved with the experiment because the teacher doesn't teach lessons that stimulate the brain as well as the body.  The PE program is most likely a standard PE program where the teacher would stick to the main s probably ports of basketball, baseball, soccer, football.  Their was never any thinking being done in this class and just a poor PE program.  I will ensure that my PE program will be beneficial to my students and faculty by thinking outside the box and creating a buzz throughout the school.  During my lessons I ant kids to be thinking at all times and have to solve problems during my lessons.  Not only do i want my students to become better movers but to be better thinkers as well and this will carry into other classes like history, english and math and in the long run make better students. 


4.  The main outcomes and benefits from the experiment were very drastic and really sent the schools academic levels through the roof.  Some main points from the experiment include that the students attention span would increase by three hours.  Also after giving a pre experiment test and post experiment test students gained a full letter grade higher in the post experiment exam.  These are drastic numbers that changed just from adding thirty minute exercises three times a week.  I am not surprised at all from these finding because I was always told this and always have been a firm believer that academics and athletics go hand in hand.  The outcomes from the experiment are very similar to the NYS PE Standards. The one that sticks in my head the most would be standard two.  After the experiment students were able to control and manage their behavior better.  As for standards 1A and 1B they are also so closely related because the students were able to perform better motor skills and were now able to make their own fitness programs by taking exercise they used in class.  Standard three is also met because now like they said in the video kids want to come to school now just to exercise.  The students are using their resources in their community to become more active and lead healthier lifestyles.  


5. BDNF is a nerve growth factor that takes place in the brain.  Dr. John Ratey describes BDNF as fertilizer on the brain which helps preserve the brain and helps it withstand stress.  BDNF increases when heart rate goes up during physical activity.  This directly deals with PE and learning because PE is where we get our heart rates up and when this is done we are increasing our BDNF levels hence increasing our learning ability. One of the books is mentioned in the documentary.  The book is called  “Spark” by Dr. John Ratey.  The other boo is “The Kinesthetic Classroom” by Traci Lengel and Mike Kuczala.  


PART C


1c. There are so many different categories of activity that one can be proficient or competent in. Some of the categories are, team passing, net/wall, target, striking fielding, aquatics, dance and aesthetic, outdoor, personal performance, and fitness.  With the many choices to pick from students should find an activity that is right for them and really gets them interested.   Not many schools follow the 6+3 across 3 because they are still doing bad PE.  Students should be competent in 6, proficient in 3, across 3 categories especially seniors in high school.   This regents in the PE program would stop kids from just sitting in the corner not participating to actually working for a grade and becoming healthier and better learners while doing it.  Their is no reason why PE shouldn't be included at the regents level because without that title we are making it harder for ourselves as educators to move away from the old boring PE programs.  I believe the recommended regent's level for LS #1A should be 90%.  I don't believe that anything should be 100% because that is just to unrealistic.  90% is a more realistic umber that I believe is very accessible. 


As for LS #1B I believe that also 95% of students in the senior class should be reach “competency” in their “Personal Fitness Plan".  Again I didn't want to say 100% because that is unrealistic but even if kids don't pass the LS#1A they should still be able to make a personal fitness plan just by paying attention on how to be active.  As a PE teacher you need to be able to explain to students that cant exactly do something, the correct way to perform the task.  Then on the other and you have to explain to the students who can perform the skills how to put what they are doing onto paper.  If the teacher can do this then their should be no reason why 95% of students shouldn't pass this with flying colors.

Lab C- International Lab

Good day mate and welcome to Australia. During my Lab C we are taking a trip to Australia and learning one of the most popular games their today and it is called Netball. Okay, so were really not going to Australia but we are playing Netball. Netball is a game that derives from England in the 1800's and is a mix between handball and basketball. The hoops and balls are smaller than in basketball making it harder to score baskets. This lab gave me a chance to really open up and work on the mistakes I made in previous labs.

This lab I did a lot of things right and a lot of things wrong. Something I thought I did well on was always keeping all of the students involved. When you look at my TIME CODING SHEET you will notice that the students only have waited one minute out of the 10 minute lesson. I would like to eliminate that minute all together but think that I kept it at a minimum.

Something that I believe I need to work on is my feedback. Dr. Yang has been stressing feedback all year long and I try to give as much as possible but still I believe I need to give more individual feedback. I give a lot of general feedback to the class but not enough individualized feedback. When you look at my FEEDBACK ANALYSIS form you will see that I only gave individual feedback to 5 people in the class. I need to give feedback to way more people to get everyone involved.

As for my CONTENT DEVELOPMENT I used a lot of cues. I don't think this is was a bad thing but I think I need more tasks and challenges. The students need to be in more game like situations to gain interest in what we are doing, because if it is just all about drills the students will lose interest fast.

This was a fun lab and really gave me a chance to learn about new cultures and a game that I have never played before. These are the kind of lessons that I really enjoy teaching because I am also learning as I go along.

Check out my lesson at :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nocR7BNoccI

Lab B2

During Lab B2 I was very confident and with having the experience of the past two labs I felt very confident in the fact that i will execute everything I need to do. I started with a strong introduction and hook. My inspiration for my hook came from when i was home the weekend before. I returned home to see my high school football rivalry game. My high school team ran the power i formation 90 percent of the time and it made me think of the stack. They are both short yard plays to keep the ball or the frisbee moving up field. I thought this would be a good visualizer for my students.

One aspect of my performance that I was disappointed in was that once again I forgot to say my safety statement and my signal for attention. I feel like I am worrying to much on the actual tasks that I am going have to teach. I need to slow my thoughts down and remember to add those two very important aspects of teaching.

My demonstration was done efficiently but I only did one time. I gave them all of the cues and a good demo but just need to slow it down once for them and more than once. Some things I believe I did well was being confident throughout the whole lesson, and the debrief and reviewing my tasks.

I think that I improved tremendously since lab B1 and only hope to get better. I am working to try and better prepare myself for lessons because that is the most crucial part of teaching in my eyes. Always be ready to change tasks and have something else to do.

Lab B

       After i was done with lab B immediately I was aware of the things I had not done right during my lesson.  I feel that I am getting more and more comfortable every time I teach, but there are still many thing i need to review and get better at.  There is always room for growth and I am no exception.
       While reviewing my assessment sheet I noticed that i forgot to give a signal for attention.  This was a big mistake in my eyes because if my students don't have a signal then they wont know exactly when to stop and to start.  I also should have set my expectations and what exactly i expected from them.  The most important thing that i didn't do was a safety statement.  This should be my number one concern because if I don't keep my students safe then I wont have a job very long.  As for my demonstration of the skill.  My skill consisted of the backhand frisbee throw.  I showed a motion and made the mistake of not showing an example using one of the students.  What I should have done was to pick a student in the class and threw the frisbee to them and had them throw it back.  This would have showed all of the students how it was done and what i expected them to do until further instructions.  The thing i did do well in my demonstration was showed the motion in slow motion so the students were able to see the correct technique.
       Some thing I did well started with my introduction and my hook.  I was clear and concise on what I was teaching, who I was, and got them interested with using the game "Can-Jam" as a hook.  I made a poster board to show my cues which I believe really helped the students.  It gave them a chance to just peak over anytime they wanted to remember exactly how to trow the frisbee.  My voice throughout the lesson was firm and clear, but it could have been a little bit louder.
       Overall in lab B i made some mistakes but I learned a lot from this lesson.  I need to organize my thoughts and lessons better in the future so i don't forget t include important aspects of teaching a lesson. Like I said I am making progress everyday, cant wait to see where I will be after my 255 experience is over.