Below, you’ll find evidence of a collaborative activity that we did in class. The goal was to create a modified pickleball game based on TGfU principles.
Our group decided to focus on accuracy and tactical positioning/placement of the ball and the person on the badminton court.
Everyone in the group shared opinions on how the game should play, what it should look like, and what were the goals we wanted to accomplish by playing the game. This was a good way to collaborate on learning concepts that were previously explained in class.
The game we created used the modification of exaggeration to focus on the tactical problems of accuracy, force generation and precision. The goal of the game was the hit one of three boxes on the court, using half the badminton court and dividing it into three equal sections (see image below).
The group decided that we should start the game by targeting the closest two sections of the court first. Students were asked to rally the ball only using section 1 (sections 2 and 3 were out of bounds). As they became comfortable rallying the ball in section 1, we moved them to section 2 and changed section 1 to be out of bounds. Finally, they had to rally the ball between sections 3, with sections 1 and 2 being out of bounds.
This game encouraged students to work on force generation, as well as touching on previous teaching points that occurred earlier in the lesson, such as moving your body behind the ball, contact point, following through, etc.
Reflection
Assessment: To what level do you feel you are performing the learning implied in this big idea?
I believe I am collaborating and engaging with the community at a Developing level.
Evidence: How does the evidence show your developing competencies in relation to this big idea?
The activities we do in class often involve group collaboration by means of participating in the activities to the best of our abilities.
Personal growth: What do you think you can now do based on this evidence?
Continue to collaborate productively inside and outside of class
Goal: What is something you want to work on or improve in relation to this big idea?
More dialogue outside of class to help develop understanding for certain “grey areas” of classroom material (concepts or ideas that need more explanation/clarification).
Group Collaboration Game (2/2)
Aim: Rally the ball back and forth using the designated boxes
Rules:
- Designated boxes start as “1” on both sides
- All other boxes than the designated box are out of bounds
- Ball must bounce 5 times in the designated box before “leveling up”
- Once you level up, the “2” boxes become the new designated boxes (making boxes 1 and 3 out of bounds)
- Leveling up again makes the “3” boxes the new designated boxes (making boxes 1 and 2 out of bounds)
- Leveling up again allows players to call out the box that their opponent must hit during the rally
- Allow self-pass if rally gets out of control
- If rallying from box 3 to 3 is too difficult, modify the numbers to 3 to 1, or 3 to 2
In-Class Learning Examples Explanation
The first video highlights our collaboration as a team to create and develop our modified game.
We had a good amount of success working together to find an appropriate solution to the problem of designing a modified game that focused on court movement and positioning, as well as accuracy and power generation. The idea that we came up with clearly emphasizes the student moving to all areas of the court, while at the same time ensuring students get the opportunity to control their power.
The second video demonstrates our peer-teaching experiences as we try out our lesson plans on our fellow peers.
There is a short segment of questioning where I am checking the understanding of our peer's knowledge of an "athletic base", or "athletic stance". This is to ensure that there is a foundation of understanding for the following activities where we work on athletic base, recovering to a base position, and adjusting footwork to make proper contact with a volleyball.
Self-Reflection Explanation
This was a self-reflection completed after teaching three grade 6 lessons at Arbutus Middle School in Victoria, BC.
One of the biggest things we noticed was the time constraints involved with class management. Our first lesson was scheduled for 45 minutes, but we were only able to do about 20 or 30 minutes of actual teaching due to poor and inexperienced classroom management techniques. The actual teaching experience was very beneficial since it gave us a good idea of what it's like to teach a grade 6 PE class. I value good classroom management much more after this experience.