Situation:

In EPHE 310 we were given an opportunity to create and teach a lesson within a group of 3. After presenting that lesson we were given an opportunity to expand on our one lesson and choose 3 culminating games that would develop on the skills we noticed students needed to work on in order to create a unit. For each game we then created a possible task progression.

From creating this unit I learned that it is hard to create set lesson plans for PE as so many factors such as timing, behaviour and learning in the previous class, influence every subsequent lessons. Instead it is important to determine the major objectives of your unit and work to create a series of tasks that will gradually develop and build on those skills. It should be understood that PE is not a subject that can be taught linearly rather it requires continual review, practice and gradual advancement. Furthermore it is important to be prepared to simplify or make a task more complex in order to encourage student participation. 

Here is a reflection of  my experience teaching this lesson:

Day 1:

When presenting our lesson to our peers, it ran quite smoothly and I learned some good tips and considerations to take into account for our presentation of the lesson at Braefoot. First, when practicing running and stopping, I initially asked the class to line up along the end line of the basketball court; however, it quickly became apparent that there were too many students to run in such a narrow area so we had to transition to the sideline of the basketball court. This made me more aware of the safety concerns that need to be considered when we went to Braefoot. Secondly, when playing red light green light, at one point I made the mistake of turning my back to the class when explaining the rules, making it harder for my classmates to hear my instructions.  This reminded me that it is important to continually face the students giving instruction. Third, playing red light green light with the class on such a short court allowed me to consider how the game could be modified to be more difficult for the students that were excelling. Some suggestions the class helped us to come up with to make the game more challenging included sending students back to the start if they were too loud when landed or making the students stop on one foot. I am glad we had a chance to practice teaching our lesson to our peers before we went to Braefoot as it helped us to work out some of the kinks in our lesson.

Day 2:

The class that we taught at Braefoot was grade 1-2 and had 16 students who were all able to actively participate. In the middle of the lesson, I led the students through a starting, running, and stopping activity. I asked them all to line up on the end line while giving them instructions, this point of the activity proved to be challenging as the students were having a very hard time keeping their hands to themselves and listening. I found myself having to stop the group completely several times to get quiet them before I could continue explaining. It was not until the teacher came in to remind that class that if they are not able to listen, they would not be able to continue the activity, that they quieted down. Looking back, I think it would have been effective if I had asked students to stand with their hands on their heads while listening to help them focus and not get distracted. It also may have helped if I had chosen a student to demonstrate as I was giving instructions. Although getting through the instructions was a little challenging, I do believe I presented the instructions in an effective way. Throughout the explanation I asked the students several  questions. When explaining the running and stopping activity I asked student to explain to me how they could start quickly and what a good stop looks like. When explaining Red Light, Green Light I asked the students to guess what they thought we would do on each colour of light. Asking questions enabled students to form a cognitive understanding of the instructions and body cues before we tried the skill. If I were to use this method of explanation again however, I would only ask one or two questions at a time and do an activity in between so students do not need to focus on listening for such a long time. One thing that I found very fascinating when leading red light green light was that the students were thinking of ways to modify the game as soon as I explained it. One student asked me right away when we would add in the yellow light, which we later did to give students more time to slow down before stopping as they were having a hard time stopping quickly. For the most part the students did well with this activity, but If I were to work with this group again, I would work on stopping more quickly.

When I was supporting Melissa and Alex one thing I noticed was that it was often a lot more effective to correct student behaviour individually, unless it was a problem that the entire class was struggling with. For example, when the students were participating in Alex’s part of the lesson, there were a few groups who were having a hard time staying focussed; however, when I went and asked them a few correcting questions, such as how they could lose their shadow, I saw improvements almost immediately.

After presenting our lesson, the teacher spent a moment with us and suggested that in the future we allow time for the students to calm down and become quiet before giving new instructions rather than trying to speak over them. I really appreciated this feedback and hope to put it to use in my next teaching experience. As a group we also concluded that it would be beneficial to stick to one stop signal when teaching as group to create consistency for the students.

All around I think the lesson went well. We managed our time effectively and explained all games clearly enabling the students to understand the expectations of each game. In the closure activity we did, which was a short group discussion, it was clear that the students understood most of the key concepts such as how to stop with proper form, how to start running quickly, and how to follow a partner. I am thankful for this experience and all that I learned from it.