PlaySport: Teaching Life Skills for Understanding through Games
Chapter 6 of the TGfU textbook, PlaySport: Teaching Life Skills for Understanding through Games, by Joanna Sheppard and James Mandigo, explains the importance of using games and PE to not only teach physical literacy and sport skills but to also teach life skills. Life skills are defined as "a large group of psychosocial and interpersonal skills which can help people make informed decisions, communicate effectively, and develop coping and self management that may help children lead a healthy and productive life." (UNICEF, 2008) I believe that this should always be on an educators mind when planning a unit or teaching a lesson. The sportsman ship concepts such as fair play, humility, hard work, teamwork should be emphasised and the students should be given opportunities to practice these skills.
I believe that a great way to provide opportunities for students to practice these skills is to get them involved in the planning and teaching of the lessons with their peers. If the students are split into smaller groups for an activity, have one student act as the coach for that group. Have them give pointers and make adjustments to the game so that they are actively involved in the activity but also in a leadership role. Then have the students rotate so that they all get the opportunity to be the coach or leader of the drill.
Reflection
Sports and PE are a perfect platform for kids to learn important life skills. Not only do they promote an active physically healthy lifestyle, but also teach invaluable social skills. When I look back at some of the most pivotal learning moments in my life, all most all of them are sports related. Sports and PE put children in unique and challenging situations in which they must work together and take risks in order to succeed. Having said that, they are also provide an extremely safe and encouraging environment so that kids are able to make these choices safely and learn from their experiences. Key life skills such as communication, teamwork, discipline, and hard work are always on display in PE and sports environments and they are the perfect medium in which to improve these skills. The positive youth sports model is a great visual representation of how games and skill acquisition in sports lead to the acquisition of valuable life skills.
Arbutus Teaching Feedback
Reflection and Explination
This semester we had the opportunity to go to Arbutus Middle School and teach a grade 8 PE class. My partner and I each taught a volley ball lesson. The document above, is the feedback we received on our lesson plans from our supervising teacher. This was an amazing experience as I was able to test the knowledge I have acquired thus far in my studies in a more practical setting. The lesson went very smoothly and the supervising teacher gave plenty of amazing feedback. This feedback was instrumental in our planning of our following lesson and we found many of the suggestions worked amazing in our next lesson. I believe that opportunities like this one are fantastic ways to get practical experience and to make great connections in the school communities!