Reflective Teaching Log #1

Overcoming Adversity

What specifically did you teach:

Our group intended to teach a mixture of balance, throwing, accuracy, running, and jumping skills. However, due to changes we were only able to expand into balance, running and jumping skills. We led a game of “Red Light Green Light” with our own progressions and variations. We utilized audio-visual cues to signal to our student’s what action should be taken, in a fun and competitive environment.

STRENGTHS OF YOUR TEACHING:

I believe we delivered very strong instruction and were clear in the parameters of the game. We outlined the goal of the game and what each specific color represented. I believe having the students sit in front of us and visually showing them examples of a “green light” or “purple light” really aided in the visual aspect of the game; furthermore, during this demo we acted out the action providing strong visual examples. The use of auditory cues was very prevalent throughout the game, we announced the color of the cone as well as held the pilon high in the air, allowing everyone to see and hear the color of the light. Our progression of the game (transitioning from 3 colored cones and jogging, to 3 colored cones with a different locomotive skill, to 5 colored

cones and a variety of locomotive skills) allowed the game to stay fun and interactive while progressing the students without overwhelming them. As a team we made the conscious choice to have only two presenters explain the game and lead the students through the game to allow the students to familiarize themselves with two instructors and know exactly who to look at during instruction and gameplay; additionally, this allowed our two other group members to directly participate and interact with the students, leading by example.

WEAKNESSES OF YOUR TEACHING:

A weakness within our teaching was also one of our strengths. We had very strong audio and visual cues however this was only applied in one direction of game. We neglected to set up a color/announcer on both baselines, allowing v

isual cues to be presented to the students in one direction of gameplay. This could potentially be a scaffolding progression; however, it was not intended. Another potential weakness of our game of choice was a lack of creativity. We decided to keep the games simple and stick to a “classic” game and add a couple of variations to ease the learning curve and to focus on basic skills such as running, jumping, balance, accuracy and throwing. We had a creative element of integrating animal poses, sounds and movements into our games however; due to time restraints and the kindergarten class not showing up we decided to exclude this portion of our teaching. This decision created a lack of creativity, that other groups were able to bring to their activities.

STATEMENT ON YOUR PLANNING FOR YOUR TEACHING:

Our planning process was very democratic, and I believe everyone had an opportunity to provide input and constructively criticize ideas presented. During our planning we had to forgo several of our initial game ideas as we became more aware of the limited abilities of our audience. This was a challenge for us as properly analyzing games that would help us teach the basics of running, throwing, balance and accuracy were difficult to choose, because of the level of coordination and cognition required to play them. After much debate we decided to keep the games simple. We managed to strike a balance b

etween engagement and education using specific variations and modifications to classic games we played during our childhood. Once we had decided on our 6 actives we made the overlying theme of all the games “Animals”. As a collective

we decided the theme of animals was a great way to get the students engaged in different/unique forms of locomotion based on their interpretations and memories of their favorite animal. I personally, thoroughly enjoyed this theme and was shocked to see how much more creative we were as a group once we decided to integrate animals in our games. Overall, I believe our planning as a team was phenomenal. We communicated in and outside of class, everyone was engaged and willing to receive and give criticism. This environment allowed our creativity to flourish and we created a plan that we were all proud of.

MODIFICATIONS YOU MADE WHILE TEACHING:

Modifications we made during our teaching was our progressions. We initially planned to introduce different locomotive skills from the very beginning, but after recognizing the audience we were dealing with we decided to scaffold the whole game, to allow the students to get a feel for the game. Another modification we made was the exclusion of elephant soccer. We had initially planned for Red Light, Green Light to be the first game we played, but not the only game. Once we added the progressions the time we had allotted for elephant soccer had been absorbed, we chose to continue playing Red Light, Green Light, to ensure we made it through all the progressions and fully teach the basics of running, jumping and balance. Due to the kindergarten class not coming, we decided it was more important to focus on the levels of progression and game play than to introduce our theme (animals) and had to forgo this portion of our lesson.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THIS TEACHING SESSION SPECIFICALLY?

I learned that you MUST be flexible when teaching. I knew going into the lesson that we might not go through our entire lesson plan and that if the kids enjoyed the game we should let them play for a longer period; however, when the kindergarten class didn’t show up we had to throw out essentially our entire lesson plan! We went through only one of our six planned games and we didn’t even incorporate our theme. While I am okay with the outcome; I am sad that we couldn’t see our intensive planning pay off. I also learned how specific and exact you must be when giving out instructions. Despite, not having kindergarten students come in, when you have a group of adults pretending to be children it becomes apparent, that you need to be exact. During red light green light, we instructed the group to head towards Nick and then back, we were not specific enough with what “back” meant and we had people go too far or too short. I learned several things throughout our lesson but the biggest take-aways by far are specific instructions and to be flexible.