Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Mini Conference

Here at SUNY Cortland we are so lucky to have our own PE Mini Conference where surrounding area schools come out for a teacher in service day conference to see what is new in our changing field. I gave some of my time to help out with the conference put on by our majors club, and my duty was to help direct people to designated classrooms and answer any general questions one may of had. To make myself standout I was wearing a big giant sign that read "QUESTIONS??" It was not the most fashionable attire, but got the job done.
After my shift I attended a few sessions, the Polar Technology, and Dr. Rinks Keys To Be an Effective PE Teacher. In the first Polar Tech. session the main point that was stressed was grading and assessing PE. It is more than just showing up an being active, but how you can get into heart rate measure as an aspect of ones grade. The units were pretty costly to use for a whole class setting , but if your district had the money or was given a grant they would be great to have. In Dr. Rinks session she went a little more in depth and elaborated on her key note address and followed up with the points of accountability. Identify what you want your students to get out of the lesson, be clear. Manage the class by being engaging and set expectations, this combination will lead to effective teaching. One last point I took from this was that it is our job to motivate students to learn and want to partake in physical activity. This can be related along the lines of classroom management and engaging students.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Lab B- Mic'd Up

Look at this nice action shot mid lesson! This took place in my third teaching experience while teaching in our Lab B- Ultimate Micro Unit. My lesson task was the backhand throw through a hoop. I was the third or fourth lesson so we were still pretty basic with the cues and demonstrations. I particularly liked the flow of my lesson as I was able to get into an inter task variation, and also all of my classmates stayed on point and looked like they had a good time. I'm not saying it was excellent but was a good improvement from my previous time out.
The main aspect that really changed in this lesson from my previous few was how I managed the class. You can check it out by viewing my Time Coding Form. From this document you can see how the activity time was much higher and an even better plus was that there was no wait time in the class. This is key to have maximum participation from students when given the time, it is our job as PE Teachers to minimize wait time when possible. Another factor that also helped increase the activity time among students was the activity itself. Not once was a student caught on the side not being active, and again this relates back to the activity that was taught and also how it has to be taught.
With this Ultimate Lesson I was also able to improve on not just my feedback, but how I gave it as well. By looking at my Feedback Analysis Form you can see how I gave more than just general feedback. For a teacher by giving out specific skill or task oriented feedback it shows that you really are watching and involved in the lesson. From a students perspective than they get the urge to go out and do activity's in the right manor because they want to be noticed.
At the closure of my teaching lesson, I too received some feedback. Dr. Yang and his TA's do a great job of letting you know what they liked, and also what you need to work. For me and quite a few of the other students, voice projection is a key point and we took care of that right after all had completed their lessons, with the exercise "There ain't no flies on me." But anyway take a listen in to my lesson with the Box sound clip below and also check out the Transcriptions Form for any clarifications. Stay tuned to the next post as we will take a look in at the SUNY Cortland Mini Conference! That's all for now, but in the mean time take a Listen In.