Teaching on Ice - Broomball - Lab C(international)

255 is moving along and it seems like I was just teaching a simple set in volleyball with no previous preparation. Now I'm in a completely new environment, teaching on ice, explaining a game I have never even played before. On Wednesday, October 28th, 2009, I was assigned Lab C, which was a challenge but a great experience. Myself, along with fellow classmate, Jack Murphy, introduced our class to the game of Broomball. This game was developed in Canada, however, since there is no official history of the sport, we decided to use our creativity to make our own little story. Our little penguin that we created has the name of Dr. Xavier Waddles, and is the famous penguin that invented the game of Broomball. After finding a lot of trash all over Antarctica, Dr. Xavier decided to hit it all around and clean up the mess with a stick he had found. The act of hitting the garbage away gave him the idea of Broomball.

Setting up for this lab was a lot of work and was very stressful. We had to make sure we had the right equipment and the right amount of it too. We also had to make sure that were able to use the ice rink for our lesson and that the ice would be ready for us. This preparation is something that we are going to have to get used to dealing with since when we become teachers we will be doing the same things. I did learn a lot throughout this experience. I now know that when ever you have an assignment or lesson to prepare for, the best thing to do is take care of everything you can as soon as you can. But, after all the fuss was over and I was done stressing over preparation everything, I really gave a good lesson and was satisfied with what I did. This lab involved a lot of work and really tested how well I have come along in my teaching experience. I can see many places where I have improved, and many places where I still need work. One huge improvement that I have almost perfected is being enthusiastic and excited about my lesson. I am moving around, talking loud, and showing my students that I want to be here, and I want to teach this game. This is really important, because once again, if your not having fun, the students won't be having fun. I was able to increase the percent of activity time a little bit from my last lesson, however, I could still slim down on the instruction and add more activity. In my time code analysis form you can see that activity time and instruction time are almost equal. In an ideal lesson the activity time would be above 50% of the lessons total time. This is not a huge deal, and would only take a little bit more planning and practicing for my lesson before. The big reason that I was able to improve my time management was because of the extra practice that I put in to preparing my lesson. I found that if you play out your lesson to your self and actually say what you plan to say, you could manage how long certain parts of the lesson should be. I repeated what I planned to say many times in front of the mirror in my room and not only did it help me with time management, but also with my comfortability in front of the class which I believe is my strongest point.

In my lesson I noticed that I was much more bubbly and active. I moved around and used a lot of hand signals when I was speaking. This is good because it really grabs the students attention. It shows how interested in the lesson I am, and how much fun I am having. If you give off fun, you will get fun back. That is what I believe and it has worked for me great so far.

Another good point that I had in this lesson is the amount of feedback I gave to the students. It is important to give some form of feedback to at least 50% of the class. As it shows in my feedback analysis form I gave the right amount of feedback. I made sure to give both general feedback and skill related feedback. I told the students when they were doing things right and I told them when they were doing the skill wrong. This helps everyone learn because if you only told the students when they did something wrong, they would never know when they were doing it right.

Overall my lesson was a big step up from my previous teaching experiences. There were many things that I improved upon and did right. However, along with everything I did right, there is still, and always be, room for improvement.

In case anyone missed my files here they are:

- Time coding analysis form
- Feedback analysis form
- Lesson plan
- Activity Progression

The beginning of something great!

The impossible wave

This is a video of my hero, Laird Hamilton. Laird is said to be the best big wave surfer that has ever lived. What makes me so drawn to him is the way he looks at life. Laird Hamilton is the most dedicated and devoted person I have ever seen. Whatever Laird wants to do, he puts all of the effort he possibly could into it until he reaches his goal. Having this much dedication will get you anywhere you want and it is exactly how I would like to be when applied to my teaching.If I could learn to put that much effort into everything I do, and devote myself to everything that I am really striving for, I could become a positive role model for my students, hopefully pushing them to do the same. I am a strong believer that having goals is extremely important. No matter how big or small those goals are, it is necessary to have them. Having goals gives you something to work for, something to achieve, and something to reward you when you get there. The satisfaction that comes with achieving a goal is unbeatable and I believe all people should experience it at some point in their life. Physical education especially is a field that most definitely requires goals. Whether the goal is as small as improving your mile time by 15 seconds, or as big as being able to run a marathon, the goal is still important. As my quote says on the top of my blog, "goals are the fuel to the furnace of achievement"

2009 SUNY Cortland Mini Conference

The 2009 Mini Conference has arrived and it went great! This years keynote speaker was Dr. Judy Rink, a SUNY Cortland alumni and well known researcher in the physical education field. She has done great work in physical education and has come up with some fantastic philosophies and ideas on how physical education should be taught and what direction it should be going. A great point that Judy made was about accountability and how we, as the future generation of physical education, are responsible for taking it to the next step, and helping people realize the true importance of it. Judy Rink is truly an inspiration and I hope to someday be as much of an influence as she has become on all physical education teachers. Another presentation that was held was by our very own physical education majors here at SUNY Cortland. Together they presented different types of warm up activities that can be used in a physical education class. Of coarse I volunteered to participate and help them out with these activities and I must say, they did their job. By the end of the presentation I was hot and sweaty and out of breathe. Overall, I really learned a lot from this conference, experiencing different ideas and philosophies about physical education. I will be taking a lot of this information along with me on my physical education journey to become the best physical education teacher I possibly could.

Lab B - Listen in

Continuing my teaching development, and after learning more tricks of the trade I was up again to teach the class a new skill. In this lesson I was to teach the class the back hand pass with a Frisbee. I definitely felt more confident with this assignment and knew right away that my lesson would be much more fluent and smooth. In this lab we were attached to an mp3 recorder and a microphone that allows us to play back our lesson and hear exactly what we said and how we said it.

While listening to my audio recording I was really able to assess my speech and style of teaching. I was able to see what words I kept repeating, which sentences did not make sense, and various instructions I could have avoided to get the students into more activity quicker. While teaching, it is hard to really listen to yourself mostly because of nerves and being a little too anxious. Speaking of being anxious, I did realize that my speech speed has slowed down much more, and I now teach at a normal pace. One thing I noticed I did a lot in the earlier teaching experiences is speed teach. This is when I rush through what I'm saying without knowing because I am so nervous to be in front of a group of people. However, this semester specifically, I have really improved on my shyness and have become significantly more comfortable in front of a large crowd.

Another aspect of my teaching that still needs work is my time managemnet. Thanks to my time coding assessment I am able to see exactly how much time I spent on different areas of teaching such as management, activity, instruction, and waiting time. Although my time code sheet does show good numbers, I could still improve upon them. I do very well with avoiding any waiting time and I'm always working on something with my students. I do just enough activity time, but could still use more since this is "physical" education. My best bet would be to replace some of my instruction time with more activity. I need to work on making my introductions and directions short and to the point so that I can provide the maximum amount of activity possible.

Another problem that I have when I teach that is just a bad habit is my language. No, I do not mean I curse and say bad words when I teach, I mean that I say some words too many times, or I say the wrong word in certain situations. While going over my verbal transcript for this lab I noticed that I will say "alright" at the start of almost every sentence. Of coarse, I can still be a great teacher even though I use that word many many.....many times, however, it would be much more professional and sounds more professional if I could cut out repetitive words like that. Another mistake I seem to make a lot is when I use the word "guys" to refer to the class. Today, many people refer to boys and girls as a group as guys, and no one really seems to mind that much. However, when being as professional as possible it would be more than expected to say the more politically correct term when referring to a group of people. This is probably my worst habit and will be the hardest to break. I need to work on putting words like "everyone" or "class" into my vocabulary during my teaching journey.

Skill Lesson, Take 2...and ACTION!

This time around I definitely feel that i was much more comfortable in teaching the skill that I chose. The first time teaching this I did not really know what to do and what to say. I was missing a base guideline that I now have and used to improve my lesson. I stuck with teaching the "set" in volleyball, because it is a skill that I know well from being a setter on my high school team for a few years.
The second time I taught the class I was able to introduce myself more clearly and say what we will be doing that day much more understandable for the students. I was also able to teach the skill more quickly so that I could get into the activity faster. However, I could have still shortened my lesson and extended my activity a little more so that I could give a little bit more feedback to the students. There was a little mishap going on when two students were asked to misbehave and exclude themselves from the group. However, I think I did very well noticing and responding to them right away. The only thing I did wrong is turn my back the rest of the class when giving my attention to the misbehaving students. Next time I will make sure I am able to see everybody. I can still see different areas that I wish to improve in and will work on before my next teaching experience.

Working on my time code assessment form helps me map out exactly what I need to arrange in terms of my scheduling and timing of my lessons. The other form that we filled out was the feedback analysis form which will also really help me pin point exactly who I gave feedback to and what kind of feedback I gave so that I can improve on those areas as well. Another area of my teaching methods is my language. A good tool we have is the use of these videos. This allows me to look back and analize exactly what I said and how I said it. I now noticed a difference in my enthusiasm and excitment which I believe is a key thing to improve because all students, at any age are able to detect whether or not you are into the activity you are teaching. My verbal transcript goes over my word for word analysis of my Lab 2A teaching lesson.

Getting thrown in the ring

First day of EDU 255, and right away we got thrown into teaching our first lesson. Lab A is basically a pretest to see where we are at with out teaching abilities. This is a good way to show us where we need to work and improve upon. After about only a few minutes to decide what I was going to teach I decided that a volleyball set would be good since I was a setter on my high school team. So, in the blink of an eye, I was in front of the class and teaching the set. After watching myself teach a set in volleyball to a few students in our first day in EDU 255 I realized that I need to show a little bit more enthusiasim so that my students will give me enthusiasim in return. Although I am interested in the subject and I am truly having a lot of fun while teaching I should work on showing it more and not keep it hidden. It is a true fact that emotion=emotion when it comes to kids. If you are putting in all you have, they will do the same. If you are giving barely a breathe of effort, they will not be trying either. This is nothing major, and something I could easily work on and fix, because it is only a matter of listening to myself speak and making sure I am showing exactly how I feel. Another point that I need to address is making sure I maintain a safe environment so that none of my students get hurt. While teaching today I did not realize that there were many volleyballs rolling around and that can be a potential ankle breaker. Professor Yang zoomed the camera on these balls to let me know that it is something I should be more focused on. Otherwise, besides these minor bumps and scratches, I did well and felt very comfortable teaching in front of students and I also felt confident in knowing what I am teaching. I believe that my strongest characteristic is that I am really not that shy in front of people. I do not find it very difficuly to speak to large crowds, and I enjoy being in the spotlight(most of the time).

Danyl Johnson, Inspiring Performance

After seeing this performance on the show "Britians Got Talent" I was completely amazed and inspired to become a better performer in front of crowds. Danyl is a teacher and obviously shows a natural talent for performance. It is my dream that someday I could become as comfortlable in front of crowds as Danyl Johnson is.

There is no limit to what this type of person can influence among various crowds. That is what defines a quality teacher. A teacher should be able to influence and inspire others to be great at whatever their desire and dream may be. In physical education I can use my teaching abilities, that will someday be effective, to inspire children, teens, and adults to change their bad living habits and develop and more healthy lifestyles and start living their lives to the fullest and savoring every moment.

Lab 6 at St. Mary's

The last day of St. Mary's went very well most of the time. I say most of the time because there was a few mishaps that happened between some of the kids but it was not that big of a deal. Today's lab was an easter theme and my group along with other groups came in with bunny ears to lighten up the atmosphere. My group was down in the cafeteria and we played a relay game where the kids had to run to a bucket in the middle of the floor and pick an easter egg, open it up, and do what the piece of paper said that was inside them. The game went great and all the kids had a blast. We also used music and I think it is a really good idea to use music in future classes becasue it helps the kids get more into it because the atmostphere is good and gets students in the right mood. However since we had the bunny ears, some of the little girls starting fighting over them and a few girls started crying and I had to deal with that problem. Other than that the day went great and the whole lab was a great close to this coarse.

Lab 5 at St. Mary's

Today was another day with Pre K. Once again I find dealing with the Pre K kids is much easier than the older kids. I think the reason for this is because the younger kids are still so innocent and haven't developed that wise attitude most kids get as they get older. The Pre K kids I find to be easier also becasue they are so into whatever activities we are doing for them. They love very simple things to as long as your game is easy to understand, and does not take long to set up and get started, then the kids will be completely into it. Today we played "zany zoo" which is great for these kids because they love acting like animals. The game is simple, easy to explain, and a lot of fun. We also had to read a book for the young kids. I think this is the hardest activity to do with these kids because they get so excited and start to get a little out of control. When you are sitting on the chair the kids start to climb all over you, but once you get the story started they sit down and listen nicely.

Lab 4 at St. Mary's

This was the fourth lab at St. Mary's and I think it went the smoothest so far of all the labs. Today's theme was about food and our game was called "popcorn". This game involved the kids all splitting up into three groups. One group would be behind a tall wall of mats, and the other two teams standing on the other side of the mat ready to catch flying balls(popcorn). The team that is behind the mat will be the ones throwing all the balls over the wall. The point of the game is for the kids on the side catching the balls to catch as many for their team as possible. Today went very smoothly because by this point I really knew the kids well and pretty much knew all of their names. When you start to know these kids better and understand how each of them act, it is easier to work with them and figure out what each would want to do. You can also prepare for different situations that you can expect to happen from past experiences.

Lab 3 at St. Mary's

Lab 3 was definitely one of my favorites because the theme worked really well with everything. My group did the activity "Empty Bucket" which is kind of like our last game, "Zanny Zoo". This involved kids picking different tasks out of a bucket and then performing them. We had told the kids that they were training to become super hero's and that they needed to try really hard to become one. The kids loved this and were very excited to participate and become super heros. When ever there is a good theme that kids are really excited about, the activity runs much more smooth. An important thing that I noticed at St. Mary's is that the key to getting a kids attention and getting them to play a game is to give them a reason to play. When the theme is fun and interesting the kids are more interested in playing. Overall, our game went great and it was once again very usefull to have more than one person helping out. My group of 5 was able to each attend different kids and show them the right way to perform tasks such as a slide, hop, skip, or jump. This is very important especially when other people are trying to asses them.

"I have a dream" by Martin Luther King Jr.

Reading the speech analysis of Martin Luther King Jr's speech "I have a dream" really gives me good advice for being a good speaker. When I become a Physical education teacher, I will be speaking in front of many classrooms and possibly even conferences depending on where my career takes me. One thing that is important in presentation is the was you present. Of coarse the material is important and the base of the whole concept, but if you cannot get your point across to whomever you are trying to teach, your philosophy will be lost and forgotten and nobody will remember what you did. Already I believe that I have good presentation skills. I tend to get really nervous when I have to speak in front of a crowd, but with me, the butterfly's go right away when I get up there. I think it is the anticipation that gets to me before a presentation. Once I get up in front of whoever I am presenting to I feel much more relaxed and I am able to talk with confidence and with a loud projecting voice. My tone is something that really does not need much work, however how I say things needs to be improved. Some good advice from this article is to use certain words that describe your theme as much as you can. It will, in a way be a subliminal message to the people listening. Also use metaphore to enhance the listeners/readers attention by describing things with much more detail. Mr. King did this in his speech with statements such as "joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity” [paragraph 2]. Overall, Martin Luther King Jr. was probably, in my opinion, one of the best speakers in history. However, our current President Barak Obama is very good too. I look up to him because he really knows how to appeal to every type of person in America, whether they are old, young, black, or white, it doesn't matter.

from http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/2009/01/18/speech-analysis-dream-martin-luther-king/

Lab 2 at St. Mary's

Today is the second day that we are teaching at St. Mary's, and it is more structured than the last lab. The first lab was more for getting to know the kids before we get into really teaching them activities. Today was the first day that we really go in as teachers and get the kids going in games. My group was the second group to go, and we had a game planned called "Zanny Zoo". I really enjoyed this game a lot and thought it was a lot of fun. We first learned how to play the game in class before lab so that we were ready with how to execute it, and so that we could make and adjustments and variation before St. Mary's. It was good that we had this time because we definitely needed to make sure we knew how we were going to structure this game and lay it out. In lab, we set up the game, and I volunteered to be the one to lead the game. I know that I need to volunteer to be the leader as much as I can so that I get the most experience I can out of these labs. Anyway, I taught the kids how to play the game and it went very well. Right off the bat I knew some techniques with getting the kids attention. I knew that I had to be loud, stern, confident, and really make it look like I am really into the game that I am teaching. If the kids know that I dont want to play the game, then they wont want to either because they will think that it is a boring game. While the game is going on it is very important to make sure things stay under control. I really need to make sure I develop the skill of running a whole class because in the future, chances are I will be the only teacher in the class, meaning I am responsible for everything that happens. For now, lab is much easier because we have groups of 4 working together and we can have each person take care of certain groups of kids. It is much easier to keep an eye on everybody. One example of what may go on behind your back is when I caught one kid hitting another kid. There was no major fighting but the kid gettting hit was really getting annoyed and luckily I was there to stop it and help the kid out.

Lab 1 at St. Mary's

Today was the very first day that we attended lab at St. Mary's school. Initially I was really excited to start teaching the kids and really getting involved with what I will be doing for the rest of my life. But at the same time I was very nervous for many reasons. One, I was nervous that I wouldn't be good at handling the kids at all, and that they would be all over the place. I was also worried that they all hated me for some reason. Second, I was nervous to perform my teaching skills in front of the experiences lab instructors, my professor, and all the teachers that were there at the school. I know now that this is the beginning and I should expect to mess up, and that the kids are not always going to listen to me. When I first arrived at the school, I saw all the kids running around and I was still nervous, and I wondered how I was going to be able to bring them all together. However, after a few minutes watching the kids, and other instructors doing there job, I became much more calm and confident that I could do this job very well. I then went and did exactly that. When it was our turn to do a game, I came up with one right away, took charge, got the kids together, explained the game in a simple fashion, and executed it perfectly. The kids loved my game and they all behaved perfectly. I felt really good after this and knew that I had just developed a good foundation for my teaching career, and that there are many good labs to come.