Collage and Picture Movie

Passing Like a Tchoukball Pro

Today in class it was finally my groups chance to teach our international game from our Lab C. My group members were Lesley, Emily, Justin and I. The game that we were assigned to teach was Tchoukball, which I have never played before so it was a challenge from the start. Tchoukball is an indoor team sport developed in the 1970s by Swiss biologist Hermann Brandt, who was concerned by the numerous serious injuries among athletes resulting from sports prone to aggression and physical contact. My task was to teach the 4^th grade, Lesley was to teach Kindergarten, Emily was teaching the 8^th grade and Justin was scheduled to teach last for the 12^th grade class. We were all really excited to get underway. I had met up a few times and planned out some stuff as a group and everything seemed like it was going to work.

To start off my lesson I had the class play a quick game of blob tag to get everyone moving and heart rates up. After everyone was warm up I brought everyone in to show them a quick presentation on the projector screen that I had set up for our groups technology. I showed a quick video of some Tchoukball professions and the class really seemed to like the video. Also on the presentation I had my cues for passing the Tchoukball. I then started into my lesson where I was a little nervous to start and in the middle I remember that I had the rules poster on the other side of the gym so i quickly gathered everyone around that. I wasn't as comfortable in this lab as I was in the previous. I think that is because it was a new game to me and I really didn't know how to progressively teach the skill to a class of 4th graders. I felt like I should have incorporated more of a game like drill rather then have the stand on the lines and throw back and forth with each other.

Overall I was happy with my Lab C. I do feel like I could have done a lot better planning for it and incorporated a lot more things. For the next lab I am definitely going to practice everything before hand and have everything set of what it is exactly that I am going to be doing.

Time Coding
Verbal Transcript
40 Tasks
Lesson Plan

Day 19

Today in class the next group was ready to teach their Lab C's. For their lab they were assigned to teach Shinty which was a lot like field hockey and regular hockey in a way. The group that went today was Trish, Stephanie and Dave.

My favorite part about Trish's lesson was the activity where she split the class into two teams and spread out cones with balls placed on top of them. The balls were two different colors and each team was assigned to knock off one of the colors while also trying to keep the other colors on the cones. It was really fun and got the entire class moving around a lot.

In Stephanie's lesson I loved the 2 v 2 game we played where we had to score on the goal. It felt like a real game and I did pretty well in it I must say. It was a lot like hockey so I had a lot of fun.

Lastly in Dave's lesson I liked when he called on me to demonstrate juggling the ball on the stick, since I have been playing hockey all my life I had no problem with the task and I was able to help my fellow peers if Dave was busy trying to help another person.

Day 18

For Monday's class it was time for Kim, Devon and Dan to teach the class how to play Omnikin ball which I have never played before so I was pretty excited to see what all the fuss was about.

I enjoyed all of my classmates lessons but my favorite had to be Dan's because he was full of energy and knew exactly what he was planning on doing. His excitement got the entire class excited and made it even more fun I feel. I can't wait for next class to learn how to play Shinty!

Day 17

In class my group and I had to teach Tchoukball. I was assigned to be teaching a class of 4th graders, Lesley was assigned kindergarten, Emily was assigned 8th grade and Justin had 12th grade.

I was very nervous but I feel like I did a good job even with a few mistakes. I forgot the class rules but remembered in the middle of my lesson and went back and did them. I am looking forward to Monday's class to watch more of my peers teach their Lab C's.

Day 16

Today in class the first group of Kyle, Eric and Mike had to teach their Lab C's. They were given the game of Hantis which is actually a very interesting game and they even had the makers of the game send them a youtube video just for our class which was very cool.

After watching them teach I feel more comfortable going on Friday because I have seen my peers present their games and they did great! I can't wait to teach Tchoukball to my peers!

Day 15

Today in class we started out in the gym where Cassie gave us an example of what our Lab C's are going to look like by teaching us the game of Rugby. It was a lot of fun learning a new sport that I have never played before and it gave me a good idea of what is going to be expected of me on Friday when I am going to teach Tchoukball.

After we got out physical activity in through Rugby we went to the classroom where we got into our groups for Lab C and discussed in more detail what exactly we are going to do. I am going to be teaching Tchoukball to 4th graders and I am going to be the one in the group to use technology by playing a video for the class to get them into the idea of learning such a cool and new sport to them.

I am looking forward to watching my peers on Wednesday as they start their Lab C's.

Cortland Roller Hockey Finishes Season 12-0

After Cortland's Club Roller Hockey team finishes their season at 12-0 they look ahead to playoffs which will take place in Feasterville, PA on March 3rd. Not many people know that Cortland has a Roller Hockey team so this my way of getting the word out.

Check out our team blog at: Cortland Red Dragons Roller Hockey Club
Check out our team stats at: Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association

Day 14

In Friday's class we got into our groups that we will be teaching in for Lab C. For Lab C I will be teaching Tchoukball to 4th graders. My teaching group went and looked at the equipment that we will be using in our lab on Friday and it looks like a lot of fun.

Tchoukball is an indoor team sport developed in 1970 by Swiss Biologist Hermann Brandt. His aim was to develop a team sport which did not involve the horrific injuries which he viewed as plaguing other sports.

If You Can Dodge a Wrench, You Can Dodge a Ball!

Dodgeball is in the PE "Hall of Shame" and for good reason but with some modifications and changes to the game it could be an adequate source of physical activity. In class we talked about a game that is very similar to Dodgeball but is a lot more structured and does not have an elimination where people have to sit out which is big when it comes to a game being good or bad.

Trench Ball is the variation to Dodgeball that would be the best way to change the game. Instead of knocking someone out by hitting the with the ball the go behind the enemies court in the "trench" and wait for either there team to throw them a ball and go back to there side or if a ball rolls to them they may pick it up and throw it at the enemies back so everyone has to be on there toes and ready for anything. It makes everyone think about the surroundings and keeps everyone actively engaged in the class.

Some safety tips for the game would be that the ball must stay below the waist. In the end I believe that it would be best to stay away from the game of Dodgeball.

Day 13

Wednesday's class was a change of pace because we went in the classroom and instead of getting right into activity Professor Yang started off class with some fun little word puzzles to engage us cognitively into the lesson. My partner was Lesley and she was amazing at the puzzles, we were able to get most of them! I think we definitely won with the most correct. We the got into the important information about our next lab and what will be expected of us. Some of the key points of today's class were the lesson plans and how to challenge your students in class whether it be the entire class or just going up to an individual who is doing a lot better then his/her peers and give them a challenge which is called intra-task variation.

Some things that teachers can do to improve communication with learners in task presentation is to always check for understand! Don't just ask if everyone understands what you said. have the students perform the action to see if they really do understand what is expected of them.

The three different content moves that establish progressions are extension, refinement, and application. Extension is when teachers teach things from simple to complex tasks. Refinement is the communication to students of a concern for quality performances. Application is when you give students the opportunity to apply the skills they worked on. 

The progression established for an open skill should differ from that of a closed skill in that an open skill should involve a lot of movement and a constantly changing environment. A closed skill should be the opposite in that the environment shouldn't change and there should be progressions that leads the student through the task.

Day 12

In today's class the rest of my peers taught there tasks and they all went great. After everyone taught we got into a big group again and discussed what everyone did good and some things that they could work on for next time. For the most part everyone did great, some key things that my peers did today were some very good hook's, every hook either made everyone think about the subject a lot more or laugh and got the class into it and awake for a Monday morning class. They also used scaffolding very good to lead the students into today's class and got them into it.

Next class we are going to start talking about Lab C. I can't wait to start working on it and find out what exactly I am going to be teaching this time around.

10,507 Push Ups!

In Friday's class it was finally my turn to teach my peers! For my hook I used the world record of push ups which was 10,507 by Minoru Yoshida from Japan in 1980. I used that as my hook because for my task I had to teach the Push Up Jump in our jump roping lesson. I thought it was a difficult task at the start but as I practiced everyday and got better at it I felt more comfortable teaching it to my peers. In the beginning I was a little nervous but as time went on it became easier and easier. The only thing I felt I was weak on was my closing. I seemed to forget everything that I had planned on saying and just ended the lesson abruptly rather then leaving the kids with something exciting so that they would look forward to the next class.

When I was watching the video of myself teaching I felt really awkward but after I watched it a few times I was able to really look at my mistakes and what I can fix for Lab C and D. I forgot to add a demonstration of common faults with the task and I also didn't make it clear what I expected the students to learn from the lesson that I was teaching them. A few things that I feel that I did well were my demonstrations because I not only did it correctly which I was nervous about messing up but I showed it from another angle and I also did it in slow motion so the students could see it step by step. I also used scaffolding by making up a previous unit of track and field and asked the students to remember back to it and show me the sprint starts. 

TA Observer Checklist
Time Coding Form
Verbal Coding Form

Will You Be My Valentine?

For Lab 2 at St. Mary's it was chaotic to say the least. My group was assigned to be Special Projects but the class before lab we were assigned the gym group as well so we had to do the opening game and also the closing game and closing dance. We were prepared and everything until Jordan and I were at St. Mary's waiting for our other two group members who in fact had both the games that we had planned on doing but we found out that neither of them were coming. Jordan and I had to come up with a few games to play and fast!

For the opening game we made a variation to Temple Tag and instead of when the kids getting tagged and forming a temple, they would form a heart with there arms since the theme of the day was Valentine's Day. Once the kids were warmed up I incorporated the gallop, hop and run into the game by changing up how they could move around the gym.

When it was time for snack time we went down to the cafeteria with the kids where they had there snacks and then played board games and legos for a while. I had just as much fun playing with the legos and the kids I think. I was surprised at some of the kids imagination and skill with the legos. They built some complex things and had stories behind what they were building.

When we went back to the gym Jordan and I had to come up with a closing game and a closing dance. I came up with a closing game which involved the students getting into a circle and everyone putting there right shoes in the center and dancing around in a circle to the music until the music stopped in which case everyone had to run to the center, retrieve there own shoe, put it on and sit down when they have completed the task. Once everyone was done I stopped the stopwatch and it took us 49 seconds so I challenged the kids to beat there time which they were extremely excited to do. We got 30 seconds the second time and all the kids were so happy with themselves.

For the closing dance, Jordan chose the to do the Hokey Pokey which worked well with the kids. Most of the kids enjoyed all the games that we played today and it went a lot better then the previous lab where the kids were insanely out of control! To end the day we did a cheer with the kids and said our goodbyes. I can't wait for the next time we go to St. Mary's!

Lab 2 Write Up

Day 10

For Wednesday's class the first group of students were set to teach there jump roping tasks and it went great! I learned a lot by watching them teach and decided to use some of the ideas that they used in my own teaching lab. After every student taught we got into a circle and discussed what the student did right and what they could work on for next time.

I am going to be teaching next class and feel a lot more comfortable now that I saw my peers teach their jump roping tasks. I am stoked to see if my peers can learn to do my task or not!!

Day 9

At the start of class today we played the game Shotgun again and picked different partners then we had last class. For the first round my partner was David and we had to do the demonstrations which was difficult for us because neither one of us were really that good at the task that was chosen which was hugging yourself jump rope trick. We had a few minutes to practice and I was finally able to do it alright so when it came time to demonstrate the task, I performed it correctly and David showed how you aren’t supposed to perform it.

Professor Yang then had us switch partners once again with someone we hadn’t done it with. In this round Lesley and I were assigned signal for attention. For the signal of attention we had the entire class face towards us and told them that the signal would be Stephanie and Trisha’s voices (they had come up with the task).

After we played Shotgun for a while we received jump ropes and had some time to practice our Lab B task that we are going to begin teaching next class. I finally was able to do my task of the push up jump rope and I am looking forward to teaching it to the class.

Day 8

Last class we were given which tasks we were going to be teaching the class. I received tasks 71/72 and was able to choose one of them. I chose task 71 which is the Push Up Jump Rope. Throughout the class we practiced what we were going to teach and I came to the conclusion that my task has a high level of difficulty which means if I am having trouble doing the task then my students more than likely will have difficulty.

I came up with a few progressions that would make the task a little bit easier for the students and would allow them to progress at there own pace rather then having them try and perform such a difficult task right away such as starting in the track and field starting position for sprinting to slowly moving both feet back until you are in a full push up position.

At the end of class we played a game classed "Shotgun" which incorporated the entire class first getting a partner and then receiving a task to perform to simulate an entire lesson. My partner was Brenden and we were appointed the closing statement of the lesson which was hula hooping.

One Minute Skit

Instead of going to St. Mary's today for lab we stayed at the school and went over exactly what we were going to be doing the following week. It went very well and all the games that we had planned seem like they are going to be fun to teach and even play with the kids at St. Mary's next week.

The best part about the lab today was at the end when we went into our groups and had to come up with a song to lip sing to and come up with our own little dance routine for one minute. My group is Jordan, Joe, Lesley (our TA) and I. For the song I went through my entire iPod to find the best song ever, Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton. We had so much fun coming up with our dance moves that it was extremely hard not to sing along with the music. Today was a blast!

Day 7

Today in class we used jump ropes again and were told to get into groups of 3 and practice a routine that would have everyone moving and jumping around at the same time to the beat of the song that was playing. After a while Professor Yang called everyone in and started to talk about the video we had watched last class and how they worked together so well in the video. He sent us back out in the gym but this time we had to find a new group to jump rope with and had to incorporate some of the skills we saw in the video into our new routine with our new group. My group was Lesley, Stephanie and I and we were able to come up with a pretty nice routine in such a short amount of time.

We ended class in the classroom where we went over the lesson plans more and also talked about psychomotor objectives which included a situation ("not like jersey shore" -Professor Yang), a task and criteria. We also got our tasks for Lab B1 which I am looking forward to.