Begin With Knowledge of Skill Components Although you needn't be an expert performer to teach a skill, there is no substitute for knowing how it is performed. Otherwise you have no idea what to look for, what performance cues to give, how to evaluate a child's performance, or what to correct. Imagine a teacher trying to teach the cartwheel. She says, “You put your hands down, then your feet.” An inaccurate demonstration by the teacher or a selected child follows. Children begin practicing. Some succeed. Others crash to the floor with arms and legs bent and out of control. “Try again; you can do better,” the teacher encourages. But poor form continues. The children obviously need a better model. Because the cartwheel is sequential, spoken performance cues like these are needed:
Allow Considerable Practice Time Children need lengthy and appropriate practice to learn such skills as a roll; a cartwheel; a balance; or a sequence involving a balance, a weight transfer, and a second balance. When you line students up and spot them one by one, they may get only one or two attempts before moving on to a new skill; the rest of the time they are waiting in line. This is not a good use of teaching time. Let's examine a common format for teaching the forward roll, the backward roll, and the log roll. Children are lined up in squads at each of four mats. They listen to an explanation, watch a demonstration, and begin to practice. Each child takes a turn and returns to the end of the line. After three tries, they learn the next roll. Their total practice is only nine attempts—three times on three rolls. Although each roll may be taught with an excellent explanation and demonstration, the children aren't getting enough practice to capitalize on the good instruction. These children could get in much more practice if you were to reorganize the class, perhaps by assigning partners to go back and forth across the mat or by having one mat for every two students or carpet squares for every child in open (scattered) formation (see figure 1.6). Use Developmentally Appropriate Activities Children are not miniature adults; they have very different abilities, needs, and interests. Likewise, preschool children are not the same as elementary school children. The point is that programs need to be developed to meet the needs of children's various age and ability levels. Activities in gymnastics for children should start out with basic skills and simple sequences. Gradually, more difficult skills can be added as children are ready for them, as well as sequences that are more complex and require higher levels of problem-solving ability. Children should progress from working by themselves on mats to working with small and large equipment and partners or small groups. Students' satisfaction results from success. High success rates on tasks and a student's general achievement are positively correlated. When a task is too hard or above their ability level, children become frustrated, giving up or engaging in off-task behavior. You can design tasks or movement problems to allow for differences in the children's individual levels. When tasks are at appropriate levels, students will be challenged. Rather than require an entire class to do a headstand for 10 seconds or a handspring, it would be more appropriate to work on balances in inverted positions or the transfer of weight from the feet to the hands and back to the feet. For example, some students may do reasonably well learning backward rolls, whereas others have a great deal of difficulty because the arms are weak, the head gets in the way, they have limited abdominal strength, or they open up instead of staying tucked. Consider modifying the task for students who have difficulty. For example, using a backward roll over the shoulder eases the move. Another alternative is to work on the concept of rolling in general, showing students how to transfer body weight from one adjacent body part to another. After they learn this concept, then children could roll choosing a direction and style that they can accomplish successfully. Once a roll is mastered, challenge the children to link a roll with a balance or a traveling action, taking the skill to a higher level of difficulty. Consider also all children with special needs. Just because some children are more challenged than others does not mean that gymnastics is inappropriate or that children with special needs are unable to perform gymnastics. Be willing to adapt or modify skills or alter your teaching style to accommodate the needs of each child. A person in a wheelchair can perform balances while in the chair or down on the floor. She can perform rolls or rotation movements by spinning wheels and rotating through a vertical axis. Some children who use a wheelchair might have very strong arms but weaker and more atrophied lower bodies. Such students may actually have an advantage when it comes to supporting weight with the arms. Students who have intellectual disabilities or are autistic may need a peer helper, special verbal or visual directions, or passive manipulation through a skill. Offer a Structured Environment A structured and focused learning environment helps children understand goals. When teachers set goals, children know what is expected. The children know what to do and how to do it. Goals also make children accountable when the time comes for assessment. Some teachers assign several balance positions in no apparent order and for no apparent reason. Children learn a scale, stork stand, tip-up, and tripod. They practice a hodgepodge of animal walks, such as the crab walk, bear walk, and mule kicks. By putting balances and movements into logical sets, you help your students understand why they are learning them. At the beginning of the gymnastics unit or lesson, give students a brief orientation. Tell them what to expect: “Gymnastics is about putting balances together with traveling actions, weight transfers, and rotations.” You might add a demonstration. This way the students receive a clear picture of the goal for the day or the unit. Taken from "Teaching Children Gymnastics-3rd Edition", Human Kinetics, Peter Werner.
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A few years ago, a fellow colleague asked me what I hoped my students would remember about PE and say about me as a physical education teacher. To me i only care if my students are active and having fun during the lesson. As PE teachers, it is our job to motivate each and every student we have in the best possible way utilizing all resources you have. I've read this somewhere (Children will not remember WHAT you taught them a few years later but they will remember HOW you taught them). Unfortunately, negative stereotypes of physical education teachers exist for a reason. Some teachers are aggressive, competitive, focused on management and control rather than student learning. I believe changing our professional image begins with creating a safer learning environment and becoming a teacher that students can trust. Here are 5 things you can do to change the way students view PE class:
If the negative, stereotypical image of PE teacher is going to change, it is up to us as physical educators. We must be responsible in creating a physically and emotionally safe learning environment for our classes - and become someone that students believe they can trust. As Maya Angelou once said: " I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel". HAPPY TEACHINGS!!!!!! This was an unusual way to start a year. 2020 has proven to be one of the weirdest years we have ever had in terms of happenings. I'm sure everyone has been aware of the Covid-19 virus that is spreading around the globe. I teach in an international school in Tokyo, Japan. Unlike other countries and cities, Japan had a mild, soft "lockdown", we couldn't even consider it a lockdown, since president Abe declared it a "state of emergency". Due to an increased number of infections in a very short amount of time, a lot of schools and companies closed their doors and even shows and sporting events were cancelled/postponed to try and contain the number of cases. My school like many other public and international schools in Japan had to close as well, and do distance learning. Well, from what i've heard most international schools only; i didn't hear the same about public japanese schools. This period lasted for 5 long weeks, and i think it was the first time i ever recorded and edited so many videos in my entire life. I think i was able to deliver good quality video lessons during that time according to my peers and parents' feedback. Therefore, i have included some facts and advice for you to when you are planning out your online Phys Ed lessons. FACTS
ADVICE
Hopefully you have found this interesting, please comment if you have any questions or would like to add your own advice for me. To answer the query "What works with young children?" Requires first considering another question: "What approaches fit children's characteristics and the ways they learn and develop?"
In the physical education and movement area, the council on physical education for Children (COPEC) has responded to these questions with guidance for teachers and others who work with young children. yes = Appropriate w/ preschool children No = Not appropriate w/ preschooL Limiting class size Yes = Teachers limit the group size in order to provide young children with developmentally appropriate individualized instruction. No more than 9-10 children ages 4 to 5 are assigned to an adult. younger children require smaller groups. No = Teachers organize the children in groups larger than recommended for physical activity, thereby necessitating the use of more teacher directed methods and limiting opportunities for exploration and guided discovery. Facilitating maximum participation Yes = Teachers use activities that do not eliminate children and frequently modify activities to enhance maximum participation. However, they recognize that young children might need brief rest periods when participating in particularly strenuous activities. Teachers provide sufficient equipment so each child can maximally participate. The equipment includes a variety of shapes, sizes, textures, and weights to allow for experimentation and active participation, increasing the confidence and skill level of the children. Modified, nontraditional equipment is used where appropriate, such as scarves for catching and balloons for volleying. No = Teachers fail to maximize opportunities to learn or practice motor skills by requiring children to wait for a turn. for example, teachers encourage playing sedentary games such as " duck, duck, goose' or other activities that eliminate children and provide no chance to re-enter the activity, teachers provide insufficient equipment or only offer regulation or "adult size" equipment, which may inhibit skill development or injure or intimidate the children. continuous, extended aerobic activity is expected. Integrating movement programs and play Yes = Movement programs are planned and organized by teachers as part of the total educational program. They are included in each day's curriculum. Regularly scheduled indoor and outdoor movement experiences enhance play experiences. No = Teachers use outdoor and free play only as a way to get children to use up excess energy; it is characterized by a lack of goals, organization, planning, and instruction. Allowing for repetition and variation Yes = teachers provide a variety of new learning experiences that emphasize the same motor skill, across different environmental contexts, allowing for the gradual development of desired movement patterns. teachers provide opportunities for the extension and refinement of these skills within instructional sessions. No = Activities are repeated without variation or are introduced and practiced only once a year, providing little opportunity for children to develop a foundation of motor skills. Designing learning experiences Yes = teachers employ both direct and indirect teaching methods. direct methods provide instructional models for children to replicate. Indirect teaching methods encourage children to explore and discover a range of movement possibilities. teachers provide opportunities for children to make choices within and between tasks, while actively exploring their environment. teachers serve as facilitators, preparing a stimulating environment with challenging activities. No = Teachers implement highly structured, teacher-directed lessons most of the time. large group instruction is often used in which all children are expected to perform the same manner. for example, teachers provide recorded music with verbal cues that children are expected to follow. Facilitating total development Yes = teachers design movement activities for the total development of children. the unique role of movement programs, which allow children to move while also moving to learn, is recognized and explored. teachers provide many opportunities within a developmentally appropriate movement program for children to enhance motor, cognitive, emotional, and social development. for example, opportunities to teach such developmentally appropriate social skills as cooperating, taking turns, and sharing exist within the context of a lesson. within the same lesson, fundamental locomotor skills are practiced while children develop spatial awareness by moving along a variety of pathways. the cognitive concepts associated with the activity and its relationship to a healthy lifestyle are reinforced. lessons are centered on the development of the total child within a nurturing and accepting environment. No = teachers view movement programs as separate from other areas of instruction. they are felt to be a means of 'burning excess energy'. for example, teachers address only the physical realm without including cognitive, emotional, and social contexts. From " Active for life: developmentally appropriate movement programs for young children " 1) First, walk around your School campus find anything that can be used to work the upper body, lower body, cardio, and core. Examples include, ramps, walls, picnic tables, benches, stairs, railings, hills, etc. 2) Next, map out the school campus to create a smooth flowing course. 3) Combine 3-4 items to make an obstacle. Why Should Every Child Learn to do a Forward Roll? Forward Rolls are one of the first (and simplest) skills that babies and children learn in a gymnastics-based class. After a few tries, most kids can do it by themselves. But, WHY should every child learn and be encouraged to try forward rolls? Forward rolls, when done correctly, are an incredible full body & brain workout for all age groups. 1- Body Awareness & Control Forward rolls are more than just a basic tumbling skill. They also promote body awareness and control, which leads to increased coordination of the body and the mind. Less time spent thinking about basic motor skill tasks = More time thinking about learning! The child also must have enough body control to keep the head tucked in and roll over in one round, smooth motion. 2- Eye Tracking Our favorite reason to learn forward rolls is the upside down motion they provide, which leads to better eye tracking development and strength (pre-reading skills). Eye tracking is crucial when learning to read. Without great tracking, kids struggle to follow the lines on the page as they read the words from left to right. This means they cannot focus on comprehending the story because they are spending valuable brain time on following the lines on the page! 3- Bilateral Coordination Forward rolls are also a great bilateral coordination activity. Bilateral coordination is when both sides of the body are working together to accomplish a task. This can be by working together (pushing a cart), working in an alternating pattern (climbing stairs), or doing two separate tasks (holding a paper with one hand and scissors with the other). In this example, both sides of the body have to exert equal amounts of force to keep the body centered as the child rolls over. Be sure your child plants both hands firmly on the ground before beginning to roll. As they go over, you can help center their body by holding them at the hips. 4- Core Strength They also increase a child’s core strength, a vital skill when your child is learning to sit up, crawl, walk, run, ride a bike, swim in the pool, or play a sport. Be sure to help your child sit up from the center and strengthen both sides of the body equally. Of course the two biggest reasons to learn a forward roll are for FUN and for CONFIDENCE building. New skills require perseverance to master, and that is one trait we all want our children to have in spades! Children love learning to do things all by themselves and this skill is not only simple, but it is also good for them. Progressions (from beginner to advanced):
1- Rock and Roll (also to and from squatting position) Students simply rock back and forth on their back while maintaining a round shape until they can roll into a squat. The head should stay neutral. 2 - Rock and Roll with Ball Same as the previous activity but with the student holding a ball this time. 3- Candle roll Students roll from a candle balance to a stand (squat) 4- Forward roll down an incline Students start in a squatting position on the top of an incline. 5- Forward roll Students start in a standing position. Put their hands on the floor in front of their toes and look behind them (tucking the chin on chest). Then have them rolling on their rounded back as they stand up. Make sure they do not roll while keeping their head on the floor. Another important teaching technique is to scaffold exploration. Research shows that expert teachers teach children how to explore in dance and designing games by scaffolding the exploration process (Chen&Cone, 2003; Chen et al., 2012). The term scaffolding is used because the process resembles the creation of scaffolds used in constructing buildings. In the building trades, a scaffold is a temporary structure that you build up with the construction process. Similarly, in teaching thinking skills, a scaffold is a temporary structure that teachers remove when children no longer need its support. Scaffolding in physical education includes temporary sets of procedures, prompts, assistance, and equipment modifications to help children learn a motor, cognitive, or social skill. Examples of common equipment scaffolds in physical education include low-level beams in gymnastics, swim aids, modified equipment such as foam balls and trainer volleyballs, hitting fairway irons of a golf tee, and batting tees. In educational games, gymnastics, and dance, teachers almost always need to scaffold the exploration process with beginners- of any age. To scaffold explorations, take the students through the exploration process step-by-step using a set of tasks that have children explore only one or two choices or movement concepts while you make specific suggestions. The following examples of scaffolding come from a lesson on balancing on different body parts and illustrate three levels of scaffolding: massive, moderate, and light. TASK: Explore balancing on different body parts. Massive Scaffolding of Exploration
Moderate Scaffolding
Light Scaffolding
As a teacher your goal is to use the least amount of scaffolding necessary and to remove scaffolding when the children no longer need it. These three levels mentioned above do not represent a progression; in other words, you don't start with massive and progress to light scaffolding. Instead, you use the amount of scaffolding the children need to meet your lesson objectives. When children are beginners at exploration tasks, you need to be prepared with a backup plan to use massive amounts of scaffolding, increasing and decreasing the amount of scaffolding based on the children's actual responses. In addition, as a beginning teacher, planning massive scaffolding even if you won't need it will help you think about the movement concepts. Your thinking during planning will help build your content knowledge so that it becomes more like the knowledge of experts. Taken from Elementary Physical Education : Curriculum and Instruction (2nd Ed.) Rovegno, I., Bandhauer, D.
The game can be changed by:
Equipment:
Safety:
Variations: There are other variations of this game that can be played like:
Teaching Physical Education obviously carries a different dynamic to teaching solely in the classroom. However both require the application of such strategies. Here we will look at the core teaching strategies and how can they be applied in a P.E class. 1. DIRECT TEACHING (FOLLOW MY LEAD) Objective: Demonstrating how a drill is performed and having them follow your steps helps the students visualize what is you are requiring them to do. The advantage of this strategy is that it is time efficient and is a good strategy for the introduction of new skills. The teacher's role is to pre-plan the routine or drill and demonstrate it effectively to the class. The students need only to replicate your actions to learn the exercise. The disadvantage of this is that it can be difficult to deliver individual feedback to each student. 2. TEACHER FEEDBACK (ROAMING REVIEW) Objective: The class carry out the assigned tasks following clear instruction given prior. The advantage of this strategy is that the teacher is free to roam from group to group and individual to individual to provide feedback and correct or re-teach the skill they are having trouble with. The disadvantage of this is that time may not allow you to provide individual feedback to each student. While you are demonstrating something to one individual, another student having problems may risk going unnoticed. 3. PEER FEEDBACK (COLLECTIVE CORRECTION) Objective: Students are placed in small teams and given a task that they must perform, usually competing against other teams. The advantage of this strategy is that the team provide feedback to each other and work collectively to carry out the required task, correcting each other at each wrong move. It encourages competition and fosters teamwork. The disadvantage of this is the feedback that students give to each other may not be positive and lesser skilled students may feel intimidated and bullying can occur. 4. SELF-FEEDBACK (RETRACE YOUR STEPS) Objective: Students look at their outcome and assess if it was done correctly, or could have been done better. This is perfect for sporting drills where correct form, set moves, or plays need to be performed and the use of videos, GoPros or suitable Iphone Apps are available. The advantage of this strategy is that students can see for themselves the point where things went wrong. Whether the feedback was provided by themselves, their peers, or the teacher, it is sure to be precise and correct. Think of a soccer coach setting up plays or set moves for their team and if not being executed correctly, here you can playback footage and review what exactly happened. The disadvantage of this is that it may not be practical or realistic to have a recording of the activity to refer to. Self-feedback can still work in this instance if you 'revise your steps' and walk through with the student exactly what they did. 5. CONVERGENT DISCOVERY (HERE'S A PROBLEM, GO SOLVE IT) Objective: Students are given a set of items, or scenario, and told what the end result needs to look like. The students are placed in teams where they need to collectively work together to discover how to get the job done. The advantage of this strategy is that students learn teamwork and social skills. So the problem that needs solving does not directly need to be related to PE because the outcome and the steps leading up to it are essential ingredients in any team sport, and class cohesion. The same reason why Corporate executives at team building days perform very similar problems. It's ALL about working as part of a team. The disadvantage of this is that students need to be motivated to complete the task. As the teacher you need to plan who you will 'randomly' group together to achieve the desired result. 6. JIGSAW LEARNING (LET'S TEACH EACH OTHER) Objective: Using a drill that involves multiple tasks. Teach one task to each group, and then pair each group up to teach each other their learnt skills. As an example, we can use Volleyball. You can start off with 4 groups. Teach one group how to serve, one group how to set, one group how to dig and one group how to spile. Then have each group teach a different group their new skill, so that they all get taught each component. The advantage of this strategy is that once you teach the task to the individual groups, you are then free to roam around among them and use the teacher feedback strategy to assist them. The disadvantage of this is that students need to be motivated to complete the task. Lower skilled students may not be able to acquire the skill as quick as their teammates, leading to possible problems. 7. TEAM GAMES TOURNAMENT (WORLD CUP) Objective: Following on from jigsaw learning (or any other strategy that had success), the 4 teams now compete against each other to win the tournament. Play can either be straight knockout, or round robin. The advantage of this strategy is that it applies all the other strategies together as it relies on self-assessment, peer assessment, problem solving and improvement. Most students love competing against each other and this offers a fun way to cement their new skills. The disadvantage is that some students may start to dominate play and lower skilled players may only play bit parts. Think of the " pass it to me" kid who is always unmarked, but never gets the ball because his skill level is not great. Article taken from Portable sports coach website, We think the answer to this question is simple. Teaching is not about us; it's about the children. Regardless of the physical activities teachers enjoy and feel confident teaching, we need to teach content based on the educational needs of children and the National Standards for Physical Education. Knowledge of and a basic competence in dance is not only critical to being well educated but recognises that children find dance meaningful and joyful. Most of us who chose to become physical education teachers followed this career pathway because of the positive experiences we had in sports, our deep love of sports, and our desire to make a difference in children's lives. It is the rare physical education major who has had experience on a dance team or in studio dance classes, however. The result is that too few physical education teachers include dance as a significant part of the physical education curriculum. We would like to convince you to add this content to your classes. We think it is natural to want to share with our students those experiences we cherished when we were students. Early in our careers, most of us enjoyed teaching those activities we most enjoyed doing ourselves. However, as we grew as teachers, things changed. We found a great deal of pleasure in teaching activities that we never thought we would enjoy. Our focus and professional satisfaction shifted to what children found joyous and meaningful, what was important for their education, and what helped them understand and participate fully in the social and cultural world. Physical education must be bigger than sports and include all of the socially significant physical activities that children and adults find meaningful and worthwhile. I can't dance myself, so how can i possibly teach dance? This is an important question and one that has stopped many physical education teachers from teaching dance. We offer two points to consider. First, we ask you to consider the assumption underlying this question. Many people assume that you must be able to perform a skill or activity to teach it. We do not accept this assumption. The fact is that few elite gymnastics coaches can do the skills they teach their athletes. Being able to perform a skill is not a prerequisite for being able to teach it. You can learn to teach new activities successfully and in a way that is professionally satisfying and beneficial to the students under your care. Second, teachers have a professional obligation to continue to expand their knowledge of the subject matter of their field in alignment with the National Standards. No one should expect that what they know when they graduate college at age 21 is all they will need to know for the rest of their lives. Being a good teacher means being a continual learner. It means "doing your homework", attenting conferences, reading the professional literature and visiting internet sites, taking risks, and trying new ideas. You need to be knowledgeable about all the subject matter you are responsible for teaching, and there are many ways to acquire knowledge of physical activities in addition to performance. Taken from Elementary Physical Education (2nd ed) Curriculum and Instruction; Rovegno, I, Bandhauer, D.
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Mr. Pires PhysedBlog about physical education, health and sports training. Archives
February 2021
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