Lab D- Badminton

Well we are here, the end of the semester. I have always enjoyed playing badminton which is why I have chosen to teach it for my lab D. This is the last time I would have to listen to myself talk and type out everything I say for my transcript . I have seen a great deal of improvement from the first time I listened to myself. I no longer use as much filler words all though I do say all right and ummmm a few to many times. I also noticed that I was giving more feedback to my students, but not just any feedback it was meaningful and was related to the cues I gave at the beginning of the lesson. My use of time has also improved form the beginning on the semester. I now spend more time on activity and less time with instruction. Overall I think the lesson went very well. As I was listening to the playback of myself I heard a lot of laughing in the background which means that the students were having fun. There are a few things I find that i can improve on though.I should work on my set inductions to help get the students excited for the lesson and also changing my voice around to increase enthusiasm. I am looking forward to what the future holds because I know that what I have learned from professor Yang will be very valuable later on down the road.

The MAN behind it all

As the semester is rapidly coming to a close i feel as though it is important to reflect upon what we have learned. Professor Yang (Pictured above) has thoroughly prepared us (our 255 class) for any situation that may arise throughout our teaching career. I feel as though i have grown tremendously as a teacher as well as a human being through out this course. This class has helped me in so many other courses already and has really opened my eyes on how to become an effective teacher. There are some many little components of a lesson that I had no idea about before completing this course. This is one class that I can honestly say I enjoyed coming to because it was something new and exciting everyday. Not only was professor Yang a great teacher but the students in the class were great as well. We were able to laugh together and sometimes vent our frustrations with one another but in the long run it only made us closer as a group. Our class seems as though it has become a support group for one another and we will be able to communicate with one another in the future. I must admit in the beginning this whole "blogging" thing seemed a little crazy but i have grown to enjoy it. Viewing other students blogs can help you improve your blog but also keep in touch with your peers. It is almost like an educational facebook.

Disc Golf- Lab C Day 2

Documents

Lab C Time coding form

Lab C Transcript

Lab C Feedback form

So we have just completed lab C. This means that it is time to begin looking at things such as speech transcripts, feedback to students and use of time (Links are above). Since we have been learning different techniques regarding throwing a disc I thought it would be a great time to incorporate different throws in a sequence at targets. The first station was set up for a hyzer throw. Here students were asked to throw around a tree (or a tree like object) and into a target on the other side. The next station delt with finesse. At this station students had to softly throw a disc hopefully having it land on or near a chair. This represents putting in Disc golf. Lastly students were then asked to work on accuracy throwing through two tree like objects. We all know that you are not always going o have easy shots when playing on a course so this is a good time to work on fundamental techniques. Once the students completed the mini course one time they were then asked to retry the course only this time challenging their partner in a competition of who could complete the course in the least amount of throws. Overall I though the lesson went well, the students were really into it. There are some things that i could have done better though. When dealing with feedback it would have been better to focus more on specific and congruent feedback and not so much on the behavioral aspect. Disc golf is a great activity because it can be done anywhere and is also a lifelong activity. Lab D is coming up soon so it will be interesting to see what is in store for these disc throwing experts!!!!

Lab C- Day 1

So the semester is winding down and the labs are getting more intense. We are beginning lab C and I have decided to teach Frisbee golf. I wanted to focus on something that was unique and unfamiliar to the students. I decided the Hyzer throw (curving around trees and other obstacles) was something that all the students could challenge themselves with. To represent trees we used big signs that stood about 8 feet in the air. The only down side to the lab is that we were pressed for time so we were not able to go as in depth as we wanted, but the students enjoyed the lab and showed great enthusiasm for the task. Next class we will be in the field house working on putting multiple throws together to complete a Frisbee golf course. I wish that we could have had more time so that i was able to give feedback to more of the students and they were able to have more time to practice the task.

Documents

Here are some documents for everyone to look at and learn from.

Lab C Lesson Plan
Lab D Lesson Plan
Lab D Resource Packet

IN CLASS QUIZ

Captian Hook and his Dark Knight come to class!!!!!!!

So it is a typical morning, i got to self defense at 8 am. Walk a far 10 feet across the hall to my second class of the day, 255 baby. This is where I am presented with a man wearing a funny hat and a parrot on his shoulder and another guy smiling with his phone out ready to send us on a mission. I'm thinking to myself what in the world are we doing today? As we get into the lesson we are told we are going on a scavenger hunt. I thought how cool, this is going to be so much fun. We make our flags, gather as a unit and prepare to go to battle with the other explorers. Our first clue sent us to get a picture with Penny (Everybody is Physical Education knows her). so we take our picture (I've never seen her so happy to be a part of something in my life) send it in a receive our second clue. Unfortunately the fire alarm went off. As we exited the building we were told to take take a picture with a Cortland sign. Objective complete. Our next mission sent us scampering down the sidewalk all the way to the Chugger Davis building, and then to the tennis courts. Now I'm a big guy and running is not my cup of tea, but I took one for the team. Drenching in sweat, running around, losing breath as every second passes. By this time the class was over, whooooo what a relief. Now this lesson was very fun and is kept everyone active the whole time. the only things that may have needed improvement was the fact that students were running through the building possibly disrupting class. Students could have also been in harms way when outside with traffic. The teachers also had no super vision over the class as we were outside so they might be some things to reflect upon to improve the lesson. At the end of class i took my heart rate monitor off and realized that my heart must have been working over time. I had an average of 108 bpm, hmmm i think it might be time to get a little more cardio in. Overall i had a great time during the lesson and would look forward to another scavenger hunt.

Who is that?????

I've heard before that you don't really sound like you hear yourself. I never really thought that it was true until I had the experience of listening to myself teach. One of our assignments for the class was to type out what we said word for word in a transcript form after teaching a lesson on ultimate frisbee. It was funny listening to myself because I thought it sounded nothing like me. But it was a good experience because you get to hear yourself speak from your students persepective. Another useful aspect that came from this assignment was the realization of the use of filler like "ummm" and "uhhh." These words tend todowngrade a persons intelligence. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way and we all have to be able to laugh at ourselves. You must fail fast and move on. We were also asked to complete a feedback form, this helps us track how many students were were able to give feedback to and why type of feedback we gave them. I was able to give five students feed back, next time I am looing to atleast double that number.

P.E Mini-Conference

Well this posting may be a little late, but it is better late then never. It was early on a Friday morning when Professor Yang's 255 classes were about to break the ice at the mini conference. No big deal right, I mean you only practiced the routine a few times we all felt confident that we wouldn't make total fools of our selves in front of possible future employers or co-workers as well as our peers. The classes came in chanting " WE WILL WE WILL TEACH YOU," followed by other activities that got everyone out of their seats helping ease any tension that may have been in the gym. We were mixing and mingling with firm hands shakes and smiles all around greeting our guests making them feel welcome. Once that was all over the real treats began. The guest speaker, Dr. Pasarini, really did a wonderful job and captured the audience's attention from the first word. His stories were very touching and I feel as though he is a inspiration to many. Following this speech we were able to break up and choose an activity that we were interested in and learn more about it. I personally went to DJ's presentation on sepak takraw. This is where I realized that my hand and foot coordination are sub-par. The thing I liked about his presentation was that i was about to use different types of equipment to help create a higher success rate as a student. Overall I thought the mini conference was a great experience and opened my eyes to many possibilities that are becoming available to teachers, whether it is heart rate monitors or wii game systems. I look forward to be able to attend any conference that is put on next year

Day 1 Teaching

As I was watching myself, I noticed some good and bad aspects of my presentation. One thing I thought I did good was speaking clearly and loudly to the class so that they could understand me. Another thing was that I challenged the class with different types of push-ups. It gave the class Teaching by Invitation. They chose if they could perform the certain type of push-up. Finally, I believe the demonstration was performed correctly so that the other students were not confused about the task at hand. Some bad aspects of my teaching was I could have walked around to more students and provided them with more feedback. Also, I needed a better closure to create enthusiam for next class.