Laura Friesen
G.H. Dawe School (M-Y-M)
KPED 292
Lesson structure and content What was effective about the lesson plans? Each lesson plan was helpful in that they were well constructed guidelines. I say guidelines because within each lesson plan we were flexible to how the students were reacting to the games, if they liked it or not and whether it was actually getting them active or not. It was helpful when the students knew what they wanted and gave suggestions, like with the jump bands they suggested a MISSISSIPI format. Would you change anything in the lesson for next time, if so what? Something we could have changed regarding the lesson plans was make it a little more age appropriate such as the first lesson it was mandatory that the students did a cardio test, but the music that they had to do to it and some of the activities were not that challenging for the students. Your teaching effectiveness What did you do well as a teacher? I felt that I was able to work well with my other teammates. Each person took a different part of the lesson each time whether it was leading the warm-up, main activities or the cool down; and once those parts were delegated it was much easier because each person knew what they were to do. Each person handles things differently, and at first it seemed like my way of doing things would be better, but once stepping back it was easier for them and myself to get the kids organized and into the activities we had planned. I also enjoyed getting to know the kids on a more personal level, like when we did our stretches or at the start while they were filling out their sheets, it was nice to ask them questions about school and what they liked to do and so forth. What do you feel you would like to improve on and why? Something that I know I need to improve on is being more confident. When others are watching, I get a little more nervous and don’t talk as loud as I would like, and when I am not 100% on how the activity is going to be it is hard to be confident in explaining it, especially if team members interject the rules that you were going to get to, but possibly hadn’t explained just yet. 1
Laura Friesen
G.H. Dawe School (M-Y-M)
KPED 292
Elementary student evaluations Were the students engaged in the lesson? Why or why not? How do you know? As our group did all 16 lessons of Move Your Mood at the G.H. Dawe School, I think it is safe to say that they did get involved. At first they were a little wary, not sure what to think, as we ourselves were getting organized as well. After a couple of lessons the majority of the kids were into the activities that we had planned, but there was still these two boys that were intent on being disagreeable and always giving comments on their sheets that they were bored. We wanted everyone to be active, so we asked what they would like to do, and they said more sport games rather than tag, etc. So on the Tuesdays we did the lessons provided in the Move your Mood book and on the Thursday we played a sport like soccer or basketball. This variation worked well with all the students and we could renovate the games to help all the students to be active. What were some of the challenges you found with your group of students and how did you address them? There was the challenge of the two boys stated above, but there was also another boy who was constantly talking as you tried to explain the rules and then during the game would do whatever he pleased knowing full well that he was ‘cheating’ and annoying the other students. To deal with this we would address him while explaining and tell him to be quiet which usually worked, and during the games the other kids usually got mad at him for messing up the rules, so that combined with a word or two helped. There was also another girl who would get ‘hurt’ constantly. For example, one day we played dodge ball and the girl got hit in the head, and was blaming the other student who hit her, which made the student who hit her feel extremely bad, because she really didn’t mean to. To deal with this we had the girl sit down and tried not to coddle her too much, because she was just milking it so to speak. We also got the other girl to apologize and had them come to an understanding that it was just an accident. How was your rapport with the students? What did you do to gain the respect of the students? 2
Laura Friesen
G.H. Dawe School (M-Y-M)
KPED 292
Our group all worked hard to connect with the kids. It was interesting seeing and dealing with the different personalities within the kids. This variety showed me how hard it can be to give each student attention that they need; especially because these students seemed to need more attention. Overall, I was able to make a relationship with each student, each in their own way. One thing that I found helpful in doing this was to get on their level and just ask questions about them such as their family, their classes and what they do after school. This approach helped break down barriers and build that respect where we could all have fun in a safe environment. Comment on anything that stood out to you about this age groups social behaviour and physical abilities. This age group had a lot of energy, but some wanted to be ‘cool’ and disengaged themselves from the activities. I think the girls were feeling more of the competitive pressure, so sometimes when we played more sport based games they would stand back more and let the boys do all the passing, and scoring.
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