Brittany's Blog Spot

Goal Seven, Different Levels of Teaching PE

2008-11-16T13:11:00.001-08:00

During my Physical Education Classes I have been required to teach at several local elementary schools many different times. The children have been from an age range of 7-12. Before this experience I had experience with older students ranging from age 12-16.

In the beginning of the semester I was thinking that I wanted to teach middle school to high school aged students. Now that I have had experience teaching elementary aged students I believe that I would prefer teaching younger children. I thought I wanted to teach high school students because I knew that students would be at level three during this age level. When children are at level three in physical education they are capable of developing sports skills. I thought this was what I wanted to teach but now that I have worked with children in levels two and three I feel like I would really enjoy this. I had so much fun and learned so much while I was teaching the younger children.

I placed this blog under personal development, goal seven, because I feel that experimenting with teaching students of different age levels shows that I will take responsibility for my own personal development. This is also under personal development because not only because I have been experimenting with different age levels but I have obtained a lot of knowledge about myself. I believe that it is important that I obtain as much knowledge as possible about teaching all levels of students because I want to be prepared to teach any level of students.

Goal 2 PED 244

2008-11-16T11:56:00.000-08:00

Above is a picture of some of my classmates participating in another cooperative activity during my PED 244 class.
The activity was called “moving the world”. We were each divided into four teams and placed in each corner of the gym. The task was to move the world around the gym without touching the ball with your hands. As the activity progressed the instructor would add more difficulties for example, we would have to walk like a crab or we could not use our hands or our feet to move the ball. As you can see one of my peers was trying to move the ball by blowing it with air from his mouth.
During this activity I learned about constructivism. I feel that this was constructivism because we had to each build upon our previous knowledge of what we knew we could do to move the ball by following the given directions. It was constructivism because as we participated, we learned from our previous experiences and watching our classmates perform the skills. This resulted in us being able to develop a technique, was better than the first.

This is under, understanding of content; goal two, because I have developed a better understanding and in depth understanding of constructivism which is a part of the content for this class. I know that constructivism is like scaffolding; you start with a base of knowledge and you constantly build upon that as learn and participate in educational experiences. As an educator I will keep in mind that when I receive my students they will each already have some knowledge because I know that no one has a clean slate as I learned during the balls and ramps activity in my education class.

Inquiry in Physical Education

2008-11-16T11:11:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of my classmates participating in a game known as “life boat” in my PED-244 class.

The activity in the picture was a cooperative activity. It was an activity that built community and developed communication skills. The object of the game was to help each member of your team to get to the life boat. The only instruction we were given was to save each member of our team from the sinking boat or area behind the yellow line and we had to get them into the boat or the bluw mat without touching the water (the floor) or the sharks would eat us. We were each supplied with a jump rope, a scooter and a boat (blue mat) and the rest was up to us.

During this activity I noticed that as my friend prepared to teach this cooperative activity to the class, she was trying to think of ways to tell the student how to save each other. Then I realized that this was a perfect example for inquiry and I shared with her my inquiry experiences from my education class and suggested to her that the activity would be much more educational if she would give the students a minimun amount of instruction and allow the students to find the solutions on their own. I was apart of the class and while I was participating in this activity I observed each group of students working together to solve the task. It was very intresting to see all the different techniques they created to solve the task.

I developed as an educator during this activity because after doing this activity I feel more capable of creating environments of inquiry and being able to recognize situations that can be used as inquiry. I also learned during this activity that inquiry is a very important tool to use while teaching students. I know that if the students would have been give specific instructions they would not have developed cooperative and communication skills. Because of this I will definitly include inquiry into my classrooms. That is why this post is published under the inquiry category.

Teach Teach TEACH!! (Goal 5)

2008-11-05T19:06:00.000-08:00

In this picture they are working on things we can teach with the activities we did while using the pumpkins to cook many different things.

The activity in this picture was to try and think of as many activity strands as possible that could be taught through the cooking experiences. This was a little confusing but then once we started brain storming and thinking about it we came up with many different ways to use the cooking activities to teach different strands.

This activity is connected to diversity. I feel like this is an example of diversity because this shows that almost anything you do can be used to teach many different subjects or strands. For example by doing this cooking activity we could learn about the history of pumpkins, measuring which is part of math, cooking which is practical living, nutritional information which is health and Drawing the activity which is art. There is so much more that we could teach. With this activity I know that there more ways to teach and learn than the traditional way which includes sitting in a seat and reading the information.

Auto Pilot or Autonomy?

2008-11-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

In this picture we are beginning to make pumpkin candy. We are melting the butter and getting ready to cut the pumpkin into ½ inch pieces.

The activity we were doing was making pumpkin candy. I had never heard of pumpkin candy until this day but I must say it is amazing. The activity required that first melt butter into the pan then cut the pumpkin into ½ inch pieces. After we cut up the pumpkin we added it to the butter to allow it to cook for twenty minutes. Once the twenty minutes had passed we added maple syrup, sugar, cinnamon and ginger to the pumpkin pieces to sugar coat it. We then let it cool down over night so that we could eat it during Thursday’s class.

During this activity I observed that everyone was working together as a team and doing the activities on their own. I noticed that Bobby did not need to constantly give instructions to the students for them to complete their tasks.

During this activity I developed a better understanding of the content we are required to obtain from this class. I believe this was an example of autonomy in a classroom because everyone was busy doing their task and working together while Bobby was going around, taking pictures. She wasn’t really needed for the students to complete their tasks. However, she is needed in the classroom because she so much fun to be around.

Pumpkin with a Sugar Coating.....Mmm Mmm GOOOOD!

2008-11-05T18:44:00.000-08:00

In this picture we are beginning to make pumpkin candy. We are melting the butter and getting ready to cut the pumpkin into ½ inch pieces.

The activity we were doing was making pumpkin candy. I had never heard of pumpkin candy until this day but I must say it is amazing. The activity required that first melt butter into the pan then cut the pumpkin into ½ inch pieces. After we cut up the pumpkin we added it to the butter to allow it to cook for twenty minutes. Once the twenty minutes had passed we added maple syrup, sugar, cinnamon and ginger to the pumpkin pieces to sugar coat it. We then let it cool down over night so that we could eat it during Thursday’s class.

During this activity I observed that everyone was working together as a team. I noticed that not only was everyone building a community and communication skills but they were also learning. They were helping each acquire they information they needed to complete their task.

During this activity I developed a better understanding of inquiry. I believe this was an activity of inquiry because not everyone in the group had experience with cooking yet everyone asked questions and used their resources such as the other students who had cooked before.

Philosoophy?

2008-10-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

In this photo I created a paint document to display a part of my philosophy that I have encountered and developed more thoroughly.

When I first created my teaching philosophy I said, “I believe that students learn by doing hands on activities; active learning, I will be sure to incorporate these types of activities into my class.” After having the opportunity to take HLT-215 which is also known as Significant Issues of Health I have developed or expanded my beliefs about active learning and hands on activities.

I have developed my philosophy during my health class because during this class we are not actively moving or doing hands on activities but we are actively learning. We are actively learning by having in depth discussions about issues in health. While having these in depth discussions each person in our class is making connections with their life to the issue being discussed? When I make a connection with my life to the issues I understand the issue and information the instructor is relaying and I retain the information easier than the information I obtain by reading the chapters. What I now know is that active learning is not only hands on activities. My philosophy would be changed to; I believe that students learn in many different ways. They learn through inquiry, making connections, going into depth thoughts and also by asking questions. Active learning is not the only was students learn. Because I now know that students learn in many different ways I will be sure to be very diverse with the activities and learning environments a set up for my students.

KAHPERD 08

2008-10-26T18:47:00.000-07:00

In the picture is the use of Goe Fitness Program that I participated in during the KAHPERD (Kentucky Association for Health Physical Education Recreation and Dance) Convention in Louisville, KY. In this picture the instructor is demonstrating how one can integrate content into a physical education class but using the technology of Goe Fitness.

During the KAHPERD convention I was dancing and learning how to make sequences, multiply, add, divide, and how to develop a well rounded nutritional meal. There were many different ways for using the Goe Fitness program including: Teacher/Instructor Lead, DVD providing instruction, Audio CD, Task Learning Cards, and Dice.

This relates to my development as a teacher because now that I have experienced this program I know that I want to incorporate a program like this one into my classes. While participating in this program I learned how to integrate content from every subject into physical activity. I know that it is important to create environments to encourage my students to become learners for life but as a physical educator I also know that part of my content is to create environments for my students to become fit for life. I placed this experience under technology because I have learned that to encourage my students to become active learners and to believe in fitness for life I need to incorporate technology into my teaching because technology can be a great resource for creating not only fun but educational experiences. I have learned that when people are having "fun" they learning and will most likely continue to learn if they enjoy what they are doig.

~Cinderella~

2008-10-26T18:41:00.000-07:00

The activity I was doing was a group project the first class of EDS-150 and our instructions were to draw and write the story of Cinderella.

There were four members in my group and four sheets of paper. It was a very difficult task to complete because we had to make sure that our story line and pictures we drew made sense. We decided that it would be best to decide as a group what to make the story line instead of each member doing their own drawing.

Working together as a group to decide upon the story line with complete stranger was very challenging but a great way to get to know my peers and built a community. I noticed that my peer in other groups each had a totally different task. After observing them I noticed that each group’s task required different levels of thinking. One group’s task had instructions to sit and color picture of the Cinderella story and they could not talk to each other. This did not take much thinking at all. In fact the members of that group said that they did not learn anything from their task and they did not get to know each other or develop a community. My group did have an opportunity to develop a community and get to know each other and our only instructions were to draw and write the Cinderella story.

I decided to place this experience under “the nature of learning” because through this experience I learned that the less instruction a teacher gives the more thinking and learning the students will acquire. Because I have learned this I will now develop activities in my class room that have less instruction and require more thinking of them and I know that the more m y students are thinking the more they are learning and developing into life long learner.

Class PED 244

2008-10-12T18:26:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of my peers in my PED 244 class teaching second graders loco motor and non-loco motor skills.
During this observation I learned about lesson planning and class room management. My peers were given a lesson plan and based upon the age of the children they had to adapt; they had to change the activities to make them developmentally appropriate for the children and they had to do this in a way that was safe for the children and allowed them to keep active. I learned from observing their teaching experience that is helpful to keep the children moving when distributing equipment and it was best to space the children out so that they can not touch each other when giving instructions. To have a successful learning environment when teaching second graders it is very important to have a well thought out and organized lesson plan that includes activities that will keep the student active instead of standing still because this is when most misbehavior's occur.
As a Physical Educator it is important that I keep my students active as much as possible!

Special Motor Fitness Clinic

2008-10-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the different stations that I sat up with minimum instructions and many different types of equipment they could use.
This is when I decided to apply autonomy and test my ability to make it work. The children went to each station and it was up to them to come up with an activity based upon the equipment and instructions given.
After analyzing the students, activities and use of the equipment I noticed that each student created something different but still acceptable to the directions given.
I assessed the activities and (by doing this I have reach the Evaluation level of Bloom's thinking scale) found that I not only know what autonomy is but I can use it in the world. I can create an environment of autonomy and I understand why autonomy is important to use in a classroom.
It allows me as a teacher to set up environments for children to think and learn on their own without me. Which allows me to be able to help the children who are struggling.

Special Motor Fitness Clinic II

2008-10-12T17:53:00.000-07:00

I have been asking myself "what is atonomy?" I am sure everyone else had as well so I decided to investigate this question by trying to experiment with an special motor fitness clinic. Now to show what I have found, I have taken some photos to display to everyone what I have learned about autonomy.

Above is me participating with a child one on one. I have learned that autonomy in class room is when I set up an environment that allows the students do their task without me being there so that I can work one on one with a child. This is only the first level of Bloom's thinking scale. However, I did more thinking and began to understand autonomy by comparing a class with autonomy to a class without autonomy. I understand that autonomy in a class room is great for encouraging students to become active learners instead of just good listeners.

Special Motor Fitness Clinic

2008-10-05T19:20:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the warm-up activities of the children in the Special Motor Fitness Clinic I participate in at the YMCA located in Richmond, Ky.

From this program I have learned how to develop an environment of physical activity in a gym and pool for children with disabilities both physically and mentally.

Goal 4: I now feel more confident with developing environments for diverse children, by diverse I do not mean disabilities only. I had the opportunity to work with many diverse children; some of different race, gender, physical disabilites, and mental disabilities.

Teaching Experience

2008-10-05T18:45:00.000-07:00

Lesson Plans
Brittany Manns
Singles Strategy- Tennis
College Level
Lesson Objectives
To teach the class strategies to successfully play tennis during a singles match. Also, to have the students practice the strategies and become familiar with the concepts.

Equipment needed
· Tennis racquet's for each student
· Tennis Balls for each student

Warm up Activity
· Jog around the courts
· Stretch for 5 minutes
· Have 4 students at each court, two on each side, one up at a time. The two up will hit the ball back and forth trying to keep the ball in the singles lines. The goal is to keep the ball in play as long as possible. Once the ball is out of play the students who is currently up will step out to allow the students waiting to participate.
Lesson Organization
· Students will be in a half circle, facing away from the sun toward me.
· For the activities the students will be in groups of four at each tennis court, each with a ball and racket.
Lesson Focus
· First, students will be introduced to singles strategy. I will explain how the warm-up activity was actually one of the strategies.
o Keep the ball in play.
§ If you want to score you have to hit the ball over the net, land it in bounds and do this one more times than your opponent.
· Next, students will be instructed the next strategy.
o Keep the ball deep.
§ Keeping the ball deep will make your opponent stay back away from the net, preventing them from having the advantage; they cannot return the ball at an angle.
DRILL: Have students get into pairs, one on each side of net. Practice hitting the ball deep. See how many consecutive volleys each pair can get. 5-7min's
· Lastly, students will be instructed on the last strategy.
o When to use angles.
§ The goal is to hit the ball at an angle (usually in the service areas) away from your opponent preventing them from returning the shot. Use when your opponent hits a shallow ball
DRILL: Have students get a partner, four at each court. Have student A have three tennis balls and have student B with a racket. Have student A near the net in the middle of the court. Student A will lob the ball over the net towards student B giving them a shallow ball. Student B will hit the ball at an angle to the left or the right service area. Do 20 times each.
Ending Activity
Have students get into groups of four. Two on each side and only one person up at a time, rotating turns after each scored point. Point can only be scored after the ball has crossed the net four times. Encourage them to practice keeping the ball in play, using deep shots and angles to score.

Above is the lesson plans I developed for the PE class I taught in August, 2008.
While teaching this class I gained knowledge that helped me develop many of the seven goals.

Goal 3: I grew in this area because the experience way of learning now makes more sense to me. I now understand that with experience you learn more, because after teaching this lesson in tennis I learned more about this skill than any other skill I was taught by the other students.

Goal 4: I grew in this area because the entire class had the ability to learn the skill because I taught the skill verbally and with a demonstration so that the students who learn verbally could hear the instructions and the visual learners received a visual aid.

Goal 5: I grew here because I understand now the importance of developing a learning experience for everyone in the class.

Goal 7: With this activity I developed and learned the skills needed to teach. I had the responsibility of learning researching the skill to acquire enough knowledge to teach others. From the students feedback and the experience I now know more about the process of teaching
the skill.

One of my personal goals is to set up a sucessfull learning environment for students. I feel like I have worked on my goal with this activity.

Goal 6

2008-10-05T18:43:00.000-07:00

I can show that I have the ability to use technology for developing my students knowledge, understanding, skills and dispositions.

Goal 5

2008-10-05T18:40:00.000-07:00

I will demonstrate that I know it is important to be diverse in teaching and learning experiences for all children.

Midnight Game

2008-10-01T19:53:00.000-07:00

This is a video of the midnight game we played with the children at Kingston Elementary school, the children on the left are the chickens and the children on the right are fox. The chickens ask the fox what time it is, the fox say a time other than midnight and the chickens take that many steps toward them. Once the fox calls out midnight the chickens have to run back to their line which is base before the fox catch them.

I learned how to deveop a plan that would allow a learning experience for all students. I learned that I need to give specific instructions to the children and give a demonstration.

Teaching at Kingston Elementary School

2008-10-01T19:43:00.000-07:00

During this activity I learned about lesson planning. What I learned was that you have to be very specific when giving directions.

Goal 4: I grew in this area because I learned how to develop a specific plan that will allow a learning experience for all children.

Goal 5: I learned that it was important to teach different ways for different children. Some children could do a skill by being told what to do and some of the other students needed demonstrations to be able to complete the skill.

I learned about constructivism; learned that as a constructivist I value creating a delopmentally-appropriate learning environment. I learned that with 5th graders there are some children that are not as developed as other children in their same class. It is important to develop activities will include all children and allow them to be successful.

Glue and Starch

2008-10-01T19:30:00.001-07:00

Yes, this is when I restarted my experiment. I was determined to get it right this time, espeially after seeing all my peers successfully make their glue and starch become very thick, hard and COLORFUL! :)

From the glue and starch learning center in class October 2nd, 2008 I learned how to teach lessons by using activities that are not directly related to the activity.

Glue and Starch

2008-10-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

Me trying to make my glue and starch orange. It did turn orange but after trying this I found that I had another challenge to overcome. It became to thin! My peers and I decided it was due to the large amount of food coloring I added. I tried again without adding the food coloring and it did turn out much thicker. :)

I learned that it is very helpful to consider my peers' ideas. I learned that everyone is unique and think very differently, i noticed that everyone had the same instructions yet everyones putty turned out different.

Glue and Starch

2008-10-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

Me playing with the glue and starch, the second time. I put too much food coloring in the first one resulting in the glue and starch turning into a thin liquid.
I learned about inquiry during this activity; I learned that active learning experiences are a great way to allow my students to learn, I learned more by doing this experiment.
I also learned about constructivism; I learned that with constructivism we build upon previous knowledge. For example I learned from the first trial that I should not put so much food coloring in the glue and starch, therefore in the second trial I did not use so much food coloring when coloring my glue and starch.

Goal 7

2008-09-25T08:36:00.000-07:00

I can show that I take responsibility for my own development and lifelong learning.

Goal 4

2008-09-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

I show that it is important to me to know how to develop a plan the will allow a learning experience for all students

Goal 3

2008-09-25T08:33:00.000-07:00

I can show that the ways of learning listed (inquiry, experience, time, interest, self correction and external criticism) make sense to me.

Goal 2

2008-09-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

I will demonstrate that I have general knowledge and in depth understanding of the content for this class I am responsible for.

Goal1

2008-09-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

Teachers use active learning and have the ability to create environments of critical thinking, observation, experimenting, and trial and error. Also, comfortable with using inquiry while working with a group of people.

2008-09-25T07:36:00.002-07:00