Thursday, December 8, 2011

Christmas time is here again!

Today at St.Mary's our theme was christmas. I was in the special projects group so we decorated the doors to the gymnasium with our thank you collages. It was great way to show the school how much we appreciate them letting us be apart of their after school program. This was a very rewarding experiences for me. I feel so much more comfortable teaching to groups of people weather it be students or my peers. The thing I seemed to struggle with the most is making myself heard. I've been working on enunciating in a gymnasium setting and will continue to do so until I am happy with the outcome. I'm going to miss going to St.Marys every other week but it has furthered me on my path of becoming a physical educator. 

Monday, November 21, 2011

Turkey Pokey

Last monday was lab 5 at St.Marys. I was in the special projects group this week. Our task was to interview our classmates in order to put together a newsletter. We asked several different people several different questions such as "What do you like most about St.Marys?" and "Why do you want to be a Physical Education teacher?" I then consolidated the responses and developed a newsletter that will be left at the school to show how beneficial this program is. By the time I had finished it was time for the closing activities. I was in charge of the ending song. I had downloaded a thanksgiving themed song called "What does a turkey do?" Unfortunately, we had some technical difficulties and were unable to play my song. I had to improvise in a matter of seconds. So at that moment I decided to go with something I already knew. The Hokey Pokey except I changed it to the Turkey Pokey. Instead of hand, foot, head, and backside it was wing, claw, beak, and feathers. It ending up being a success and everyone got involved and looked like they were having fun.

To see what I think about our activities at St.Marys Click Here!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Prenatal Paradise-Athletic Alliance

My group took chapter 6 from our text, made lyrics that matched up to the beat of "Gangsters Paradise" by Coolio and turned it into a music video for PED 201 at SUNY Cortland.
 Check it Out!



Wednesday, November 2, 2011

This is Halloween!


Lab 4 at St. Marys ended up being on Halloween which was really exciting because a majority of our class dressed up for the occasion. In addition to dressing up we were able to prepare games that related to the halloween theme. This week I worked with pre-k. I really enjoyed this. I prepared by going out and buying the book "5 Little Pumpkins". To my surprise, as I started to read this book to the students, four of them started reading it for me without the book in their hand. These kids had actually memorized the book! They kept saying it over and over until we headed to the gym to do the next activities. One of our activities we used string and had the kids create a big spider web as a team. They did this by holding one end and then throwing the other to someone across the circle. I think they really liked this because they all seemed to stay focused on the activity. It was great! 

To see what I think about the challenges at St. Marys Click Here!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Lets leap, side step and jump horizontally!

Lab 3 at St.Marys was an enjoyable one. I have been steadily improving and I can see the improvement in my peers as well. Our theme for this lab was sports and my group this week was the gym group. We were the ones who got to present our games first while the rest of our peers overlooked the motor skills for that day. My game involved being a race car driver. I think the students really enjoyed this game and I actually got everyone to pay attention while going over the instructions. Toward the end of the day I played a game called "ninja" with a few girls. I had seen this game in class but it never looked like a game anyone would actually play. Boy was I wrong! These girls dominated this game and I would lose every time. Although I failed it was definitely a fun game. It got our group laughing and we ended up having a good time with it. I will keep this game in mind. I think is could be a good ice breaker in my class someday.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Mini-Conference at SUNY Cortland

We had a NYS AHPERD Mini-Conference last friday, October 7th. This opportunity was very enjoyable as well as beneficial for me. At the opening of this conference I took part in a flash mob. It turned out to be pretty successful and we even got some of the crowd involved like we had wanted to. To see it Click Here! While at the conference I was also able to take part in a session called "life of an athlete". This session discussed the consequences of drugs and alcohol on an athlete. The major thing I took away from this was how alcohol disrupts the training of an athlete. If an athlete gets intoxicated two days out of the week then their training fails. For example, If a person is training heavily for a sporting event and then goes out on friday and saturday and becomes intoxicated, training up to 14 days prior to drinking will be lost. This really opened my eyes because it can be seen right here, in a college setting. Student athletes who spend all those hours training and go out on the weekends are ruining their hard work and are just hurting their teams in the end. In addition, I also attended a session where I learned how to merengue along side my peers as well as Physical Education teachers. This was defiantly an enjoyable experience. We learned a number of progressions starting with the counts, steps and turns. By the end, we were able to go through an entire routine. I had to go out of my comfort zone a little, but it was well worth it in the end.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Lab 2 St.Marys

Lab 2 was a lot different from lab 1. This time we actually got to teach the kids a game. I was excited yet nervous to teach in front of the students. I had the boys and girl sit criss cross applesauce in front of me while facing the stage, that way they weren't distracted by the kids engaged in activity on the other half of the gymnasium. I introduced the game friendship tag (elbow tag) and I had integrated the various motor skills into the game. They kids had ball. When teaching in this setting I think its crucial to keep the kids interested in the activity. Changing up the game with a few tweaks here and there can be a huge help to getting all the students involved in each activity. One thing that my group actually did was motivated one of the students. This little boy did not want to play one of games but instead another game. I remember one of my peers actually said "once we get through this one game we might have time to play your game after". This immediately got the student engaged in the activity we were about to play. In addition to keeping the students engaged it is all important to come prepared. If you aren't prepared to teach your game then the chances of it running smoothly are pretty slim. So make sure you have all the materials needed, know what your going to say and make sure you keep the instructions short and sweet so you don't confuse the kids.

Click here

Friday, September 23, 2011

Using "shamed" games

In my PE class I wouldn't use these "shamed" games. They are in the Hall of Shame for a reason. I feel that games like dodgeball, red rover, or tag don't teach kids the fundamentals. When it comes to actually playing these games, not everybody is active. For example, if we are playing dodgeball the weakest kids are going to be the ones who get out first. After they get out what do they do? They sit or stand on the sidelines until they can get back in. Its called physical education for a reason. These games do not keep the students actively engaged in class. I do however believe that these "shamed" are fun, I remember playing them in grade school. Looking back I realize how inactive kids were in PE class. These games are not meant for PE.