Best and Worst Moments of Movement

For Motor Dvelopment our final "project" was to create a presentation highlighting one of our best moments of movement and one of our worst moments in movement. I choose two moments from swimming. My worst moment was my senior year of high school when we were at the NYS championship meet. My best moment was from this year at the SUNYAC championship meet.


Check Out My Presentation!!!!

St. Mary's Lab 6 - 4/23/12

Today was our last day at St. Mary's for 201. It was a very fun lab. My group was the gym group again, so we led the opening activities. What was different about today's lab was that we didn't assess any skills, so we played parachute games. The TA's led activities along with us. They went well, but we did have problems with some of the kids going through the hole that's in the middle of the parachute.

When we broke off into groups, the students that stayed with us played more parachute activites with a smaller parachute. After parachute games we played a bunch of different tag games. The students were loving tag today! We played blob tag, line tag, freeze tag, variatinos of freeze tag, regular tag, sharks and minnows....we played A LOT of tag, but the kids had fun!!! At the end we played a quick game of basketball before it was time for closing activities.

Everyone had a great time today at St. Mary's, it was bittersweet leaving them. From my experience at St. Mary's I've learned a lot, a lot more than I thought I would. One thing that I've learned is that you always need to be prepared and have back up plans for your class. You need to have the least amount of distractions as possible. You need to be aware of what age level your teaching and what is appropriate for them. I've taken all that I've learned to become a better teacher.

To see more on my reflections from St. Mary's - look at this!

St.Mary's Lab 5

Today in Motor Development lab we were at St.Mary's. The kids were filled with energy from the warm weather we had today! Today my group was the gym group- we lead the starting activities, which the rest of our class assesed the students on their kicking and basketball dribble. The age group was K-2 (about 5yrs-8yrs). My game was called Kick The Can, Christine's was Guard the Castle, Kendra's was a variation of Red Light Green light, and Lauren's was Speed Ball (a mix of basketball and soccer).

I went first with my game which focused on kicking. I thought that it went well. There was a lot of participation since it was the first activity. What I noticed was that I (along with the TA's) had to keep telling the kids to stay behind the kicking line and that they had to kick the ball,not throw it. So that's something that I need to look over and change (how I explained things). The other games we did went well I think. We had less participation throughout the games, especially when we got to the last game. The kids enjoyed all of the games though!

After we were done in the gym we went into the Cafeteria with our kids. They had a quick snack, then they had free time after in the Cafeteria. The kids played with Legos, dominos, checkers, Sorry, and some colored. I played Legos and colored with different kids. These activites showed how creative kids' minds can be!

When the lab was over with, I thought that everyone did an awesome job! It looked like all of the kids enjoyed themselves. The doors that the Special Projects group started decorated looke great so far. The other groups that I saw looked pretty successful as well!

Only one more visit to St.Mary's for PED 201!

Exergame Lab (4/9/12)

In last Monday's Motor Development lab (4/9/12) we got to play around with the Exergame equipment. We started the lab off by playing a scavenger hunt using the scanner on our smartphones. This was an introduction into what our lab was going to be about.

Using the Exergame equipment is great and it's a unique experience. Many schools can't afford this equipment without PEP Grants, so not a lot of students are exposed to this technology. Also, not everyone agrees with using technology in a physical education class. Exergame equipment allows you to mix technology with physical activity.

There's equipment for all age levels. Hyperdash & the Fisher Price stationary bike would be good for Pre-K age through about 3rd grade I think. With Hyperdash you can set up the discs around the classroom or gym and have the kids play by colors, or by numbers using there math skills. With the Fisher Price bike students peddle along to collect letters and/or numbers along the race route that is on the TV. The next level would be the bigger stationary bike, along with the stair steppers connected to the XBox, and the Dance Dance Revolution-like system.

All of the equipment uses coordination skills & physical activity while, essentially, playing video games. Today's children love to play video games. Exergame equipment allows us to merge video games and physical fitness with one another. I think that kids will love the different systems that Exergame has to offer. It will make students want to be more involved during class. I think that using Exergame in physical eduaction classes is an excellent idea!!

Infant Development Concert 2012

Last Wednesday (4/11/12) in PED 201 class everyone performed their Infant Development skits live at Poolside in C-State's Parkcenter. My group, The Physettes, performed "A Little Less Drinking, A Little More Caring" - a remix of Fall Out Boy's "A Little Less Kiss Me, A Little More Touch Me". Even though we had a little technical difficulty with our background music, I thought that we did a good job. I thought that all of the groups did an awesome job getting into their performances, despite being nervous!! It was a great experience to be in an uncomfortable position and having to perform, it sets us up for situations like interviews, being in front of larger groups, and teaching.

Check out our video skit as well as the live performance :)

Here are some still photos from our performance!

Lab 4 at St. Mary's - 3/26/12

This week at St.Mary's my group was the Special Projects group. We were responsible for creating a bulletin board and closing activities- game, song, and cheer. We didn't have a theme this week. The skills we assessed were the overhand throw and the catch. (click here to see my observation worksheet)

The gym group did a great job with opening activities. I didn't think the Trash Can game they played would've turned out as well as it did, they had to force the kids to stop playing because they were having fun!
Once the kids broke off into their different stations my group updated the bulletin board in the gym. Lauren came up with the design and had all of the supplies, the rest of us helped her put it together. It turned out great!! After we were done, we played with some of the kids until it was time for our ending activities. One of the kids we played with was a 12 year old boy that was very good at soccer. I was very impressed with his skills (and so were the other girls in my group).

Christina's ending game was a mix between rock, paper, scissors and tag. There were two teams, each team had to disscuss what they were going to throw (rock, paper, or scissors), then the teams lined up. Which ever team lost had to run back to their base line without getting tagged, if they got tagged they had to go over onto the winning team. The kids liked this game. After the game I did the song Herman the Worm. A few of the kids already knew what it was from camps they had gone to (this is where I learned the song originally). I think the kids thought that the song was entertaining, but not very fun...it didn't go over as well as Ryan's Baby Shark song went the other week (Lab 3 I think). Kendra did an ending cheer.

The Great Debate

In Monday's class (2/26/12) we had a debate in class about which type of curriculum we should use-  Sticks in Sports, Lifetime Activities, or Skills Theme Advocates. There was a mock school board and a mock media crew on top of the three advocating groups. The group I was in was the Skills Theme group. I am a big fan of lifetime activities and stick sports, but I believe that at the elementary and middle school levels of PE the curriculum should be skills theme based. Children need to learn these fundamental skills to be more diverse with their bodies. Having these fundamental skills helps with the other two groups- which I would incorporate into the later levels of education (late elementary, middle and high school). Our group's statement was that we are the basis to all sports (the other two groups).

Having a Skills based curriculum is easier for younger learners. It doesn't focus on a couple of specific skills, it focuses on a bunch of locomotor skills that create more opportunities to try different sports/activities if the child chooses. By learning these skills at a young age it helps with performing more difficult skills later in life and helps a child be more coordinated.

Week 3 at St.Mary's (2/27/12)

Week 3 at St.Mary's was sports themed.  Many games used Olympics, medals, and sports poses to og along with the theme. Some of us also wore sports jersey's to help set the mood. The fundamental movement skills that we focused on this week were leaping, horizontal jumping, and sliding. Click here to view my lab report!

Opening games included many relay races using these fundamental skills. What I found from watching the kids during the opening games is that the  kids would do the skill for a short period of time and it was hard to assess them on the skills. Some kids did the skill for a longer period of time, showing that students really are individuals and are all on different skill levels.

My group was with the Pre-K kids. We read them a few books and helped them make their own first place medals in their classroom; and we played games with them in the gym.  The  game I had the kids play was called "Crossing The Brook". The kids had to jump over  (leap over, skip over-whatever skills I told them to do)  ropes that were on the ground (representing brooks) without stepping on the ropes. If they stepped on a rope they had to tap their shoes 3 times to pretend that they were drying their socks and shoes off. At first I didn't explain that they had to stop at the other side to wait for everyone to cross the brooks, so they were going back and forth creating clutter-but I got their attention and fixed the problem. Another game we played was like London Bridge. After that I came up with a race that included the arches from the London-Bridge like game becase they loved trying to get captured under the arches. After that fizzled out me and my groupmates played with the kids in whatever activity theywanted to do. I played with a boy and a girl playing basketball with them and playing catch with the boy. I had him try different sized balls and trying to catch/throw with just one hand and with two hands. The Pre-K group was fun to be with, they're all so energetic and they really want to do whatever you have for them.

After being there 3 times now I have learned that you  have to face the kids in a direction that doesn't face other activities, otherwise they'll get distracted. Also, being on their level, yet high enough to show that you're in control helps while instructing.

Hall of Shame Games

It's suprising to see classic games that we used to play in gym class on a hall of shame list. Dodgeball, tag, kickball, red rover - who would hate on these awesome games?!?

Well, after being in some of the Physical Education here at Cortland I've learned about important aspects of physical education (like teaching about the physical, cognitive, and affective aspects of development). Looking back at these games I now see that they weren't very appropriate for physical education class. Games like Dodgeball, Red Rover, SPUD, and Messy Back Yard don't have any educational value in the cognitive department; they have limited value in the physical department; and they aren't good for the affective learning. These "shameful" games embarrass students in front of the whole class, they don't focus on lifetime fitness skills, and are potentially dangerous. The main focus of the Hall of Shame Games is having "fun", which isn't a bad thing, but the focus in class as physical educators is having our students be able to be successful physically (with fundamental skills), cognitively, and affectively - all in which are used throughout a lifetime.

Games like Red Rover and Messy Back Yard I wont use in my class. There is no educational value to those games and they don't help teach fundamental physical skills.

Games like Dodgeball, Tag, Kickball, and SPUD I would consider using in class, but they would be used limitedly. In Dodgeball, kids work on throwing and running and dodging skills while also working cognitive skills by using tactics in variations of Dodgeball (like Doctor Dodgeball). In SPUD kids are working on the same physical skills, but don't really work on the other two aspect of learning. Tag and Kickball use mainly physical learning. Although kids are being used as human targets, I don't think that this is that big of a deal if the right equipment is used. I think that kids should have a break sometimes from learning fundamental skills and just have fun throwing a ball around and doing something silly, just as long as they're safe!

If I were to use one of these games I would modify it so that it met the NASPE standards and the NYS Learning Standards. For example if I were to have my student's play Dodgeball in class, I would have them do 10 jumping jacks or hops across the side of the gym (something that would improve their physical skills) when they got "out" so that they get back in and can play as soon as they are done without singling out anyone or embarrassment. This way kids aren't sitting in a line waiting 10 minutes for all but the winner to get out. This way there are no winners and (hopefully) everyone has fun. And to work on fundamental skills you can have the kids skip or hop (any fundamental skill) when they move around to help improve their skills.

The games we used in class at St. Mary's focus mainly on using fundamental physical skills. But we also like for most of our games to work on cognitive skills and affective skills. We stay away from these "shamed" games, but we do use them sometimes. We've played some tag games, but we have made changes so that kids don't get out, don't get embarrassed, and are getting maximum activity.

Lab #2 at St.Mary's (2/6/12)

Last week we were at St.Mary's for our second lab and the theme was "Valentines Day". My group was with the Cafeteria kids, which has the fifth graders in it. Before we did anything with them, everyone watched the opening games & observed the kids for the 3 fundamental skills (gallop, run, and hop)- see My worksheet for Lab #2.

It was a nice day outside, so we were out on the playground first with the older kids. We played with kids in whatever they were doing, I joined some of the boys in a game of tag. After being outside for a while we went back inside and played a couple of games in the gym. First, we played my game which was "Where's My Valentine". In this game the kids had to move around (either hopping, running, skipping-whatever I told them to do) while the music was playing, and when the music stopped they had to find a partner and "greet" them in some way (touching ankles, making a heart with their hands, etc.). The few kids that we got to play the game didn't really seem interested at first, but they enjoyed it by the time we were done with the game. After "Where's My Valentine" we played a game that was a mix of soccer & basketball, and the kids really liked that game. At one point we had most of the kids that were in the gym playing the game!

From this lab I learned that the kids feed off of you. If your really enthusiastic towards the game, they tend to be enthusiastic. If they see that your having fun playing the game, they have more fun with the game.

VIRTUS training reflection

Last week we went through Virtus training which focused on child sexual abuse. The program gave good information such as the warning signs of a child that's been (being) abused, most abuse comes from people that the victim knows, and Sister Harriet told us that we should call the hotline before calling the police if we suspect that a child is being abused because our identity will be protected when we call the hotline. It's crazy to think that anybody would do this to children especially in schools, churches, and camps.

Lately there have been many reports of child sex abuse, the two big ones being the Penn State University scandle and the Syracuse University scandal both involving assistant coaches in their athletic programs. I feel like these thing should never happen, and that these guys were just dumb to do such things when they're in the public spotlight and are looked up to by so many. These stories should have been reported and told sooner, not many years after the event(s). Even though Joe Paterno, former head football coach at Penn State, wasn't a mandated reporter he should have still told authorities about what he knew was going on. It's the morally correct thing to do. No matter who the abuser is, they need to be punished for their actions. I believe that the schools did the right thing by firing the people that were responsible for not reporting the inccidents. There should be policies for these sorts of things and they should be followed.

Reports of abuse should be taken seriously. When children tell somebody that they've been abused, 95% of the time it is true. Recognizing, preventing, and appropriately reporting child sexual abuse is important. Parents should tell their children how to be safe and stay safe.

1/23/12 homework - Ch.1 - Learning Through the Physical/How physical activity impacts affective growth.

In 201 our homework assignment was to read chapter one and then blog about 1.) What does learn through the physical mean? and 2.) How physical activity impacts affective growth.

First off, it's good to know that there's learning-to-move and learning-through-movement aims of physical education. Learning-to move is based on acquiring increased movement skills and bettering physical fitness through increased activity. Learning-through-movement is based on the fact that effective physical eduaction can positively influence the cognitive and affective developement of children. It means that by having children moving around and being active their thinking/learning skills and social skills will increase.

Affective growth is learning that involves an increase in dealing with social-emotional skills; being able to act, interact, and react effectively with other people as well as with themselves. Physical activity helps with self-concept and positive socialization. Playing and being involved in vigorous activity allows for kids to establish a positive self-concept (belonging, perceived competence, worthiness, virtue, acceptance of self,  and uniqueness). Physical activity also has the potential to foster positive socialization, positive moral behavior and teach the virtues of honesty, teamwork, self-control, loyalty, and fair play. As a teacher you are given opportunities to teach these things, and teaching them through physical activity is a fun way of doing it. Rules are set in games to enforce virtues of honesty, loyalty, and fair play.

Day 1 of 201 lab

In our first day of 201 lab at St.Mary's we observed what happened at the after school program. We watched what the TA's did with the kids, in which we will eventually be doing these activities with our groups. We also got a tour of the school and learned what exactly it is we will be doing with our time at St.Mary's.

Before we went to lab we were told that the kids would be very crazy, but actually seeing it is different than thinking about what it would be like. I've been around young children before & have assisted with summer classes, so I'm used to dealing with elementary aged kids. But it can still be a little overwheleming in a new environment, with kids everywhere and kids not wanting to participate. But I'm looking foward to working with my group & the kids for the semester.

What I observed in lab...

Post #2 - Thoughts on first day of class, blogging, and my future

January 18 was the first day of classes for the Spring 2012 semester. In our first day of PED 201 professor Yang gave us an overview of what the class is going to be like. He gave us instructions for our homework assigments and showed us how to get to St. Mary's where we will be working with the kids for our lab. Professor Yang warned us that the kids probably aren't going to behave the same way they do during schools hours, that they will be wild and crazy.

I am looking foward to working with these kids, no matter how crazy they are. I have worked at a summer program for my home elementary school for a number of summers and I loved working with them, even the wild ones! I love seeing kids have fun while learning about what their bodies can do, which is why I'm looking foward to my future in physical education.

Although this is only my second post in a blog, it seems like a fun and easy way of doing homework. Blogging is almost like writing in a diary, except everybody can read it. It's a way of sharing things you find interesting with everyone and it's a way for people to follow your progress in life.

post #1 - initial reactions & winter break

The hardest part about creating a blog is coming up with the name. Doing everything else was relatively easy to do, but the name was somethin else!

Over winter break I helped with my home's modified swim team while I was practicing. I demonstrated flip turns for the beginners, which hopefully helped them learn how to do turn by themselves.