Who knew teaching Kabaddi could be so much fun?

When Professor Yang instructed to the class that we will have to be teaching an international sport, admittedly so, I was nervous. Next, when my partner Greg and I decided to teach Kabaddi, the national sport of India and Bangladesh, yes I was very nervous. I was not sure if I would be able to learn a sport quickly, and well enough to teach it to a group of my peers. Nonetheless, I was up to the challenge and I did pretty well I think. It is very hard to squeeze so much information into such a short period of time but I did my best. I was able to include the native language of Bangladesh, that is Bengali, having the students counting from 1-10 in Bengali. Thus, I was able to get plenty of the culture into the lesson and it felt accomplishing to teach through the physical. I found it difficult to give feedback to my students, but I did the best I could, which truthfully was not all that spectacular. The skills I taught in Kabaddi were so simple that it was tough to give feedback because all of the students excelled in them. However, one can argue that I can simply give positive feedback to the students, so that is definitely an area I need to work on. Ultimately, I am really liking the way I am progessing as a teacher. Below are links to all of Kabaddi documents.

Block Plan

History

Lesson Plan

Task Progressions

My Teaching, Ultimately Take 2

I was very happy with the outcome of Lab B2, I can see myself improving. This time around I had a great hook, signal for attention and safety statement. I had a great challenge to go along with my task that I instructed the class to do. I kept the instruction short and sweet and got the class moving as fast as I could. There is still one flaw that I know I need to work on, as I was walking around observing the students, I was not assessing the task that I had instructed them to work on. I gave comments on the fundamentals of basic frisbee throwing, rather than the pivoting, ducking and juking that I taught. Lastly, next time I teach I will be sure to demonstrate in game-like speed, most likely with a student in the class to give them a better idea of what I mean. I did not do that this time and the class seemed a little confused at what I was asking of them, thus I will be sure to fix my mistake next time.

Throughout the lesson, there was a microphone attached to my collar, recording everything being said and here is a transcription of just that. After transcribing it, I was happy with my performance, but there were a few things I still need work on. I lost count the amount of times I said 'Okay,' that has to be fixed and fast. Also, my assessing, can hardly be called assessing. Instead I just gave general feedback of basic fundamentals of Ultimate. In addition, there is a time coding form and a feedback analysis form I've filled out that breaks down the lesson completely so you can better understand how it went.

My Teaching, Ultimately

Lab B1 was by far my most successful lab teaching. Granted, there are still things I need to work on but I still feel confident. My demonstration was poor, to say the least, I had a hard time thinking of a way to explain how to pivot, deke and duck and certainly could have done a better job. In addition I lacked a safety statement and a signal for attention, both very important in their own realms. On the other hand, I had a great hook and introduction. I liked how I never had my back to any of the students walking around giving advice to them on technique and what have you. Next lab I will definitely make sure that it is in my lesson, just a few kinks I need to work out.

New Youth, Hitting Bingles

This past weekend my softball team, New Youth, was granted right to participate in a tournament of the best teams in the league. Having won our division in the regular season, we were put into a bracket of some of the best teams all across Long Island. We made it to the semi-finals but fell short in the last inning losing by only a couple of runs. However, we may have lost but it was some of the most fun I've had and I'm glad I went home for the weekend to participate. Playing softball with my team, my friends, is always a great way to spend your Sunday morning. After all the inside jokes, double plays, bingles (singles), home runs, put outs and much more it was a very successful season. Pictured below is a picture of the team after the championship game of the regular season, above is a picture of me from the 2009 season, in a tournament New Youth entered in and won.

Teaching, Take Two

Given another opportunity to teach I was not going to take it for granted. It was certainly better than my first teaching experience but there is still much I need to work on. I liked how I demonstrated, explained it again, broke it down into parts, and demonstrated it again, better known as D.E.A.D. (Demonstrate, Explain Again Demonstrate). In addition, to demonstrating, I explained a common mistake when swinging a baseball bat, which I feel definitely helps students when beginning to learn to swing a bat. Along with my strong points there were things I need to improve. I really must start to literally yell, it is better than the first lab, but with all the background noise and distractions I must begin talking louder. Also, my body language suggests I am not comfortable, I'm nervous and I don't have the presence I should have. I'm sure with time that would change. Lastly, I cannot blog without addressing the Greg-Jen mishap, it was pretty embarassing but I can laugh about it now. Honestly, I have known Jen for almost three years now, I know her name, it was just one of those things that happens. I was looking at Greg, it seemed like he was going to say something, answer my question, and then Jen caught me off guard. It won't happen again though.

An Orientation to Teaching Physical Education

Teaching is a goal-oriented activity, teachers must set goals for themselves and the students as well. Teachers need to set a bar of objectives they want to achieve. Physical Educators must set reasonable goals for their students to reach, like their motor skills of the psychomotor domain. Without goals, students will lose interest and have nothing to strive for in your class.

It is important for teachers to choose instructional processes appropriate to their goals and lesson. Teachers must have an idea of what they want their students to be able to do and enforce instructional processes effectively for a given activity and group of students. If a student is asked what happened in gym class today, as the teacher, how would you want yourself described? The teacher must control the environment, task and learner to the best of his/her abilities.

The movement task-student response unit of analysis is a vital part of physical education. Movement tasks are motor activities assigned to the student that are related to the content of the lesson. The movement task can vary from a teacher telling a student to bump a volleyball, and can range to the teacher using task cards or something of the sort. A class without movement task-student response of analysis is not a class at all.

My First Teaching Experience, Edu 255

A week ago, in the first day of class in Professor Yang's Edu 255, the class was asked to come up with a 3-4 min lesson on any basic fundamental skill. With no preparation my peers and I had to do our best with what we had. Below is a video of my lesson plan. I felt there are both pros and cons of my video. I was strong with my demonstration ability but there were some flaws with my presentation. Firstly, I can hardly here myself speak, whether it was poor video quality or what have you, clearly I need to speak up and expand my voice. Secondly, my introduction was sub par, I did not have instant activity to grab the student's attention, instead they were standing still, probably bored. Those are just two qualities of my teaching that I need work on, I look forward to expanding my abilities as the semester continues.