Cup Stacking and Hantis!!

                Yesterday Dave and Kyle were the last of the class to go for teaching their Lab D lesson for EDU 255. Dave got us all started off with his Cup Stacking lesson! I was really excited to try this out because I have never gotten a chance to use the actual cup stacking cups and I have seen lots of videos of the Cup Stacking Championships.  I really like the instant activity that Dave made up. He had everyone get a partner and there was a stack of cups along the edges of the gym and with our partner we had to take cup by cup to the center of the gym doing a different locomotor skill. Then once we got to the middle we had to make the 6 cup tower and once it was complete he wanted us to do the downward dog yoga pose. He began to talk to us about cup stacking while we all did a few different yoga poses. I really like the way he did this because this caused everyone to be active while he was explaining what we were doing for the day. Then we got into the actual cup stacking! We started out by just working on the technique of how to separate the cups with our fingers like laces on a football. Slowly we progressed to using these neat timing mats and building a 3-6-3 tower. Dave also had challenges throughout his lesson, like try it with your eyes closed or try using the mini cups! Then Dave had the challenge of incorporating relationships into his lesson and I loved the way he did this! He had us all paired up and we had to work together to build one tower, one person acted as the left hand and the other person acted as the right hand. While we were doing this he talked about how there can be hard times (when the cups tip over) so we must learn to communicate and work together. Overall I though Dave did a great job for his Lab D lesson! I had a lot of fun the whole time and he kept us all engaged and interested for the whole time!

                Next Up was Kyle! Kyle was teaching Hantis and you could tell that he was really confident in what he was teaching. He had us warm up with table tennis but playing with our hands instead of paddles. He used scaffolding from Eric’s Lesson, which is a great technique! After table tennis he brought us all together to talk about the objectives of his lesson and as discussed facts about asthma. We then moved right into practicing proper Hantis form. The unique thing about his lesson that I liked is that he handed out sheets of paper with cues and asked us to peer teach each other. I enjoyed this because it was a different teaching style we haven’t seen yet! Eventually we moved into small Hantis games and then a full 4 table Hantis game. During the lesson Kyle was very aware because he had a feeling something was going on because Professor Yang had Mike put another shirt on. This was great that he was being very observant because Mike ended up “breaking” his arm. Kyle handled the situation very well by asking someone to call 911, someone to stay in the hallway to wait, and someone to stay with Mike on the side. He also tried to keep the class engaged in the lesson and not have them concentrate on the incident with Mike. Kyle’s lesson was very well organized and flowed smoothly from one part to the next. Also you could tell that he was very organized and was confident in what he was teaching. These are two really important elements for a teacher to have. Even though it was the last day for our Lab D lessons, I would definitely say it ended on a good note. Everyone in our class has grown so much since day 1 thanks to Professor Yang and our TAs!

iDance!

                  Today Stephanie and Max presented their Lab D lesson for EDU 255. Stephanie taught first and she got us all right into using the iDance pads. He goal of the lesson was very clear; she wanted us to improve our percentage from the first song to the last song. So we started off by doing an easier song all on level 1. After the song was over she had the person with the highest percentage right their number on the board so everyone else could try and beat them. We played a few other songs and I personally improved from having like a 60% to an 80%! I liked how she let us practice and challenge ourselves all depending on our personal ability. After a few rounds of practicing she challenged us by asking us to face the back wall but still perform the dance. This was more of a challenge than I thought it would be. Facing the opposite way made it so everything was backwards and didn’t only make you work physically but was heavy in cognitive area too. Lastly she had us get a partner and work together to try and reach a high percentage. Eric and I were partners and it was interesting to see that many of us did better individually rather than with a partner. I enjoyed Stephanie’s lesson and I thought she did a great job challenging us both cognitively and physically.

                  Max taught iDance second and I thought he did a great job following Stephanie because the lessons didn’t seem repetitive. Although he was teaching iDance as well he challenged us to use iDance in different ways that were really creative. He started us off by just warming up normally with a song. Then had us face the opposite way but would yell out the command “switch” and we would turn to facing the front. I thought this was a lot of fun and was definitely a challenge. After he asked us to find a partner and to connect the mats so they were touching. We each had our own mat next to a partner and this time when he called out “switch” we switched mats with our partners. This was creative and added a fun element to the normal iDance game. To make it an even bigger challenge he then combined 4 mats and 1 practice together to make two teams of 5. So now we all were dancing in a line and when he called switch we would all shift down the line and the last person would run behind everyone and get on the first mat. I thought Max’s lesson was a lot of fun and it put a cool twist on the normal iDance program and added a fun teamwork element. Also I thought his lesson flowed really well and he seemed really confident in what he was teaching. Again another successful day for the Lab D.

Scavenger Hunt for Smokers

Today was Kim’s turn to present her Lab D lesson for EDU 255. Kim had the challenge of having the class participate in a scavenger hunt around Park Center, but this wasn’t just a normal scavenger hunt, every aspect of the hunt had a learning aspect about smoking. She was really dynamic and creative with how many different elements she incorporated into her lesson about smoking. She had us get warmed up with a little game of blob tag and then some stations that had to do with areas of the body that are affected by smoking. There was a station for the brain, lungs, heart, and mouth and at each station there was a activity that involved that area of the body. Then we finally split into groups and prepared for the scavenger hunt to find different things that are used to make cigarettes. Each group had to work together because we were tied together with a rope and one person with an iPhone downloaded an app that guided us from station to station. Also Kim had worksheets we had to fill out with the info that was at each station, and each person in the group had a different nametag of an ingredient that was in cigarettes. There were two groups so Kim had to spilt her time between each group to help guide them through the hunt. This led us all around the outside of Park Center. There were a few technical difficulties, but I thought she handled the problems very well. Although in my group especially there were a few incidences where behavioral problems occurred and Kim didn’t really seem to address them and instead just ignored them. Overall I thought Kim had a great lesson and I really learned about smoking and cigarettes. I can only imagine the amount of work that Kim put into her lesson, but I think it was really worth it because I thought that her lesson was super educational and involved some great physical aspects!    

Exergaming!!!

             Today in EDU 255 it was Emily’s and Leslie’s turn to teach their Lab D! They got the privilege of using the exergaming lab/equipment.  Emily started us off with a great lesson focused on diabetes and the boxing equipment. We first had to find eggs that were hiding around the lab that had information about diabetes. After we got started into using the equipment and she did a great job making sure everyone was being active even though only a few people at a time could use the actual technology. I loved how she really incorporated her theme of diabetes through the whole lesson! Also I loved how she was super enthusiastic about her lesson because it really helped everyone else get into it and have fun! I really enjoyed Emily’s lesson and I actually learned a few things that I never really knew before!

                  Leslie’s turn was next! She was in the smaller room in the exergaming lab, although she didn’t let this affect her lesson, which was great! Leslie had a couple different exergaming stations set up around the room that we rotated around to. I loved that she took on such a big task of incorporating many different games because it kept things interesting for us! I really enjoyed myself getting the chance to try out all the different games. Leslie also did a great job of making sure that everyone was being active and if there weren’t enough spots at one station she would adapt and change things so everyone could participate. Also I thought I was great how she was constantly walking around challenging people and giving feedback. At the station with the basketball video game with the steppers and bikes, she had us breathe threw straws. Then at the end of the lesson she explained that this was to show us the importance of being active and healthy because when plaque builds up on our arteries it makes the heart have to work harder to get blood around the body. This leads to cardiovascular disease. 
                          Emily and Leslie taught two fun and exciting lessons today, I really enjoyed class!   

                

POOL DAY!!

Today for EDU 255 the teach candidates that taught today were Devon and Mike! They both had the challenge of teaching in the pool area. Devon started us off by playing a simple tag game to get us warmed up. After the warm up he told us a story about how he went to water aerobics with his grandma. I loved this and it was a pretty entertaining and defiantly got my interest! So then we got into our own area of the pool to practice a few of the moves. I though Devon did a great job with the cues for each move and all the names of the moves closely related to the action itself. After practicing Devon didn’t hesitate to get right in the pool to put it all together. I really liked that he got in the pool and participated but yet still gave some feedback to students. Then he ended his lesson with some calm stretching right in the pool! I enjoyed Devon’s lesson and I thought he did a great job with classroom management as well!

                  Next was Mike, he was teaching us defense to Ultimate Pool Frisbee. Before we actually got into the lesson he wanted to get us warmed up with a little relay race. The cool aspect of the relay race was that we had to pass and hold onto these bands that tracked our times! When the last person had the band they had to touch it to the base and it stopped the timer! I thought this was really cool and added something unique to his lesson from the start. Then Mike when over the cues for defense, which included holding a short noodle. His cues were “Back and Smack”!! These cues were really easy to remember and easy to apply to your actual defense moves. We practiced with a partner then worked up to a full Ultimate Pool Frisbee Game. I had a lot of fun during his lesson and I thought it was so creative to add the element of holding the noodle. It gave us all more reach and turned the ordinary game into something new, fun and different. I though both Devon and Mike did a great job on their last lab from teaching! Everyone has definitely improved since his or her first lesson on day one.

A day for Table Tennis!

                  Today in EDU 255 Eric and Justin taught their Lab D, which focused on table tennis. They both presented two great lessons with progressions for their different styles of lessons. Eric went first and taught a great lesson on following threw you hitting. I really liked the way he hooked us in the lesson by connecting it to the cues. His second cue was “grease” because your hand/paddle made a motion by your head that you were greasing your hair like John Travolta in the movie grease. Then if you didn’t get that connection he also referred to the movement as from the “dougie” dance. I thought this was a great way to connect two different ways so you made sure everyone really understood it. Also during Eric’s lesson Professor Yang told Stephanie to make a scene about Dan cheating on her with Leslie. Eric handled this situation pretty well by first just splitting them up. Then Stephanie ended up cursing in the class so Eric just removed her for a short period then had her return. I thought the way Eric handled this in progressions was great, although he was kind of confused on what was going on!

                  Justin started off his lesson with a little instant activity about looking at different foods and connecting them to high fructose corn syrup! I thought this was a great creative way to get everyone thinking about how much high fructose corn syrup we eat daily, cause it sure made me think! Next he had to deal with a technical difficulty with his laptop so he didn’t have his rules or video but he handled the situation well and just moved on. When we moved on to the core of the lesson Professor Yang approached Emily and I and asked us to “flirt” and be clingy with Justin to see how he reacted. I must say that Justin did a great job dealing with us constantly want to be next to him. Whenever we would get too close or follow him around he would give us an alternate task or just say “hey would you two mind just standing right over there”. I thought his reactions to this was great and handled the situation professionally.

                  Overall I thought today was a successful day of Lab D’s and Friday we are going to be meeting in the pool area for two more lessons.  

MY LAST LESSON! - Power Yoga (Lab D)

                  Today was the first day for Lab D! It was my time to teach and set the bar for the rest of the class since I was the first to go! My focus for the class was Power Yoga! This lab took a lot of time and preparation to get ready for considering I had to teach for 35 minutes, which is much longer then ever have before. Also I had to try and teach in the style of “practice”. On top of the task of teaching yoga, I also had a fitness/wellness focus of “why PE?” I had to introduce to the class.

                  I started off my lesson with an instant activity that would teach students about why PE is important! The activity was just a simple game of “speed walking” tag but the taggers had to carry heavy backpacks and pass it off when they tagged the next person. I was hoping with this activity the students would realize that when you have to carry extra weight being active is harder and not as fun because of it. So after they finished the short activity I explained that 31% of NYS students are overweight or obese so PE is important to teach students to live an active lifestyle instead of a sedentary one. Not only does PE give everyone a time in their day to be active but also can teach students activities they can enjoy in their own time. 

                  Next I had everyone get a partner and find a station where there was yoga poses. There were a total of six stations and two people at each station. All the students were at a station for about 2 to 3 minutes and had to practice the pose and they could challenge themselves or modify the pose if they needed to. At this point in the lesson I walked around and gave feedback and helped them figure out the proper position. Also at one station I had my iPad set up for the students to record themselves while they were at the station. I would then use this as my assessment later on.

                  Then after everyone had been at each station I brought everyone back together as a group to perform a full routine. They followed a video that had specific directions of poses to perform including poses that they worked on in the stations. The video they followed I created myself, so during this time I walked around and gave feedback and corrections. The routine was 11 minutes long and was designed to get them working up a sweat! Then I closed my lesson by asking them to name a few poses and the muscles that were important to perform the position.

                  Overall I was very happy with how my lesson went! I feel that I have really grown since my very first day! During the first lab I was so nervous, my voice wasn’t very loud or confident. Then for this lab I felt confident in what I was teaching because of the practice and preparation I had done and I was excited to teach my lesson! This lab took a lot of work but I feel like it was worth it because everyone seemed to enjoy it! With this lesson I wanted the students to work up a sweat and have fun with it and I think by the end of the lesson I accomplished this! One thing I feel I did well was giving specific feedback. During the station I tried to make my way around to each group helping them on certain little things to make their poses better. I also tired to do this during the full routine! After reviewing the my lesson I think I gave each student specific feedback at least twice during the whole lesson! 

                   While I was teaching Professor Yang asked a few students to act out to see how I would handle it. At first Eric said “Yoga is for girls!” so I addressed him by telling him to modify the position in any “manly” way he would like. That seemed to help that problem but then Eric and his partner Max were kept getting off task. At first I just would pay close attention to them and challenge them so they weren’t getting bored, but that didn’t seem to work. So Professor Yang suggested that I would separate them. Then when I had the class switch stations I tried to not make it obvious but split them up, so I had Emily join Max and then Eric was a partner with Devon. This was definitely a challenge to deal with because they were very persistent in getting off task, but it taught me a lesson for sure! Sometimes addressing students isn’t enough so you just have to break them up. Also this taught me that when you have an activity that involves groups or partners it may be best to break up the students yourself so you can make sure certain people are not working together if it could become a disturbance. Also because I had my iPad set up at one station it was almost like my extra set of eyes. After my lesson I reviewed the videos and it showed me how much I didn’t notice because I could in the background some students getting off task that I never noticed. I think from this if I were to redo my lesson I might keep the station time shorter and maybe have the challenges a little harder so they didn’t get bored. One last thing I learned from this lab had to do with my visual aids! I was making so many posters for each station that I ended up mixing up one of the instructions on a poster. So the directions didn't match the pose! Thank goodness it was only on one poster, but next time I will make sure to triple check my visual aids!!

                  














Lab D was a great experience! I was really happy with the result of my last teaching experience for EDU 255! It really gets me excited to get out there and teach for real!! 

 

Power Yoga Resource Packet

Power Yoga Lesson Plan Teaching Transcription 
Feedback Analysis Form
Time Coding Form
Yoga Routine Video
Evaluation Form
Lesson  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Video Assessment - From iPad Station
Yoga Bulletin Board 
          - Free Information Card (from board)
Letter to a Superintendent 

Off on a Scavenger Hunt

         Today for EDU 255 one of the TA’s Steve split the class into groups to go on a scavenger hunt through park center. This wasn’t just a normal look and find type of scavenger hunt this on included technology of course. At least one person per group had a smart phone that had a QR reader app downloaded. A QR reader is an app that can scan a weird type of bar code and then gives you information about what that bar code means. So each group when from barcode to barcode finding out information and there was a letter that was found in each code as well. After we found all the bar codes we had to figure out what all the letters spelled out. This is case they spelled out “RED DRAGONS”! A scavenger hunt is a great way to have kids be engaged and learning! At each barcode there was a fact about an area or professor in park center that led us to the next code. So we ended up learning quite a few little facts while “fast walking” around the building. After the hunt we talked as a group what scavenger hunts can be good for. Surprisingly a scavenger hunt has many great aspects like developing teamwork, strategizing, or even a workout! Depending on what aspect you want to work on most you can really spread out the bases so they have to work hard running or walking around to find the next clue! I would have never thought a simple scavenger hunt could work in a physical education setting.     

Before he sent us out to search he should us a really inspiring video to encourage us to work hard. This video showed clips of a football player training super intensely with commentary of inspirational words about working and striving to be better. After the video Steve was talking to us about how the upcoming Lab D was our last chance to show and prove ourselves at teacher candidates that we must really practice and rehearse if we want to succeed. So far this lab has taking a lot of preparation personally and I’m going to be the first to teach so I really understand what he was talking about. I only can keep practicing and preparing to make it the best lesson so far! Next class it's my turn to teach and being the first person to go I only hope to set a good standard for my peers.