Essential Agreements 2016 - 2017

Slightly different approach this year... 

To help the students start thinking, collaborating, and developing our Essential Agreements, I used the visible learning routine of 'think, pair, share' and based the initial leading questions around our five senses. 

If you were going to have an environment that would help you be the best that you can be in PE, what would that (environment) PE lesson look like? What would that PE lesson sound like? What would that lesson (make you) feel like? What does your PE lesson smell like? AND finally if you could make your PE lesson into a pie, or if it was a flavour of ice cream, what would your PE lesson taste like? (The students love this one - lol).

After some discussion, the students write down their thoughts and ideas on what will make the PE lessons 'work' for them this year.

The next step was to highlight the Essential Agreements the students felt were important. Again I used the visible thinking routine of 'think, pair, share' to start (students read peers contributions).

Then I had them place 3 pins in the Essential Agreements that they thought applied most to them and their idea of a good learning environment. There were a couple of rules to follow when choosing the 3 Essential Agreements they liked the most. Rule 1, was they shouldn't pick there own. Rule 2, was they shouldn't pick 3 EAs with the same theme and finally, Rule 3, was don't follow the crowd, be honest with yourself and pick 3 EAs that mean the most to you!

(Why pins? Because it takes the minimum amount of time away from the physically active part of the PE lesson).

Finally, I merged EA's with similar themes together in order to construct a list of agreed upon attitudes and values that the students felt they needed to create a safe learning environment in physical education.

G5 Elements of Sportsmanship MTV: Agree/Disagree

In a couple of my G5 classes this semester we've encountered issues concerning a small handful of students not being able to cope with being on the losing team. 

Personally, I believe that students should care if they win or they lose. Some just need help to get a bit of perspective on the mater, particularly when controlling their emotions.

For example, I don't want a class that's so laid back that the result doesn't matter. When and if they lose, I want them to lose as sportsmen/women with a bit of dignity. I also want them to reflect and recognize the areas that require improvement and to come back better for the experience. What I don't want are students that don't self reflect, don't care and never develop. 

In retrospect, I am glad that students feel passionate about a game/sport. For some it might be the only subject that that emotion bubbles up from inside! 

 

 A Plan

 

The next step was to come up with an idea that helped the students reflect on who they are with regards to competition, and to help them develop strategies to keep their emotions under control.

I thought about maybe organizing a couple of games or even role playing in order to highlight bad sportsmanship, but I couldn't think of how I could make it genuine.

Thinking back to the MTV course (Making Think Visible) I had the idea of getting big sheets of butcher paper and drawing a number of continuum's each with their own questions. The plan would be to have the students initial where they were on the continuum and we discuss the results.

The idea developed. I would use the butch paper to write the questions on, but the continuum would be a line on the gym floor. I liked this idea because the students would be active, it still involved self reflection and they could see where their peers stood in comparison to themselves.

After each question, I would bring the students back in and we would briefly discuss the results, their thoughts and observations.

I decided upon 8 questions, that became 9 in the lesson. The questions are by no means perfect, and next time I would definitely take more time to refine them.

It is worth noting that question 7: shouting at my team helps them perform better - was explained that the 'shouting' was being done in a negative way.

and question number 8: Losing affects my mood during/after the game - developed into question 9 where the question was readdressed to the 'PE class'.

I hope that all makes sense.

G5 Athletics (Track & Field)

This is a great unit for the G5's.

It's a great individual pursuits unit, we explorer body mechanics, they time and measure, set PB's and future goals. Plus we get to visit the high school track and field facilities which are outstanding - using the facilities motivates and inspires the G5's to really push themselves and be the best that they can be. 

The unit itself is split between the primary school gym and the high school track & field facilities. We usually explorer the mechanics and techniques the lesson before in the gym and then take it up to the track the following lesson to time/measure.

The unit fits under the learning journey of the elements of movement.

The enduring understand for this unit: Movement techniques impact our performance.

The compelling questions are: 

How do we move our body to develop our running for speed and distance?

How do we move our body to develop our jumping for height and distance?

How do we move our body to develop our throwing for accuracy and distance?

I usually start with sprints, move into jumps and throws and then we extend the running distances, exploring pace and strategies. We finish the unit with an all-out assault on the Mile. 

What I do notice (and love) is that before the unit, you mention the mile run and you'll get one or two students let out a small groan. But, by the end of the unit, attitudes have changed and myths put to bed. The mile run isn't seen as this near death experience, it's seen as a challenge, and each student now has a good idea of how that distance feels and they have a strategy on how to run it.

This year the events we inquired into were: 100m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, Mile, Long Jump, High Jump, Indoor Javelin & Indoor Shot Putt. For the G5's we classified the 100 & 400m as sprints and took the 800, 1500 & Mile as middle distances.

Over the years at JIS I have been diligently collecting the data from the events, so when a student asks 'what should I be aiming for' etc. I can give them rough targets to aim for (an informed answer), but as I tell the students at the beginning of the unit, this is all about setting personal targets and challenging yourself. Though a little friendly competition is good for them.

Reflections on the unit 

Again I return to the MTV (Making Thinking Visible) reflection of 'I used to do/Now I do'

I really emphasized that I wanted the students to pullout just one of the learning journeys they have be on during this unit and to write about it...

Some "Now I Know/Do's"

G3 & G4 Striking & Fielding

Learning Journey: Relationships

Key Concepts: Cooperation, Collaboration, Safety, Communication, and Roles

Enduring Understanding:

Situational awareness impacts our decision making and movement responses.

Compelling Questions:

G3 What skills do we need to develop in order to improve our play? (Individually & as a Team)

G4 How does situational awareness help our decision making?

In both year groups we explorer Kwik Cricket, a Baseball type game (3 bases and a home plate) and Danish Long-ball with all games stepping up in sophistication as age and skill level develops.

I Just Love It When A Plan Comes Together!

A fantastic realization is that they need to be just as good at fielding as they are at batting if they want to be competitive in their games. In Kwik Cricket we play until everyone's had a go at batting and then we change (batting team becomes the fielders etc.) BUT as soon as we get onto my baseball type game and we play '3 out all out' and the fielders are struggling to work as a team, the reality of them not getting into bat (& scoring points) eventually dawns on them! Over the course of this unit and particularly my G4's their fielding has grown and developed in bunches (particularly the teamwork and the reality that even-though you're fielding, you still need to pay attention! (LOL)). The need to get back into bat has become a driving force for great teamwork, communication, and paying attention to the play! (they particularly mentioned this part in their reflections)

This didn't happen overnight, and at times I had to bite my tongue... but as soon as the penny dropped we've had some real fun, fast, high spirited games!

As a note, I start with Kwik Cricket as I feel the Cricket bat is easier to handle for the beginner (even if the delivery is bad eg. a grasscutter etc. for the most part the ball can still be played). When we switch to a Baseball type bat I usually lead the pitching to start, but at the beginning I always try to give them an option of Cricket or Baseball bat. I try not to use T's, because I really want the students to develop their underarm pitch.

We end with Danish Long-ball. This game is just FUN and the students love it! It also gives them the chance to transfer their tactical play, skills and knowledge to another striking and fielding game. I set the bases over the whole length of the gym... it's amazing how far and how often you can get the students running that distance under the disguise of scoring runs! LOL 

That is a brief summery of what's turned out to be a fantastic educationally fun unit!

A little bit of batting & bowling

Making Thinking Visible: Reflection (I used to do/think - I now do/think)

This is an important reflection because the students get to choose and tell a particular learning journey they have been on across the different sports.

G4. Reflections in Rugby

Linked to an earlier blog: G4 Touch Rugby: Visible Thinking Routine

Here are the Grade 4's Reflections in Touch Rugby - I used the MTV (Making Thinking Visible) routine of "I used to think/do - Now I think/do".

G4 inquiring into the concept of support through the physical education learning lens of touch rugby. Exploring the reflections the main takeaway from this unit was the idea that you had to pass the ball backwards, and once you'd mastered that, hopefully the support will follow.

As I've mentioned in previous blogs, I though this unit was very successful, the students were able to master the rugby pass, run in support and use strategies and tactics to break the defenses line.

G4 & G5 Inquiring into the concepts of SPACE in Basketball

Creating and Denying Space in G4 & G5 Basketball

(A Snapshot from my Grade 5 Unit inquiring into the creation & denial of space though the physical education learning lens of basketball)

Exploring how to turn a 'passing' lesson in basketball into a conceptually driven lesson inquiring into time and space (and possibly a 101 other concepts!)

I want students to be able to understand and play a decent game of basketball (this is a PE lesson after all). I also want the students to understand the of concept of spatial awareness and for them to develop enough depth of understanding to be able to transfer both skills and concepts to other sports and beyond. 

Prior Knowledge

At G4 & G5 hopefully students have already encountered some form of passing, dribbling, and shooting. The last lesson the students want in G4 or 5 is death by 'chest pass'!

BUT, should you need to quickly reacquaint your students to the wonders of the chest pass...

What I find works effectively is getting the more experienced players in the class to partner with the least experienced to work for a brief five minutes, one-on-one or in a small sided game, to help refresh minds on some of the intricacies of the skill. Evidence indicates that this type of learning does not benefit the more experienced student as much as the less experienced, so keep it short (long enough to keep it action packed and fun!) With the G4's I would possibly Q & A the phases of movement with the class and put the practice into a brief warm-up game, but for the G5's, they have just completed a unit focusing on peer coaching and feedback so they should have the knowledge and understanding to work collaboratively together to bring one another up to speed on a particular skill (Grade 5 Inquiring into Coaching & Feedback through the learning lens of Volleyball). 

Remember, the more the students play games, the more skillful and the deeper their understandings becomes. 

Real World Context

I have witnessed many a lesson where the pass is introduced and then the students get into 2's or 3's or 4's and practice passing the ball between them. Maybe to add a bit of excitement, passes are done against a clock, or the teacher calls for a change of direction etc. Students usually pass in silence, or if they are talking, it's probably not in the form of feedback.

As passes go, the basketball chest or bounce pass is relatively easy. When the unit starts I don't focus too much on the form of a particular pass, that will come with time spent playing. However, what I am concerned about is if the ball is catchable! Put the same stationary pass that the students have practiced standing opposite one another in a triangle or square into a game situation. Does perfect form help them? You could argue that it does, a bit... but not enough when the conditions have changed, now making that same pass and having it caught is infinity harder. Why? what's changed? 

What a great moment to get some inquiry going!

There are of course a number of factors that would influence the success of the passing of a 'catchable' ball in a game situation. But, the two I want my students to explorer are time and space. 

BANG! 

And just like that, the lessons focus has shifted from being primarily on passing to a lesson revolving round the concepts of time and space using passing as the vehicle to explorer them through. Once the students understand the bigger picture real world concepts they can apply them to a number of other sports, basketball being only one of them.

I am still playing with these two concepts, but I believe you could teach almost all aspects of basketball (or a number of other sports) at G4 and/or G5 linked to the two concepts: Creating & Denying Space.

 

Making Thinking Visible (MTV) within the Basketball Unit

 

If you've read my previous posts, you will know I am a big user of visible thinking routines.

I use two different adapted routines for this unit, the first is designed to get the students 'tuning in' to thinking about the concepts of space, whilst the second is designed to get the students reflecting about how their thinking has changed over the course of the unit. 

The G5's 'tuning in' to the concepts of creating & denying space.

The G5's 'tuning in' to the concepts of creating & denying space.

I played around with a number of different formats for this routine. Generally I divided the poster paper in 3 or 4 areas - I think in the end 3 worked the best. Section 1 was what I considered a question everyone should be able to contribute to: What is it? (creating & denying space), I felt the question would hopefully throw up any misconceptions. Section 2 was much larger, and it asked the question: What did it look like for you today? During the first few classes I would make the poster available and an option should a student want to record a memorable moment or an almost story. Section 3 was an area to add burning questions about the concepts or anything about basketball etc.

The G5's Reflecting. I took the visible thinking routine of 'I used to think / Now I think' and added a '/do' for physical education purposes: I used to think/do - I now think/do

The G5's Reflecting

Important note for those who think all this writing takes too long or valuable time away from the PE lesson... I truly believe PE should be highly active, I am not a fan of sedentary PE lessons: pens/pencils/A4 sheets of paper etc. I discovered after years of experimenting that using poster paper to do the MTV routines on was the best fit for PE. Using poster paper is fast, easily organized and the students have lots of room to express themselves. It can take a little longer to get MTV as part of your classroom culture, but once it's embedded, it takes less than 5 minutes to brain storm, or reflect etc. and it's easily tidied away, or pinned up for display as we do keep returning to it in future lessons.

G4 Touch Rugby: Visible Thinking Routine

A visible thinking routine inquiring into the concept of 'support' in touch rugby

As you can read in previous blogs, introducing touch rugby in the Elementary school, when they have never played anything like it before, has at times been a little challenging.

This year, armed with visible thinking routines I really wanted the students to think about the concept of "support" in touch rugby. The idea that you have to be behind the ball carrier if want to receive the ball and get in on the play.

The concept of getting behind and/or looking for/to pass the ball backwards is always a little mind blowing when all you've played before are games where a forward pass towards a goal is the preferred option!

During the 1st-3rd lessons I wanted to get a glimpse of my students prior knowledge and if they were having any takeaways from the 'tuning in' part of the unit...

I divided the page into three sections:

Support:

• What is it?
• Further questions
• What did it look like in today's lesson? 

Inquiry in Physical Education: G5 Volleyball - Creating a Checklist (a slide show)

I created this slide show to help share with my peers some of the things I was doing with my Grade 5's. The slide show is centered around two lessons (extracts from both lessons can be found in the movie links).

In one of the movies I do refer to the checklists as rubrics, they are not rubrics they are just a simple checklist of the skills broken down by the G5's.

G3 Bouldering

What is Bouldering?

Written by: Lucreid (http://www.abc-of-rockclimbing.com/info/bouldering.asp)

 Bouldering is a type of Climbing where you actually don’t need to leave more than twelve feet off the ground. But don’t let the height fool you. Bouldering is not for the faint of heart. It requires total body control and upper body strength. This allows climbers to do certain moves which are dangerous to do if you are more than 50 feet off the ground.

As its name implies, Bouldering is basically the type of Climbing where one has to work his or her way through a boulder route which is usually called problem. As simple as it may sound, some problems require specific moves for one to get through them. These moves require intense training and practice to successfully pull them off. Keep in mind though that Bouldering doesn’t actually need most pieces of Rock Climbing Equipment such as Ropes, Carabiners, and Harnesses. It only requires Climbing Shoes for better scaling, Chalk for better grip, obviously a Chalk Bag for the Chalk to be used, and Crash Pads to cushion a fall. Sometimes, instead of using Crash Pads, climbers assign a spotter, or someone who will stand below the climber to prevent the latter from landing badly.

Bouldering has already been practiced as early as 1880, used by the British in training climbers for longer mountain climbs. It was only during the 1950s when the Father of Modern Bouldering, John Gill, who is also a climber and gymnast, brought Bouldering into the mainstream and made it into a sport in its own right.

As a sport, Bouldering is steadily working its way up to the ranks of extreme sport. It already spawned some star athletes such as Lisa Rands, Ryan Pasquill, Emily Harrington. It is also increasingly getting popular as a sport that promotes physical fitness, body endurance, creativity, and quick thinking.

In short, Bouldering is a sport suitable for people who thrive in adventure and for adrenaline seekers who aren’t afraid to take risks. Sure, it may be difficult at the beginning, but after a few tries on the rock and finally getting the hang of it, rest assured that the feeling of accomplishment and relief will overshadow whatever frustrations you've had when you were starting.

Why Go Bouldering?

It is common for those who are unfamiliar with Bouldering to wonder where the thrill is in scaling a twelve-foot wall. The characteristics below may help you change the way you look at it.

• Bouldering is not all brawn. It does not only require body strength but also the creativity in solving boulder problems. A climber may actually have to dangle a bit to reach that far-off-corner slope, but then again, there may be other ways to traverse your way through it. Overcoming a problem takes a certain amount of creativity aside from the physical exertion involved.


• It’s the perfect drive for physical fitness. Like most things, you cannot simply waltz your way to success. Sometimes, it takes time, and consequently a handful number of times to beat it. Bouldering is a great way to motivate yourself to work out, while pushing yourself to the limit until you eventually succeed.


• It’s ideal for thrill-seekers since Bouldering is never without the risk of getting injured. But more often than not, it is the aspect of danger that turns on some daredevils to try it. One should keep in mind, though, that also because of the risk factor, one should at least be aware of Rock Climbing Safety Guidelines to fully enjoy the sport.

Grade 3 Bouldering 

In developing the bouldering unit at PIE I've been playing with the wall with the purpose of making the routes challenging enough for the G3's. A keen eye may notice the number of holds have dropped dramatically from the first couple of pictures to the later ones. In addition I have put in a number of hoop holds along the new routes to raise the level of the challenge the wall has to offer. The students also learn how to cross one another and how to lead a partner blindfold across the wall without too much physical contact.

Making Thinking Visible: Reflections

I used to do/think and Now I do/think

 

Making Thinking Visible: Building Understanding through Critical and Creative Thinking

How can we activate students’ thinking to build understanding in the subject areas? And how can we help students to think more critically and creatively at the same time? During this course, you will learn to personalize and apply a research-based framework called Visible Thinking that is being used effectively in a number of schools. Adaptable to any subject area, Visible Thinking allows getting started almost at once with ‘thinking routines’ that help students ponder ideas from the subject areas. These routines, together with other ‘cultural forces’ such as language and expectations, and often with the use of art and artifacts as conversational foci, create a vibrant culture of thinking and understanding in the classroom. Documenting students’ work and reflecting on it both with colleagues and the students, make students more aware of their thinking and feeds professional conversations that foster collegiality and collaboration among teachers.

THROUGH LINES

The core questions we will investigate during this course are:

• How can we build students' understanding, increase engagement in the subject areas through thinking, and improve students' thinking?

• How can we foster positive thinking and learning attitudes as well as abilities?

• How can we use the arts and artifacts as foci of thoughtful learning for understanding across the subject areas?

• How can we document student thinking so that both teachers and students are better able to understand and develop it?

• How can we foster a culture of thinking and regard for thoughtful learning in the classroom?

• How can we build teacher collegiality and collaboration around a culture of thinking and thoughtful learning?  

Trying out the CEC Visible Thinking Routine with G4 Health and Fitness

 

I started the unit by writing down three questions for the students to think about and then answer on a post-it note.

1. Our bodies change and feel different when exercising - why?
2. How do we count heartbeats?
3. What do we know about heartbeats?

After reviewing the students answers across three G4 classes I picked six post-it note answers from the Question 1. that I thought would extend the students thinking and deepen their understandings of the connections between exercise, their bodies and health.

The next step was to slightly adjust their answers and turn them into questions. As you can see I picked six different answers to make sure I extend their thinking in order to deepen their understanding in a way that gives them a rounded knowledge of the subject matter.

To summaries what I have done so far:

Feedback from the Course: Making Thinking Visible: Building Understanding through Critical and Creative Thinking - February 2015

The Next Step...

Addressing the gaps and misconceptions in the students answers and wonderings. In the connection stage I chose six student questions that need to be explored in more detail. The plan in the extension stage is to devote 10-15 minutes of the next six lessons to address the six questions in order to fill those gaps and address those misconceptions regarding the human body and exercise.

Addressing Question No.1: "When you are running not enough oxygen gets into you and your heart beats faster, why?"