G4 Peer Coaching & Peer Learning through the learning lens of Badminton

Badminton in Indonesia is a national past time. With members of the class possessing a wealth of knowledge on the skills of the game. This is another fantastic opportunity for the more advanced members of the class to coach others the basics to get the unit started. 

We will particularly be focusing on "what traits and dispositions do we need to develop to enable us to coach and learn from one another?"

Some of the skills the students will be coaching include the backhand short serve, the high serve, the underhand clear and the overhead clear.

In addition I've also been experimenting with the game Volleyball/Badminton, where you play badminton but with the rules of Volleyball. Having done Volleyball with the G3's last year, this is a great opportunity for the students to use their knowledge of another sport, whilst play a different sport.

Goal Setting

Taking the unit in a slightly different direction because of the needs of the students, I made the decision that the students need to identify a short term goal in their badminton game, e.g. movement, serve, communication etc. and start working towards achieving it. They could do this in a number of ways:

1. use an expert in the room (that could mean me, but it could also be a peer or a fiend who has already accomplished that goal).
2. now that the goal is highlighted, focus on it within the game - make it a priority.
3. take the game beyond the PE class and play it in recess or at home - really practice nailing that skill or concept.

The students get time in every class to work on their goal(s) and they are encouraged, once they have achieved one goal they can add another.

Personal Goal Setting & Reflections

G5 Relationships in Team Sports through the learning lens of Football (Soccer)

I started the unit with a BIG question.... "What is Football?"

With my first class I used a big piece of butcher paper to get the students to record their understanding and knowledge of what they believe/think football is. From their answers as a class we created 5 essential questions that will be the driving force behind the direction of the unit. 

Whilst working with the class in developing the 5 essential questions, I felt some students were not getting the chance to contribute to the conversation as much as I would of liked, so...

With the second class I decided that rather than the class coming up with the 5 essential questions, I would get them working in small groups that would develop their own essential questions first and then we would agree or disagree as a whole class as to which ones would be included. Letting the students work in smaller groups helped give the more quiet or shy students a chance to contribute to the possible direction of the unit.

Some of the second classes small group essential questions:

Examining the essential questions I created with the help of the first class and using the second classes own small group essential questions we have come up with the following 5 essential questions for this unit.

What is important to note in the following 5 essential questions is that the first three questions are very much about the game itself, the skill and control required to play and understand a very basic game of football. The last two questions are the ones I personally love! The big picture questions that could be considered lifeworthy learning, the ones that are transferable across subjects and that could be used throughout their lives, whether they continue to play football or not.

1. What skills do you need to play football? The students identified: dribbling, passing, heading & shooting
2. What skills do you need to be a goalkeeper?
3. What are the rules and regulations of football?
4. What traits and dispositions do we need to develop to enable us to work and learn together, with a focus as peer learners and peer coaches?
5. What are the relationships in playing team sports? The concepts of roles, responsibilities, of space, to a team and to the opposition?

G2 Net Games: Coaching & Feedback/Tennis

An Inquiry into how peer coaching and constructive, timely feedback can help a friend develop their understanding and skills in the net game, Tennis...

Hand-Eye Coordination and the introduction to 'Feeding the Ball' and the Forehand 
The unit begins with an introduction to the tennis ball, and we run through simple hand-eye coordination drills to warm ourselves up e.g. patting the ball up in the air with our hands, or playing hand tennis with a partner. After the introduction to the tennis ball we simply replace our hands with a simple bat - still focusing on our movement and hand-eye coordination.

During these first couple of lessons the importance of a well fed ball is highlighted and discussed. Without the well fed ball, learning to develop the ground strokes in tennis would be incredibly difficult to achieve.

We finish the lesson with the introduction to foot movement and the forehand using the concept of preparation in the form of drawing a giant letter C and where we need to move our bodies to make the shot easier to play (step towards/away from the ball).

Over the course of the next three lessons we moved from hand-eye coordination drills with no rackets, to adding rackets, to feeding a ball, to developing forehand and backhand strokes - see the photo pin boards below.

Photo Pin Boards from the first three lessons:

Peer Coaching & Peer Learning

As a class we have studied the ground strokes in some detail. We've looked at how they are played, when they are played and simple drills to help us improve both our forehand and backhand strokes. 

The next step is having the class rank themselves on a continuum - World Class Players all the way down to Beginners. The students are usually very good at knowing what their ability is compared to their peers. Once the students are stood on the continuum I try to pair up the more experienced with the least experienced. 

We look at what is good feedback for the coaches, and we examine how we should behave as a learner when a peer is giving us feedback. In addition we also highlight that the learning shouldn't be one way, and that the coach has lots to learn from the peer student he/she is helping.

This works really well, as it gives the peer learner lots of one-on-one time with a friend who can feed the ball accurately to them and give them little pointers that may need correcting. For the peer coaches it really forces them to break down the ground strokes, identify problems and to problem solve them in order to help their class mate improve.

Comments

G3 Peer Coaching and Feedback through the Physical Education Learning Lens of Volleyball (Newcomb Ball)

The G3 Volleyball (Newcomb Ball) Unit will have a conceptual focus of Coaching and Feedback within it.

Taken from my conceptual map for Primary Physical Education

First Things First... An Introduction to the Key Skills.

Lets start with the basics. Over the next couple of lessons the G3s will be introduced to the overhead pass and the forearm pass. It is during these lessons the students are introduced to the rules and simple scoring.

Lesson 4 & 5: Peer Coaching and Feedback

The G3s were introduced to the checklists that the G5s had created for the overhead pass and the forearm pass (The G5 Volleyball Unit). Working in 3s (assessor, feeder & the assessed) each student got feedback in the form of a brief diagnostic on each skill. Main areas for improvement/development were highlighted with the assessor and the feeder both suggesting possible ideas/solutions to help the assessed student develop and improve their skill levels.

Coaching the Overhead Pass

Coaching the Overhead Pass

Coaching the Overhead Pass

Coaching the Forearm Pass

Coaching the Forearm Pass

Coaching the Forearm Pass

Reflections on Coaching, Feedback & Volleyball

When asked to best describe what FEEDBACK meant to them the class used words like REAL, HONEST & HELPFUL.

G5 Volleyball - Coaching, Peer Formative Assessment & Feedback - Reflections

G5 Coaching, Peer Formative Assessment & Feedback
The main concepts running through this unit are... 

• introducing volleyball so that the students can inquire into and develop an understanding of the sport and play competitively with peers.
• developing the students ability to peer coach, break down skills, create and develop a checklist, model skills and present feedback.

The skills the students examine are either the overhead pass or the forearm pass. Two skills that are fundamental to volleyball. Last year I had one class work on both checklists for each of the skills. This time I have split that job, requiring Grade 5E to design and develop a checklist for the overhead pass and 5B the forearm pass.

During the lesson I have the students break down their designated skills into manageable steps.

Once they have their 5 or 6 steps in a rough order, they then have the opportunity to test the validity of their checklists.

Once the groups are satisfied with their checklists, the class reconvenes to discuss and agree upon the order and steps for the final draft.

Below are the students and class checklist for G5B and G5E.

From these collaborations I developed two checklists that both classes could work from. I included two USA Volleyball diagrams that really helped the G5s last year when working on this unit.

Over the next couple of lessons the students get the opportunity to coach, give feedback and develop a peers skill set.

It is during these lessons I introduce the video delay app on the iPad, giving the students the option of getting additional feedback on their performance. 

 

Reflections

G4 Questions and Wonderings on Basketball - Basketball in Action - Reflections

G4 Questions and Wonderings on Basketball
The exercise is about discovering G4s prior knowledge in basketball. The year group has a wide range of knowledge and skill, stretching from the novice through to the student who plays for a club.

What next?
It is important for me to answer the novices questions, whilst developing their skills, but it is equally important to make sure the more experienced players develop within the game at the same time.

The question, wonderings and statements below will help develop the units essential question(s) and give the unit direction for all stakeholders involved.

Basketball in Action

I love these genuine moments of peer coaching; my G4s helping one another master the set-shot.

Reflections