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?

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?"

Scooters & Balls - Team Games (Grades KG - 1)

Click to enlarge!

Top 5 go to applications on the iPad for Physical Education

Click to enlarge!

Click to enlarge!

G1 Relationships/Problem Solving Skills & Scooter Skills

This unit has seen us focus on developing our relationships and our problem solving skills.

 

This Unit is an excellent opportunity for the students of Grade 1 to work and develop their cooperation and collaboration skills, their understanding of roles within a team, space awareness and communication and language skills.

The unit started with the class having to complete basic obstetrical courses as one team. As we have progressed through the unit I have picked certain skills to focus on. 

An example of a the students specialising in a particular skill can be seen below:

During the unit the students discovered one of the best methods for traveling long distances across the floor has been the scooters. This lead to a lesson where we experimented with various methods of traveling short and long distances. We concluded with a short discussion on the best/preferred methods of travel and the pros, cons and safety considerations of using the scooters over a course.

After practicing our scooter skills we moved onto the roller racers (which I've called roller rockers... not sure why? lol) The roller races give the students a good upper-body workout whilst having fun. The riders move the handlebars side to side to propel themselves forward. I combined the racers with a bean bag toss into a net, just to add a competitive edge to the lesson and a bit of throwing and aiming practice. At the end of the lesson as a challenge the students got into partners to experiment to see if two of them could ride one roller racer... in the photo collage below top left are the only two boys that managed to achieve success and get themselves moving forward :)

Still working on our scooter skills with some more aiming and throwing development. It works something like this:  

Scooter Ball Scramble

The class is divided into four equal teams. Red, Yellow, Green and Blue. Each team has a corresponding net that they have to throw a ball into (the colour of the balls doesn't matter). The only way to travel is via scooter, be it a rocker racer or a connect-a-scooter. The balls are piled in the middle of the room with the teams corresponding net positioned far away from them.

The rules are simple. On the word GO, the teams have to rush forward, collect one ball (at a time) and race to the far end of the room, towards their designated goals. A mark on the floor indicates where they have to throw from. The more balls they get in the basket the more points their team gets.

Once all the balls have been taken from the center bucket the teams are allowed to steal from each other (again, one ball at a time). The game continues until the teacher shouts STOP!

Each teams ball totals are counted up.

KG Relationships: Problem Solving/Scooter Madness

This unit has seen us focus on developing our relationships and our problem solving skills.

Inquiring into how to get the maximum out of your scooter!

After practicing our scooter skills we moved onto the roller racers (which I've called roller rockers... not sure why? lol) The roller races give the students a good upper-body workout whilst having fun. The riders move the handlebars side to side to propel themselves forward. I combined the racers with a bean bag toss into a net, just to add a competitive edge to the lesson and a bit of throwing and aiming practice.

Balance... bring out the stand up scooters!

Scooter Ball Scramble

The class is divided into four equal teams. Red, Yellow, Green and Blue. Each team has a corresponding net that they have to throw a ball into (the colour of the balls doesn't matter). The only way to travel is via scooter, be it a rocker racer or a connect-a-scooter. The balls are piled in the middle of the room with the teams corresponding net positioned far away from them.

The rules are simple. On the word GO, the teams have to rush forward, collect one ball (at a time) and race to the far end of the room, towards their designated goals. A mark on the floor indicates where they have to throw from. The more balls they get in the basket the more points their team gets.

Once all the balls have been taken from the center bucket the teams are allowed to steal from each other (again, one ball at a time). The game continues until the teacher shouts STOP!

Each teams ball totals are counted up.

G4 Gymnastics: Bridges

"Bridges" is concerned with balance and an understanding of shape and relationships of the body to floor and apparatus.

"Balance" involves being able to create different shapes by supporting the body weight on different body parts. The size of the balance "base" will affect the stability of the balance e.g. the larger the base - the more stable the balance, and the smaller or narrower the base - the less stable.

"Body tension" is the most important ingredient of balance - strong, tight muscles and full extension of limbs or body parts not being supported on the floor or apparatus. Body tension will produce quality in the balances and the position should be maintained for three seconds before moving on.

To make balanced positions harder to maintain, the size of the base could be reduced, the center of gravity raised, the same position held against or on varied apparatus, the body inverted (put feet higher than the head) or the balance could be held with a partner. A balance can be changed by retaining the base base (e.g. 2 feet and 1 hand) but altering the SHAPE of the balance or it may be changed by altering the RELATIONSHIP of the body to the floor or apparatus (e.g. front towards, back towards, side towards or upside-down.)

Students need to know how to move into and from a bridge balance safely and with control, maintaining body tension. They could come back down to the floor the way they went up or they could put another part of their bodies down for support before moving onto another body part (e.g. into a turning movement or roll).

Making bridge shaped balances with a partner will require co-operation and creativity and enable students to understand the concept of "matching" i.e. same arm and leg doing the same action at the same time as a partner.