Athletics pt.1: Running - exploring sprinting and middle distance running techniques

Athletics part 1 - exploring the track

How do we run for speed? and how do we run for distance?

Tuning in (speed)

Students will sprint the 100 meters and the 400 meters.
As a whole class we explorer the concept of running and speed, the discussion ranges from football to playing tag. Two areas of focus are identified, running and fitness and running technique.

The lesson starts with tag

Finding & Sorting out 

Focusing on technique the students agree that we can divide our bodies movement into three areas: body (including head), arms and legs.

On poster paper I quickly draw up a table consisting of three columns: Body Position, Arm Action and Leg Action. I put on a YouTube video showing highlights of the 100 meters sprint through the ages of the modern Olympics. The class focus on the three previous identified areas of body, arms and legs. Post it notes are available for the students to record any prior knowledge or observations and to post them on the poster paper in the specific column.

The great thing about YouTube is you can loop the video, so if the students move away

Once we have our observations we read through them taking 2-3 points per body part area; high knees, hands going from hip to lip etc.

After all that observation and note taking we all need to get moving. In order to practice our technique a partner gives feedback as the runner sprints on the spot - it a good way to start and it lets partners give feedback straight away, whilst the runner focuses on form.

At some point the issue of arm movement arises (even though students have observed big arm moments from the athletes, they don't immediately apply the lip to hip movement to their own running technique)  and so we experiment with different techniques, not all of them correct! For example we experiment with running without the use of our arms, or with low knees or small steps.

Eventually after some partner/group trial and error work we have a technique that doesn't look too dissimilar from our earlier observations.

The students now have a bit of a technique to work on.

The next step is to explorer the uniqueness of the sprint start and why we think sprinters start low to the ground etc. and what observations did the class make regarding the sprint finish...

As a class we practice our sprint starts together, and then we combine our starts and our newly developed running technique across 10-15 meters, remembering always to finish strong (we don't slow and then stamp our foot on the finish line!)

Going Further

2nd lesson and the class heads for the track with stopwatches in hand and a partner to give feedback in order to help develop overall technique (start, sprint technique & a strong finish).

In the 400m lesson we discuss the staggered start and the advantages or disadvantages of running in particular lanes.

Tuning in (distance)

Provocation: What is pace? As a class we used Think, Pair and Share - or in this case the students noted their discussions on a sheet of poster paper.

The majority of the students suggested that they already had an understanding of the concept... but could they put that understanding into practical use?

Playing with the concept of time and distance I set up a couple of small tasks to get everyone thinking about what is pace.

Finding Out
The first drill was the Centipede, where a small group of 4 run in a line passing a baton backwards. Once the baton reaches the back, the last run speeds up and goes to the front for the process to start all over again. The drill forces the students to run together and to pace themselves to the slowest runner. I originally used rubber chickens for this drill, but they proved too distracting for the students.

The second drill went from asking students to jog anywhere in the gym at a certain pace, but to return to me when they thought 30 seconds was over.  The drill was run a number of time using a variety of time differences e.g. 30, 45, 60, and 90 seconds.

I changed this second drill by having a set distance, which the students had to complete in given time eg. they have to run round a cone and be back at the start at 20, 30, 45 and 60 seconds.

I noted that during the centipede drill the students were so distracted with passing the baton back that they easily ran continuous for 7 minutes without complaining or groups stopping or slowing down. I chose 7 minutes as the goal as it is the average time last years Grade 5 ran the 1,500 meters in.

Sorting Out
The class returned to their partners from the beginning of the lesson and adjusted their understanding of pace on the poster paper and as a class we discussed any additional thoughts and discovery's about pacing ourselves and the idea of running for an extended period of time. 

Going Further

2nd lesson up to the track to experience the 1,500m and a waterfall start. The goal is to find a comfortable pace and to stick at it, leaving enough in the tank for a sprint finish.

Capture the Basketball(s) (Based on Capture the Flag type Games)

The previous unit of develop/create your own game(s) has really rubbed-off on me.

Again it's a well known game that my students adore: Capture the Flag, all I've done is basketball it up a bit!

I divide a basketball court in two (green team and yellow team).
I still keep the concept of 'raiding' going into the opponents territory to capture an item, but rather than capture a flag, they try and capture 3 basketballs.

The 3 basketballs are placed on cones and are spread along the baseline of the basketball court.

The object of the game is to take the basketball under control to your teams side. If you get tagged whilst raiding you become 'stuck in the mud' until a team mate can reach you and escort you back to your own half (during the rescue the students have to remain in contact - they get a free walk back). Once back in their own half they can continue raiding once again. If a raiding student is tagged whilst dribbling or holding the basketball, they have to give it up immediately so it can be returned to it's cone.

Under control means the basketball can't just be thrown across the center line. It maybe passed (before the center line) or dribbled, but as it goes across the center line it has to be dribbled under control! If the basketball is not dribbled under control it is returned to the original team for them to replace it on it's cone.

Safe zones: I add safety zones (circles) around the cones holding the basketballs. They are safety zones for the raiding team.  The safe zones can only accommodate one raider at a time, with a time limit of 10 seconds.

The winning team is the first team to capture their opponents 3 basketballs.

Adapting Games to Focus on Specific Skills

I experimented with adapting two games yesterday with Grades 4 & 5 to really focus on their Basketball dribbling, passing and receiving skills.

The first game was a game created by the Grade 4's in their previous unit. I've already shared their original game in an earlier post (G5 & G4 Games (For their "Create and Develop A Simple Game" unit)). 

In the gym four 'rest areas' are coned off - two at the far ends opposite each other and two at the sides in the middle, again opposite each other. In each of the 'rest areas' I put a bucket of Basketballs. 

I start with one tagger with the idea that the first person he/she tags immediately becomes another tagger.

After that, everyone else who is tagged becomes frozen from the waist down.

To be released the frozen student needs to receive a bounce pass or chest pass from a fellow student in a 'rest area'.  Once they have caught the Basketball they dribble the ball back to the 'rest area' it was passed from. They then have to perform their 'run for freedom' across the gym to the opposite 'rest area' without stopping in order to continue the game. If they get tagged during their 'run for freedom' they immediately join the tagging team. 

The game continues until there are no runners left or the game slows because the taggers outnumber the runners.

I adapt the second round of the game... During their 'run for freedom' they have to dribble a Basketball - once they have completed their run successfully they put their Basketball in the bucket and join back in with the game.

The second game is an adaptation of Yoshi - a very popular game this year in PE. 

Same objective, the whole team needs to get 'home' without being tagged. This time though each player has to dribble a Basketball when moving (I don't worry, double dribbles etc.) 

Two players, one for each team are off the court on the side lines on the oppositions side. 

Their job is to help free the raiders if they get tagged whilst trying to get 'home'.

If a raider get tagged he/she is frozen from the waist down and has to pivot round to pass their ball to the team member off the court, on the side line. They then pass the ball back in to so the once frozen play can dribble the Basketball to halfway to have another go at entering enemy territory in order to get home.

When the teacher calls 'Yoshi' everyone rushes to get home. The two players who were on the sidelines grab a Basketball each and race across the gym to touch the opposite sideline then rush for home. First team 'home' wins.

G5 & G4 Games (For their "Create and Develop A Simple Game" unit)

I'm documenting a couple of my favorite games from the G5 & 4's "Create and Develop A Simple Game" unit.

Sharks, Rabys and Ravive (I ended up calling it Sharks, Rays & Rabies - LOL!)

Setup: 4 coned 'rest' areas - The original game had them across the playing area - one either end of the halfway line on a basketball court and one under each of the posts. In each of the 'rest' areas is a pile of beanbags. 

You need two taggers. 

The object of the game is for the taggers to eventually assimilate everyone.

The winner or winners are the last couple of non-taggers left standing. 

Rules:

'Rest' areas can only be occupied for no longer than 5 seconds.

Once you leave a 'rest' area you can not return to it straight away, you must at least visit a different one between.

There is no limit to the number of people in/using the 'rest' areas.

When the game starts the first two people tagged (the first person for tagger A and the first for tagger B) immediately become taggers. 

If you get tagged after this initial period your legs become 'stuck in the mud'.

In order to free yourself someone needs to throw you a beanbag from one of the 4 'rest' areas - you have to catch it to free yourself! Any missed beanbags are also collected at this point and all are returned to the 'rest' area where they were thrown from. 

BUT you're not free yet! Once in the 'rest' area where the beanbags were thrown from, you have to now sprint to the 'rest' area opposite. Once you have made it across the gym you are free to continue the game. BUT if you now get tagged on your run - you are assimilated into the tagging team. NOTE: during this run, you can not hide in any of the other 'rest' areas along the way!

Eventually almost everyone is a tagger, or 'stuck in the mud' and the few that are free are congratulated!

The Golden Dot Race

This game is a race. You have two teams, each team has a 'golden child'. The teams objective is to build a (poly-spot) dot bridge across the gym - the winning team is the team that steals enough dots to transport the 'golden child' past the finish line.

Setup: You divide the playing area length ways, with one team on one side and the other team on the other (opposite ends of the gym). Each team has a pile of dots. To make the game fair, the dots are spread over a largish area at their teams far end (if you're starting at opposite ends of the gym). NOTE: because the gym is divided longways, the dot pile that needs to be raided has to be on the opposite side to the 'golden child'. 

Each teams 'golden child' starts on one dot. 

The rest of the team is divided into defenders and raiders. Defenders defend the dots (they cannot stand on the dots). The raiders travel the length of the gym to steal dots from the opposition. If a raider is tagged by a defender the raider has to return to their end of the gym and touch the 'golden child' in order to get back into the game. 

Eventually enough dots are stolen and laid down to get the 'golden child' across the gym and over the designated finish line.

The 'Golden Child'

Defenders & Raiders

Defenders & Raiders

Beanbag Circle Tag

This is a nice and simple tag game. 

Setup: Hoop and beanbags.

Everyone apart from the taggers carries a beanbag. When a non-tagger is tagged they immediately drop their beanbag just in front of them and they are frozen or 'stuck in the mud' from the waist downwards. The taggers pick up the dropped beanbag and puts it in the hoop (in the center of the gym). 

The taggers objective is to collect as many beanbags as they can. The more people they tag, the more beanbags they collect!

In order to be freed a non-tagger needs to steal a beanbag from the hoop, find a frozen student and throw the beanbag to them. Once the frozen student makes the catch they can run off and continue the game again.

If a runner is tagged whilst carrying two beanbags (their own and another to free a friend) both have to be dropped.  

I very much emphasize that in order to free a friend the beanbag has to be thrown and caught - not handed over or dropped and picked up!

With the lower Grades they get confused and throw their own beanbag to a friend to free them. In this case I explain that having their own beanbag gives them the power to move, if they throw their own beanbag to a friend, they have now become frozen and are in need of rescue!

Mission Yoshi (The students gave this game a rating of 14/15)

This game is also a race. Poly-spots are laid on the floor in a path. The idea is the team has to travel together along the path, completing a set task and then racing to the finish.

The path stretches approximately two sides of a basketball court. The two teams have a starting base/zone at the opposite ends of the gym.

On 'GO' they have to race down the poly-spots to the first 'collection point'. Each team member must be in the 'collection point' before they can continue off again. This happens at least 3-4 more times along the length of the gym. When they get to the opposite end they each are required to shoot a beanbag into a bucket. If a person misses 2 beanbags they have to take another team member with them and return to the beginning to start again. Once a beanbag has been shot and makes the bucket the team must collect one last time before rushing to the end - which happens to be the oppositions starting base/zone. First team in - wins.

Collection Point

Traveling the Path between Collection Points

Having missed 2 beanbag shots, they rush back to the beginning

G5/G4 Create and Develop A Simple Game (My Learning Journey) Pt.2

After "Going Further: Testing and Feedback" it was to time to document their own unique games. 

Documenting Rules & Game Play.

Each group (4-5 students) got a big piece of blank paper so they could document the rules of their game and how it should be played. They did this through written rules and diagrams. 

The students also made a 30-60 second movie explaining how the game is played. This was generally achieved with one person narrating whilst on camera with the rest of the group playing. This part was particularly important for their online blogs and digital portfolios.

Group Assessment.

After each game as a class we assessed the game on FUN, ORIGINALITY and LONGEVITY. 

The students did this on their fingers on a scale of 1-5, 1 would be a low score and 5 would be the max, giving a total score of 15 over the three categories. All games scored between 9 - 14. 

Note: It was important to keep reminding the students that they were assessing the game, not how certain students played or interpreted the rules... For the most part, if a student gave a particularly hard score it was always interesting to hear why they gave that score, and most of the time is was due to what happened to them in the game and not actually the game itself. This would lead to brilliant class discussions on possible rules changes etc. 

Reflection.

As I often do I went with the visible thinking reflection of "I Used To Think/Now I Think". 

I particularly like this reflection as I want the students to focus in on a part of their learning journey and to tell me about it.

 

 

G5/G4 Create and Develop A Simple Game (My Learning Journey) Pt.1

This is my learning journey about how we created and developed a "Create and Develop A Simple Game" unit for Grades 4 & 5.

For Grade 3's I've been working on a similar "Create and Develop A Simple Game" unit, they didn't document their rules on paper, but they did make a 30-90 second movie explaining/playing  their game for their blog/digital portfolio.

Please note: I am a firm believer of keeping the students physically active during PE lessons. All descriptions and photos of the students sat planning or documenting is kept to an absolute minimum. Most of the planning time was spent by the students trialing their games. During this unit I would usually start with a whole class game like Yoshi and finish with either Yoshi or a game the students had created themselves and wanted to play again.

As a department we had decided in order to hit the Grade 4 Enduring Understanding (EU)*: Behaving appropriately ensures fair play and the Grade 5 EU*: Good sportsmanship is essential to all activities we would create and develop a "Create and Develop A Simple Game" unit.

*These EU's are under the Learning Journey of Ethics in our Physical Education Matrix.

Tuning In: Rules! 

Tag Games. Both Grade 4 & 5 have played a abundance of tag games throughout their school lives. Though they don't realize it, they have a huge collective knowledge of tag games and how they are played.

I started the first lesson with a game of tag (obviously), but that's all the information I communicated. With a huge amount of excitement the students immediately jumped up and rush out into the center of the gym. Some even start playing! Very soon it dawned on them that they need to clarify "who was the tagger?"

Great! So I quickly call them back in and we identified who was and how many taggers there should/could be. Again with great excitement the majority rushed back out and start running from the taggers. 

Shortly, more questions inevitably followed: "what happens when we're tagged?" and "how do we get free?"

Each time I brought the class back in and we discussed the adding of new rules.

Takeaways: We need rules and an objective to be decided upon and communicated to everyone before the game starts!

Over the next couple of lessons I experimented with dividing the class into two (approx 9-10 students per group) in order for them to come up with their own tag games with the guidelines that it had to be simple, fun and have a hint of originality. 

Some classes found this relatively easy, while others struggled. For myself, I wasn't necessary looking for an end product (though it would have been nice). I was more interested in observing the students going through the processes. I wanted the students to try ideas, reflect and if necessary change them to something that fitted.

Planning & Explaining the rules to the rest of the class

What we did notice was the students got bogged down during the initial planning stages, particularly when we organized them into large groups. Looking at this experience positively it did create an excellent opportunity to bring Guy Claxtons Essential Competences into play. Reminding the students to be open minded, that it is important to respect others, resolve conflicts and come to a consensus. 

Suddenly rather than the unit revolving around Ethics, it seemed more and more to have a foothold in the Learning Journey of Relationships.

Would it be possible to teach through two Learning Journeys simultaneously? Letting the students identify under which Journey their learning/understanding is falling under?

Finding Out: Creating a Tag Game.

Through the questions the students had asked in the previous lessons they had already identified the components of a simple tag type game: the need for a tagger(s), what happens when you get tagged and how do you get released.

By identifying these components of a tag games we divided the students into three areas/groups:
Movement: How do the tagger(s) move? How do the runners move?
Consequences: When you get tagged, what happens?
Rescue: Who and how do you get released?

With classes of approximately 18-22 students I divided my class into groups of 3-4 students, making a total of 6 groups (two groups dealt with Movement, two with Consequences and two Releases).

Once they'd had a minute of ideas sharing I then randomly teamed up a Movement, Consequence and Rescue group. Again they had a couple of minutes to share ideas, listen to each other and resolve conflicts if necessary.

The 3 Groups (Movement, Consequences & Rescue) coming together - Then explaining (& demonstrating) to the rest of the class their final game.

I was really excited about the process they were going through. The smaller groups sharing their ideas with the bigger group in order to develop a final product etc.

I should note here, it was important for me to remind a couple of the groups on occasion that they could not just poo poo the 'consequences' group idea (for example) just because it didn't fit their idea. That the 'consequences' group had the final decision regarding that area. I do remember using the word 'compromise' a lot during those lessons! Yet saying that, if an obvious or popular theme was suggested (by a group) the others would usually work well developing their area from that idea. One such example was the idea of the runners being bananas (running with both arms straight up above their heads - palms touching) and the taggers being monkeys (moving with monkey type movements) and if the bananas got tagged (they had to dance on the spot (dancing bananas?!)) until another free banana comes up and peals them (bringing both their arms down until they are at their sides).

All groups again experimented with their games in order to identify strengths and weaknesses before sharing it with the class.

Again some classes had more success than others. Though this time around all classes were able to produce a simple tag game that everyone got to play.

Sorting Out: Adding Equipment.
I decided that I needed to pick equipment that wouldn't distract too much from the task. After some talk and a little experimentation I eventually decided that bean bags, polyspots and bibs were a sensible choice.

It was at this point I decided that even smaller groups were necessary and that giving them roles wasn't required. I split the class into four friendship groups (approx 4-6 students per group). I showed them the equipment and gave them two minutes discussion time (brain storming). When they had come to a loose agreement they could start experimenting with the equipment and the layout of the game etc. I emphasized that trialling a mini version of the game was important so if they encountered any questions or problems they could quickly reflect, re-plan and try again.

I did start off with safety cones and bean bags, but changed it to polyspots and bean bags.

Going Further: Testing and Feedback.
Once they were pretty confident they had a presentable game I arranged for one of the other groups to visit to test the game. After about 5-10 minutes explaining and play time the students got into circles as the visiting group talked about what they really liked about the game and suggested possible tweaks were/if necessary. I explained to the class that the suggestions for possible improvements were just 'suggestions' and it was up to the designing group what they chose to do with the presented feedback.

The last job of the group after making any suggested tweaks was to record the final version of their game onto blank butcher paper so that any other classes could come and play their game.

Groups receiving feedback and then recording the final version of their game on butcher paper.

Finally as a class we got to play each others games and we rated them for Fun, Fitness and Originality. 

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.

The Game of Badminton Volleyball

This is a game I was introduced to at an Achper conference. As soon as I played it I loved it and have been incorporating it into my PE lessons ever since (when I’m teaching Badminton that is!).

One of the reasons I like it so much is it works really well if you haven’t got loads of space. In our gym we have three badminton courts marked out on the gym floor which is perfect.

I’m lucky enough to have smaller classes, but I’ve played this with 3 - 4 students on a team.

Basically the game is badminton, but with the majority of the rules being taken from volleyball.

I’ll endeavor to explain the game using the 3 vs. 3 format.

I usually divide the class up myself, having a range of development within a team.

With the 3 student format, I have 1 student in the middle of the court at the net, and the other 2 mid court, one left, one right. If you looked from above they would be stood in a triangle formation.

After rock. paper. scissors and serve is decided, the server, servers as to the rules of badminton, behind the line (because I teach primary, I usually say the serve can travel anywhere over the net, not necessarily diagonally or even over the service line).

Once the shuttlecock is in play, each side have the option to play the shuttle a maximum of 3 times before it has to travel back over the net, and a single player can’t hit the shuttle consecutively. 

Like volleyball when a team wins service back, the students rotate. This gives everyone practice on their serve and it make sure everyone gets involved, so often one piece of the court gets to see a lot of action and rotating helps everyone get more involved.

We play until 21.

The game tends to be a lot more inclusive of everyone's individual skill, the students get to team with peers, and it is a good use of limited space.

Developing a Conceptual Matrix in Physical Education Pt. 8 (The Concept of Evaluation)

Links to previous posts on 'Developing a Conceptual Matrix...'

My original idea, Development Pt. 1, Development Pt. 2, Development Pt. 3, Development Pt. 4, Development Pt. 5, Development Pt. 6, Development Pt. 7

As Development Pt.7 for Ethics and Pt. 6 for Health & Fitness, the Evaluation Concept (Development Pt.8) has been referenced to the New Australian Curriculum for Physical Education. Our conceptual curriculum Key Concepts, Enduring Understandings and Compelling Questions can be seen on the strand for each of the year groups.

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.