EducationallyFit4Life

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

My assistant Victor and I through the eyes of a KG student

G2 Gymnastics: Pathways

Children have previously identified simple pathways and travelled along them using feet or hands and feet in a variety of ways, so the intention of this unit is to widen their experience and make them more critical and selective in the types of movement they select for particular pathways. For example, children will need to recognise that to turn a sharp corner they must slow down before they reach it and then over-balance into the new direction and understand that the sharper the angle, the greater the need to slow down. Equally, they will find that a turning jump to land on two feet could help them turn a sharp corner and lead them into the next direction. Following a curving or curricular pathway requires children to lean their body weight into the curve and choose movements which allow them to maintain control e.g. small running steps or turning leaps are more suitable than a series of large leaps. A short, straight, direct pathway lends itself to a wide variety of travelling movements, but equally it is an ideal pathway for demonstrating an accelerating run into a jump.

The meaning of flexible (or indirect) and direct pathways should be thoroughly understood. Direct pathways are those which involve travelling in a straight line and are more functional in nature (e.g. run and jump, forward roll etc.) Flexible (or indirect) pathways are generally longer and more interesting (e.g. circles, squares, triangles arcs etc.) and can be artistic and very individual (e.g. spirals, heart shapes, clover leaf, daisy head, letters of the alphabet etc.) and some may have a common starting place and destination and others may have different starting places and destinations.

Generally children will be able to select compatible pathways and activities and create sequences which demonstrate an understanding of speeds and levels.

KG Obstacle Course, Teamwork & Problem Solving

This proved to be a lot of fun...

At this moment in time my two KG classes are both having issues with pushing, shoving, who goes first etc. without them really knowing why they want to go first...

After a little time working on an obstacle course, with the concept that the floor is quicksand (their decision) they had to travel as a class safely from point A to point B. I was interested in noting that the majority of the class would think nothing of pushing their fellow peers into the quicksand just to be the first to get up a ladder or be the first to jump a ravine etc...

In order to address this issue I placed an expanse of quicksand between the starting point and the rest of the obstacle course. I designed it in such a way that it would force the class to come up with a plan and work as a team. It also gave a couple of them the opportunity to demonstrate their leadership skills.

Their first attempt witnessed the class abandoning 5 class members to the quicksand as they rushed to safety! The second attempt proved a bit more successful with all students making it to the end of the obstacle course.

G5 Ethics in Sports through the Physical Education Learning Lens of Basketball

The G5 Basketball Unit will have a conceptual focus on Ethics in Sports, particularly Sportsmanship vs. Gamesmanship.

Taken from my conceptual map for Primary Physical Education

Burning Questions on Basketball

What do the students want to know about this sport?

Click to Enlarge

Using the questions above will help give direction/content when constructing the sequence of lessons within the unit.

But what do they understand by Ethics? Particularly the concepts of Sportsmanship vs. Gamesmanship...

I asked the following question:

What do you know and understand about Sportsmanship vs. Gamesmanship?

The student showed that the majority have an understanding of what is Sportsmanship/ Gamesmanship. Interestingly what the exercise did highlight was some common misconceptions between Sportsmanship, Gamesmanship and something else?

What are the G5s misconceptions about what is Sportsmanship/Gamesmanship?

1. Don't care if you win or lose

2. Not sharing the ball

3. Fun (Gamesmanship was deemed to be fun, and Sportsmanship wasn't)

4. Caring for the other team

5. Being competitive (if you show sportsmanship you are not being competitive?!)

6. Giving the other team a chance... (I guess I can see the logic in this one (e.g. not beating the other team 100,000 - 0))

7. It is when you are less competitive?!

8. Play as a team/Teamwork

9. Working together not playing to win (I guess there is a kinda logic there... The idea of playing for fun and not competitively)

Reexamining the others...

It is really important if the students are going to develop into a good sportsman/woman that they understand that if you follow the code of sportsmanship you do play competitively, have fun, strive for the best you can be (even if it's not winning), and you do care if you win or you lose, and if you lose, you do it graciously, but you learn from the experience and come back stronger next time and if you win you don't rub it in your opponents faces.

What the G5s did agree upon as examples of Sportsmanship and Gamesmanship

Addressing the Misconceptions

Two Key Questions

Why don't the remaining statements (the misconceptions) fit into either categories?

Can you think of other categories that some of these misconceptions would have a better fit?

Using Video Delay Feedback on the Set Shot and Jump Shot

Some Truly Honest and Great Reflections from G5

G4 Relationships in Team Sports through the Physical Education Learning Lens of Touch Rugby

The G4 Touch Rugby Unit will have a conceptual focus on Relationships within the Sport.

Taken from my conceptual map for Primary Physical Education

Burning Questions on Touch Rugby

What do the students want to know about this new sport/unit...

Click to Enlarge

Touch Rugby in Action

All of the photos are taken from the G4s warm up. What I loved about this warm up/photo is that the G4s took the concepts of monkey-in-the-middle and expanded them to incorporate the lateral pass. As you can see from the photos, it proved very popular with the whole class.

Modifying the rules to Touch Rugby really nailed it for this Grade group. I dropped the automatic turnover if the ball was dropped (I turned a blind eye to the odd accidental knock-on). The result was the students on the fringes who were not particularly big risk takers (worried about letting the team down if they missed a pass) got involved a lot more.

Reflections on Teamwork & Touch Rugby

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.