Turkey Time at St Mary's

It was turkey time at St Mary's this past week. All the pilgrims and turkey games were in full effect.

As our time at St Mary's is coming to  a close we came back and had a Thanksgiving theme. I played Turkey ball and soccer with the older students also some two hand touch football. The older kids are into classical competitive type sports and games much different than the younger students. We finished the day with the turkey hokey pokey and another fun day of St Mary's came to and end but this time we left in the dark thanks to day light savings.

Next time we go back it will be our final day but it will be one of the most fun times of the year it will be the holidays.

Observations

St Mary's SCARE

Our 4th trip to ST Mary's was the most exciting so far. Not only was there a giant whoopee cushion walking around but a clown, doctor, cowboy and a wild man.

Our 4th trip was for Halloween so of course we dressed up for the occasion. The kids loved the costume especially the whoopee cushion i might add (me). The response that i witnessed was the best so far, getting more comfortable with the kids helps but i think the costumes adds to it as well. Reading to the kids was a riot because you could only get a page our two without a comment coming up then its a chain reaction. Also be careful while asking a question because with the pre k it can lead to chaos with everyone trying to answer.Working with the pre k is a relief because they are always excited to play what ever game you can come up with which makes things a lot easier. This was my best week i believe to date and i hope to improve for the next lab.

See my observations of the festivities here.

Escaping St Mary's

It was a day full of super heroes at St. Mary's on Monday. Leaping from buildings, flying through the streets and returning the money to the Cortland Bank that the evil SUNY Cortland Students stole.

The kids were into the games this week and had lots of energy. I think that i personally improved how i interacted with the students and they listened more. Also our class as a whole is getting better and we know how to get the kids to respond to our instructions. The kids got really fired up in the last game we played where us college kids were the villains and the kids were heroes. The kids got vicious when playing the game and took it seriously it was quite amusing i got hit a few times in the action. I escaped the adventure intact and wait till our next lab which is Halloween. 


My teaching strategies, i believe, are improving and this is what i observed.

"AHOY" from St Mary's

ARRRGHHHH!

AHOY MATIES

Our second trip to St.Mary's was even more exciting than the first. We came back as pirates this time. In my travels i heard pirate tales, saw treasure chests and games of all kinds. We ran away from sharks, went from ship to ship and sang an old pirate jingle. The young pirates had fun with all the activities and showed off their skills well. They followed directions and participated in the activities and made their captains happy.

On a more serious note I learned the importance of executive control and will implement it even better next lab. Getting their attention and getting your directions across clearly and quickly is important since they have such a small attention span. Also them listening to you and reacting to your commands is the key to effective teaching. That will be my main personal goal for next lab.

Lab 2 Reflection

Chapter 1:Quality versus Quantity. Why not Both?

After reading chapter one and going overall the things PE should be doing and incorporating i reviewed my PE program in my head and lets just say its not up to par. We had PE every other day so one week was 3 and the other was 2, that is not enough activity. Our budget was low and the program wasn't creative i honestly didn't learn any new skills after the 7th grade or earlier. We played mostly team sports and once we tested on them once we never practiced them again. Life time sports were near non existence. The point is my  school failed horribly like most schools do. They do not full fill the goals and standards of a Physical Educator. The chapter shows the many dimensions of what we as future Physical Educators need to do and a low budget cant get in the way of teaching kids to be healthy. We need PE at least 4 times a week ,it should be everyday, and we need to take the concepts we know from the book and put them into a great program that shows PE is integral to life.

PE Hall of Shame: Not so much the game themselves rather how they are taught.

The hall of Shame Games are very infamous indeed. For all the good movers and physically active kids these games were fine but for those who were on the fence about PE these games were a bad memory. If you take the old games at face value and how they used to be played a lot of them shout be forgotten however, some of the games can be modified to fit the standards of PE. Games like Tag, dodge ball and kickball were some of the best games we played at a younger age and made me look forward to recess and activity. Taking those games is not the answer all they need to be is modified. For example dodge ball instead of having the students throw at each other have them throw at a target in the back or if you get out have easy ways of students to get back in or remain active. Also use smaller and safer balls. Also tag can be modified in a multitude of ways. Such as movement patterns,area, number of taggers etc. A lot of these games aren't bad just their original forms and could be incorporated into a PE program.