Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Lab C: Curling!

For lab C, I taught curling to the class. This wasn't a TRUE curling lesson as we do not of proper equipment, but adjustments were made in order to learn the technique of curling (for example, using using Arizona Ice Tea jugs as stones). The equipment was put into good use.
Looking at my teaching, I think my strongest point is my introduction. I am able to grab everyone's attention with my hooks and enthusiasm. I have a lot of fun doing it, which is probably why it is effective.
As usual, I made good use of my voice, making sure everyone would be able to hear me. I also feel that my directions were overall distinguishable, even though there were a couple times of confusion due to me forgetting something.
Even though my instructions were good, the Time Coding shows that my instructions took up more than half of the class. This is not good for getting students to be physically active, but curling is more of a technical sport.
Looking at my Feedback Analysis, I only gave a few people feedback, and only half of those were specific. This is an area I still need to work on. I get caught up making sure that everyone is doing the task, I forget to explain to people what they are doing right or wrong. It usually takes someone to do something completely wrong for me to correct them. Hopefully I will be able to give more feedback during my next lesson.
Other aspects of the C-9 form I forgot to do were intratask variation and challenges. I had prepared myself before the lesson to use them but they slipped from my mind. This is most likely due to my poor judgment of time. I had a watch on but I did not use it to my advantage. Having a stop watch may be more beneficial for time management. Even though time was not too big of an issue, next lesson I hope to not forget any important aspects.
My video, lesson plan, and task progressions can be viewed below:

Lesson Plan

Task Progressions




Thursday, March 4, 2010

Lab B2: Time To Disco

For my jump rope lesson, I decided to teach the Double Dutch - Disco (Inside Wrap), which was one of my given tasks. I knew that I would have to break down the main objective into progressions in order for anyone to be able to perform it. Unfortunately, the segments took longer than planned and we never got to include the jump ropes. After reviewing my video though, the lesson was only 6 minutes when it had to be 7. This was not my mistake, but I would have been able to get some jump roping in if I had that last minute. The disruption of time affected my Time Coding as my desired amount of activity did not take place. Not to mention the misbehaved students, who ended up taking 40 seconds of my lesson in order for them to be brought back to the lesson.
Looking at my Transcript and Feedback Analysis, I believe that I did a fairly good job helping out all of the students. When people were having trouble, I approached them and helped them through the steps to perform the technique properly. I did not give any positive specific feedback. I guess I was more concerned with helping those having trouble.
Besides the technicalities I experienced, I believe I handled the lesson very well. My voice continues to be a strong point in my lessons as it grabs the attention of everyone. I did, however, forget to recite the cues after my first demonstration. This is actually embarrassing as I had them right behind me on the poster. I did use cues when going on to the next expanded task, except they weren't the same words I had wrote down. They were still correct and were useful. I had challenges ready for the jump rope tasks but we did not make it to those. In my future lessons, I should anticipate the length of giving feedback and plan accordingly. For example, I could have started the inside wrap with the jumping cues, but I didn't realize how long the feedback would take. This is just something I will have to adjust to after more experience.
My lesson can be heard here and viewed below.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Lab B1: Jump x 2


This was a brief jump rope lesson regarding the double (basic jump). I believe that I did a fairly good job with this lesson. It was a very basic skill, so there was not much I could do with trying to explain what to do. With such a simple task, it would have been good to offer challenges for the skill, but my main objective was to give good feedback to the students.
Looking at my feedback analysis and transcript, I was able to give more specific feedback this time around, but it was not varied. It would be best if I had a list in advance of what I want to see from the students. This would help checking off what someone is doing right or wrong. For the next B lab, I will prepare myself with specifics for giving feedback, as well as more expanded lesson. This is especially important because the next task will be a lot more difficult. The audio of this lesson can be heard here!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Lab A2.5: Here We Go Again.....Again

So after the unfortunate event of my original video being corrupted *coughYangcough*, I took the opportunity to do my lesson again. This time it was with the entire class and no materials, but I think I handled the situation well. I knew I had made a few mistakes with my original lab, so now was the time to fix them. Overall the lesson went well.
I made sure I taught the cues to the lay-up, which are "left, right, jump". I used these cues numerous times in the lesson to make sure everyone remembered what to do. My voice was definitely loud enough for the class for all instructions and kept the flow of the lesson consistent.
In terms of giving feedback, I still struggled to give specific feedback. It was mainly general feedback being given out, such as "good job". I find it difficult to evaluate everyone during a rather fast pace drill. For future lessons, it would be good for me to give an individual useful feedback without worrying about watching the next person in a drill. If I worry about watching every individual, then I will not be able to give constructive feedback.
Being concerned with the people performing the lay-ups also distracted me from paying attention to the people in the lines. To avoid waiting time, I had one line practice their form. First of all, I should have told both lines to do something. I would of had the lay-up line practice dribbling but alas we had no basketballs balls. Second, the rebound line stopped practicing their form after a while and I did not even notice. I should be paying attention to all aspects of the activity. Since there was a substantial amount of students, I should have made two separate groups so that everyone had more opportunities to try out the skill.
Regardless of my flaws, this was a good experience for me. I am feeling more confident when teaching in front of everyone. I know that I will improve from my flaws after more teaching experiences.




Time Coding
Transcript
Feedback Analysis

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Lab A2 : Here We Go Again


Lab A2 was meant to be a revamped lesson of our first lesson (a disastrous one in my opinion). This time I was able to prepare myself with the lesson, having a plan that would fit within the 4 minute span. There certainly was no doubt on how I used my voice. It was loud and clear the entire time, which grabbed the attention of all of the students. For the actual lesson, I had the students do progressions so that they can ease in to the actual lay up skill. I did not drag any of them on for long since I overlooked the amount of time I had during the last lab. Another problem I had last time was the amount of waiting time. All of the drills I had required the majority of the class to wait. To fix this problem during the lay up drill, I had the students either dribble a basketball or practice there lay up form while waiting on line. This kept everyone active during the entire drill.
Even though I made improvements in some areas, I still had some faults in the lesson. One would be that I forgot to state the skills. I was planning to tell the students right before the actual lay up drill. The cues I was going to say were "jump left foot, shoot right hand". Short and simple. This would have certainly been useful but unfortunately I failed to mention them. Another fault of mine was the amount of feedback given to the participants. I had trouble trying to compile feedback for students as the lay up drill moved quickly. Some students received feedback, but it was mainly general feedback. The last fault I had was the conclusion. I will admit that I was unprepared for it and I'm positive that it was clear to everyone else. Next time I will have something in advance.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Time Coding For Lab A1

After establishing my time coding form, it looks like I need to make MAJOR changes to my lessons. Since this lesson was done at the spur of the moment, I knew that it would not be that good. The major problem with the lesson is the lack of activity. The drills that I had everyone do required waiting time since less than 50% of the class were being active at once. For future lessons, I now know to come up with drills and activities that get the majority of the class moving at once.
I did end up with the correct amount of time for management, but the instructions took up the majority of the lesson. The most instruction took place while trying to explain the drills. I need to be able to explain the directions more clearly or have simpler drills for shorter lessons.

Time Coding Form

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Blog and Lesson Introductions



After reviewing my introduction videos, I believe that I did a fairly good job vocally. I produced a clear voice and it was loud enough to understand. I had also made good use of hand movements for instructional purposes. They were kept in constant motion to help enhance the lesson.
Even though I overall avoid filler words like "uhmm", I tend to have slight pauses and occasionally redundant sentences. It should be useful for me to know exactly how I want to execute my speech for the lesson. Cues would are something I should have added in this lesson like "left, straight" and "right, side, strike". Clapping is not really a good signal of attention as I should just yell "go" and "stop".