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!
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.
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.
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.
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".
1. After reviewing my video, I believe that the hand gestures that I incorporated helped my teaching as it kept the attention of the students. I was able to get everyone's attention in the beginning with my voice, but it could have definitely been louder.
2. The one thing I need to improve on is timing and instruction. This lesson had to come from the spur of the moment, so it would have been more organized if prepared in advance. Another thing that should be improved is the presentation of the skill by overemphasizing the motions and techniques.
3. Being more organized is very important for any type a lesson. You need to be on top everything so that the lesson can go in a constant flow. This way you have the student's attention consistently and they don't drift off into doing something else. Overemphasizing the skills would also be beneficial to students as it will show them what to exactly do. If you position yourself clearly, then students will have a hard time trying to follow your technique.
Lab 6 was our last day at St Mary's and it consisted of a Christmas theme. Although it was early in December, we all came in dressed up Christmas themed and came prepared with new activites for the children. Our group was assigned to the Pre-K once again for the day. We started off in their classrooms, simply playing with them all. The boys I met up with were building with the blocks. I was soon introduced to a game that involved directional intructions from an electronic device. The device would say what color cones you had to slam on top of. This involved the children to listen to the chosen colors to slam and act quickly to get a short time. They were not concerned with the timed score, especially since some of the girls were slow about approaching the game. The kids were really anxious to play the game as everyone waited their turn to do a round. It eventually became time for activities in the gymnasium. After a brief period of setting up, we were ready to explain the Christmas themed obstacle course. The kids would start off going through a path of stacked mats, which were decorated with candy canes and bells. The path continued through red and white jump ropes, leading to a field of shiny bows that the kids had to creep through. Next, there were numerous spots that needed to be jumped to each one. The last part was a bowling activity where you had to roll a rubber ball to knock down the liter bottles. We also had the kids vary up going through the pathway, such as galloping and going backwards. This was necessary as everyone was starting to get bored to the same movements over again. The problem with the last part is that the line tended to build up for waiting to bowl, thus creating inactivity time. Overall, the Pre-K enjoyed the activty. If they were an older group, it certainly would not have suited them since the it was not a complex activity. None the less, it was enjoyable for them all. Even though we have spent little time with these kids, I will miss them as they were enjoyable to work with.
