Wrapping It Up At St. Mary's

I believe that any game can be made appropriate with a little effort.  The games just have to be modified so that the directions are short and easy to understand.  The most appropriate games were creative, simple, and most importantly fun for the children and the teacher.  The equipment that is used also makes a world of difference.

The first thing that I noticed about the Pre-K children is that they are much clumsier than the older students.  When giving them instructions they have to be even simpler than the other students.  The more enthusiastic you are than the more they are going to want to participate in your activity and the more they will look up to you.  It is much easier to persuade them to take part in the activity that you plan  at first when we brought in the supplies to Easter baskets not many of them wanted to make one.  After some convincing and having the college students make a basket all of them wanted to make one.  I really enjoyed interacting with the younger children.  To me they are very entertaining and make the experience fun and enjoyable.  I do not want to say that the other students are not fun, but I enjoyed working with the Pre-K students the most.

This experience was not just about observing skills in the gym, but observing other skills as well.  I observed a lot of coloring,building with Legos, playing cards, and various board games.  Most of the younger kids colored or played games like Connect 4.  The older kids were playing games like chess.  I was impressed because to this day I have never really learned how to play chess and these were nine and ten year olds playing.

As far as including these skills in P.E. I do not think that they should be included during class time.  There is an overwhelming number of young people who suffer and deal with problems of obesity.  For some of these students P.E. is the only time that they are being physically active.  For that reason I think that the importance of activity is too great to include coloring and card games in class.  I do believe there are ways to utilize them in P.E. though.  Working with other teachers to create a theme is a good way to help students learn while also being active.  For example, with the Pre-K students we read them a book and then brought them into the gym where we made references to the book.  This could reinforce ideas from the classroom while being active.  Another way to include them in P.E. is to have an outside assignment where the students have to color a picture of them being physically active.  This will include the fine motor skills, but also lets them be creative while thinking about what they can do for exercise.  These pictures could be displayed in the gym or outside on a bulletin board.

The first thing that I learned and had to realize was not everyone was an athlete.  Throughout school I was very athletic and always loved to go to P.E.  What I had to realize at St. Mary’s was that not every student was an athlete like me.  I realized that I had to create activities that would be appealing to all the students not just the athletic ones.

The first thing that I observed myself doing in front of the kids was always making them laugh.  The first thing I say to them is either a joke or something that will make them laugh right away.  I think that it breaks inhibitions and allows them to trust me or might be more likely to listen.  I do not think that my “teaching style” is completely emerged.  I think that with more interactions with children will help me identify my teaching style.

What's Appropriate for Young Minds?

I think that my group has used both games that were appropriate and games that until modified were inappropriate.  The first week at St. Mary’s we tried to play rock, paper, scissors tag.  This proved to be inappropriate because the students could not understand all the different directions.  When we broke it down to just playing rock, paper, scissor with one person where the winner chased the loser was more appropriate.  I think that there were too many things the students had to do simultaneously and were overwhelmed when playing with a large group.  Other tag games like blob tag were more appropriate because they were simple and easier to understand.  When we worked with the Pre-K students we tried to create an obstacle course for them.  At first Kelsey and I set up an obstacle course that was too long for them.  They were really confused and stopped in the middle of it to ask what came next.  We took away some of the activities like using the scooters and they were more successful and wanted to keep going through.  Our pizza game I think was appropriate from the beginning.  Having been at St. Mary’s for a few weeks already we knew that there had to be clear, but short directions.  The students were split into groups and had to answer a question and then throw a ‘pizza topping’ to their partner.  The children all seemed to be having fun and were excited to play.  Overall I think the most appropriate games were the ones that had few directions.  The younger students cannot handle as many tasks as the older students.  They are successful when given only one or two activities.  The older students can handle multiple tasks, so the activities just need to be modified.

Overcoming Obstacles

There are a few different areas that come to mind when thinking of the challenges or difficulties that I have faced at St. Mary’s so far.  The first challenge is pretty obvious on some days.  The children can be very rowdy and energized.  Another challenge with the children is that they do not always want or like to listen to the directions being given.  The environment, whether it is the gym or cafeteria, proved to have challenges of its own.  In the gym it can be hard to hear the person giving directions.  At the end of the day there is more than one group in the gym at a time so it makes even harder to hear directions.  The cafeteria serves a few different groups in the afternoon.  There is a dance class that takes place on one end of the cafeteria.  The other students are forced to be really quiet.  When someone is giving them directions they sometimes focus their attention to the students in the dance class instead of the directions.  

There are a few different ways to deal with the children.  The first way is to have a few different activities to give them a choice of what they might want to take part in.  This allows for a better chance to have something interesting for everyone.  Another way is to keep using variations to make it less likely for the children to get bored.  Using ideas that the children can relate too will also keep their attention (e.g. superheroes).  There is no way to change how rowdy they are the best way to deal with that is to stay strong and to stick with your directions.  Be clear and consistent and only speak when the children are quiet and attentive.  Having a signal that you can use to get their attention or remind them to be quiet is another way to deal with that challenge.  In the gym you should make sure that you are loud and your directions are clear.  Some people walk away as they are giving directions and they cannot be understood.  Another thing is to make sure the students are quiet before giving directions.  In the cafeteria the strategies that I would use are a little different.  First to deal with the distraction of the dance class I would make sure that when I am giving directions I focus on my positioning.  I would stand facing the other class while the students have their backs to the other class.  Instead of just repeating that they need to be quiet I would try to incorporate that into a game.  I remember playing ‘Mum Ball’ in school.  If we made a sound we were out and had to sit down.  Something like that would keep them quiet and moving at the same time.

There will always be challenges that we face as teachers.  It is our job to develop a successful solution.  I believe that every challenge faced is able to be overcome.  There will never be a time when every student is focusing 100% on what is being said and you have no control as to what environment you will teach in. 

Effective Strategies for All Ages

After observing both six-year-old Anthony and six-year-old Rowan some conclusions could be made based on their abilities.  Both students are the same age and in the same grade, so one could assume that they would have similar abilities.  This was not the case for all three of the skills observed.  Anthony could perform both the slide and the horizontal jump as described on the handout.  At first when he was told to leap he just took off and started running.  Once he was asked to slow down and shown what he was suppose to do he was able to leap, but did not reach forward with the arm opposite to his lead foot.  Another thing was very apparent with Anthony was that he was full of energy.  He was performing all the skills as fast as he could.  When he was near the music on one side of the gym everyone could tell that he was energized by it.  He was moving to the beat of the music.

            Rowan was a little different than Anthony.  She could not understand what the slide was.  She was galloping instead if sliding.  It took a few people to help her turn her body sideways and move left to right.  She was able to leap and jump horizontally.  The only thing her jump lacked was that her arms were not extended forward and upward.  Also different from Anthony was her approach.  She was very laid back and just wanted to hold onto the lab assistant Matt.  She was constantly following him around or trying to grab him.  As a whole like in previous labs the girls were more likely to cling to the college students.  The boys ran around and seemed to be more independent.  The superhero idea did catch the attention of both the boys and the girls.

There are a few different strategies I use to connect with the children.  It varies based on the setting.  The atmosphere is different in the cafeteria than in the gym.  The first thing I do is let the children break up and start their small group activities.  The next thing I do is look for the children that are off by themselves.  I think that it is easy to just go up to a group of students because you really do not have to talk to them because they are with their other friends.  By approaching the students by themselves you are able to connect with them and learn more about them.  Eventually the other students become curious as to what you are saying and doing with the other child.  They wander over and become so curious that they want to be involved.  It challenges them to learn about other classmates they may not normally work with.  I played the card game ‘war’ with a first grader named Adrianna.  By the end of the game when it was time to go back upstairs to the gym I had a team consisting of myself, Adrianna, and two other first graders, Izzie and Meghan.  Playing against us was lab assistant Matt and two other girls including the kindergartener Rowan. 

Upstairs in the gym my approach is a little different.  I always start off by signaling for the students’ attention.  Once they are sitting quietly I begin giving directions.  If they start to get up or talk I signal their attention once again.  I always try to say things that the can relate to or imagine.  I think it is effective because if it is interesting to them then they are more likely to pay attention and want to play the game.  The superhero game was very successful at that because every child likes a superhero or wants to be one.  During the cars tag game I tried to get the students to imagine themselves as a character in the movie “Cars.”  By giving an example instead of just a car sparks their interest.  Saying that they are all Lightning McQueen instead of just a car is more entertaining and more fun.  

After working with the students at St. Mary’s I have definitely found strategies that work as well as strategies that do not.  I believe that the most important strategy is to relate to the children.  Incorporating ideas and things that are familiar to them proves to increase their activity and willingness to participate.  Another thing that is simple but successful is to be enthusiastic.  If you seem to be having fun the children will have fun too.  Having more than one game or activity is another way to be successful.  For the most part the students will all want to play one game, but there are always a few students who do not.  It is just as important to find something that interests one or two students as finding a large game for many students.  There are enough people in the group to supervise multiple activities.  There are two things that have proven to be unsuccessful.  Giving too many directions just confuses the children.  Keeping directions concise and consistent is more effective.  The first day my group was taking suggestions from the students for games they wanted to play and this was just confusing and there were always students that did not want to play.  Some of the games were games we were not familiar with so we were confused.  It is better to have games prepared and present them in a way that the students want to participate.

Animal Day at St. Mary's

            After observing many students at St. Mary’s I believe that both age and gender play a role in a child’s ability to perform certain motor skills.  First my group started out with everyone in the gym.  We started to observe kindergarteners and first graders.  One girl in particular we watched was a five-year-old kindergartener named Casey.  Right away I noticed that she was able to run and hop, but struggled when she was asked to gallop.  She was standing in a lunge position and just jumping forward.  There was no transfer of weight.  Someone explained to her what she should be doing when she galloped and she was able to correct it.  By the end of the day she was able to gallop properly.  I also noticed a difference in the performance of the girls and boys in the gym.  The boys wanted to do everything really fast.  They ran and galloped as fast as they could.  The girls were more relaxed and just performed the skill because they had to. 

            After being in the gym with the kindergarteners and first graders, my group moved into the pre-kindergarten room.  These students ranged in age from two years old to four years old.  Theresa was a very small two-year-old who my entire group could not help but notice.  She was much smaller than the other students.  We watched them in their classroom and walked them down the hall to wash their hands before snack.  She just wanted to run everywhere.  She scuffed her shoes on the ground and twisted her body as she moved.  Age definitely played a factor in the pre-kindergarten group.  Theresa tried so hard to keep up with the other students including her four-year-old brother.  After snack we took them into the gym where they ran wild.  We set up and obstacle course that incorporated some of the skills that we were observing before.  Once again the boys wanted to run and do everything as fast as they possibly could.  The girls did not nearly go as fast as the boys.  One boy, Nicholas, did not stop moving he was constantly running around. 

            Finally, while everyone was in the gym we could observe the oldest group of students as well.  They were able to perform a hop, gallop, and run with no problem and as expected were the fastest.  Age and gender did play a role in the skills that we observed.  One thing Dan suggested was that dance was something all the students could do well.  At the end all the students did the chicken dance.  If someone were to walk into the gym at that time, besides size, there would be no indication that the students were all different ages.  All of them could dance the chicken dance at the same level.

  

            Right away when we walked into St. Mary’s everyone could see that the children were wild.  It was the first day of school after having a week off so they were very crazy.  The first group to teach was the Barnyard Chase group.  Right away they were trying to get the attention of the students.  For a brief period they were quiet and one of the group members instructed the students to stand around the parachute but not to touch it and wait for additional instructions.  That was a lot to ask of the kindergarten and first graders who were so excited when they saw the parachute.  In my opinion the students should have stayed seated and listened to all the directions before going near the parachute because right away the kids started shaking the parachute.  At that point it was almost impossible to hear the directions and regain control.  The group was successful in changing the activity and had more control over the students.  I thought that was well done being able to change the activity on the fly.

            My group was in charge of the Zany Zoo game.  Right away we split the kids up into smaller groups with one of our group members as a group leader.  Then we started to give directions.  I thought this worked well because we just randomly placed kids at a corner and they were not with their friends all the time.  This also proved to be effective because with a group leader standing right with them and being able to control the kids quicker and reminding them not to talk.  We were able to decrease the student to teacher ratio from about 25:1 to about 6:1.   When the kids were sitting down, one member of our group stood in the center and gave directions.  The kids seemed to pay a little more attention and remained quieter in smaller groups and when they were not touching anything.

Coaching is Teaching

On Thursday February 12th Paul Alexander, Cortland graduate of 1982, came to speak about his experiences as a coach and teacher.  He spoke about many of the classes and concepts that we are currently learning or involved with today.  I thought it was very interesting that he emphasized the idea that there are ideas that influence teaching everywhere.  Alexander spoke of his daughter’s piano teacher, Albert Muhlbock, and how listening to the piano lessons helped him coach professional football players.  Alexander also talked of his experiences as a Cortland Physical Educator and how it relates to the NFL.  He shared his experiences about how even the most talented players can be taught and coached.  He went on to talk about his invention of the “Lev Sled” to teach players the proper technique to blocking.  Now, his technique is seen at all levels including players in the NFL.  Another interesting point that Alexander made was that throughout every great coach or teacher’s career there has been luck along the way.  Chances are we did not tell our parents at four years old what we were going to do for the rest of our lives.  Our parents got us all involved in sports and influenced our decisions.  It is just by luck that we are all at the point we are today.  So in a way we owe some of our success to those who have helped us.  Overall, I think that Alexander made some very interesting points and opened my eyes to exactly what you can accomplish with a degree in Physical Education. 

First Day at St. Mary's

            The first day at St. Mary’s we were assigned to the oldest group, which was children in third grade to sixth grade.  After spending about two hours with them it was easy to make observations about their motor behaviors and social behaviors.  For the most part they listened to directions, but listened at times when it was an activity that they wanted to do.  One boy, Cameron, was trying to take over and was telling us the games we could and could not play with them.  They stay on task for a short period of time so it was important to have many activities available to keep the students active and under control.

            These children, being the oldest group, could perform multiple motor skills at one time.  They could run and throw a basketball while playing Knockout or Elimination.  For the most part the older the students were the bigger and stronger.  There was a girl named Isabella who was very small and just did not have the size or strength to throw a basketball in a ten-foot hoop with the other students her age.  This meant that we had to have another activity for her and the other students who did not want to play Knockout. 

            Gender definitely seemed to have an impact on motor behavior.  The boys tended to be more aggressive so they suggested playing Knockout.  They always wanted to play in large groups.  The girls on the other hand tended to play by themselves or with a smaller group of maybe three or four.  They played games like jump rope, “Jake the Snake,” and with the hula-hoops. 

            Social behavior was very easy to identify as well as motor behavior.  When we started in the cafeteria with the students they first ate their snacks and then moved to other tables to do different activities.  There were card games, Legos, and puzzles.  At first they are quiet and let you introduce yourself, then the questioning begins.  They asked questions like our age, our interests, one student asked my favorite color, but you could see that they were making an attempt to get to know us.  Once we answered all the questions to their satisfaction it was acceptable for us to play with them.  One girl named Meghan was very hesitant at first to let anyone play cards with her.  I approached her by myself to see if she would talk to me or let me play.  Eventually she did and another boy named Justin and I played “Go Fish” with her.   Once again like in the gym the boys tended to play with the boys and the girls tended to play with the girls.

                              

My group was in the cafeteria first and then went up to the gym.  The games in the cafeteria were a great way to begin to get to know the kids.  I’m glad that we were not just thrown into the gym right at the beginning.  In the cafeteria the kids played with Legos, cards, or did puzzles.  I noticed that while they were eating their snack the kids would not talk.  They were very polite and chewed their food before speaking.  Once they finished snack the games began.  Right away you could tell the oldest students apart from the youngest.  The older boys wanted to play card games with inappropriate names so we tried to find alternative names so they could play.  The next activity students were playing Legos.  The younger students, both girls and boys, tended to build things like houses or places that were familiar to them.  One girl described her Lego house and then told me that it was just like her house.  The older students were building things like spaceships and other buildings.  They tended to build things that were different from something they see everyday.  The rest of the students were trying to finish puzzles that they had never done before.  The two older girls would not let me touch any pieces.  The two younger students came to me and asked for help.  I suggested to them to start with all the outside pieces and to use the box to help you see what it is suppose to look like.  They were much more welcoming than the older girls. 

            Overall I would say that there is definitely a difference with age, gender, and ability.  You could see from the Legos that age played a big role in the ideas and things that the students created.  The younger students still identified with familiar things while the older students wanted to start gaining independence and distance themselves.  Gender was another factor that influenced the activities that the children were involved with.  The girls tended to be more calm and reserved.  They sat quietly and attempted to finish the puzzle.  The boys on the other hand were constantly screaming and being told to quiet down.  They were much more active than the girls.  As far as ability goes I think that all the children were able to do the same things, but chose to do something that they enjoyed more.  The boys could have done puzzles and the girls could have played cards.  I think it was more choice that determined what they did not so much ability.