Lab 4 Was a Very Very Very Hard Day

There were several difficulties and challenges that I have faced since I have been at St. Mary’s. One of my main difficulties is that the children are too wild and they tend not to listen at times. When I or a member of my group tries to explain a game, the children are distracted by what is around them or the other students and they tend not to listen. I noticed when one student acts out another student thinks that is a good idea so they feel like they have to act out too. However, there are some students that listen but others are too wild. I feel that I have control, but only to a certain extent. It is difficult when we as students are trying to our best to be successful in playing the games but the students are not cooperating. I can correct these problems by just calming down and doing what I do best. That is to have fun and get the kids to listen. I will not baby the students and I will not give in to them.

Lab 3 Was A Great Day

When observing the St. Mary’s students as they participated in the movement patterns, I observed a leap, horizontal jumps and a slide. I observed two different students. When I was observing them I felt that they were very similar in the way they did the three locomoter skills. In the beginning of the game I felt that one of the students was doing an excellent job in sliding because that was the easiest for her. She had trouble with the horizontal because she wasn’t able to take off and land on both feet at the same time. The other student was very similar to Sophia in the movement patterns. He was very successful with the slide and the horizontal jump. I felt that both students had trouble wit the leap because they thought a leap was the same thing as a hop. Every time the leading group would ask the students to leap, they would hop. The teaching strategies that I used to connect to the children consisted of getting them motivated. When I would try and teach a game, I would bring the students in and I would get on one knee so I am making eye contact with the students. I feel when I do that they pay attention more instead of running all over the place. I tried to teach the games with examples that will get them motivated to play. If I was using a game that was simple, I would tell them to use animals and when you use examples like animals or cars or planes they tend to get happy and want to play. Another strategy that I used was me playing with the students. After I would explain a game they would come up to me and ask to play with them. I feel that when they ask me to play they feel more confident and comfortable. An effective teaching strategy to use when working the students after a couple of weeks is to choose games that will get them involved. As a teacher, you don’t want to walk into a class setting with boring games. You want your students to get involved as much as possible. Also, another teaching strategy that I used was to kind of bribe the students in way. When I come up to do a game the students have other games in their heads that they want to play. In a way I tell them that if they play the game I have planned, then maybe we can play a game that they want to.

St. Mary's Lab Day 1

IT WAS AN EXCELLENT FIRST DAY!!!

The differences in motor behavior and social behavior between the St. Mary students that I observed is that some like to be independent and some like to interact. Many of the older children were very independent and didn’t want to participate in anything. They were very skilled. Many of the female students had their own groups and wanted to play their own games while the males wanted participate in many activities. The pre-K students were very fun to play with. They were energetic and loved to play tag games. Sometimes they can get quite excited and tend to get tired very quickly. I think that grade level, gender and their ability influence motor behavior. I think that because the older a student is the more better they are at an activity. A lot of the older students tend to get involved in more athletic skills.

Based on my observation I observed many fine motor activities that the St. Mary students did. I was playing basketball with some students and most of them were very good. They had good control of the basketball and their shots were phenomenal for their age level. There were differences between ages and that all depends on how strong they are and how well they know the activity. For the students who knew the game of basketball they were very good at playing it. When I was with the younger students at the pre-K level, I felt that the boys were more enthusiastic in playing games and they were more involved. I felt that the girls were laid back in a way and wanted to do their own thing. Within the motor activities of the students, you can distinguish what stage they are at whether it is initial, elementary or mature. When the younger students are running around you can see them having trouble with their hops and their jumps. They try and use so much effort and when they perform these activities you can tell they are struggling. With the older kids they are doing movements correctly.

Physical Education Mini-Conference

On Friday October 10, 2008 I attended the Physical Education Mini-Conference at SUNY Cortland. I thought that it was an excellent conference and I learned so much from it. It helped me get myself ready for the future and to try out new things. I attended the Intergrating Polar Technology Into Your PE Program and I thought it was very beneficial. I was very interested in hearing the inventions that were produced for PE programs. It was great to see how you can measure heart rates, blood pressure, weight or even percentage of body fat. It is a very useful tool to bring into the classroom and to see where your students are at. I also attended the Hi Tech/Lo Tech PE presentation. That was an incredible presentation. Part of the presentation consisted of playing video games, but when you were playing the video game you were doing some sort of physical activity whether it was a step master or a bike. When you were playing the game and you stopped using the step master or the bike, the game will automatically pause. I feel that when going to presentations like these ones, opens up my mind and gives me new ideas.