Motor Development Ch.6

Lab Five: My Reaction

In this lab my group and I were designated as the Gymnasium group. This means that we were in charge of finding games that relate to the movement skill of the week. This past week it was dribbling and kicking of a ball. My other group members performed games that involved dribbling, so I made up a kicking game that I modified for the age group I thought we were going to work with.
The age group I believed we were going to work with was first to second graders. In fact though we were given the Pre-K's to work with. This is alright, but my game may have been too complex for them to comprehend. The students seemed as though they did not have the basic skills necessary to perform my game. This made the time extremely difficult for me. The students also seemed to be quite rambunctious. They did not want to participate, and they also did not pay much attention when I was explaining the directions. I know this is most likely due to there age. My TA told me to shorten up my directions when working with young children, and also to not worry if one or two children are not paying attention. I will most definitely keep this in mind for when I work with children of this age again.
After the gymnasium we went down to the cafeteria to interact and play with the children. Here I worked with the older kids. We played Lego's, and talked about sports. This was easier for me because the kids were older, and they can somewhat comprehend the concepts that as a teacher you are trying to implement. When I go out into the job market I will most definitely take any job that I am offered, but I feel as though I would work better with older students. Not being High School level, but Elementary to Middle School Level children. This is because at these levels the students still have the drive to participate in Physical Education, as well as the basic movement skills required to implement an effective lesson plan.

St. Mary's Video!

St. Mary's "Thank You!" Collage

Lab Four: Halloween Lab

Lab Four was our Halloween lab. In this lab we were instructed to observe two children a boy and girl which I have named Billy and Kristen. These two children were to demonstrate skills in catching and throwing. As I have previously stated the girls have been the ones that have had better movement skills. This though was different when it came to object control. These two individuals were of the same age and grade level, the only difference being there gender. In my observations the boy did a much better job catching and throwing the objects. During the overhand throw the boy was able to transfer his weight while throwing and had a good follow-through. The girl on the opposite hand was not able to do this. She stood with her shoulders square to he target and had no follow-through. When throwing her non-dominate arm was pinned to her side and had no assistance in the throwing motion. In catching this pattern was still evident. The boy was still the more dominant child in the skills presented. He bent to absorb the object and caught it with his hands. The girl caught the object with her elbows and was straight up and down, not absorbing any of the force. This allowed for many of the time she attempted to catch the ball to be unsuccessful. I cannot be for sure what the reason for this is. It may be that the boy I was observing had more experiences in these types of skills as where the girl did not.
My experience at St. Mary's was a good one. At first with our Professor not being there it was a little hectic, but eventually things came together. My job this past week was special projects where I went around and asked questions about how well my peers did teaching. I got many mixed reviews from them. I have noticed that during our practice labs the lessons go by much smoother. When it comes to actually teaching with young children the lessons that were previously quite good tend to fall apart. I believe this due to the stress of actually working with real students, and the inexperience that most of us still have. Also when working with children many obstacles can occur. The lessons that are planned may be too difficult, or not age appropriate. So this is why I am trying to implement different variations to my lessons. It is the same lesson that I wanted to teach before, but now I have choices so adjustments can be made if necessary.