October 30th, 2012

I had another unordinary day at the Geneva School District. Due to the tropical storm that affected our region I was not even sure if school would happen today. All of the other districts were closed, and I cannot say that I agree with that decision. Much of the storm had already passed midway through the night. Even though the Geneva School District was not closed there was a two hour delay. This caused many of the students to unfortunately miss the second day of the Great Pumpkin unit. The first class I had today was so small in numbers. Eight of the students were missing because they did not show up to school, a pattern I would soon see in all my classes today. I was not teaching two classes either for this lesson, so having fifteen students for the Great Pumpkin activity was quite a new experience. We were able to get all of the students to be the Great Pumpkin, and I even was able to participate a few times. At the end of the class the students said I was the “best gym teacher” I do not really agree with the whole “gym” thing, but I took it as a complement and it made my day start off right. We can always work on grammar. The next class was a double class, and these were the two “off” classes of the year. I made sure I was extremely clear cut with these students and I did not let anything go. Unfortunately I had to sit a student out today for a few minutes. They did not want to follow my safety rules, and after repeated reminders they still did not follow me. They cried and I felt horrible, but that is what need to be done sometimes I suppose to get a point across. It was my first experience punishing a student, I did not like it. My last classes went much better. I had one of my favorite third grade classes, which listen so well, and after that was my A.P.E. class. That combination made my day end right. 

October 29th, 2012

Today was a good day. I taught the first day of the Great Pumpkin unit. Now this for me was not a traditional type of activity I am used to teaching. It is a type of tag game that does not really have any type of skills objective, but the one thing that it most certainly has is cardiovascular and muscular properties. I performed this activity with some of the students and I can attest for these properties in the severe burn I had in my legs and chest after I did it. It was quite the workout! The great part about it was that it was a workout disguised in a fun activity. The students did not even know that they were exercising until they left the gymnasium dripping in sweat. To start the day I observed my host teacher in the instruction of this lesson. In the later classes I taught every aspect of the activity. Now I was teaching two classes, one I barely knew and another I did not know at all because one of the teachers was not in. To say the least this made teaching today quite interesting. My host teacher had really big expectations for me at first and wanted every part of my lesson to be perfect, but it was somewhat difficult because I never taught the lesson before and I was teaching students that looked at me like I was basically a substitute, and in this type of atmosphere that is not a good thing. I felt as though I did well considering, and he soon came to say that I did good as well. At first though I was nervous my teaching was not up to par. Tomorrow though is another day and I have one more chance to perfect this lesson. My highlight of the day was my A.P.E. class. The student in that class always seems to make my day better, and it was a positive ending for an up and down day. 

October 26th, 2012

Today I felt went quite well. This far it was some of my best teaching here at the Geneva North Street School. My host teacher unfortunately was not in today due to personal reasons, but I really took this time to try and build a respecting relationship with the students. Every class I treated like a test. I would try new instructional devices and see how they worked with different students. I am starting to understand how some students work with others, and I really think this is an important concept to know. If students can work well it allows for more class time on task and less distractions to be had. I actually like the quick paced classes. It allows me to almost get a lot of reps in at teaching that subject. The only downfall is I do not have to to reflect and then respond. I almost have to respond on the go. I think this is almost a better type of action to have, and luckily I had many weeks to prepare myself for this type of thinking at the Victor School district. It is funny I find that when I am outside of the gymnasium the students find it to be the most exciting thing to see me in the hallway. I really enjoy this. It is something I did not receive at such a level when I was teaching middle school students. It is good to know you are appreciated. I am looking forward to the weeks to come. 

October 24th, 2012

Today was quite a day. It did not start as well as I had hoped for it to be, but with the kids helped it slowly turned around. I feel as though I have brought that ability to adapt quickly to teaching situations with me from Victor. It was only my third day her, but I have already taught as many lessons here as I would in a week at Victor. I attribute this to the busier schedule and the shorter class periods. The students are somewhat reluctant I have noticed at first, but Mr. Lauer has reintroduced me to the importance of the anticipatory set, and the role it can play on the student’s involvement. I have found the more I say a lesson will be fun the more the students will be involved in it. Also I have been getting the students ready for the two “fun” lessons they will be performing which are the “tumbling obstacle course” and “the great pumpkin” lesson, which I have come to understand is a favorite traditional game for the students. Today with the students was great. To be honest they say some of the most hilarious statements that really make teaching great. All of the students seem to want to do all of the skills independently which I think is great, because it shows confidence. I attribute this to their environmental influences, and the mindset that is needed to grow up in a more urban type of environment. Along with this mindset I have noticed some students try to almost feel me out with how far they can get away with certain behavioral situations. I am being quite firm with the students, but at the same time trying to develop a positive relationship with them. I think that respect is gained in time. Respect of the students for me is my main goal along with educating them physically. If I earn that trust I feel as though I can be a more effective teacher. Only time will tell though. 

October 23rd, 2012

What a day it has been. For being only my second day here at the Geneva School District I have already taught three classes with my host teacher observing me, and two with a substitute watching me teach the lessons. I felt as though it was important that I step up as soon as possible and teach because this afternoon I knew my host teacher would be out and I did not want the students to fall behind in their tumbling lesson. I feel as though all of the lessons went quite well and the students really appreciated my teaching and what I was trying to teach to them. I think in every class I was able to get through all of the activities that I needed to get through. The first three classes I taught went well, but as each class went I tried to set a personal goal of bettering each lesson. I feel like I was successful in this personal goal, because my organization and transitional time decreased and my activity level went up in return. For my fourth class I observed my host teacher teach the second part of this lesson, because depending on the day you may teach two different lessons. I observed this because I would be teaching it when the substitute arrived. I took notes on each station and how to perform/teach them. The last two lessons of the day went well. The class I taught the new lesson to had some behavioral which I did not tolerate and took care of immediately. I do not think this was because of my teaching, because as I understand this class has had behavioral issues for some time now. The last class though was amazing, and did quite well at the first lesson that I had been teaching. I had no complaints about them. Unfortunately my A.P.E. student was not feeling well today and she did not come in. Today was a wonderful second day here at the Geneva School District. 

October 22nd, 2012

Today was the first day of my second placement. Now this I found was a completely different experience then I thought it would be. I do not think this was for the bad at all. The students that I expected would be more tough and rebelling against Physical Education. To be honest I have heard almost horror stories about teaching students that live within large cities. What I found was what I believed in the first place, kids are just kids. I found that the students were extremely well behaved, and that they really enjoyed being in Physical Education class. I observed for most of the day, but at the end of the day I taught a few parts of the lessons I observed. I taught some of the tripod, and the cartwheel in the gymnastics tumbling unit. I was really enthusiastic and the students responded well to this. My favorite part of the day I would say was the Adaptive Physical Education class that I had at the end of the day. My host teacher has a one on one student in Adaptive Physical Education with which we performed a modified tumbling unit. The student was so amazing and just really made my day even better. She would say some of the funniest statements, and was smiling the whole time. I am really looking forward to working with her more. I hope to bring in some of the A.P.E. ideas that I learned at Cortland. I feel as though she would benefit from these greatly. 

October 19th, 2012

I walked in to the school today with a somber note I looked around the campus trying to take in everything with all of my senses. I knew this was my last day to be a student teacher at the Victor School District. The fact is though I do not feel like a student here. I have been here since before the beginning oft the year, and at first people within the school were some what wherry of me, but now I am more close to an equal. I feel at home here. I drive in the morning in to the school with out any thought, just my body guiding me there, I come in and prepare for the day without a thought. It is all a good thing though  because I am comfortable and into the routine of how a teacher should be. I truly enjoy it, for I am not one that goes into situations so comfortably, but here it has come so easy. When I prepped for the days classes I had a smile on my face, but inside it was masking the sadness I was feeling. My joyful talk, and smiles were just a front for the emptiness I felt inside. The students, like always helped to lift my spirit. Many of the classes today were eighth graders, and they new I was a student teacher because they had been in the Middle School the year previous. They were surprisingly sad to see me go as well. One student shook my hand as he left and under his breath as he turned he said, "You shouldn't go, you're a good teacher." The surprising part of this was, the student that said this had been a student I did not think liked me at all for these past couple weeks, but in the end he was the one to make a comment like this. It got to me, it made me feel somewhat sad. Later though when I thought about it, I realized I truly had an impact here at the Victor School District for the positive. I was truly blessed to be allowed to be part of this program.

October 18th, 2012

Today was the first day of the third lesson in badminton. Since it is my last few days here at the Victor Central schools I decided to allow the students to have a little freedom, and have fun myself in the lessons. When I did this I noticed something amazing. My attention from the students increased, and the impact of my instruction was greater! During this lesson the students were performing peer assessments on one another in badminton skill related stations. The assessments worked in a rubric type form with the cues to the skills right next to rubric. What this did was allow the students to teach their classmates how to perform new skills, and what they needed to do to correct previously learned skills. This I thought worked out great. At each station the students were allotted three minutes to do the skill between them and their partner. I used the score boards to measure the time, and allow the students to check themselves and manage how they would like to space out their time at each station. Also I decided to use the stereo system that is used with the Adaptive Physical Education classes to play music while the students were at the stations. The music is a tool that I really love to use. The beat gets the students active,and it is almost like a trigger for movement as soon as the students walk in the gymnasium. I wish I had thought of this earlier in the year, because it was such a great hit among the students. It was sad to tell the students I was leaving them, and this would be my last class being their teacher. Many of them were surprised I was a student teacher. I have been teaching since my first day there, with input and modeling from my cooperating teacher, and I did not let on that I was a student. Some were really let down by this. I will miss them as well. They were a great bunch of students.

October 17th, 2012

Today began as an amazing day. I was finally bale to come in early and exercise before class. This week has been quite hectic. I am trying to prepare everything for next week when I go to Geneva, and wrap up all of the different obligations I have here at Victor. I am sure I am over thinking the whole situation, but I do not mind doing so, because it allows me to be properly prepared. My first class began with enthusiasm and at the same time some sadness. Due to our three day block schedule here at Victor today will be the last time I will be able to see these students. It is somewhat hard when realizing I will more then likely not be able to teach these students again. I tried to give these students my best lesson thus far to ensure that I gave them everything that I had and leave a positive mark on the students when I left. The first lesson went well and I really put a lot of emotion in my teaching to try and liven up the lesson. This worked and the students loved it. Also when I told them I was leaving and this would be my last class with them they became quite upset. I did not know they appreciated me so much, and it gave me a good feeling to realize this. The class after this I felt did not go as well as the first. The students were off task and did not understand the topic, I attribute this to the substitute that they had because I chaperoned a field trip the week before. This class left a bad taste in mouth. I really felt as though I failed them in not being able to help them understand the skills, and relay the benefits it could have for them in life. The last class though I knew I had to do do well in. The athletic director was coming to observe one of my classes. I began the class with an assertiveness I have only felt before during my portfolio interview. It was almost to the type of focus that you only get before a big athletic event. I felt as though I performed amazingly. My host teacher and the other teachers around me thought this was the best lesson I had ever performed. The students were on task and we were able to get through all the pieces because my organization was amazing. Over all it was an amazing day.

October 16th,2012

Today I thought was an average ordinary type of day. Nothing eventful really occurred. My teaching was clear concise and I was bale to get through my lessons efficiently. My host teacher, who I also coach with told me about a volleyball team that he had that were so good they would always win. Due to the fact that they always won the only way for them to measure their progress was to set small goals within game play so that they could measure if they were increasing in ability or not. I felt like that today. My lessons were well organized, and I felt like I was becoming somewhat monotonous with my teaching. So in order to come up with a way to measure my teaching I set goals within my lesson. Now I am not saying that I am amazing at student teaching, it was just a way for me to keep me "moving forward" in my teaching. For my last class my goal was to get into an application of the skills during gameplay. I had to focus on my time management in order to be successful with this goal. I was teaching three new skills, luckily though I was teaching these to eighth graders which most of this information was review to. We got through the classes with around four minutes to spare. This was just enough time to get into gameplay. So I reached my goal for the day. This does not mean I am going to stop though. I wish to keep this goal and build upon it in my last day of this lesson block tomorrow.

October 15th, 2012

Today was an interesting, but extremely busy day. From the start of the day I was moving around in preparation. I was preparing for the day, preparing for the lesson, preparing for the game, and preparing for my supervisor to come and observe me during two of my teaching lessons. For the first class I observed my host teacher. This acted for me as a model I could work from in order to better instruct students, and also many of these skills were new to me, so I was learning just as the students were. My first lesson I thought did not go as great as I wanted it to go. Many of the students were off topic, and my instructional delivery was not as efficient as I wanted it to be. I was trying to model what I saw in the first lesson, but this just caused me to forget key parts of  my lesson. The next lesson I promised myself would be much better. In all I thought the second lesson was an amazing leap in teaching. I was able to get the students excited for class, and motivate them to perform the skills to the best of their ability. In all the corrections I made in the second lesson saved me during my supervision. My goal is to increase every lesson and better myself, and I most definitely proved I can do this.

October 12th, 2012

Today was another first for me. It seems as though each day is a new learning experience, and because of this I always have to stay on my toes and try my best to be successful.  It started like an ordinary day. Me prepping for class, and then teaching the lesson. This lesson though I would have to say has been my best thus far. I feel as though the students are really starting to enjoy me being their teacher, and I can tell in their dedication to the lessons. Well what was different today was that I was chaperoning a field trip. Now I have been told this is quite out of the ordinary because I am only a student teacher, and to give me the responsibility of a group of students on a field trip is somewhat unheard of. I guess this goes to show that the Victor School District has a lot of faith in me. I am glad that this is so. I walked in to the meeting room where the students were at before we went on the field trip. I heard at least five voices from different areas yelling my name, asking if I would be their chaperon on the trip. It was good to hear the students say that, because it means they really like me as a teacher. We went to the cemetery across from the lilac festival. It was a scavenger hunt for history, and I just love history, so it I think I had just as much fun as the students. The trip went well, and we successfully made it back to the school. After we got back not much time was left for class, so I just taught the final half of last period, and coached volleyball after that. In all it was a successful and learning filled week for everyone.

October 11th, 2012

For being only the second day of the unit I felt as though the classes I taught went quite well. Many of these classes today were eighth graders, so these skills in badminton were mostly review. Even though they had a background in these skills I still took the time to explain to them the different parts of history, and scoring rules. I did this in a reasonable amount of time, and we were able to get in to game play for about fifteen minutes at the end of class. The seventh graders on the other hand I took more time to explain the rules, history, and techniques. They had some background of this sport form other Physical Education classes in different grades, but as in depth as this. We were only able to perform maybe five minutes of true game play with application of skills at the end of class. Today also was my big opening debut as the stand in head coach for the Victor Junior Varsity Volleyball team. The night before I had scripted all of my rotations, and the possible tendencies of Canandaigua who were our opponent for the evening. I was completely over prepared, but I need that in order to function in high stress situations. The kids caught on well and responded to my coaching. I do not know all of the details of the sport, so I put a lot of pressure on the kids in the sense they had to remember where they were in rotation, and when they should be subbing out. The first game began as a disaster. we were down 11-21, I thought we were done, because I have never seen a deficit like that be overcome. I called a time out, and it seemed like something out of the movie miracle. I gave them a speech, and normally I stutter, but the words came out clearly. I could see the kids eyes get big and light up with focus. We came back after that and won 25-27! I felt like I was going to drop after that game, but we still had two more left. The second game we came on strong, and we were up by many points in the beginning, but slowly we fell behind, and lost 21-25. Our third game would decide the fate of that match, it was the tie breaker, where our grit and determination would be tested. The score went back and forth through the entire match. We slowly started to get behind toward the end of the game, but somehow we got a good dig and scored tying at 21-21, and we got the ball for a serve. One of my back row players was rotating front and the front row player had to substitute in for them, because the back row player was only a specialist for that position. Well the kid that plays front was not paying attention, and when I had noticed it was too late, and he ran in after the referee had blown the whistle for service. This of course caused us to be out of rotation, and lose our serve as well as a point. I thought at that moment we had lost the match , and it was my fault as head coach not realizing this rotational error. I had put too much faith in the kids to keep track of where they had to be. I was devastated, but only for a moment. I re-focused and put my thoughts to the next play. We dug another ball and scored, getting the point and the serve back. The rally went back and forth again, points being put up on both sides. We battled back for the victory, winning 26-24. It was an amazing feeling. Wins like that are the ones I feel are true wins. The ones you have to battle for, and earn. The kids did well, and I feel as though I gained a little more respect from them tonight. It was an amazing experience and I thank my host teacher for allowing me to do it.

October 10th, 2012

This was the first day of the badminton unit. I have never taught badminton before, and I believe the last time I have even played the sport was five years ago when I was in high school. The first class I just observed my host teacher teach a class of seventh graders. This for me was an opportunity to observe and learn, giving me a platform to base my lessons upon. My host teacher is an experienced teacher who demonstrates great control over the students. Watching him teach is a great opportunity. I have not had many of these though, because of the odd scheduling of this semester. The next class I volunteered to teach the entire class. It went somewhat well, but their is always room for improvement. I felt as though I could have calmed down and explained the rules and history a little more in depth. My host teacher noticed this and allowed me to observe him once more with another seventh grade class. This helped because it allowed me to see what I had forgotten to explain to the students in the previous class. The last class I felt was an amazing class, because I was able to calm down and explain everything that I wanted. The students were seventh graders, and for some of their first times playing badminton I felt as though the did a great job. Next time though I will have to work on explaining the service rotation rules a little better. Every class though is a learning experience and my goal is to progress each class.

October 9th, 2012

Today was a superintendent's day here at the Victor Central School District. What was discussed today was the creation of the SLO's, or student learning objectives based upon the pre-assessment performed a few weeks prior. It was agreed upon that the goal for the students was that 75% of the students would increase their score by a point. This I believe is a reasonable goal for the students. I was not able to help much during this time, but I was able to help with the excel spread sheets that held the students scores, so in this way I was able to participate in the SLO process. Also today once the meeting broke I was able to find out about the other side of being a Physical Education Teacher. I had to repair equipment for the upcoming badminton lesson by raiding the janitors closet, and using material from there. I have found there are many different tasks a P.E. teacher needs to perform that is not quite taught in college. It is a little humorous but I enjoy working with my hands, so I do not mind it. Also to prepare for the badminton lesson I had to get all of the equipment accounted for, and set it up for tomorrow. I really want to be prepared for tomorrow, so the classes are organized and ready for activity. I find it amazing that I am able to perform all of these different activities that I have limited background in. Being here at the Victor Central School District has really helped me to expand my horizons.

October 5th, 2012

For the last day of the rugby unit the students performed quite well. This unit I have felt has had its ups and its downs. The students have made not only a development in skill, but a development in their characteristic as well. Students who were somewhat off task in the beginning of the unit have really matured, and grown accustomed as to how they should act during Physical Education class. It is an indescribable feeling to see students you have taught a completely new a foreign skill to succeed and apply your teaching. Many of these students I am sure have never played the sport of rugby before this unit, and to catch on apply the skills as quickly as they have is an amazing sight to see. Throughout this unit I have come to know the students, and I think many of them have come to know me as well. My time here at Victor is becoming shorter,and the ending of this unit has made me realize the ending of my stay here is soon. I will miss the family type atmosphere that is present here at Victor among the faculty and staff. Also the amazing acceptance of the Physical Education program within the curriculum. For a Physical Education teacher this would most definitely be a dream school to work at. I had a discussion with my host teacher the other day based upon this type of thinking. He explained how it would be great for me to get into a school with a program like the one at Victor. I though am not sure if this type of program would truly be a place where I would want to work. If an offer came I would take it, but I have always had this "hero" mentality. Ever since I was young I have always wanted to help others, and to go into a program that has everything, I feel would not suit me. I want to make a change, not for glory or any type of selfish idea like that, but to help the less fortunate and at the same time impact them for the positive. This I know is ridiculous thinking, but I would like to take the techniques and skills I have learned and apply them where I know they are needed and will be appreciated. This is just a though that has been rolling through my head lately, but who knows what the future will bring.

October 4th, 2012

Today started extremely positive, with me being ready for classes to enter, and as my host teacher says, "Teach some kids up!" The first class came in and were a little rowdy at first, but many of the students at the beginning of the year stood up and got the other students in the group to calm down. I have put a lot of pressure on these students to stand up and be leaders, and I believe it is starting to work. The students worked well together in games and applied all of the different concepts that I taught to them. This was extremely pleasing to see. Toward the end of class I asked the students to place all of the equipment back correctly. They did, but the students that I have been having act as leaders were there the entire time organizing everything. It was good to see this evolvement from the the beginning of the year until now. The end of the day went good, but not great. Due to a fire drill we were limited on time, and were only able to participate in only a few minutes of game play. This was alright because the students knew what to do, but I felt bad because if their limited time compared to other classes. Coaching today I thought was one if my better days. Normally I am only able to help with activities by being their in support of my host teacher. Lately though he has been giving me more responsibilities, and next week I will actually be running an entire week of practices. Then on the eleventh I will coach my first game. This I am extremely excite for. Today we had an odd number, and I was able to participate as well. It's was a learning experience for me for the skills we were performing. I found out I could perform them quite well. Over all it was another great day.

October 3rd, 2012

Today I thought began extremely positive. I came in early and was able to exercise before my first period class, and it really prepared me before class. I was able to get the students extremely excited for game play today, and they were really into applying the three different concepts of application in game play. These concepts were the application of skills, strategy, and game rules. The first three classs I thought performed these concepts in game play with extreme accuracy and every student I felt deserved a four in their grading for the day. this is the highest score that one can recieve. Also one technique that I used was amking every student touch the ball before they were able eto score a try. This caused every student to participate to the best of their ability and really feel part of the team. I saw smiles, and laughing today. This really made me feel great that I could impact the students in this way. My last class though struggled and all of the positive feelings I had almost deminished. I saw for the first time students arguing, and almost fighting over arguments that were in my eyes pointless. They were all based upon clear cut rules that I had explained in great length. i brought the students in about four times to try and solve this delema. Nothing I did seemed to solve this issue. I hope this is not a common occurence, becasuse if it is their will be some changes put in place.

October 2nd, 2012

The day I thought went quite well. I did not perfrom my usually daily routine of lifting before class. Normally this helps to get my body prepared for class, and teaching, but latley it has just made me tired. What I did today instead was use this extra time to prepare for my upcoming lessons, and to perform some research in to the kidnastics unit I will be performing when I go to Geneva in my second placement for elementary teaching. The book I found most interesting was actually written by an instruct of mine from SUNY Cortland, Eric Malmberg. This I found to be quite ironic. Classes today I thought went well in comparison to yesterday's classes. I really have been trying to decrease the time in which it takes me to get get re-adjusted each week to teaching. By my second class this afternoon I felt like I was back in the routine of teaching. Today many of the students really worked on incorporating punting techniques within their rugby game play. They were using this as a strategy if they were down to their third ruck, and needed a goal. In these lessons like I have said in previous entrys the main focaus of these last lessons is to incorporate game play with skill, strategy, and rules application. The last class I found today was the class that implemented these concepts the best. This class was the class I used for my teacher work sample, and they are somewhat smaller in numbers. This causes each student to touch the ball and perform the technical aspect of the the concepts taught. Overall today was a great day. I hope the progress of the students keeps increasing.

October 1st,2012

Today was not a great of a day as I would have hoped for. While I was teaching for some reason I was not able to articulate the message that I wanted to get across to the students. We have been performing gameplay for quite some time now and I feel as though the manotomy of the lesson is starting to wear thin on me. it is not bad, but I do enjoy change, and teaching new ideas. the students today were somewhat off task, but they tried to erform the activitiy to the best of their ability. The understanding of the activity, and the different concepts we are implementing are starting to come together quite nicely. The idea of spreading out the defense, and apply taught skills correctly is starting to come about. there is one more lesson of full game play left. Hopefully during this lesson all of the students in all of the classes will understand how to apply skills, strategy, and the rules of rugby during gameplay. I have noticed some of the students are taking this activity too seriously. I mean that they are getting to the point where their emotions are so strong that in some cases I have been afraid fights will break out. I find this odd becasue it is a non contact activity, and I try to break the teams up as evenly as possible. When I notice an event like this I bring the students together and remind them about sportsmanship, and how they are held to personal and social responsibilities for a grade. Other then these few and far between events the students are doing well, and it is nice to see them progress in something that I have taught them.