In this lab I taught breakdancing The art of breakdancing was a new subject to me, and before I taught it I learned the dance as best as I could. I spent hours preparing for this lab, and I feel as though that the preparation really helped. When I teach I have a need to organize the learning environment so that many of the external variables that could hinder the lesson become less of a threat. I feel as though the need I have for organization cut down much of the time taken in managing the class during the lesson.
The lesson itself went alright, I would not say that it was perfect by any means, but I feel as though I was able to orate the cues in a manor that everyone participating would understand. The technology part of my lesson had a malfunction, so during my introduction I tried to explain what was seen in the video I was going to present, and the correlation I was going to make to the historical facts that I had prepared. This caused for quite a long introduction, in fact I believe it was almost three minutes before any activity took place, but I felt as though the background information was important and acted as a hook into my lesson.
I decided to start with introductory skills of breakdancing because this is how any unit is started, and I modeled this lesson to the first class of the new breakdancing unit. If I were to reteach this lesson I would probably keep the same skills I had, but probably add one or two more skills. I felt as though the practice of these basic skills started becoming monotonous to some students, and after a while a few started losing interest. I did not notice this as I was teaching, but upon further review of the tape I could see this in the body language and faces of some of participants. Also when I was filling out the feedback form I noticed that I did not give much feedback to the people in the back row of the group. I remember watching them, but I did not give any feedback. I will change this in my future lessons, so that everyone is acknowledged.
For Lab D I want to encompass all that I have learned and observed in the months of being here at Cortland. I truly want to be the best in my field. I want to make an impact on people, and educate them about how to take care of their bodies along with their minds. God only gives a person one body and one mind. This needs to last a person their entire life. I feel like I am here to help people understand how to do so, and I am glad I have the opportunity to make an impact.
This lesson did not go the way I had intended. I had planned almost a week in advanced for this lesson because the tremendous about work my other classes were calling for, and I knew I would not have the time to prepare everything in one week. I had written everything I would say, and how I would react to various complications that may have arose. I found during this lesson though that it was not an outside variable that would be the problem, but instead it would be myself.
I divided my lesson into two parts, each part teaching a skill that had to do with jump-roping. The first half of the lesson was were everything had gone wrong. I wanted to get to the gymnasium early to prepare for lesson, getting all the necessary equipment out, and setting up my display. When I reached the gymnasium about twenty minutes early I had realized I forgot some of my equipment in my room, so I ran back and got most of it, then the rest with the help of my TA. Once this was done I had about seven minutes to prepare, which was not what I planned for. During the first half of my lesson my mind was not into teaching, I failed at not being able to put on my teaching mask. I was still thinking about how frustrated I was that I had planned so hard, and forgot so much. This caused me to forget checking for understanding, and explanation of cues for the first half of my lesson. After I about a minute or two I regrouped in my head, and the second half of the lesson went quite well. I was able to cut my instruction down in time,give congruent feedback, and make my lesson consist of a greater amount of activity than in previous lessons.
This negative outlook to my lesson I later found out was solely my own. The other students that were participating in my lesson did not even realize I had made any mistakes. One of the TA's did not even notice either. This leads me to believe that I may be over critical of myself, which I do not think is necessarily a bad thing, for it makes me work harder. It can be though when it causes my mind to wander while I am teaching. These are situations that I am learning from, and I just need to not make the same mistakes twice.
NCATE or "The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education" is the teaching profession’s mechanism to help to establish high quality teacher, specialist, and administrator preparation. NCATE believes that every student is deserving of a high quality, and caring teacher. NCATE has developed a conceptual framework that each of the institutions this method is taught in need to follow. These "standards" help educators work effectively in P-12 schools.
Standard 1:Candidate Knowledge, Skills, and Professional Disposition Candidates preparing to work in school as teachers or other school professionals know and demonstrate the content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and skills, pedagogical and professional knowledge and skills, and professional disposition necessary to help all students learn. Assessments indicate that candidates meet professional, state, and institutional standards. Standard 2: Assessment Systems and Unit Evaluation The unit has an assessment system that collects and analyzes data on applicant qualifications, candidate and graduate performance, and unit operations to evaluate and improve the performance of candidates, the unit, and its programs. Standard 3: Field Experiences and Clinical Practice The unit and its school partners design, implement, and evaluate field experiences and clinical practice so that teacher candidates and other school professionals develop and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and professional disposition necessary to help all students learn. Standard 4: Diversity The unit designs, implements, and evaluates curriculum and provides experiences for candidates to acquire and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions necessary to help students learn. Assessments indicate that candidates can demonstrate and apply proficiencies related to diversity. Experiences provided for candidates include working with diverse populations, including higher education and P-12 school faculty, candidates, and students in P-12 schools. Standard 5:Faculty Qualifications, Performance, and Development Faculty are qualified and model best professional practices in scholarship, services, and teaching, including the assessment of their own effectiveness as related to candidate performance. They also collaborate with colleagues in the disciplines and schools. The unit systematically evaluates faculty performance and facilities professional development. Standard 6: Unit Governance and Resources The unit has leadership, authority, budget, personal, facilities, and resources, including information technology resources, for the preparation of candidates to meet professional, state, and institutional standards.
When first learning of NCATE I was not sure what this organization was, or how it correlated with my learning, because I had been at a community college for the first two years of my education. After transferring to SUNY Cortland and reading about the NCATE standards I now can see that everything I do within the curriculum revolves around these six standards. Reading over these I can think of a lesson I have done, or a class I have been apart of here at SUNY Cortland that has been directly influenced by the NCATE standards. This is why I feel here at SUNY Cortland the NCATE standards are being taught and used effectively for all teacher candidates.
Motivation is a key element in teaching, for it has a direct correlation to learning/personal growth. Here are a few general principles that I found contribute to motivation, learning/personal growth. I believe that being positive is key to promoting motivation. If you as a teacher act positive to the students, meeting their needs then in turn they will act positive back and be open to what you have to teach. Having a variety of teaching strategies is also important, because no two students are the same. So in order to influence every student as a teacher you may have to teach different ways. This way no one is left behind. Also going along with this the teacher must allow the student to function with autonomy, making sure that each task presented is meaningful to the student. If the student feels a greater connection to the task at hand the will be more motivated to complete it. For younger students external motivators like a prize for a certain action could keep the student attentive and active throughout the lesson, also making them work harder so that they can earn the prize. Lastly by helping the student create a longterm goal for themselves within the Physical Education environment will help the student develop intrinsic motivation, the internal feeling of self motivation.
Teachers can promote personal growth of students through personal interaction in many ways. First simply the act of learning the students name gives the student the since that you know them as a person and not a group. Enthusiasm plays a key role in teaching, because the students will feed off of your emotions, if you as a teacher are positive, then the students will be also. Be caring to your students, take in account their feelings and respect them for who they are. Reinforcing morals to your students is a key element. I personally feel that many people now lack respect, and common courtesy. This idea will help them greatly later in life. In turn this teaching of morals will allow the students to understand what are wrong attributes to carry with them. As a teacher do not allow a students misbehavior to effect you personally. Handle it in a positive so that the situation does not progress. The treating of all students equally takes away any jealousy issues that students may have toward classmates, and is a professional act by the teacher. Listen to your students, and observe their responses. This allows the students to voice their feelings, and responses to a task. Personally developing yourself as a teacher is key. Your students will look up to you because of this and strive to be like you.
For Lab B I had to teach two skills these being the forward straddle, and the straddle cross. These two skills for jumping rope were new to me, so therefore I had to learn them before I taught my lesson.
Before I taught thelessonto my class I tried to memorize the words that I was going to say ahead of time so that I could explain my directions more clearly to the class without hesitation. This initial part of my lesson I thought went quite well. I tried to imitate my TA's (Gino) lesson from the previous week, because I thought that he ran the class quite well during his demonstration. I broke the lesson into two parts, the first half being for the first skill, and the second half for the last skill. The first skill was the forward straddle which was easier for me, because I knew how to do it. I planned that half of the lesson out completely. It did not really go the way I planned though. I originally thought with our low numbered class that I could teach everyone on one line, but two additionally participants and the TA's were part of the group. So I had the group work on two lines instead. This worked wonderfully because it allowed the participants to already be in group lines when the turned around to perform the task. This was an unexpected turn of events that ended up benefiting my lesson. In class for the past week everyone has been learning how to properly give feedback to participants, so as they group performed the skill I tried to incorporate what I learned in class. This was a great tool, and I felt as though it helped the participants feel better about their actions. While watching the film for my first half of the lesson their was a point when I was having the group perform the forward straddle without the use of the jump-rope. I instructed everyone to try and lean forward to help them stay on the balls of their feet, almost instantly I saw everyone lean forward as though they were one unit and follow my prompt. That for me was such an inspiring moment. It really made me feel like I was a real teacher, and I was helping them learn a new skill. For the second half of my lesson I had not really fully planned. For this I followed some of the ideas that my TA Anthony had given me the week before, which helped me greatly in relating the skill to the participants. This skill for me was the most difficult to perform, but I just worked through it. I have found that when something does not go the right way as you had planned just to keep working through it. I worked through the difficulty of not knowing how to do the skill, and it worked out great. I do not believe anyone caught on to it during the lesson. This half of the lesson though my Professor had one of the students pretend like he did not want to do anything, and sit off to the side. I went through the whole second half of my lesson without even noticing this. It was quite embarrassing to hear at the end of my lesson I did not notice this. I felt as though I had let my TA and Professor down. Next time I will be sure to be more observant with my participants, for I do not want this kind of mistake to happen again.
This lesson has felt like my best lesson yet. This is true even though I made a few mistakes throughout it. Last lesson I had much more instruction and class management issues, with limited activity. My time managingfor this lesson I felt was much better, but not perfect. The next lesson I teach I am going to really strive for putting everything I have learned together to make my lesson perfect.
Six behaviors a teacher can engage in during an activity that have the potential to to directly contribute to a lessons objectives are; maintaining a safe learning environment, clarifying and reinforcing tasks for learners, observing and analyzing student responses,providing feedback to learners, changing or modifying tasks for individuals and small groups, and maintaining a productive learning environment.
Specific feedback is a good tool in keeping an off-task student on task. This is because when a student is given a general feedback like "Good" the student has no idea what "good" may mean. It could stand for a multitude of actions they are doing and cause confusion. So specifically telling the student what they are doing "good" keeps them involved. Also making sure the student has an understanding of what you as a teacher are trying to teach them will help the student stay on task. This will allow for less confusion on the part of the student.
Examples of feedback
General: "Good Job"
Positive: "Nice follow-through on that throw"
Directed to Class: "Many of you are dribbling with your palms. Make sure to use your finger pads."
Evaluative: "The class has improved 50% since last time."
Specific: "Nice job dribbling the ball with your finger pads"
Negative: "Don't dribble the ball that way"
Directed to a Group: "Maybe you four should try and toss around the beach-ball first."
Incongruent: "Don't throw the ball until you make eye contact with him."
Corrective: "Jaimie bend your knees more."
Specific: "Good work while crossing the finish line. I liked the extra effort."
Positive: "Gina you are doing great with your pitches today."
Directed to an Individual: "John try and swing your hips into your swing. This will help with your follow-through."
Corrective: "Swing your hips."
Congruent: "Your forward step was not big enough."
Here is part of mylesson plan for EDU 255: Jumping into Lab B. This is the Situation, Task, and Criteria incorporated into the three domains of Physical Education.
Psychomotor: 1A/1
1. By the end of the class, the students will be able to perform the forward straddle with proper form (feet 8”-12” apart, on the balls of the feet, and leaning slightly forward), for at least 8 out of 10 times.
2. By the end of the class, the students will be able to perform the straddle cross with proper form (staying on the balls of the feet, and having the proper leg crossed at the proper time), for at least 8 out of 10 times.
Affective: 2/5
2. During the lesson, students will show an ability to participate in a safe manor by being in their own personal space, and using the jump-ropes properly.
Cognitive: 1A/2
3. By the end of the lesson, the students will show understanding of the forward straddle and the forward cross by reciting the cues of each skill to the teacher.
Safety Statement: 2/5
4. Students will need to be aware of their surroundings, as well as how to properly hold a jump rope.
