Richard

Bergstrom
Tiger Pride Final Summary

1) Overview
Over the 8-week period of instruction, us delivery team instructors have gone over a
numerous of sports and skills that are essential in recreational activities. We have
gone over the following activities: cooperative learning games, football, frisbee,
basketball, and badminton. The grade that was taught was 4th grade. There were
about 20 students in this afterschool program. Most of the students were low to
moderately skilled overall. There were one or two students who were active in
organized sports.

2) Student Learning
a) Im confident I successfully produced student learning during the semester. They
all improved their motor and cognitive skills for each skill and sport. The area I felt
students progressed with the most was the football unit. I think its because we
spent 2 weeks on this unit and there was a lot of room for skill development. During
this unit, students learned critical skills like throwing, catching, punting, and
placekicking. While learning these manipulative skills, they also learned offensive
strategies like 4 basic routes hook, curl, slant, and fly. Students also learned
defensive strategies such as man to man. As one can see, the students learned so
much in this unit. At the end of the unit, there was a modified game that allowed
students to play like real football players. Students didnt understand the rules until
I told them during the game. They learned fast and were all competent athletes.

b) Prior to this semesters Tiger Pride, I had no prior teaching experience in the
physical education field with 4th grade students. It was a challenge in some areas. I
would definitely change certain things to better produce student learning. For
example, I would demonstrate skills as whole-part-whole method so students know
what the whole skill looks like and then break it down. I normally teach just the
parts so students dont know how it should look when all the pieces are put
together. I would also be prepared for adaptations for activities in case if an activity
was too difficult/easy. There have been a few times where I had this problem
because I overestimated the students abilities. The badminton forehand and
backhand swing was one of those skills I had to break down in order for the
students to understand. I didnt realize the students hand-eye coordination was at
a low level so I had to progress from no racquet to with a racquet, and then to with a
racquet and a birdie. I also had to break down the cues of the skill so students
demonstrate a quality and mature pattern. I gave them plenty of practice
opportunities. Some improved but still a complex skill to master.

3) Created a Quality Learning Environment
a) 4 criteria of a learning experience:
1. Improve motor skill performance I saw a lot of improvement from students.
This comparison comes from when I first saw them in the first semester of
Tiger Pride (8/2014-12/2014). Many students improved their manipulative

motor skills. I saw a higher success rate in those students. Locomotor and
non-locomotor skills were more difficult to see improvements as I only had a
few lessons based on locomotor movements. However, I did see students
chase, flee, and dodge better than previously. They learned to hesitate, stop,
and switch directions more quickly. They didnt have to think a lot to reach
their goal.
2. Being appropriate for the experiential level of all students I believe most of
the skills and concepts were all appropriate for these students. Some topics
were a bit challenging to some students but with enough time and practice,
everyone understood the activity by the end of the lesson. They were all
doable. The times when students had difficulty understanding was modified
football gameplay, basketball outlet activity, ultimate frisbee, and the
badminton forehand/backhand swings. For each of these activities, I stopped
the lesson to explain and break down the parts to simpler terms for the
students benefit. I provided a demonstration and used students in my
demonstrations as well. Badminton is an exception. I thought this sport
might have been too advanced. It only wouldve been appropriate if I had
modified the equipment like using a larger racquet or a larger object.
3. Providing maximum practice time for all students The lowest MVPA time
this semester was 6 minutes, and the highest MVPA time this semester was
18 minutes. I think if I were to average all the MVPA times, it would range
between 11 minutes and 14 minutes. This amount of activity in a 30-minute
period is not terrible in my opinion. It obviously could be better. The one
thing that prevented me from gaining more activity time was management of
student behaviors.
4. Integrating all 3 learning domains when possible All my lessons had
psychomotor, cognitive, and affective objectives. In every lesson, I had goals
for each one. Psychomotor goals arent as easy as they look. Students must
show progress and competency to meet the goal. I have a criterion and
students must meet that criteria or else I have failed the students and myself.
When I ask students at the end of the period what the cues of the skills are, I
am asking if they have retained the cognitive part of the skill. After, I usually
ask for a demonstration so a student can show me the psychomotor part of
the skill. I try to call on different students to get a variety of skill levels. My
affective objectives are met when I have team competitions or group
activities. I normally have one or the other in my lessons. It is measured by
whether a student cooperates with others, exhibits sportsmanship, and is
responsible for his/her actions. Theres only a select few who dont meet my
affective objective each week and that is handled by the 2-strike rule where
students sit out or are sent inside.

b) The biggest challenge for me about trying to have 50% MVPA from my students is
managing student behaviors. Each week, my management was more than 7 minutes,
which is at least of the lesson. Certain students misbehaved and disrupted the
lesson, causing me to lose focus and it slows down the lesson. It reduces activity
time for the students who do behave well. To cope with this, we established a new 2-

strike policy. The first misbehavior will result in the student sitting out. The second
time it happens, the student will be sent inside. Students are aware of the rules the
first thing they come into Tiger Pride and its not tolerated if misbehaving occurs.

c) All students had an opportunity to practice at a high level. To ensure this, I had a
few strategies going about this. Grouping strategies is something to think about. I
tried different strategies: telling students to find a partner or group, numbering
students off, handing out colored jerseys, and sorting students by their favorite
color. What worked best for me was handing out colored jerseys so students are
forced to be in the same colored group without complaining. This allowed more
time for students to practice. Another method that worked for me was when
students choose their own partners. This made them happy that they can participate
with a person they know and practice a skill with them. This grouping strategy
worked the best when learning a new skill or practicing an old skill. If there was
enough equipment, I would have students practice on their own before they practice
with a partner or group. To improve practice opportunities, I would have students
practice on their own first. Then I would have the student practice with a partner so
the students are comfortable practicing the skill with one other person. When
theyre ready, I would have students practice in a small group setting to adapt to
other students skill levels.

d) I always challenged students to develop their skills. For football unit, I allowed
students to take a step back for each successful throw/catch. However, if the ball
wasnt caught, then the student would have to take a step forward. In basketball, I
challenged students to crossover during a stationary drill at first. I then progressed
them to moving and crossing over at the same time. In frisbee, I had students throw
the object towards a moving target after practicing with a stationary target. Theres
so many ways to progress and develop students abilities. Changing the pace,
environment, defenders, equipment, etc. are all ways to challenge students abilities.
I could also provide them a benchmark to reach. For example, challenge students to
punt a football more than 50 feet or dribble a basketball while switching hands from
one end of the court to the other without losing control of the basketball.

4) Strengths and Weakness in Pedagogical Skill Set
a) Providing instructions to middle elementary students (3rd-5th grade) is different
than lower elementary students (K-2nd grade). Instructions have to be a little
detailed but at the same time it must be concise so students know the what, how,
why, where, who, and when). Too much instruction can bore or lose students
attention. The introduction has to be a brief attention grabber so students are
interested and motivated to learn. Students must know the why first to understand
the purpose of the activity. Students like to know the meaning of a skill or activity.
This increases their motivation to use what they learned outside of school. Once
instruction has been given, ask for a check for understanding so you know who is
lost. For example, have students give thumbs up if they understand or thumbs down
if theyre not sure. Check for understanding is crucial so instruction isnt repeated
during the lesson and students arent lost, which all can slow down the lesson.


b) Providing feedback is important to a students mental behavior. It can determine
whether they give up or they give it their all. General feedback is ok if its addressed
to a group of students who are all performing correctly. Specific feedback should be
addressed whether the student has performed the skill correctly or incorrectly. it
should be specific to the skill or activity. The feedback should address which part of
the skill is correct or incorrect so the student knows which part of the skill to work
on. For example, if its a badminton forehand swing and student isnt striking with
the center of the racquet, thats what the feedback should be about. I actually had to
provide that type of feedback during the badminton unit because students were
striking the birdie with the outside part of the racquet. This positive feedback can
reinforce students to performing with better technique, and therefore a high success
rate.

c) Providing demonstrations was probably one of my better pedagogical skill sets.
To provide an effective demonstration, one must first be in view at a good angle in
front of the class. Also, close enough to be heard but far enough from the students so
theyre not a safety risk. A teacher demonstration should be first taught without the
equipment and then with equipment using whole-part-whole. That way, students
know what the skill looks like in full motion and in separate parts. Cues should be
addressed as well while the instructor is going over the parts. Students are
encouraged to demonstrate as well. Students should repeat the cues as the he/she
demonstrates. Student should perform the skill or activity in slow motion and in full
speed. The process is more important than the product. During my lessons, I
implemented all of these criterions except the whole-part-whole method because I
felt rushed to get into the activity quickly but cautiously. Integrating the whole-part-
whole method would have been really useful in the badminton unit because
students had trouble swinging and striking the birdies.

d) I learned a lot about dispersing and collecting equipment. I dont know if every
school has students like the ones I had at Cleveland elementary but it never hurts to
be proactive and cautious. I learned to setup as much equipment as I can before the
lesson to reduce management time. I learned that equipment should be setup away
from the students homebase area so equipment is not touched while I am giving
instruction. When I did disperse students to get equipment or go to a certain area
that has equipment, I always told them to sit down next to their equipment without
touching it until I say so. If anyone did touch equipment, I would call them out
and/or sit them out for not following the rules. When stopping an activity, I would
say freeze and that meant students are to stop what theyre doing and to place
equipment on the ground. When I needed to, I asked students to collect equipment
and the faster they finish, the more time they have for activity time for another task
or questions and answers at the end.

e) In the first 4 weeks of Tiger Pride, Casey and I had a 2-strike policy where strike 1
was a warning and possibly sit out for a few minutes and strike 2 was an immediate
offense to being sent inside. After week 4, we established that any first disruptive

behavior will result in a student to sit out for a few minutes. The second time a
student misbehaves, he/she will be sent inside. We learned that we gave students
too much room for misbehaviors so they took advantage of the strike policy.

f) If I were to rate myself on enthusiasm, I would rate it 8/10. This is because I
would have some fun lessons where I would demonstrate or have students mimic
what I am doing, and other lessons where I had repetitive activities (this happened
twice) and students got bored. Overall, I think my enthusiasm encouraged students
to perform as well as I did during the demonstrations and that increased their
motivation to participate. I would say my teaching methods showed enthusiasm
consistently but a few of my activities did not.

g) 3 teaching skills I did well:
- Demonstrations with cues and using a student
- Feedback, specific/positive/general/congruent
- Adaptability to all skill levels

h) 3 teaching skill to work on:
- Management of student behaviors
- Show more enthusiasm/humor
- Provide more variety of activities



5) Recommendations for next Tiger PRIDE participants
- When a student sits out, they should write down what they did wrong and how
they can correct the behavior. That way a student will have no excuse exhibiting that
behavior again.
- Be extra detailed in the lesson plans so DTs are overly prepared for their lesson.
- Be supportive of students and provide feedback to them no matter how annoying
or rude they are. They may be acting because of issues at school or at home but
youre there for 30 minutes to provide the best support you can to help them be an
active participant.