Nathan Rhea

11/5/16
Tiger Pride
James Wyant
Reflection Journal Week 5
1. Overview
Our lesson today consisted of 16 3rd grade students out at Cleveland Elementary.
Our focus was on Speedball using a teaching games for understanding
approach. Equipment consisted of 8 cones, 1 soccer ball, and 8 pennies.
2. Student Learning Outcomes
A. The student learning outcomes for this lesson were to be able to recite the 3
basic rules of speedball with 100% accuracy. There was an emphasis on
trying to learn the rules of a game first and learning through strategy rather
than just skill work. There was also our health related fitness goal of 50%
MVPA.
B. I felt that our cognitive goal for the lesson was generally met. Students
grasped the game well and learned fairly quickly. When I checked for
understanding after the lesson, students could repeat the rules of the game
and seemed to understand what the goal of the game was. Their skill level
could have used improvement, but I felt that they did a good job of learning
strategy through practice as well as proper spacing. One positive was that
this was the first lesson that the time spent on activity was more than the time
spent on management. We also got 48% MVPA which was the best weve
had yet.

C. I thought the lesson provided students a chance to showcase their skills, but
not necessarily to progress them. The lesson was more catered towards an
increase in MVPA and less on skill development, which had both negatives
and positives I thought. I thought the students needed a chance to move
more and have a more interactive environment as we have been doing a lot
of stationary drills.
3. Creating a Quality Learning Environment
A. I gave Teaching Games for Understanding a try this week, and while there
was a boost in MVPA, I dont think the quality of the content was there. A lot of
that is on me as a teacher. I need to have more control over the environment
and be aware of the various contingencies in place to help these students
have the energy they need during the lesson. I thought the instruction I gave
in general was poor as well. My organization of the class was lazy and didnt
provide a quality learning environment.
B. The MVPA for Mondays lesson was 48% which was a large improvement
from previous weeks. The activity percentage for this lesson was 40%, the
management percentage was 37%, and the instruction percentage was 22%.
The data for this lesson looks promising but the film shows that while there
was time spent on instruction and there was a lot of activity, the quality of both
of those wasnt where it needs to be.
C. Students had the opportunity to showcase their skills, but it didnt lend itself
towards skill development. There was much more gameplay involved than
previous weeks, which I thought they enjoyed but didnt help their motor skill
acquisition. I did think the game was within their zone of proximal
development and that there were positives from the lesson, but there were

also negatives including students choosing to sit out or getting frustrated with
one another.
D. I thought that students were more active in the lesson, but I think if I wanted
the quality of the content to be better I need to make the game play smaller
and more focused on skills. I also needed to upgrade my creativity and my
energy level. If I want students to think something is fun, I have to make it
seem fun. This can be difficult, but I need to make it happen.
4. Strengths and Weaknesses
A. The biggest strength of this weeks lessons was the MVPA. Its the closest
weve been to 50% yet and I thought that was definitely a positive. That being
said the quality of activity wasnt where it needs to be. I thought TGFU would
have more opportunity for me to teach through strategy and gameplay, but it
was more challenging than I expected and I dont think I approached it the
right way.
B. The COTS for this lesson were more the rules of the game and the strategies
I wanted to implement while playing. I tried to emphasize them as much as
possible during the lesson and have students repeat them before and after
the class. I could have gone over the rules and strategies using modified drills
at first which would have helped.
C. Instructions took an adequate amount of time for the activity I thought. I think
the issue was less with instruction and more on the activity I gave. A big issue
I need to remedy is my excitement for the activity itself. I need to find a way to
get everyone excited for what were doing that day.
D. I didnt give a lot of corrective feedback as students were engaged in mostly
gameplay during the lesson but I did my best to give a lot of positive feedback

throughout the activity and encourage students while they were playing. A lot
of time was spent on managing students who werent on task as well.
E. Demonstrations were briefly given prior to activity but not thoroughly enough
in my opinion. It is hard to demonstrate a game, which is why I think there
should have been more developmental activities to modify game play and
teach those steps. We learned more on the fly with this lesson.
F. There was very little equipment this week which I thought provided less
distractions for students coming into the lesson, but I think there could have
been more just for structural purposes.
G. Monday had a lot of disruptive behavior and unfortunately two of the kids who
were causing it were suspended the following day. I think a lot of misbehavior
starts from the tone being set at the beginning of the lesson. Students
casually walk in and seat themselves and Im going to start lining students up
before class so that they walk out in a more organized fashion. Im also going
to start the lesson away from the fence where students from other classes
leave and present distractions.
H. I was not as enthusiastic as I needed to be for this lesson. For the kids I have,
I need to be a kid myself. Its tough when there are so many different factors
going on at once, but there cant be any excuses for not bringing my best.
I. I think the way to fix the instruction is to make it more exciting. That starts with
me being more energetic and passionate for the thirty minutes I have the
students.
5. Recommendations
A. For next week Im going to revert back to direct instruction, but Im going to
change my energy level as well as the creativity of my lessons. It might not go
as planned but the effort will be there.

B. Next week Julio and I are going to play some soccer and work on creative

skill development with the kids.