Something that squares with my thinking:

Something that squares with my thinking is an idea that I gained from Carolyn
Temertzoglous blog post. I realized that every teacher has a different personal experience in
physical education because some educators feel as if it is fun while other feels it is intimidating
(Temertzoglous, 2015). Some of these experiences can be both negative and positive. Regardless
of my personal experience, I want to teach physical education in a way that will promote an
inclusive environment and where students can feel a sense of belonging. I recognize the
importance of modifying and accommodating specific activities in order to meet the needs of my
students. For instance, in class I learned a target game where we had to throw bean bags into a
target (hula hoop) from a distance. This game was modified in order to make the game accessible
for students who can throw from a close distance. Carolyn demonstrated that we can modify this
game by putting three different pylons in order to give students an opportunity to choose where
they want to throw from. This made me think about my experiences at practicum during physical
education class. I realized that Ive never seen activities being modified or accommodated in
physical education. Also, I always thought that it would be challenging to modify or
accommodate physical education activities. However, I now realize that it is quite simple to
modify for all students. I have to acknowledge what my students are able to do. I found the
target activity extremely fun because I was competing against my partner in order to see who
could get it into the target first, and who could score the most points.
!
This target game could prepare students for sports such as bowling or curling because it
draws on precision and control. For instance, in bowling students need to aim the bowling ball
towards the pins in order to strike the pins down. As a future educator, I want to integrate this
target activity into my practice in order to give students an opportunity to learn skills such as
throwing an object into a target. I learned through this target game that students need to think of
specific strategies while throwing the beanbag or soft toy. For instance, they need to think about
how much force they are using when throwing and letting the beanbag go. Also, students need to
think about eye-hand coordination, and they need to think about where they are going to throw
the beanbag. Lastly, students need to think about the item that they are throwing and how it
corresponds to how much force they should use. The force changes depending on how far an
individual is standing from the target and what type of target they are using. For instance, when
using the tennis balls I made sure that I used a lighter force, whereas with a beanbag I used a
heavier force. Students can learn aim, force, control, accuracy and eye-hand coordination
through this activity. As a future educator, when I implement this activity I want to ask students
questions such as, How did you get it inside the target what strategies did you use?, Did you
do anything differently when you threw the beanbag verses the tennis ball and why?. These
questions can make the students think about what strategies they used. Also, these questions can
facilitate the students overall learning.
!
Afterwards, we played the game Get your trash off my yard. I found that this game
interconnected with other sports such as bowling because individuals need to aim the tennis ball
towards the target in order to hit the pylon on the inside. We put obstacles in front of the hula
hoop so that it would be difficult to get the tennis ball into the target. I used a strategy while
playing this game with my partner. I tried to bounce the tennis ball towards the right side of the
floor in order to get it into the hula hoop. I found that it worked because it was on the opposite
side of the obstacles. Also, I used a light or gentle force in order to get it into the hula hoop as
well. I want to incorporate this game into my physical education classroom in the future because
it can teach students how to dodge opponents that might be in the way in a sport such as
basketball.
!
Three points that I want to remember:
The first point that I want to remember is the four categories of games that I should
integrate in my classroom. These categories are striking/fielding, net/wall, target activities, and
territory activities. During class, I learned that target activities can be played individually or in
groups. Also, I learned that some types of target games are bowling, curling or golf. It can
become difficult by changing target size, distance and equipment (The Ontario Health, 2015).
Before having an in class discussion about target games, I thought that target games include
basketball. The reason that I thought that basketball was a target game was because there is a
hoop that individuals can throw the ball into. However, I learned afterwards that a target game is
bowling or curling. Another game that I can integrate into my classroom is net/wall activities
such as volleyball or tennis. I learned that the purpose of this game is to send a ball back and
fourth between players. I want to include net/wall activities into my class in order to teach
students skills that they need in order to play sports such as volleyball or tennis in the future.
Thirdly, another game is Striking/Fielding activities. For instance, with the game Chuck the
chicken students can run around a square before throwing the chicken back to the opposite team.
This allow students to build skills such as running, striking, throwing, and catching which are all
apart of sports such as baseball. Lastly, another game that I want to implement in my class is
Territory activities. These activities include keeping the object away from the opponent. For
instance, in class we played a territory game where we got into four teams. Afterwards, we put
on different coloured uniforms. The purpose of the game was to pass the object throughout the
team while moving towards the opponents team. When we reached the other opponents team we
were allowed to strike the ball. This game can prepare students for sports such as football,
basketball or soccer. During my future practice, I want to incorporate this territory game because
it could allow students to build skills such as running, throwing, communication, collaboration,
movement, coordination etc.
!
The second point that I want to remember is from the article What is teaching games for
understanding?. The article mentioned, If students are exposed to primary rules, fundamental
skills and tactical problems associated with the games in each category in an invasion games.
Tactical solutions like the use of short passes, shielding the ball, or supporting the player with the
ball are transferable between similar invasion games like soccer or field hockey (Mandigo,
Butler, & Hopper, 2007). I realized through this quote that it is important to introduce tactical
problems and skills. When students learn basic skills through invasion games this transfers into
real sports such as soccer or hockey. Without introducing these skills through target, territory,
net/wall or striking/fielding it is challenging for students to start playing real sports. As a future
educator, I want to remember that it is important to give students an opportunity to develop skills
and tactical problems in primary and junior grades. Also, sports should be introduced in
intermediate or high school grade levels because students need to develop skills before they play
real sports. During one my practicum experiences, Ive seen a teacher give students an
opportunity in grade three to play soccer and basketball. However, these students didnt develop
appropriate skills through invasion or territorial games. The students didnt develop throwing,
catching, kicking, team building, communication or any of the skills that they needed in order to
play soccer or basketball. Therefore, as a future educator I want to promote colleagues to give
students an opportunity to develop these skills before introducing real sports in physical
education.
!
The third point that I want to remember is from Carolyn Temertzoglous blog post. She
mentioned that the goal of physical education is to ensure that students develop knowledge an
skills to healthy living. However, there are new ways to think about how to ensure that students
are taught these skills in ways that are engaging and inclusive. (Temertzoglous, 2015). As a
future educator, I want to create an experience in physical education that will allow students to
be active participants. Also, I want students to enjoy physical education from childhood to
adulthood. Therefore, I will build a sense of community in my classroom and encourage students
to reflect on what they enjoyed each class or what they want to change. I want to try a range of
partner activities, small or large team activities, and centre activities. I want to integrate music
into physical education because this can be motivating for students as well. During my
practicum, I mostly seen large group games and I didnt see partner activities at all. I believe that
it is important to integrate a mixture of groupings in physical education.
!
Something still rolling around in my head:
Something still rolling around in my head is how can educators make students feel
comfortable with physical education especially if it is not their strongest or favourite subject
area? I am aware that students often feel unmotivated when they realize that other students are
stronger at throwing or catching. This often leads to students who feel discouraged or feel as if
they are not good at physical education. However, as a future educator I would solve this
complication by positively commenting on students efforts in physical education this can
motivate students to feel good about themselves.
!
Next steps:
! Some next steps that I have as an educator is to integrate striking/fielding, net/wall, target
activities, and territory activities in physical education in order to give students an opportunity to
build necessary skills that they need prior to playing real sports. Also, positively commenting on
students efforts in physical education in order to motivate students. Additionally, I want to build
a sense of community where students feel engaged to participate and collaborate with others in
physical education class. Also, I want to provide a success criteria for my students so that they
become aware of the expectations in physical education and make adjustments to meet the
expectations. Moreover, I want to allow students to provide feedback on their experience in
physical education so that I could make adjustments to my classes in order to meet the individual
needs of students. Lastly, I want to modify all activities for students in order to make it equitable
and provide a wide range of groupings. I realized that it is important as an educator to model
appropriately for students because they will recognize if I don't enjoy physical education myself
as an educator. Therefore, I want to demonstrate a love for physical education through my facial
expressions and body language. I want to be a great role model for students by being prepared
and dressing appropriately for physical education. As an educator, I realized that it is important
to appropriately model for students.
!
!
!
!
!