exercise!

Over our three week block I was slacking on going to the gym as I live out of town and did not want to drive into the city. I started to feel tired and gross after the first week and I know exactly why! Since we have been back to university I have gotten back into my gym routine and I feel way better! This just shows how important it is that we have our students moving as they are not only going to feel better they are going to do better in school and enjoy life more.

I have learnt so many essential things in relation to physical education this semester from our three week block and especially epe 310! I am thankful for this new knowledge and am going to carry it with me throughout my teaching career!

Amazing Experience

I could not have asked for a better time out in the schools. I have learnt many classroom management strategies and found tons of cool teaching activities. I got to build strong relationships with two grade two classes and two amazing cooperating teachers. I still cannot believe we aren't going back on Monday but I know I will be back to visit and help out in the classroom.

I taught a total of four phys.ed lessons and learnt lots about classroom management and how to guide children in learning all about physical education. There are many challenges while teaching phys.ed and I hope to be able to teach some more phys.ed lessons throughout internship.

See everyone Monday!!

Where has time gone!?

I can't believe we only have a week left in the schools. I am having an amazing time and am dreading having to leave. Alannah and I have done some really fun and exciting things with our class! One thing I want to talk specifically about is recess. A bobcat had come to the school to move some snow around to try and prevent flooding. This created tons of awesome blocks for snow forts. So over the past few recesses that we have actually gone outside and not been stuck inside for indoor recess (cause of the cold) we have gone out and helped the kids build snow forts. Amazing experience and so much fun! The kids were excited that we were coming out to help. I even caught myself complaining when the bell rang to go back inside! So I guess my message is go outside and have fun with your kids!! You won't regret it!!

Taught my first phys.ed lesson!

Today me and Alannah taught our first phys.ed lesson twice! I was very happy with how it went and our teacher that was observing was too. We first taught our lesson to the grade two class that we are pre-interning in. We started with a warm up and then played a game that allowed them to practise their basketball skills. We added lot's of challenges and the kids really enjoyed it. At the end we did a cool down and talked as a class about what went good and what we could have done better.

We also taught the other grade two class right after! We considered the comments that the teacher had left us and the lesson ran much smoother. We again started with a warm up and then went over the rules and expectations in the gym (this class has more behavioural challenges). We then went into some skill developing and we had the students practise throwing a ball. Next is when we went into our game and it went much smoother as each student knew exactly what it was that they were supposed to be doing. We ended with a cool down and discussion.

I strongly advice having discussions at the end of your lessons with your students as they give some excellent feedback and I have already learnt a lot from them. I also advice that everyone try and teach a phys.ed lesson! They are great and a lot of fun! Just make sure you bring your teacher voice as I quickly found out my voice is very quiet.

Getting It!

So this week me and Alannah had to teach contractions to our grade two class... this was alot harder than I thought! We took turns teachings (one would teach one day and the other the next) and on Friday it was my job to give them a test. I was worried going into it that the students were not understanding and that they weren't going to get it! Our co-op teacher said she was going to use this test for their report cards and it would be something that they could hopefully show the parents in parent teacher interviews, yikes! So I decided to make the test a cut and paste matching test and they all got it !!! I was so proud and happy for them I had a permanent smile for the rest of day! How great of a feeling is it when you realise your students understand! :) YAY!

Ten minute run for grade two's?

I have been so busy with being in the classroom that I kind of forgot about blogging...opps! I am having an amazing time with the grade twos and am going to have a tough time coming back to the university. Children have such a special joy that they bring everyday and I have been way happier spending time with them this week.

My teaching partner and I went to phys.ed today. The grade two's participated in a ten minute run! I am curious what you all think! Do you think a 10 minute run is appropriate for grade two children? What is it teaching them? Are they grasping the concepts?

Hope everyone is enjoying their three week block!

Hmmmm?

An article caught my eye in the leader post it was called "No wonder teachers are driven away." After reading the article it made me question and think ... how many people have read this article (especially those who are unfamiliar with this field). The article was very true and showed some of the struggles of teaching. Dealing with parents is going to be one of the hard parts about teaching and it is something that you cannot always prepare for as every parent and every situation is going to be different. The part of this article that stood out the most to me was the Sandy Hook Elementary School teacher who had hidden her students in the bathroom and told them that she loved them. In an interview she stated that she didn't care if she would get in trouble after the fact as those children needed to hear those words in order to feel some kind of comfort and hope in the most devastating situation. She was worried what the public and the children's parents were going to think. This teacher is a true hero and I feel like she did the right thing!

What are your thoughts? Also why do you think so many teachers are driven away?

GYM Night

I went to GYM nights last Wednesday and had a blast. The kids were great and the energy that they carried was defiantly passed onto me. It was great seeing parents bring their children to this program as it is benefiting their children in so many ways. It is encouraging life long physical activity by practising and improving on many movement skills. All the children were excited and eager to learn and play the games and do their exercises and warm ups. They were having fun and not even realising how much they were learning. We need to involve our children into more programs like these in order to help promote a healthy lifestyle. !:) Thanks Brian for this great experience.

Hockey a Dying Sport?

A friend owns a sports store in Saskatoon and a few months ago I went to get myself a new hockey stick. I was shocked to hear him say that hockey is a dying sport. I grew up around hockey and have been playing for many years so for me this was hard to hear. He gave a few reasons as to why this was happening: the violence (hitting), interests in other sports and overall just a new generation coming through. I did some research and tried to find more information on this topic, I didn't have much luck. Most of the information that I found was based on the United States. 

Does anyone have any thoughts? I know there are a few hockey players in our section! I found this very shocking!

Last class

Our last class really got me thinking about the teacher that I want to be. This is hard as there are so many traits I know I want to uphold as well as strategies that I want to use and beliefs that I hold and will bring into my future classrooms. Going out into the schools has made me realize some major do's and dont's! I now know what teacher I do not want to be from many past experiences, so now it is overcoming teaching the way we were taught! Is anyone else in my same situation, trying to figure out the teacher they want to be?

Inspiration!

Tonight as I was looking blankly at my agenda and all of the assignments that I have to accomplish in the next little while I decided I needed to find some inspiration. I went for a walk around the neighbourhood (which is new to me as I am house sitting and am used to walking at the farm) I tried to forget everything that was on my mind and focus on my foot steps, the smell, the sounds around me and the way I felt... relaxed! It was a beautiful night and I highly recommend all of you take a break from homework and either go for a walk or simply just be outside! It's a relief and makes concentrating a whole lot easier.

Fresh air and being outside is crucial for children to learn and grow! So let's learn with our children and teach them outside!

Priorities

Last Wednesday there was an interview on CTV with the middle years section on whether they thought teachers are over worked, if they are given more work than they can handle. It really got me thinking and questioning what kind of teacher I want to be for my students. After our class last Thursday I came to the realization that prioritizing my life and getting organized is the best thing I can do for my sanity and career. As a society we are always go, go, go, always in a rush. We don't take the time to appreciate the small things (being mindful), sometimes the most important things. As a future educator I am going to make sure that I do not loose site of things, appreciate the small things, get organized and prioritize my life.

 
I tried to find the link for the CTV news but couldn't so I hope you all had the chance to watch it!

Overwhelmed

I am not to sure what I feel like blogging about. I feel there is so much going on my head is spinning... I am sure many of you are feeling the same way. I just want to mention how happy I am that we are able to end our week with such a great class. I love being able to move around and interact with everyone, the four hours fly by! I particularly liked the volleyball type game that we played last class. Volleyball has never been a strong area for me and it was something I used to dread doing in phys.ed in school. That game took away the pressure of making sure the ball went over the net, (along with many other things) which is something I struggle with. I am loving all of the activities we are learning and I am planning on teaching a phys.ed lesson in pre-internship!

Reflection .. finally starting to understand this whole blog thing !

Now that I am slowly starting to figure out this blog thing, I can now enjoy it a little more. I had another great night in class last night! The part I found most interesting was when we looked deeper into those 26 skills. I know realize why some of my physical education teachers made me do some of the things we did in phys.ed. Like Brooke and Bailey mentioned they remembered tossing the basketball against the wall and that instantly brought me back to the gym in grade seven. I did the exact same thing. The scariest part for me is teaching something I do not understand or cannot do myself... the backwards roll. I don't feel confident enough yet to teach that to a student when I can not even teach myself. Especially a movement like that as there are definant safety risks. In other subjects you can find all of the information on line but I feel phys.ed you need to be able to practice the movement skill to better teach your students. I hope to learn in this class how to successfully do a backwards roll !

Reflection

My favourite part of this class is actually getting to participate in the activities. This is how I learn best and I feel many students are the same. There were two activities that stuck out to me.

The first was when we were doing the tag/ warm up (with the foam fingers) activity and were spread all around the gym; we had to do push ups, sit ups, running, etc. The greatest part and something I didn't realize until after was that you didn't have the pressure of someone watching you. Everyone was busy doing their own thing that it really did not matter that I couldn't do a push up. This is an excellent idea for kids as many struggle with self-esteem and don't feel comfortable being physically active in front of their peers. I will defiantly be using this strategy in my future classroom.

Second, when our class was split into two and one team was in the "out field" and three players from the other team threw Frisbees at the opposing team. I liked this because it would be a great way for the teacher to assess who understands and could complete the task as three students went at a time. You could use a ball, Frisbee, etc. to have the students practice different movement skills.

So far in this class I have learnt so many useful activities to help my students learn and improve on their movement skills. I plan on using these activities in my future classrooms and look forward to learning more!

Picture !

Inspiration

" The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book." - unknown

 

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about." - unknown

 

"Teaching is the profession that teaches all other professions." - unknown