Tuesday, November 3, 2009

PE Ninja

My spirits were flagging as I arrived to St. Mary’s. I was tired and did not know if I had enough energy to carry on through the day. Upon arrival we got right to work with organizing the equipment room. As we began to tackle the task at hand I started to feel more optimistic. I felt that we bonded as a group and it gave us a chance to collaborate closely and practice cooperation, communication, and teamwork. We were able to clean the whole closet out, take an inventory on all the equipment we had and then restock the closet in a more easily accessible and organized way. After, we all enjoyed the feeling that we had accomplished something. At first it seemed like too tall of a task to carry out but it actually was not so bad. I also got exposure to all kinds of cool equipment. From giant Q-tip looking things, to different shaped elastic paddles. The possibilities seemed endless of games that could be implemented using the variety of equipment that was present. After we finished with the equipment we got a chance to interact with the kids during some of the activities. I was a little taken back with the skill level some of the students have pertaining to knockout. There was a time I was actually trying and I lost. But it is always a fun game to play at St. Mary’s. I also played knee basketball with another group of younger kids. It was exciting to play on our knees well the children played standing up. At first I was a little annoyed with some of the students determination not to pass. I found ways to help motivate them to pass by verbally encouraging them, sheildingg them toward an open teamate, and stealing it or swatting it when they continuosly fail to pass. I was able to better facilitate teamwork and cooperation. Me and my classmate were able to implement sliding on defense and leaping on offense. At the end of the day I got dressed up in my Halloween costume and helped attempt to facilitate the “Thriller” song as a ninja. One of the kids responded strongly to me being in character. He was way more attentive and motivated to participate. I was able to do the dance with him and it was a blast. I left the school knowing that I contributed to the schools physical education. I had another great experience at St. Mary’s.

1 comment:

  1. Very good job today. You and your group worked great together and really helped out. Although some tasks might be tedious and repetitive, they are really helping out a lot of people. St. Mary's really appreciates the work you guys did and will have much smoothers lessons in their classes when the teachers can find equipment in seconds.

    Great job playing with the students in that knee basketball game. You are really showing your creativity with different games and how to make them fun for the kids. Also great job coming up with ways to get the kids to pass. There are going to be many times in your teaching career where you face challenges involving getting kids to do different things, and the way you handled this challenge was really great. Keep up the good work

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