Fitzpatrick Student Teacher Blog Week #13

Week 13 of Student Teaching was incredibly long and tiring. My 10^th-grade classroom is nearing the end of their fitness unit and is ready for it to end. My cooperating teacher for these classes is doing a great job of allowing me to head the classes on my own and letting me experiment with new fitness ideas and concepts not typically performed in the classroom. This week I implemented cardio kickboxing on Tuesday via a video projection with instruction from myself. Unfortunately, the classes with video projections have not gone over as smoothly as I had anticipated. In my 2^nd period, the sophomores did a great job of following the video routine, however, the enthusiasm was sorely lacking, which was a surprise for me. I honestly thought the idea of kickboxing would be much more widely accepted by the students than it was. My 7th-hour class was not able to process the video as quickly as the 2^nd hour, nor did they demonstrate any enthusiasm as well. However, I do believe this was a great learning experience for myself, and although the class did not work initially, I do believe that if implemented regularly over time the student would be more acceptable to engage without the fear of embarrassment among their classmates. One thing I do wish my cooperating teacher of these classes would include are ideas on what type of fitness lessons they have used in the past that the students do enjoy so that I may have been able to make the class more engaging. In my freshman classes, we are finishing up our basketball unit. This has been a great experience for me as I have been given complete control of these classes, allowing me to incorporate my own ideas on how to approach the unit. I initially attempted to play a tournament of “King 3-vs-3,” however I was shocked to realize how difficult it was for students to grasp the concept of clockwise and counterclockwise rotations. My 1^st period was spent too long in instruction and rotation this day (Monday), so beginning my 3^rd period a scratched the idea and stuck with a more traditional rotation. I also implemented games I engaged in with my elementary students at this level, which went over exceptionally well. These games, which allow for constant participation yet do not pit students against each other in traditional competitive format, allowed for constant student engagement, yet did not create an emotionally difficult situation for students as students who were not as well versed in athletic skill were not placed at a competitive disadvantage at any time throughout the lesson.

There were two major struggles I encountered this week between myself and students. The biggest concern I was faced with took place outside of the classroom when I had to mark one of my students as Tardy. Although this does not result in lost points, the student is chronically tardy and has been written up extensively throughout the course of the semester for this reason. On both Friday of last week and Monday of this week, the student showed up to class 2 minutes late. As a result, I had to write her up as tardy, which has resulted in 8 Tardies over the course of the semester between myself and my cooperating teacher, giving the student afterschool detention, which resulted in an absence of track practice. The student was obviously displeased, which led to an email from a parent, resulting in my first call home. I explained to the parent that the students were over 2 minutes late and that I can mark her tardy as soon as the bell rings, but I usually give a grace period of one minute because I understand that instances happen. However, I cannot allow the student to be chronically tardy without consequence, and that the student was not the only one marked tardy that day. I explained that I will continue to allow her child the 1-minute grace period, but I must follow my instructions. Although displeased the mother understood. The student will not talk to me outside of the minimum necessary in class but does follow the instruction of the class, which I feel is most important. I have attempted to talk to the student however I am not going to step over boundaries to force the student to talk to me. I am available if she wishes to express concern, which she has not chosen to do.

The other struggle was much more minimal. In the 3^rd period, I allowed students to pick their own 3-person team for basketball and had a rotating schedule where one team stayed on the court and another team rotated. In hindsight, I should have done a better job dividing the class into competitive and non-competitive teams to compete against each other, however, this was not always the case. In one instance I had one team of three taller students competing against the students lacking in skill and much smaller than the competitive students. As a result, the taller students acted awry during the 4-minute gameplay. Not allowing the other students to participate and acting less than socially acceptable during the time period. As a result, I personally advised the game to make sure students were allowing all to compete and act in an appropriate manner. At the end of class, I had to pull the taller students off to the side and explain to them how their actions were inappropriate, and that I had to take points away from the day for their inappropriate behavior. This was the first time these students acted this way, but I wanted to make sure to acknowledge it immediately so that the instances do not continue to occur.

In this coming week, I hope to be able to gain a better sense of control of my classrooms when introducing a unit and lesson. The next week we are beginning new units which will incorporate more detailed instruction at the beginning of the lessons to ensure a common understanding of the proper mechanics of the units. Keeping the students engaged during instruction is not as easy as it is at the elementary level for me. As an elementary teacher, there is a sense of character acting in teaching that keeps the students’ attention while allows for control. Trying to use that same “acting” with older students has proven to not be as effective with the older students, and I am struggling to understand how to be effective without coming off as too aggressive when instruction students. My initial goal is to spend more time outside of the classroom dissecting my roster and learning how to effectively divide the classes into groups so that distractions are minimal, and instruction is quicker so that the students have more time to engage. I also want to include more small games in instruction, much like I did at the elementary level. Although I know they are not elementary students I still believe that the greatest way a student can learn is through positive engagements, and, as research, gameplay has a greater effect on engagement, leading to greater acceptance of the learning material and greater positive participation rates. I believe that although form and performance are important when learning physical activities, the most important aspect of physical activity is engagement and participation. If a student knows how do run correctly, but does not run, the knowledge being transferred in useless, but if a student learns to engage in running regularly, they will promote the ability to learn proper running performance throughout their running experiences.

In referencing Standard 8 – Collaborative relationships – On Friday in my 7^th period, I allowed my students the opportunity to collaborate to create their own fitness lesson using a base template from myself. Using groups of three, students were to create three-minute workouts that were to be completed before completing a 100-meter run between workouts. By doing so, I allowed the students to actively engage in their own learning, using their preferences to dictate the classroom management and use critical thinking skill to demonstrate an appropriate objective to the lesson. As a result, students were more engaged as they were in control of what the learning objective was, leading to greater activity and positivity.

In referencing Standard 4 – Learning environment – when participating in Cardio Kickboxing, to ensure the physical and emotional safety of all students I made sure to demonstrate how to properly align the classroom into equal rows and columns so that all students were safely distanced yet close enough to the video screen to allow for active engagement. I utilized a video that was appropriate yet utilized a variety of movements to enable students to remain actively engaged in the lesson without the worry of work stagnation. This led to an experience that was manageable yet challenging to all students. I played high tempo music in the background of the video to maintain a high intensity in relation to the lesson. Using music created a rhythm for the students and creates higher energy in the environment.